Steve Melewski
Steve Melewski

Cedric Mullins wins a Silver Slugger Award

Cedric Mullins wins a Silver Slugger Award
After producing a .878 OPS and the first 30-30 season in Orioles history, center fielder Cedric Mullins tonight has become the team's first Silver Slugger Award winner since 2016. Mullins began the night among eight finalists for three American League outfield Silver Slugger Awards and Mullins has been named a winner in the AL outfield along with Toronto's Teoscar Hernández and Aaron Judge of New York. The winners were announced in a live broadcast on MLB Network. Mark Trumbo, as a...
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Steve Melewski

Notes on free agent dollars, Vespi's Fall Stars nod and more

Notes on free agent dollars, Vespi's Fall Stars nod and more
If predictions prove to be mostly accurate, this winter's baseball free agent class will bring in some huge collective dollars in salary. Some big contracts could be signed. How this all plays out is pending the collective bargaining talks on a new labor contract, but there will come a time when the deals get done, and the contracts could be something. Last year via free agency, just three players signed total deals of $100 million or more. They were George Springer (six years, $150 million)...
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Steve Melewski

If Kjerstad produces as expected, O's have deep depth in the outfield

If Kjerstad produces as expected, O's have deep depth in the outfield
The recent news that young outfielder Heston Kjerstad is a full go at the Orioles' instructional league camp in Florida was encouraging and a nice move forward for the player selected No. 2 overall from the University of Arkansas in the 2020 draft. He was the third-highest player ever taken by the organization. But dealing with the effects of myocarditis has kept him off the field and created some uncertainty about his future. And while there are no guarantees going forward, the Orioles now...
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Steve Melewski

O's Ryan Mountcastle will not win Rookie of the Year

O's Ryan Mountcastle will not win Rookie of the Year
He may have ranked first among all American League qualifying rookies in homers this year and second in RBIs, but the Orioles' Ryan Mountcastle will not be the club's seventh Rookie of the Year winner in the AL. When the three finalists for the Baseball Writers' Association of America award, to be announced Monday, were announced last night, he was not among them. For me, that was surprising. So the one Orioles player who we thought had a chance to contend for or even win one of the major...
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Steve Melewski

Sometimes pitchers blossom late like this ex-Oriole did

Sometimes pitchers blossom late like this ex-Oriole did
It was on July 31, 2018 when the Atlanta Braves acquired right-hander Kevin Gausman from the Orioles in a six-player deadline-beating trade that also brought the Orioles international bonus money. The faltering Birds were headed into full-on rebuild mode and their top pick from 2012 (No. 4 overall in that draft) was heading out the door. Just over a year later - on Aug. 5, 2019 - the Braves waived Gausman after he had gone 3-7 with a 6.19 ERA that year. He was 28 and his career was trending in...
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Steve Melewski

With playoffs over, CBA talks now move to the forefront

With playoffs over, CBA talks now move to the forefront
Now that the baseball season is over, the baseball labor talks are on the clock. The sides are pursuing a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 1. That date is coming fast. The players and owners have been talking on and off behind the scenes since around the All-Star break, or so they tell us. This is great. Keep it out of the media, out of Twitter, out of social media and headlines altogether. We simply cannot have a repeat of the back and forth in...
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Steve Melewski

Carter Baumler's rehab from surgery has been moving along well

Carter Baumler's rehab from surgery has been moving along well
The Orioles have to be encouraged by the early returns on their six-player 2020 draft. They've seen Jordan Westburg, Hudson Haskin, Anthony Servideo and Coby Mayo do some nice things. Now they look to get Heston Kjerstad and Carter Baumler in the mix. Both Kjerstad, the No. 2 overall pick in that draft, and Baumler, the right-hander the Orioles drafted in round five (No. 133 overall), should be on the field in games when the 2022 season begins. Baumler has only pitched in one game since the...
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Steve Melewski

An O's pitcher who could have a breakout 2022 season

An O's pitcher who could have a breakout 2022 season
His 2021 stats are modest, but it says here his talent is large. He was taken No. 4 overall in the 2015 draft and he has a right arm worthy of such a high pick. But so far at the major league level, Orioles reliever Dillon Tate has not put it all together. Just when it looks like he is getting on a roll and we see a bunch of nasty pitches, something often seems to go wrong. Will next season be his year? I say it will and there are stats from 2021 that might provide a clue. First of all, his...
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Steve Melewski

So awesome when a baseball lifer reaches the mountaintop

So awesome when a baseball lifer reaches the mountaintop
When the Atlanta Braves won the World Series on Tuesday night - as Atlanta beat the Houston Astros in six games - a Braves employee since 1977 could exhale and realize he got to the baseball mountaintop. He was a world champion - one who started with the organization as a minor league player in 1977. He is a former longtime minor league manager and a man who was promoted to the position of major league coach three times over the years, only to be sent back to the minors each time. He is the...
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Steve Melewski

What to make of O's home-road disparity on offense?

What to make of O's home-road disparity on offense?
If you thought the 2021 Orioles hit better at home than on the road, you are right. If you thought the difference was pretty vast, you are also right. In fact, the Orioles were among the top five hitting clubs in the American League this year in a few home games stats. But they ranked at or near the bottom in road game stats. For instance, take a look at home runs. The Orioles ranked second in the AL in home homers. They were last in homers on the road. In team OPS, they were fifth-best at...
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Steve Melewski

Moving from waiver claim to valuable bullpen piece

Moving from waiver claim to valuable bullpen piece
If you were to pick the Orioles' best reliever during the 2021 season, it will probably come down to a choice between two right-handers: Tyler Wells and Cole Sulser. Both had solid years, but I would give the lean to Sulser. He went 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA. In ERA+, Sulser was 69 percent above league average at 169. No other Oriole rated higher than John Means at 126. In fact, Sulser's ERA was the lowest by an O's reliever (minimum 60 innings) since Zack Britton's 0.54 in 2016. So, yeah, not...
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Steve Melewski

An interview with O's third-highest ranked pitching prospect

An interview with O's third-highest ranked pitching prospect
Since the day the Orioles acquired him from the Los Angeles Angels, right-hander Kyle Bradish has seemingly been trending up with his new club. Acquired by the team with three other right-handers for pitcher Dylan Bundy on Dec. 4, 2019, Bradish was rated No. 21 on the Angels top 30 by MLBPipeline.com at the time of the deal. Now he is in the Orioles' top 10 and is their third-highest rated pitching prospect following right-hander Grayson Rodriguez and lefty DL Hall. Some in the O's front...
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Steve Melewski

Should O's look to buy out some of Mancini's free agent years?

Should O's look to buy out some of Mancini's free agent years?
Long before he beat cancer, the Orioles' Trey Mancini had beaten the odds in a more traditional baseball sense. He was the kid that wanted to go a big school in Florida, but they didn't want him, so he crafted a great career at Notre Dame. He was the kid that was a bit overlooked as an eighth-round draft pick. He was the kid that never was ranked in anyone's top 100 prospects list. But he would become the man that blossomed with a breakout big league season in 2019 and has become the face of...
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Steve Melewski

One player's endorsement for O's minor league hitting program

One player's endorsement for O's minor league hitting program
It was, no doubt, a very good 2021 season for some Orioles hitters on the farm. In the new Baseball America top 10 prospects list that was released this week, seven of the 10 players listed were hitters. The Orioles have been drafting hitters at the top of the draft since executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias took over here after the 2018 season, and those picks are now getting closer to the majors and drawing notice in lists like those from Baseball America. One of those high...
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Steve Melewski

After his 2021 season, what should we be making of Akin?

After his 2021 season, what should we be making of Akin?
After ending the 2020 season looking like he could be a key member of the 2021 Orioles rotation, lefty Keegan Akin was not even on the opening day roster this season. But he would eventually get to Baltimore. And partially because the minor league season didn't start until May, he wound up throwing just one game and two innings at Triple-A this year and pitching in 24 games and throwing 95 innings in the majors for the Orioles. After May 10, he never went back to the farm. Akin was one of just...
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Steve Melewski

A look at Baseball America's O's top 10 list

A look at Baseball America's O's top 10 list
Baseball America released a new top 10 Orioles prospects list this week, and it's a strong list. There are more hitters than pitchers, with seven batters and three hurlers. The list is solid and further proof that the Orioles organization being ranked No. 1 by MLBPipeline.com and No. 2 by Baseball America seems legit. The club can and has gotten some deserved criticism for all the losses at the major league level, but the quest to build that elite talent pipeline seems very much on track. The...
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Steve Melewski

When he stopped switch-hitting, Cedric Mullins started really hitting

When he stopped switch-hitting, Cedric Mullins started really hitting
We didn't know it at the time, but we saw it with our own eyes this year. A player that batted .094 in 2019 and ended the season in Double-A two years ago was one of the best players in baseball. It was an incredible 2021 season for Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins by just about any standard, as he became the first Oriole ever with 30 or more homers and stolen bases in one season. It was a year where he started in the All-Star Game, was unanimously voted Most Valuable Oriole, was named a...
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Steve Melewski

Looking at a few more free agent starting pitchers

Looking at a few more free agent starting pitchers
Today in this space, we look at a few more free agent starting pitchers. Recently, MLBTradeRumors.com sized up the field and last week we took this look at a few pitchers from the category of older veterans/back-of-the-rotation options. We started in alphabetical order of the 13 pitchers in this grouping and that meant we sized up Brett Anderson, Tyler Anderson and Alex Cobb. Today a look at three more pitchers, two of which we've seen in the American League East and another who spend a lot...
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Steve Melewski

It's another season without a repeat champion in MLB

It's another season without a repeat champion in MLB
Former Orioles manager Buck Showalter used to say you grind all year to win in Major League Baseball to have the chance to "roll the dice" in October. He essentially meant the best or winningest teams don't always earn the trophy in October. In a short series, anything can happen. This season is another example of that. The Tampa Bay Rays won 100 games to lead all American League teams. They won an AL East that featured four teams with 91 or more wins. But they didn't even make the AL...
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Steve Melewski

Young players sometimes learned the most when times were rough

Young players sometimes learned the most when times were rough
It has been true in baseball probably for as long as there has been baseball: Players learn as much from their struggles - and maybe more - than they do from their successes. And it has been said that baseball is a game of failure. A good pitcher with an ERA of 3.00 still gives up three earned runs for every nine innings. A .300 hitter still makes an out seven times out of 10. In my coverage of the Orioles minors this year, it stood out that several players I interviewed cited overcoming...
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