Today, I'm revisiting some recent articles that appeared in this space. We're taking another look at two players.
I enjoyed my recent interview with 27-year-old Chris Shaw for this article. He's probably facing an uphill battle to make the Orioles' opening day roster. Several players, now including him, will compete this spring for outfield corner spots, along with first base and DH.
But Shaw had quite a season on the farm in 2019. Between Double-A and Triple-A for the San Francisco Giants,...
With spring training set to start in about two months - if it does start on time - the Orioles have a host of questions without answers and issues to address.
Nothing new here. Baseball rosters are always changing and few teams have most of their key questions resolved before Christmas in any given year.
So here are a few O's questions out there where we wait on answers.
Who plays shortstop?: After the trade of José Iglesias, the Orioles have a bit of a hole in an infield in transition....
Over the years, we've seen organizations like the Orioles handle young pitchers on the farm in a similar fashion when it came to bumping up their innings totals each season as they approach the majors. But without minor league games in 2020, now the math has been altered.
A pitcher slated to throw 100 innings this summer didn't get those innings in. At least not in a minor league game. But maybe he got in half that many - perhaps even more - at an alternate site or on his own throwing to...
Right-hander Mac Sceroler has got a decent four-pitch mix and an uncle who has helped shape his career and is well known to Orioles fans. He had a strong 2019 season, but when spring training begins, the 25-year-old will be trying to make the jump from the high Single-A Florida State League to the American League.
One of the O's two Rule 5 picks, along with right-hander Tyler Wells, Sceroler was the No. 5 pick of the 18 major league-phase players taken. The Orioles selected him from the...
Ryan Mountcastle was one of the club's better hitters during the shortened 2020 season. He arrived in the majors with an Aug. 21 call-up and sure did not disappoint with his play and production after that.
Mountcastle has been moving onward and upward at a steady pace since the Orioles selected him in the First-Year Player Draft.
2015: O's select him No. 36 overall out of Hagerty (Fla.) High School.2016: He spends his entire first full year at Single-A Delmarva, batting .281/.319/.426.2017:...
If we are to presume that two slots in the 2021 Orioles rotation are pretty much set and two others are somewhat set, that still leaves at least one spot open in the starting five for next season.
The Orioles have some decisions to make before opening day next season, whenever that turns out to be. Do Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer return to the rotation where they ended last summer and join mainstays John Means and Alex Cobb? Where does this leave Jorge López? Can one or both of the Rule 5...
One of the newest Orioles is an accomplished minor league hitter with power who has gotten just 72 at-bats over two seasons in the majors. He's a former hockey player who grew up a diehard Red Sox fan living just outside of Boston. And even though he comes from the San Francisco Giants, a club across the country, he has ties to the Orioles. He can't wait to reunite with some of the club's players.
Chris Shaw, a 27-year-old, lefty-hitting outfielder and first baseman, was designated for...
When asked about possibly dealing right-handed starting pitcher Alex Cobb before or during the 2021 season, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias made it sound like he does not expect that to happen.
"First of all, he's serving a very important role on our team stabilizing our rotation with the young guys, mentoring the young guys, and we're planning on keeping him all year and would be thrilled if he contributed and is healthy again like he was last year and...
Taking a page from the School of Roch blog, today I'm trying to answer some of your minor league questions. Some you have specifically asked and some I'm pretty sure you may be curious about.
How did you feel about Frederick losing its O's affiliation this week? In a word, sad. I worked at WFMD Radio in Frederick out of college from 1982 into 1987. That was even before the Keys' first year of 1989. I've been to many games there and have come to love the Frederick community and still have...
When the Orioles lost two players in the major league phase of Thursday's Rule 5 draft, it was a good news/bad news situation. On the one hand, for the first time since 2015 the O's lost a player in the Rule 5. And only five Major League Baseball clubs lost two or more players in this draft. On the other hand, the Orioles may have lost two players for good.
Players often get sent back to their original teams in this draft, but it's not a given, obviously. The O's never sent Richie Martin...
The Orioles added two right-handed starting pitchers today in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft. And they added two-right handed pitchers and a catcher in the Triple-A phase of the draft.
While it cost $100,000 to make a pick in the major league phase and that player must stay on the selecting team's big league roster all year or be offered back to his former club, no such rules apply in the minor league phase. Each selection costs $24,000 there and the player is now fully part of the...
So yesterday, as it turned out, was the day.
We finally got some clarity on the Orioles minor leagues for 2021. We hope that we get to see a full season of baseball as the country recovers from the pandemic. What we do know now is the likely makeup of the O's farm moving forward.
Four teams were invited to be O's full-season affiliates. They are Triple-A Norfolk, Double-A Bowie, high Single-A Aberdeen and low Single-A Delmarva. Major League Baseball is asking the clubs to sign Professional...
The Orioles today announced invitations for their four full-season affiliates for the 2021 season. They have invited the Norfolk Tides to continue as their Triple-A affiliate and the Bowie Baysox to remain their Double-A team. They invited their previously short-season Single-A team, the Aberdeen IronBirds, to serve as their high Single-A affiliate and the Delmarva Shorebirds to remain as their low Single-A club.
O's executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias confirmed yesterday...
The Single-A Frederick Keys will not be part of the Orioles organization in the 2021 season, an industry source confirmed today. The Keys, who have been an O's affiliate since 1989, will become the sixth team in the MLB Draft League, a new summer amateur wood-bat league expected to attract draft-eligible players.
Baseball America was the first to report the news about Frederick. It appears that Frederick may still have longshot hopes to be an affiliate for some organization in 2021. The Keys...
Baseball America recently reported that baseball officials have tweaked the restructuring of the minor leagues. Previously, each organization was expected to have five domestic farm clubs - four full-season teams and one complex-based team. That is a Rookie-level club playing at their spring training complex.
But Baseball America reported that officials are now expected to allow clubs to field two complex-based clubs. This would allow organizations with two such teams to employ as many as 180...
When the Orioles traded shortstop José Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels last week for minor league pitchers Garrett Stallings and 19-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Jean Pinto, it was clear that executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias was a fan of Stallings' work in the Southeastern Conference.
The Orioles did their homework on Stallings and his three years in the SEC. The pitcher did some homework of his own on his new team. He knew some of the four Angels minor league...
For 14 straight years, the Orioles have made a pick in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft. The streak may well be extended this Thursday during the latest Rule 5 draft.
Will the Orioles be looking for infielders after non-tendering Hanser Alberto and trading José Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels? J.J. Cooper of Baseball America said if the O's want to add an infielder, the Rule 5 may be a good place to look.
"If you want infielders, I do think it's a pretty good Rule 5 class for...
When he arrived at the Orioles' alternate camp at Double-A Bowie on Aug. 7, he became the youngest player on the field there at 19. But also among those with one of the potentially brightest futures. He would face pitchers more advanced than he would have been facing in a normal 2020 season, but that would also eventually prove a great benefit.
And the fact that shortstop Gunnar Henderson was holding his own by the end of that camp was further verification that the Orioles made a solid draft...
We hear from Orioles fans here every day, getting constant and steady feedback on the team and the moves it makes.
Today is a bit different. Different in that I'm seeking your grades today on a scale of one to 10 on the O's rebuilding efforts. With a grade of one being terrible, not a good place at all. And 10 being great, everything is going in a wonderful direction.
Put another way:
2 - Way below average4 - A bit below average6 - A bit above average8 - Well above average, very strong10 -...
With the trade of José Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels this week, who will play shortstop for the 2021 Orioles is an unanswered question right now. But the future O's shortstop may currently be in the organization.
Over his first two drafts, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has drafted five shortstops. In 2019, three of his top six picks were shortstops, and in 2020 two of his first four selections were. Elias has also acquired two shortstops the club likes...