The Orioles today announced that Catie Griggs will serve as the first female president of business operations in team history. She begins with the club on Aug. 19.

On Friday, Griggs resigned her position as president of business operations for the Seattle Mariners. The North Carolina native cited a desire to be closer to family on the East Coast. Griggs arrived in Seattle in July 2021 after four seasons as the chief business officer for Atlanta United in Major League Soccer. She oversaw all aspects of the Mariners organization outside of baseball operations.

“Catie’s track record of success, diverse business experience, and commitment to excellence made her the perfect fit to lead the next chapter of our business operation in Baltimore,” said Orioles owner and control person David M. Rubenstein. "The entire Orioles organization welcomes Catie as we continue to elevate every aspect of our operation.”

Griggs managed all aspects of the Mariners' business operations, including investments to improve technology, operations and fan experience at T-Mobile Park. In addition, she led the way as T-Mobile Park became the first venue to host both Major League Baseball's All-Star Week (2023) and the National Hockey League Winter Classic (2024) within a calendar year. Combined, the two events generated more than $80 million in revenue for the city of Seattle and directly engaged more than 300,000 fans. 

Before joining the Mariners, Griggs spent the previous four years (2017-2021) helping build Atlanta United into one of the premier MLS franchises. She was chief business officer, overseeing all aspects of the Atlanta United front office. Prior to Atlanta United, Griggs was with Futures Sport & Entertainment, as well as Turner Broadcasting.

When he got off to a sensational start to his 2024 season, outfielder Colton Cowser was showing for the first time that he might be a good big league player. Showing it, not in minor league games, but at the big league level.

But even he had to realize it might not always go as well as it was then, or he might not be able to make it look as easy as he did then.

Named the American League Rookie of the Month for March/April, he ended that period batting .303/.372/.632/.1.004 with six homers and 18 RBIs.

He ended April ninth in the AL in FanGraphs.com Wins Above Replacement among league position players.

But struggles would follow that torrid hitting stretch. While his OPS for this year of .740 puts him 13 percent above AL average, his OPS was .580 in May, .679 in June and is .490 so far in July.

In the final game of a three-game series and six-game road trip, the Orioles (56-33) play at Oakland (34-57) today. The O's won the series-opener 3-2 Friday and lost 19-8 on Saturday. 

That game produced season-highs or really lows for the Orioles.

* It was the most runs they have allowed this season, topping the 14 from June 21 at Houston.

* It is the most runs the Orioles have allowed since a 22-7 loss on Sept. 12, 2021 against Toronto.

* The Orioles also allowed season highs in hits with 18 (the previous most was 15) and homers, allowing five, one more than the four they gave up to Texas on June 29.

BOWIE, Md. – You won’t find his name on those top 30 prospect lists. He doesn’t throw a blazing fastball. He played college ball at the Div. 1 level and was not a high draft pick. 

But what Bowie bullpen right-hander Dylan Heid does have is very impressive stats and a very unique pitch he throws on rare occasions, a pitch not seen much anymore in pro baseball.

The O’s selected Heid (pronounced Hyde-like the O’s skipper) in Round 11 out of Pitt-Johnston of the 2021 draft. There he was a starter with big stats then too. As a senior in 2021, he went 7-2 with a 1.37 ERA. Over 59 1/3 he walked 15 and fanned 105 and had a seven-inning no-hitter on his resume.

This season with Double-A Bowie, Heid, 26, is 4-2 with a 1.11 ERA in 25 games. He pitched three hitless, scoreless innings earlier this week versus Richmond and added 1 1/3 scoreless in Bowie's extra-innings loss last night. For the year over 40 2/3 innings, he has allowed just 22 hits with 14 walks to 40 strikeouts, along with a 0.89 WHIP and .157 average against. Lefty batters are hitting .154 off him and right-handers are at .169.

Over his past 14 games, Heid has allowed two earned runs in 25 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.70 in this span.

With Friday's 3-2 win at Oakland, the Orioles improved to 3-1 on their West Coast road trip, winning another well pitched game. Right-hander Albert Suárez and three relievers teamed on a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

The O's wins on the trip have come via 2-0, 4-1 and 3-2 scores, so three wins allowing just three runs.

The Orioles (56-32) begin play Saturday leading the American League East by three games over the Yankees, who have gone 4-14 their past 18 games with a loss Friday to Boston.

O's starting pitchers on this trip - Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Corbin Burnes and Suárez - have allowed four runs and 12 hits and eight walks over 23 1/3 innings while striking out 28. The rotation ERA is 1.54 in this span.

O's starting pitchers have allowed two earned runs or fewer eight times over their past nine games, posting a 2.42 ERA in this stretch.

In some circles, after his struggles earlier this year in the majors with the Orioles, Jackson Holliday’s prospect status may have taken a bit of a hit. Whether it was just that other players deserved to move up or Holliday dropped a bit, he fell to second twice this season on the Baseball America top 100 list.

But he has remained No. 1 all season on the MLBPipeline.com top 100.

In June, Baseball America rated Pittsburgh right-hander Paul Skenes No. 1. He graduated from the list, however, and in an update released just days ago the publication rated Washington Nationals outfield prospect James Wood No. 1 and Holliday No. 2. Wood, who produced an OPS of 1.058 at Triple-A this year, was promoted to the majors July 1.

But Holliday, for now, remains at Triple-A and atop the MLBPipeline rankings.

Analyst Jim Callis from MLB.com and MLBPipeline.com said he didn’t see Holliday losing any prospect status, even after his 2-for-34 with the Orioles from April 10-23.

As the Orioles play the Athletics in Oakland tonight, beginning a three-game series, they can only hope this trip there goes as well as the last one to Oakland. 

Last August, they won there by scores of 9-4. 7-2 and 12-1, outscoring the A's 28-7 in the series sweep. Their batters produced 42 hits and six homers in the series batting .350 with an OPS of 1.002. Their pitchers allowed just those seven runs with a 2.25 series ERA and .632 OPS against.

The Orioles have three straight wins at Oakland by five runs or more, and their longest streak of such games versus any opponent is four. They won four in a row by five runs or more at the White Sox (1969), Royals (2002-2003) and Red Sox (2004).

The Orioles went 6-1 against Oakland last year. But the Athletics have already topped that win total, going 2-1 in a series at Baltimore April 27-29. Oakland won the series opener 3-2 in 10 innings before a 7-0 O's win and Oakland's 7-6 victory in the series finale.

The Orioles lost 7-3 yesterday at Seattle but took two of three in that series. The Orioles are 19-6-3 in series for the season and are 8-3-2 in 13 road series. They have a road record of 26-15 and are 18-10 in series-opening games. 

BOWIE, Md. - From the day they signed him to a big bonus, the largest in their international signing class in January of 2021, the Orioles envisioned this for catcher Samuel Basallo from the Dominican Republic.

Big arm and big power.

He’s thrown runners out as a catcher and mashed homers with big exit velocity with his massive raw power. He has done all that and more on the O's watch. Last year he flew up prospects lists. He began the 2023 season as the No. 15 prospect on the O’s top 30 team list. Now that is the area he is ranked in on a top 100 list.

Basallo ended the 2023 season, one where he produced a .953 OPS between Low-A Delmarva, High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie, ranked No. 46 in the top 100 by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com. Right now, he is No. 12 by MLBPipeline and No. 16 via Baseball America.

Everyone in the industry knows he’s one of baseball’s top prospects. And he is taking his talents to Arlington, Tex. on July 13 to represent the Orioles in the All-Star Futures Game.

Against a Seattle Mariners team that ranks 13^th in the American League and 27^th in the majors scoring 3.78 runs per game, the Orioles have allowed just one run in two games.

They have 2-0 and 4-1 victories at T-Mobile Park and can complete a three-game sweep today against the AL West leaders.

The Orioles look for their sixth series sweep of the year of three games or more. They swept four at Chicago versus the White Sox from May 23-26. They won four straight in Florida against the Rays from June 7-10. They have three-game sweeps over Boston, Minnesota, and Cincinnati.

They look for the sweep against a Mariners team (47-41) that has scored just five runs during a four-game losing streak. Seattle has lost seven of nine and 10 of its past 13 games. The M’s first-place lead is down to two games over the Houston Astros.

In these two games, Baltimore pitchers have allowed just seven hits in 18 innings with six walks and 24 strikeouts against the team that has struck out more than any in the majors. Seattle batters have fanned 901 times.

ABERDEEN, Md. – The art of the steal can be seen this year at Ripken Stadium and other ballparks around the High-A South Atlantic League. 

No one is getting ripped off here, but a lot of bags have been stolen.

The Orioles' Aberdeen IronBirds affiliate, using a combination of speed and smarts, is stealing bases like no other team in minor league baseball.

With three players with 30 or more steals already, Aberdeen has stolen a whopping 216 bases this year getting caught 46 times for a success percentage of 82.4.

The IronBirds are the only minor league team among 120 clubs in full season ball with 200 or more steals through Tuesday night’s games. If we take the league leading team from each of the minors’ 11 full-season leagues, only two other clubs are within 50 steals of the IronBirds.

The Orioles' six-game road trip continues tonight as the Orioles (54-31) play at Seattle (47-40) in a matchup of American League division leaders. If the O's get another win there, they will have a series victory. 

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez and three relievers teamed on a two-hit shutout as the Orioles won 2-0 in last night's series opener. Rodriguez went 6 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and four walks while recording eight strikeouts. He threw 104 pitches, three off his season high, and improved to 10-3 with a 3.45 ERA.

In two starts this year versus Seattle he has thrown 12 1/3 scoreless, allowing just three hits for an .079 average against with seven walks to 15 strikeouts.

Rodriguez produced his eighth quality start of the season and the Orioles are 11-4 in his 15 starts.

He is the third O's pitcher 24 or younger to have 10 wins in his first 15 starts of a season:

After making their first pick in the top five and twice having the No. 1 overall selection between 2019 and 2022, maybe selecting down in the MLB Draft has become the new normal in Baltimore.

The winning Orioles selected No. 17 with their top pick in 2023 and took Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. This year the Orioles top pick is No. 22 overall. It is their lowest since they selected University of Illinois right-hander Cody Sedlock No. 27 in 2016.

The four players the O’s picked high in the draft starting in 2019 in Adley Rutschman, Heston Kjerstad, Colton Cowser and Jackson Holliday, have all played for the Orioles this season.

This year the O’s have four top 100 picks with selections at No. 22, No. 32, No. 61 and No. 97. The first is their first rounder and the second the Prospect Promotion Incentive pick they got when Gunnar Henderson won Rookie of the Year last year. The third is their second-round pick and fourth will be a third-round selection.

I asked Jim Callis of MLB.com and MLBPipeline.com, how the draft looks in that 20 to 40 range?

After a much-needed off-day, the Orioles (53-31) begin a six-game West Coast road trip tonight at Seattle in a match up of first-place clubs. The trip heads to Oakland starting Friday night. 

When we last saw them, the Orioles were getting blown out 11-2 at home Sunday night by the Rangers. But the Orioles had won the first three games of that four-game series. They finished June going 17-12 and ended a run of 30 games in a 31-day span by going 18-12 (.600).

The Orioles, who lead the majors with 139 homers, were held without one in that game for just the second time in the last 29 games.

Ryan O'Hearn and Heston Kjerstad drove in the O's runs on Sunday as the Rangers outhit the Orioles 13-7.

The Orioles had their best scoring and hitting month of the year in June, averaging 5.62 runs per game and hitting 60 homers. As a team, they batted .273/.333/.513/.847 during the month. 

Double-A Bowie catcher Samuel Basallo, one of baseball’s top prospects and a shining star of the Orioles international program, was selected today to take part in the All-Star Futures Game on July 13 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex.

Basallo is the only O’s rep in the game set for 4:10 p.m. ET that will be televised live on MLB Network.

Basallo, 19, is ranked as the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect behind Jackson Holliday who played in this game last year. He is rated No. 12 in the top 100 by MLBPipeline.com and No. 18 via Baseball America.

Basallo over 68 games this season for the Baysox, is batting .278/.338/.456/.794 with 13 doubles, 11 homers, 39 runs and 34 RBIs.

He got off to a slow start but produced an OPS of .791 in May and .894 in June.

ABERDEEN, Md. - In the last two MLB Drafts, the Orioles have made 40 combined selections and 25 of them have been pitchers. But none were taken higher up the board than last year’s selection of Florida State right-hander Jackson Baumeister with the No. 63 overall pick.

He is the highest drafted pitcher taken by O's executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias since his initial O's draft in 2019.

Baumeister, 21, was selected with a Competitive Balance Round B pick, selections that were made just ahead of the third round of the draft.

After two seasons on the Seminoles staff, the Orioles took Baumeister as a draft-eligible sophomore. He did not pitch after that 2023 draft. but he has made his pro debut this year at High-A Aberdeen and is having a solid first season.

Ranked as the Orioles' No. 11 prospect by Baseball America and No. 18 via MLBPipeline.com, he is 1-2 with a 2.60 ERA. In 14 games over 55 1/3 innings he has allowed 37 hits and no homers with 35 walks and 65 strikeouts. He has a .192 average against and 1.30 WHIP for the IronBirds.

It ended with a blowout loss 11-2 last night, but for the most part the Orioles did a nice job through their extremely demanding stretch of 30 games over 31 days that ended on Sunday Night Baseball.

The team today will have its first day off since June 17 and just its second since May 30.

They played .600 ball during this run, going 18-12. When the stretch began, they were two games out of first place. As it ended, they had gained those two games back and were actually percentage points ahead of the Yankees at .631 to .628.

One reason they did well in this stretch, said veteran Ryan O’Hearn, was manager Brandon Hyde. O’Hearn said his skipper has good feel for when to push his players but also went to pull back a bit perhaps with less pregame work during a difficult stretch like the one that just ended.

“Definitely. As far as early work, batting practice, stuff like that, we’ve had many times when we kind of stepped back and had a show and go (a day with less pregame work). You know kind of taking it easy during the day and when it’s time to play the game you play the game. I think Hyde has a really good feel when it comes to that. He understands guys are grinding with tough games and tough teams and no off-days.

The Orioles were looking for their third four-game sweep of this season and third in their past 11 series since May 23. But lefty Cole Irvin’s struggles continued tonight as the Birds fell in an early hole and lost big on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”

Irvin allowed five runs over 3 2/3 innings as the Rangers scored two in the second and knocked him out during their three-run fourth. The Rangers denied the Orioles the sweep whipping the Birds 11-2 tonight in front of 23,439 in the series and homestand finale at Oriole Park.

The Orioles fall back into a first-place tie with the Yankees after New York’s win this afternoon. Baltimore is leading the American League East by percentage points at .631 (53-31) to New York’s .628 (54-32).

After just their second off-day tomorrow since May 31, the Orioles begin a West Coast swing Tuesday at Seattle and then head for Oakland.

The Orioles went 18-12 (.600) in their run of 30 games over the last 31 days.

Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson told a national TV audience watching tonight’s "Sunday Night Baseball" game on ESPN that he will take part in the Home Run Derby competition during All-Star week in Texas on Monday, July 13.

Henderson was mic'd up on the field at shortstop during the top of third inning and was asked about the Derby.

"I will be doing the Home Run Derby in Texas," he said during the broadcast.

Henderson seems to be a lock to play in the All-Star Game and may be the starting shortstop for the American League. He led AL shortstops with 2,664,120 votes when Phase 1 voting ended. Phase 2 voting is now underway where he will face Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. as voting continues to determine the starter at short. He is vying for his first career All-Star Game selection and would be the first Orioles shortstop selected to the game since Manny Machado in 2018.

Henderson began tonight batting .292/.388/.612/.1.000 with 17 doubles, four triples, 26 homers, 73 runs and 58 RBIs. He leads the major leagues in runs and FanGraph’s Wins Above Replacement (6.1) and is tied for second in home runs.

It certainly would not in any way make up for losing three straight last October in the American League Division Series. But the O's have a chance to produce a four-game sweep tonight over the Rangers on the national stage of ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball."

The Orioles (53-30) will end a seven-game homestand tonight that began with two losses but might end with five straight wins.

The Orioles tonight also end a stretch where they will have played 30 games over the last 31 days since May 31. They get another off-day, finally, on Monday. The Orioles are 18-11 (.621) during this stretch.

When it began, the Birds were 35-19 and two games out of first place. As it ends tonight, they began play Sunday 23 games over .500 and leading the AL East by one game. That is now a half-game after a Yankees win today.

Tonight the Orioles look for their sixth series sweep of the year of three games or more and their third of four games. They swept four at Chicago versus the White Sox from May 23-26. They won four in Florida against the Rays from June 7-10. They have three-game sweeps over Boston, Minnesota and Cincinnati.

The gauntlet is coming to a close for the Orioles. Starting back on May 31, they began a stretch of playing 30 games in 31 days that ends with tonight’s game versus Texas.

They have gone 18-11 in this span, and 6-2-1 in nine series, even with a five-game losing streak and being swept in Houston. Tonight they could produce their second four-game sweep of this run with an earlier one at Tampa Bay. The run includes series wins over the Braves, Phillies, Yankees, Rays and Rangers.

“I think we have handled it really well. Whether we come out 18-12 or 19-11,” Colton Cowser said this afternoon. “I think coming out of this month with a winning record with the opponents we played, especially with one off-day, it is a testament to this team and the depth that we carry.

“I think we talked about it (before it began) but not necessarily who our opponents were. It was, ‘Damn, we’ve got one off-day in June.’ But yeah, I was talking to (James) McCann and he said every year it feels like there is one month to the season and it’s kind of a gauntlet.

“After this stretch, looking at the schedule, we only play four Mondays the rest of the year. Which is kind of crazy to think about. It’s more like a minor league schedule all the sudden. We’ll take it.”