With Orioles pitchers and catchers reporting next Tuesday to spring training, we're less than a week away now. The first spring game is just over two weeks away on Feb. 22.
So with that all coming fast, let's take a look today at a few more random spring questions. They may not be the biggest facing the team, but just a few questions and topics to be considered over the next few weeks and leading into a new season.
Earlier we looked at a few spring topics in this entry to include a discussion...
Will the Orioles offense be better in 2020? Full seasons from players including Anthony Santander and Austin Hays and others could help that.
While the Orioles offense was better in the 2019 second half, it ranked mostly from 11th to 13th in the American League in various categories for the full season.
Here is a look at some of them with Major League Baseball average and where the Orioles ranked in the American League:
Runs per game: MLB average was 4.83, O's at 4.50 (11th in AL). Batting...
The Orioles have now signed a total of 34 players in an international amateur signing class that is the biggest in team history and has a chance to grow even larger. The Orioles announced 27 signings on July 2 and on Jan. 24 they announced seven more 16-year-old players signed out of the Dominican Republic.
The totals now show 23 players from the Dominican Republic, eight from Venezuela and one each from Aruba, the Bahamas and Colombia. Of the 34, the Orioles have signed 19 pitchers (14...
Next week, Orioles pitchers and catchers will report to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., for spring training. Late next month, a new regular season will begin. It's coming fast.
Today we ponder some random questions and topics that will be getting scrutiny in spring training.
Will Alex Cobb be healthy?: The answer seems to be most definitely yes. Now the Orioles need to keep it that way and see if they can get Cobb pitching as he did in the second half of the 2018 season.
Unable to pitch on...
Today, on Super Bowl Sunday, let's talk some baseball. Seems appropriate even on such a big day for football as Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota, Fla., a week from Tuesday.
Today we're looking back at a few stories published here in recent weeks. Feel free to post some comments on those stories and/or present any other O's comments and questions.
The crack of the bat will soon be heard under the Florida sun.
In this story, published Jan. 1, we began the new year looking ahead...
When the Orioles and their fans dream on a better future for the team - one that includes that elite pipeline - they surely dream of having some young pitchers come to the majors and hit it big.
Any pitcher who contributes is important - starter or bullpen - but all teams covet young pitching that can become top-of-the-rotation starters. If you can produce a true No. 1 starter you've hit the jackpot.
No doubt fans are hopeful that young pitchers such as 21-year-old left-hander DL Hall and...
By now, many fans have probably heard about what another fan did. That fan is 54-year-old Tony Adams and he is a Houston Astros fan. In an effort to get more information about the sign-stealing scandal, he went through 58 of the Astros' 2017 home games and cataloged the sound of a trash can being hit.
Banging on a trash can was one way Houston players tipped teammates at the plate as to which pitch to expect. Someone would watch the catcher's signs on a television monitor, and before the...
When the Orioles agreed to a minor league deal Tuesday with lefty Wade LeBlanc, they added a veteran with good command and an ERA that from 2016-2018 was just a bit better than league average.
The Orioles assume little risk here with a minors deal and one that will reportedly pay LeBlanc $800,000 in the majors. The Athletic reported he has an opt-out clause for March 19. On that date he can ask for his release and the Orioles would have 48 hours to add him to the 40-man roster or release...
When the Orioles released their list of 23 non-roster spring training invitees yesterday it included a name from their farm system that has flown under the radar.
He was doing it to an extent even yesterday when bigger names and higher-ranked prospects were listed. But there with Adley Rutschman, Zac Lowther, Yusniel Diaz, Alex Wells and the rest was the name of pitcher Cristian Alvarado.
The right-hander, who turned 25 on Sept. 20, had a breakout season in 2019 in the Double-A Bowie Baysox...
Could the Orioles' pursuit of rotation help lead them back to signing right-hander Andrew Cashner as a free agent for the second time?
Before the 2018 season, they signed him to a two-year deal worth $16 million with an option for 2020. The Boston Red Sox acquired him from the Orioles in a trade in July and did not pick up that option. Cashner is available and can be an Oriole again.
The Birds could be encouraged to sign him when they look at how well he pitched for the Orioles last summer. Or...
During a 17-minute interview Thursday night on 105.7 The Fan's "Orioles Hot Stove Show," Chris Davis talked about ways he is trying to get his bat productive again.
During that interview, Davis told us he has not overhauled his swing, but has gotten bigger and stronger over the winter in an attempt to improve his game and drive the ball better.
In 2019, over 352 plate appearances (his fewest since 2011), Davis hit .179/.276/.326 with nine doubles, 12 homers, 36 RBIs and 139 strikeouts. He...
Another major outlet released its national top 100 prospects list on Saturday afternoon. During a live telecast on MLB Network, MLBPipeline.com unveiled its new top 100, and the Orioles have placed four young players on the list.
Catcher Adley Rutschman, taken with the No. 1 overall draft pick last June, ranks No. 4 on this list. The only players ranked higher were Tampa Bay shortstop Wander Franco at No. 1, Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux at No. 2 and Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis...
With some excitement in the Orioles organization for young talents like catcher Adley Rutschman and pitchers Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall, who have made the Baseball America top 47, and with Ryan Mountcastle closing in on the majors, what's going on with outfielder Yusniel Diaz?
He is far from forgotten, although he did drop out of the Baseball America list of national top 100 prospects that was released this week.
Diaz was the centerpiece of the five-player trade in July 2018 that sent Manny...
With high strikeout numbers but declining home run numbers, the Orioles' Chris Davis has recorded an OPS of just .539 in 2018 and .601 last year.
In 2019, over 352 plate appearances (his fewest since 2011), Davis hit .179/.276/.326 with nine doubles, 12 homers, 36 RBIs and 139 strikeouts.
By September he was a part-time player, and he made just nine starts in that month. With three years left on the big contract he signed before the 2016 season, Orioles fans are wondering if Davis has made any...
With pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training in a few weeks, the Orioles today added some pitching and catching depth with a pair of minor league signings.
They added right-handed pitcher Brady Rodgers, 29, and right-handed hitting catcher Taylor Davis, 30. Both could get spring training invites, although the club has not announced that group of players yet.
The Houston Astros drafted Rodgers in round three in 2012 after a stellar career at Arizona State. That was at a time when...
When Baseball America released its latest top 100 prospects list on Wednesday, the Orioles had three players who made it and one that just missed.
Catcher Adley Rutschman was No. 5, right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez No. 35 and left-hander DL Hall No. 47. Those are the club's last three top draft picks, with Hall taken 21st overall in 2017, Rodriguez 11th in 2018 and Rutschman was the overall No. 1 pick last June.
When the 2019 season ended, Baseball America had tweaked its list a bit from...
The remaining 63-game suspension of New York Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán will hurt the Yankees in the 2020 season, but could help them down the road.
Earlier this month Germán was suspended under Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy. The suspension is stemming from an incident in September involving Germán and his girlfriend. No criminal charges were filed against Germán, who has agreed not to appeal the suspension.
Germán was hit with an 81-game unpaid...
The Double-A Bowie Baysox had a pitching rotation that was fun to watch last year on the O's farm. On its way to the Eastern League championship series for just the second time, Bowie put up some very strong pitching numbers.
The Baysox's team ERA of 3.18 led the league and set a record. So did the club's WHIP of 1.18, which was so strong, it was the best in the Eastern League since 2001. Bowie ranked second with 16 shutouts on its way to a 76-64 record. A record that looks much better when...
It is an easy area to mark for improvement in the 2020 season: the Orioles bullpen. The 'pen pitchers posted a 5.63 ERA to rank 15th in the American League last year. The year before that, their ERA ranked 14th, but it was much better at 4.78.
The bullpen WHIP was almost equal going from 1.50 in 2018 to 1.51 in 2019. The OPS against went from .776 to .832. The team 'pen had a better strikeout rate last year going from 8.12 to 8.60.
But the improvement moving forward could simply come from...
I don't know if it's back by popular demand - I hope so - but it is back. Today we present the latest edition of "10 questions for O's fans." So answer one or all 10, provide short answers or long, respond to other readers' answers. It's all good.
This is the season-is-close edition to be followed in a few weeks by the early spring training edition.
And the season is indeed close. Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., on Feb. 11 and the first workout...