Kevin Gausman is getting a rep for asking questions, so I asked him about it

I don't know if he has a future career as a reporter or talk show host, but Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman is developing a reputation as someone that asks a lot of questions.

He gets praised for that because it shows he wants to learn and is not afraid to speak up.

When I interviewed O's pitching coach Dave Wallace over the winter, he talked about this.

"What I like about Kevin is he's probably the most inquisitive of all the young guys," Wallace said. "Almost every day when he is not pitching, he'll ask questions on the bench. Very bright, very smart, very talented. Not satisfied with anything he does. He wants to get better. He wants to be real good."

Has Gausman always been so inquisitive?

"When it comes to something that I am passionate about, I am constantly wanting to learn," Gausman said. "I think I just watch the game and come up with questions. I sit and watch and random questions will pop in my mind. And I respect, Dave and Dom (Chiti) and Buck (Showalter) so much that if I have a question, I'm going to go ask them. They've been around the game so much longer than I have. Some of the questions may not even be about baseball, just about life. Guess I've always been curious."

Speaking of curiosity, we are all waiting to see if Gausman can take his game to another level this year. What will he need to improve on to do just that?

"I think consistency with my breaking ball is going to be huge this season," he said. "And also there will be guys making adjustments because of how I pitched them last year. But I'm excited about that. I'm excited to continue to learn and get better. Learn from all these guys."

Probably ask them some questions, too. One might be how many innings he can pitch this year. After throwing 166 last year, counting the minors and the playoffs, he should have reached the point where the club doesn't have to limit or monitor the innings much this year.

"I think so, but to some extreme it may be still there," Gausman said. "I don't think they'd let me get over 200 this year. If I feel good, I feel like I could go 200-plus. That is obviously what everyone is trying to get to. But if they feel it's a health concern, I could see them having an innings limit."

Before you can say it, I will. One question Gausman might be asking right now is, "Am I going to be on the team?" We all are waiting to find out if he is going to be in the rotation, in the bullpen or at Triple-A Norfolk when the new season begins on Monday.

Podcast with a Pastor: This was a first me but I took part in a podcast this week with Pastor Greg Dutcher and Nathan Bell from Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, Md. If you have a lot of time on your hands you can click here to listen. It takes nearly an hour and the pastor grilled me! It was great fun, we talked on several topics and you can forward into the podcast several minutes to get more and more baseball talk as we went on, including a preview of the 2015 season. Thanks to Pastor Greg and Nathan for inviting me to join them.