Sisco gains valuable experience, Jones robs Machado in WBC

SARASOTA, Fla. - It must be satisfying and quite encouraging for any young player at Orioles spring training to get props from manager Buck Showalter. For catcher Chance Sisco, the club's No. 1-rated prospect, those words came after Friday's game in Bradenton.

Sisco got the start against the Pirates, had an RBI single in a win and caught the first five innings. Showalter was particularly interested to see how the youngster handled Zach Britton's sinker and Britton pitched a scoreless top of the fifth on 18 pitches.

"We wanted to leave him in there to catch Zach, so that was a good look," Showalter said after the 8-6 win. "I thought Chance handled himself real well. Not that he was bad last outing, but you could tell he was a lot calmer back there and you didn't notice him, which is always a good sign for a catcher."

A non-roster invitee to spring training for the second year in a row, Sisco wants to take advantage of any opportunity he can to continue to show the Orioles his improved defense and that he can handle catching big league pitchers, even one of the game's best closers and his nasty sinker.

"Yeah, absolutely," Sisco said Saturday morning at Ed Smith Stadium. "Being able to work with them and be comfortable with them and have good, clean innings and be on the same page - it's all good. Get your feet wet in spring training.

"It's been really good here so far. Been able to work with a lot of pitchers. Been able to work with (coach) John Russell and Caleb (Joseph) even more than I did last year. A little more one-on-one time with them and it's helped me to fine-tune some things up."

A second-round pick in the 2013 draft, Sisco has risen to the top of the Orioles prospect charts and this year is ranked in several top 100 national lists, as well. Sisco is rated No. 57 by Baseball America, No. 69 by ESPN and No. 99 by MLBPipeline.com. Despite those props, Sisco is more concerned with improving his game than what any analysts think about his play.

"I don't look at it, but there's no way that you can't hear about it," he said. "I hear about the rankings and all that, but I don't pay attention to it. I just try to play and have fun. The rankings won't help or hurt anything with my game. I've always had high expectations for myself. So I just try to get my job done and focus on defense and keep having good at-bats at the plate."

Sisco is a career .323/.402/.434 hitter over four minor league seasons. In 2016 with Double-A Bowie, he hit .320/.406/.422. He led the Eastern League in on-base percentage and homered in the Futures Game.

It seems likely that he begins this year at Triple-A Norfolk, where he ended last season playing in four games for the Tides. He went 4-for-16 and hit a grand slam during his Triple-A debut. Now his major league debut could come sometime this summer.

"I'm not assuming anything and will just go where they tell me to go," Sisco said. "Just want to play my game. Obviously, I'm going to try and force something to happen by just playing well every day."

Sisco agrees with scouting assessments that rate his arm strength as average (some say a tick below that), and he continues to work to improve his footwork and quicken the time in which he releases the ball on stolen base attempts. If you don't have a plus arm, you can make up time in the catch, transfer and release of the ball.

"That is about right," Sisco said of the scouting reports on his arm strength. "That is why me, J.R. (Russell) and Caleb have been working on footwork and throwing a lot lately. Trying to quicken things up and make it more smooth. That can make a huge difference."

At one time, you could find scouts that predicted that Sisco will never catch in the majors. That talk is almost gone now as he has improved over the last year or two. When you consider that he never caught regularly until his senior season in high school, he's come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. He is closer to proving his doubters wrong and this could be the year it happens.

"I have confidence in myself," Sisco said. "I knew that people didn't think I could catch. But I knew I could. And I'm still continuing to improve on things. There will always be naysayers and you can't really pay attention to it. I had just one year of catching before I got to pro ball. It was a tough transition, but that happens when you make a position change."

Sisco is enjoying his time in major league camp, soaking up all the knowledge and experience he can while here. A pro baseball career that began in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2013 has now taken him to the highest level of the minors. His chance at the majors may soon by coming.

Team USA advances: The United States has advanced to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic for the second time and a great catch by one Oriole robbing another was a key part of the victory. With Team USA leading the Dominican Republic 4-2 in the seventh inning, Manny Machado drove a ball over the fence in center field, but Adam Jones leaped, caught the ball and brought it back into play for an amazing and incredible catch. Machado tipped his cap as Team USA stayed in the lead and went on to a 6-3 win.

Giancarlo Stanton's two-run homer in the fourth gave the Americans a 4-2 lead. Team USA trailed 2-0 after the first inning, but came back with two in the third and two an inning later in eliminating the defending champions. Heading into this game we knew the stakes - winner advances, loser eliminated. A sellout crowd watched in Jones' hometown of San Diego.

Now the Americans advance to play Japan on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern time at Dodger Stadium. In the other semifinal game, the Netherlands plays Puerto Rico Monday night. The winners play on Wednesday for the WBC championship. Team USA has never played for the title in three previous WBC tourneys. With the Dominican Republic losing, Machado and catcher Welington Castillo will return to O's camp in Sarasota.

Mr. Jones ...
we don't know why and we don't know how. https://t.co/lS7eeaaisJ #WBC2017 pic.twitter.com/JbGgk1ma9U

-- WBC Baseball (@WBCBaseball) March 19, 2017

That blast. The catch. @Giancarlo818 and @SimplyAJ10 talk with @jonmorosi about their heroics. #WBC2017 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/WCJBjs58np

-- MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 19, 2017

After final out, Manny Machado paused in front of U.S. dugout to wish Team USA well in LA. Incredibly classy by one of @MLB's great players.

-- Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 19, 2017