Colton Cowser has received his first honor.

Are there more in his future?

The Major League Baseball Players Association has chosen Cowser as American League Outstanding Rookie. The announcement came earlier today.

Cowser received the Players Choice Award over finalists Wilyer Abreu of the Red Sox and Austin Wells of the Yankees. He also is viewed as a favorite for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America award, which will be revealed on Nov. 18.

The fifth-overall pick in the 2021 draft appeared in 153 games and batted .242/.321/.447 with 24 doubles, three triples, 24 home runs and 69 RBIs over 561 plate appearances. He was chosen the AL’s Rookie of the Month in April after hitting .303/.372/.632 with seven doubles, six home runs and 18 RBIs.

The Orioles play their first spring training game on Feb. 22 against the Pirates in Sarasota. We're waiting for the report dates.

Here are a few more topics that should garner a lot of interest.

Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells.

We have a tendency to lump together players for certain reasons, like anytime that the Orioles bring two Rule 5 picks to camp.

Injuries create a similar dynamic.

The notebook is cleaned out, but my mind remains cluttered.

You’ve been warned.

* Anyone with an obsession over splits is going to be drawn to Adley Rutschman.

He’s a conversation starter.

Rutschman batted .219 with a .631 OPS from the left side of the plate. However, he hit .280 with an .889 OPS from the left side as a rookie, compared to .174 with a .552 OPS from the right.

A common offseason activity for baseball media is flipping through pages of the last notebook used in search of tidbits that can be posted during slow times.

Any newsy or interesting nuggets that were missed or held. Notations that serve as reminders for later use.

I’m also reminded again that my handwriting looks like I’m wedging a pen between toes on a numb left foot.

Here’s a sampling of what I think that I found:

* A popular opinion inside the clubhouse is that Jordan Westburg provides some of the best at-bats on the team. He might string together the most among the bunch, which really impresses when you consider that 2024 was his first full season in the majors – not counting his time spent on the injured list.

It’s never too early to start thinking about spring training storylines.

That’s a lie. It’s much too early. But there’s no harm in talking about a few topics in October.

Can the roster hold Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo?

There might not be two bigger curiosities in camp than this duo. Kjerstad was the second-overall pick in the 2020 draft, and you know the rest, including the myocarditis diagnosis that pushed back everything in his career and changed his life. Mayo has risen to No. 1 prospect in the system and No. 8 in baseball per MLB Pipeline, with power that makes jaws drop.

Kjerstad has it, too, but neither one has a position waiting for him. Kjerstad was supposed to be the everyday right fielder, but he was optioned again this season and sidelined by a concussion, and Anthony Santander hit 44 home runs. Mayo went 4-for-41 with 22 strikeouts and was optioned twice, and a team trying for a deep playoff run went with more trustworthy defenders at third base.

Changes being made in the Orioles organization are happening beyond the coaching ranks and in the front office.

Head athletic trainer Brian Ebel isn’t coming back for the 2025 season, according to multiple sources. Ebel just completed his seventh season in the role and his 40^th in the organization.

Assistants Mark Shires and Patrick Wesley remain with the Orioles and could interview for the opening.

Ebel began his career in 1985 as head athletic trainer with the Rookie League Bluefield Orioles during his summer breaks from college. He was promoted to Class A Erie in 1988 and Double-A Hagerstown from 1989-91, and worked as minor league medical coordinator from 1992-96.

The Orioles put Ebel on their staff as an assistant in 1996, and he became head athletic trainer when Richie Bancells retired after the 2017 season.

Turns out, I didn’t empty the mailbag. The questions kept comin’ and I couldn’t keep up.

Here are some leftovers for breakfast to go with your cold pasta and pizza. Maybe that half-eaten sub or the sushi roll that comes with a strict deadline for consumption.

Or you could be weird and go with eggs and toast.

Zach Eflin or Grayson Rodriguez on Opening Day?
Could be none of the above. What if Corbin Burnes or another stud starter is with the team? OK, I don’t anticipate Burnes re-signing, but someone similar could get the assignment. Otherwise, unlike 2024 spring training, there might actually be a competition for the No. 1 spot.

Will Jorge Mateo be on the Opening Day roster?
First, the Orioles would have to sign him to another contract. He’s eligible for arbitration again and MLBTradeRumors.com projects his raise to $3.2 million. That’s hefty for a player who doesn’t project to start and hasn’t hit after hot starts to the season, and with the Orioles more likely to keep Ramón Urías in a utility role. And let’s not forget about the elbow surgery. We’re told that Mateo should be ready on Opening Day, but there might not be room for him.

The baseball playoffs have provided nightly thrills that seem to be directing teams and media toward cross-country travel for the World Series.

You won’t rack up any mileage reading my mailbag. It comes to you.

This is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 blockbuster. There could be some leftovers later. Don’t be too bummed if you didn’t make it into today’s edition.

Don’t be too upset with my refusal to worry about style, length, clarity, brevity and all that jazz. Also, my mailbag hits walk-off home runs and your mailbag’s dates walk off after about 15 minutes.

After the firing of two hitting coaches, will this be the strategy moving forward?
Not sure what you mean by “strategy.” Replacing coaches? Also, Matt Borgschulte took a hitting coach position with the Twins. We don’t know whether he had the option of staying, but he was allowed to pursue another opportunity. The Baltimore Banner reported that it was Fuller’s decision to leave. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall. Don't know.

Reliever Burch Smith doesn’t rate as one of the bigger decisions awaiting the Orioles. However, he’s on their agenda.

Smith is eligible for arbitration despite his name being missing from some lists. He made $1 million this year, with the Orioles paying the prorated minimum salary after selecting his contract on July 11.

The Rays signed Smith as a free agent on Jan. 2. The Marlins acquired him on March 27 in a cash transaction and released him on June 20. The Orioles signed him a week later.

The Orioles optioned Dillon Tate on the day that they brought Smith to the majors. As if you’d forget.

Smith appeared in 25 games and posted a 5.74 ERA and 1.050 WHIP in 26 2/3 innings. He started out with four scoreless appearances, allowing one hit, walking none and striking out six, but he endured some rough patches, including five home runs over seven outings.  

The month of October can be slow for teams that aren’t in the playoffs. That’s sort of the idea. The spotlight shines on the ones who remain in the championship chase. The others quietly take care of their business and wait until free agency begins and other important dates arrive. Big announcements are frowned upon.

The last Orioles transaction is left-hander Tucker Davidson choosing free agency on Oct. 7 after he was designated for assignment on Sept. 29. However, changes are being made in the front office.

According to a source, Bill Wilkes, Ben Sussman-Hyde and Sam Berk will not return to the advance scouting and strategy department in 2025.

Wilkes served as the Orioles' manager of major league strategy since October 2021 after spending three years as advance scouting operations manager. Sussman-Hyde was major league video/run creation strategist manager after three years as major league video/advance scouting coordinator. Berk finished his first year as an advance scouting analyst after his promotion from advance scouting fellow.

Director of baseball strategy Brendan Fournie remains in the department.

Money will be spent over the winter, the first under the new ownership group. The Orioles could have 16 players eligible for arbitration and raises are coming. They will check the free-agent market for upgrades. They could inherit contracts through trades that bump up the payroll, as they did with starters Corbin Burnes and Zach Eflin. Other contracts will drop from the books.

This is business as usual. But fans want to know about the possibility of the unusual.

Will the Orioles extend some of their young players to keep them under team control and away from free agency?

An absolute, crystal-clear answer isn’t forthcoming, but it remains a topic that periodically is tossed at executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. Other teams do it. The Orioles have their obvious candidates from a farm system that previously was ranked first in baseball.

Elias appeared on a recent edition of the New York Post podcast “The Show” and indicated again that the club has talked about it. However, Elias isn’t going to share too much with the public for the same reasons that he’s stated in the past – it can only hurt the club and could impact an agent’s trust in him.

Who have you got in the World Series?

How much do you care after the Orioles lost in the Wild Card?

They’re busy reconstructing the coaching staff after moving on from co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller, bench coach Fredi González and major league coach José Hernández, and after co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte returned to the Twins. But there’s lots more to keep them preoccupied this month and beyond.

Roster decisions are on the agenda, of course, and the following are included:

What to do with Emmanuel Rivera.

Colton Cowser has a chance to be special in two more ways in 2024.

Cowser is trying to become the first Orioles outfielder chosen as the American League’s Rookie of the Year since Al Bumbry in 1973. Bumbry is remembered as a center fielder but he made 58 starts in left and 24 in right. He didn’t have more than one start in center until 1976 – making 53 in center and left.

Infielder Gunnar Henderson was named Rookie of the Year in 2023, reliever Gregg Olson in 1989, infielder Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982 and designated hitter/ first baseman Eddie Murray in 1977.

The Orioles never had a left fielder win a Gold Glove, but Cowser is a finalist. Rawlings began distinguishing outfield positions in 2011, but eight-time winner Paul Blair was a center fielder.

(Props if you remember the one game that Blair played at third base in 1968. He didn’t start but he totaled eight innings and committed an error.)

Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle is a repeat finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award, another nod to his immense improvement at a position that he had to learn. His fourth and final position as a professional.

Rookie Colton Cowser, the fifth-overall pick in the 2021 draft, was chosen as a finalist in left field to give the club multiple representatives.

The Orioles’ last season with multiple winners was 2014 with shortstop J.J. Hardy, center fielder Adam Jones and right fielder Nick Markakis.

Catcher Adley Rutschman was a finalist last year but didn’t make it onto the 2024 list. Left fielder Austin Hays also represented the Orioles last fall, losing to the Guardians’ Steven Kwan, but he was traded to the Phillies at the deadline.

Shortstop Gunnar Henderson seemed like a lock earlier in the season to at least become a finalist, if not win the award, but he fell into a fielding slump, finished with 25 errors, and was excluded. The Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., the Yankees’ Anthony Volpe and the Guardians’ Brayan Rocchio are the last shortstops standing.

The Orioles aren’t ignoring their minor league rosters and the building of depth. Their offseason business is spread widely.

Catcher David Bañuelos is staying in the organization on another minor league deal, according to an industry source. The agreement, completed last night, includes an invitation to spring training.

He could have become a minor league free agent five days after the World Series, but the Orioles started negotiations early.

The sides struck their original deal on Dec. 30, 2023. It didn’t take as long in 2024.

Bañuelos hopped on and off the 40-man roster a few times this season. His first and only major league at-bat came on April 16 against the Twins. He flied to right field in the ninth inning.

The changes coming to the Orioles coaching staff will be more extensive than anticipated earlier this week.

The co-hitting coach arrangement with Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte is completely gone. The Orioles aren’t retaining Fuller, and a source confirmed today that Borgschulte is returning to the Twins organization.

Borgschulte was Triple-A St. Paul’s hitting coach in 2021 before the Orioles hired him. He’s accepted a position as a Twins hitting coach.

Minnesota is shaking up its staff by moving on from hitting coaches David Popkins and Rudy Hernandez and assistant Derek Shomon.

The Orioles are down to offensive strategy coach Cody Asche, who pretty much served as a third hitting coach. They haven’t confirmed the departures or how the staff will be structured in 2025.

The Orioles have removed three coaches from their staff. That’s one more than they did after winning 101 games and the division title in 2023, returning Chris Holt to an exclusive role as director of pitching, and dismissing assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes.

The trend continues of making changes under executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde. They’ve been together for six seasons and the staff hasn’t stayed the same, though it came really close in 2023.

Hirings were made later than usually for the 2019 season after Hyde’s hiring a month earlier. You have a good memory if you can recite them. Only Tim Cossins remains as major league field coordinator/catching instructor, though he’s relocated from the dugout to the bullpen.

More emphasis was placed on experienced veterans like pitching coach Doug Brocail, hitting coach Don Long and first base coach/outfield instructor Arnie Beyeler. José Flores was named third base coach/infield instructor, replacing Bobby Dickerson after entire staff had been retained for 2018.

Howie Clark stayed as assistant hitting coach but was gone by 2020. John Wasdin was promoted to bullpen coach after spending the past two years as minor league pitching coordinator. José Hernández was major league coach, changed titles later, went back to this one and lasted until Friday.

The offseason halts play for the Orioles but can't stop the mailbag.

This is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. Same rules apply. You ask and I try to answer. I don't believe in editing, but I believe in love.

Also, my mailbag sweeps other mailbags and yours sweeps the confetti that fell after my latest championship.

Any updates on Tyler Wells for 2025?
None. He was back with the team for the postseason but probably won’t pitch next summer until the second half. The question is how deeply into it. His return from June elbow surgery is supposed to be quicker because he underwent a revision ulnar collateral ligament procedure with UCL repair and internal brace augmentation. It requires less recovery time than the traditional Tommy John surgery. Maybe he gets back before Kyle Bradish, but a first-half return seems really optimistic.

What is the logic/benefit to having multiple hitting and/or pitching coaches? During the season whenever a pitching coach headed for the mound, it was only one of the two. It's not like they sent both out together.
That’s a funny image. The jobs are considered so big now that they require two coaches. Like having co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte working with a player in the cage during a game. Having two pitching coaches to offer instruction to the large groups at spring training. Two who can wade through all of the analytic data and video. A second coach also can focus on advanced preparation for the next opponent. Two voices with one message. The Orioles aren't bringing back co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller. Here's what manager Brandon Hyde said about the co-hitting coach approach during his season-ending press conference: "Yeah, hitting coach is a tough job, because you're never going to have 13 or whatever guys going at the same time. You're going to have three guys going, you're going to have three guys struggling, and you're going to have six guys kind of in between, and it changes every three or four days. So it's a really, really tough job. Hitting is so hard to do. I think our guys do an amazing job of preparing our guys. I think they're unbelievably likable. Guys love to hit with them in the cage. They're incredibly prepared, they're unbelievably positive, and they're living and dying with every single one of our guys’ at-bats. That's all you can ask for."

The uncertainties over the Orioles’ roster for 2025 include how they intend to use Heston Kjerstad. Will he receive an opportunity to play every day, no matter the matchup, and how many starts will he get in the outfield?

Some stability would be a nice advancement for the second-overall draft pick in 2020.

Kjerstad was optioned multiple times and had multiple stints on the concussion injured list. He totaled 39 games and 114 plate appearances, batting .253/.351/.394, and made his second playoff roster.

It’s hard to label Kjerstad’s usage as a platoon because he didn’t play regularly, but he had only 16 at-bats against left-handers and collected six hits.

Manager Brandon Hyde was asked at his season-ending media session about platooning some of the younger hitters.

The Orioles are making multiple changes to their coaching staff following their elimination in the Wild Card series.

According to a source, the club isn’t bringing back co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller, bench coach Fredi González and major league coach José Hernández. The search begins for their replacements.

Fuller served as full-season hitting coordinator and Double-A Bowie’s hitting coach in 2021 before his promotion to the Orioles. The offense slumped in the second half this season, batting .246/.319/.412 after the break, .238/.307 /.395 over the last two months and struggling to produce with runners in scoring position. Injuries to Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías were contributing factors.

The lull carried into the playoffs. The Orioles scored one run in the two losses to Kansas City that resulted in their second consecutive sweep.

Matt Borgschulte was hired as co-hitting coach in 2022, coming from the Twins organization, and he remains on the staff. Unknown is whether he'll operate solely or again be paired with another coach.