More with Hobgood
Earlier today in this space we published an article on O's pitcher Matt Hobgood.
The 19-year-old right hander was taken with the 5th pick in round one of last June's draft. He went 1-2, 4.73 in eight starts last summer at Bluefield. After the year he was named as the 4th best prospect in the Appalachian League by Baseball America.
Hobgood has joined other pitchers that have reported early to the O's minor league camp in Sarasota, Florida. Here are some more comments from an interview...
As he gets ready to begin his 10th season as an Oriole, Brian Roberts says he's excited to see how some of the young O's players progress this year.
He's also excited to see the O's new spring training digs in Sarasota.
"To me it (the new facility) is re-energizing. We are looking forward to having the major and minor league guys in the same spot so we can get to know some of the minor league players. There are so many benefits to this move for us," Roberts said Wednesday during his...
The O's today released their minor league spring training games schedule.
As I mentioned in a post last week, the Triple-A and Double-A clubs will play their home games at the Ed Smith Complex, while the class A clubs will play their home games at the Buck O'Neil Complex at Twin Lakes Park.
Date Club Opponent Time Location
March 17 AAA/AA Tampa Bay 1:00 Ed Smith Complex
A @Tampa Bay 1:00 Port Charlotte
March 18 AAA/AA @Tampa Bay 1:00 Port Charlotte
A Tampa...
He has won three batting titles, two straight Gold Gloves and is the reigning American League Most Valuable Player.
He has done all this before his 27th birthday.
Joe Mauer is baseball's best catcher and an amazing force on offense and defense. He is also said to be a great guy, one that will likely never show up in the headlines to discredit his team or town.
The question is - will he continue to destroy AL pitching as a member of the Minnesota Twins beyond this season? He can be a free...
Give Yankees general manager Brian Cashman credit. He took time this week to go on the Scott Garceau show on MASN and 105.7 FM, the Fan, appearing on the Orioles flagship radio and TV outlets.
Cashman, I'm sure knowing what audience he was speaking to, was very enthusiastic in his comments about the Orioles.
Yet his comments sounded quite sincere and he didn't just seem to be saying the politically correct thing about a division opponent.
You be the judge.
Here is an excerpt of...
There are many clichés in sports and certainly in baseball, too.
"You win with pitching and defense."
"It's a marathon, not a sprint."
"You can never have enough pitching."
"A walk's as good as a hit."
OK that last one is from little league and not heard too often in the American League.
Here's one that is just not true.
"As a young player, he will only get better."
Oh really. If that were a truism, every young talent on every team would put up better...
Almost no matter how you look at it, Robbie Widlansky had a remarkable season in 2009. One that began with disappointment in April and ended with a Carolina League batting title.
For an encore, he'll try to put up numbers this year at Bowie as he's likely to start the season in the Double-A Eastern League.
The lefty hitter, an O's 11th-round draft pick in 2007 out of Florida Atlantic, struggled in spring training last year. When time came for full-season clubs to head north in April, he...
Baseball America released its 21st annual top 100 Prospects list on Tuesday, the publication's ranking of the best talent in baseball among minor leaguers or players with less than 130 Major League at bats, 50 innings or 30 big league appearances.
Four Orioles made the list with Brian Matusz at number 5, Josh Bell at 37, Zach Britton at 63 and Jake Arrieta at 99.
Co-Editor Will Lingo was one of four that selected the list. I talked with Lingo about the list, the O's on it and the Orioles...
If you want to pick a pitcher who could have a breakout year in the O's minor leagues this season, you could do a lot worse than selecting Rick Zagone.
The 23-year-old lefty went 5-8, 4.89 last year in 25 starts covering 131 innings between Delmarva and Frederick.
He started well, going 4-3, 1.92 through May with Delmarva. And he finished very strong, pitching to an ERA of 2.41 over his last three Frederick starts.
In those three outings he pitched 18 2/3 overpowering innings with 26...
To me, some fans have misunderstood Andy MacPhail's comments from last October when he said Dave Trembley would be judged on wins and losses starting this year.
How many more wins does MacPhail expect from the O's this year?
Good luck getting an answer to that question. He is not ready to put a number on it and why would he? You don't want to aim too high or shoot too low. He said he wants "meaningful improvement."
First, let's go back to last October and here are some of...
While fans ponder if the Orioles can make a run for .500 or better this year, there are plenty of reasons to follow the O's in the minors this season as well.
Some delight in pointing out negatives surrounding the club and, after 12 straight losing seasons, there are plenty of issues to overcome and problems in the O's past.
But the Orioles are on the move in the minors and now considered by most to have one of the ten best farm systems in the game. A lot of that talent found its way to...