After strong springs, some Orioles will still start in the minors

SARASOTA, Fla. - As the Orioles 2019 spring training camp comes to a close today, it's been a camp where many young players have shown some real talent. They thrived under the relaxed, yet intense atmosphere that manager Brandon Hyde and his coaches created.

Frankly, some of the same young players, for whatever reason, could not play as relaxed last year. The new staff gets solid grades in this regard.

We saw players like Austin Hays, Chance Sisco, Yusniel Diaz, Anthony Santander, Cody Carroll, Evan Phillips, Josh Rogers and more play some very good baseball under the Florida sun. But all those players and more will start the 2019 season in the minor leagues. All have been removed from the major league spring roster.

Tanner Scott was also sent out yeserday and earlier so was Branden Kline, Yefry Ramirez, Ryan Mountcastle and others that are ticketed to start the new season on the farm.

In many respects, the beginning of this season might be more exciting for fans if some of these players were on the major league roster. Most will be during the coming season, but they aren't on that roster now.

But, with their stated desire to keep all the talent they can, the O's will start with both Rule 5 picks with their team on opening day and both Richie Martin and Drew Jackson earned their roster spots. The club may also carry pitcher Pedro Araujo for 17 days to satisfy his Rule 5 status.

Those that didn't make the opening day roster were sent down for various reasons, but more seasoning and time to further their development on the farm are reasons that apply to just about all of them. What they have to do now is take their strong springs and roll that into games in the International League and/or Eastern League. Finish off their development, polish their games and force their way back.

In some respects it doesn't seem fair that some players did all they could to make a roster they won't make. They can't get discouraged by that. The big leagues are not for the weak minded. Look around the majors and many other teams sent out some of their top prospects as well.

The Orioles are going younger starting in 2019. It's just not starting from the first game of the 2019 season.

One last game to go: I will have another broadcast today on Orioles.com at 1 p.m. to wrap up what has been a fun and busy spring for me. We've had 15 games on Orioles.com this spring. We were slated for 16, but there was one rainout.

Right-hander Dylan Bundy (1-0, 7.94 ERA) gets the start for the Birds versus the Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler (1-1, 2.25 ERA). Bundy allowed just one run and five hits Wednesday against Boston in his last outing.

The Orioles are 12-16-3 heading into today's finale. They are 5-9-1 at home and 7-7-2 on the road. They are 0-5-1 over their past six games with their last win coming a week ago today by a 14-1 score in Lakeland against the Tigers.