Roch Kubatko

A little more on Mullins

October 08, 2020, 10:55am

Orioles

Which player led the Orioles in WAR in 2020? If you trust STATS, it's outfielder Cedric Mullins at 1.4. If you claim that you predicted it back in March, well, no one believes you. If you can explain why FanGraphs.com gave Mullins a 0.6 WAR and Baseball-Reference.com gave him a 0.4, I'll try to stay awake. Eyes wide open but likely to roll. Mullins recorded five Outs Above Average this season, tied for second-most in the majors by an outfielder per Statcast. His 95 percent success rate ranked...

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Crunching more Orioles numbers

October 08, 2020, 6:08am

Orioles

Any reference to Orioles left-hander Bruce Zimmermann must be accompanied by his hometown or residence. Otherwise, you're a slacker and ill-equipped to join the discussion. He's a Baltimore native. He lives in Ellicott City. He works out in Elkridge. I'm still tracing the locations where he dines. Zimmermann attended Loyola Blakefield High School and was chosen for the Brooks Robinson All-Star Game at Camden Yards, where he was named Most Valuable Pitcher for the North team. He spent two...

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More on three players attending Orioles fall instructional league

October 06, 2020, 1:03pm

Orioles

Given an opportunity to re-examine the list of players assigned to the fall instructional league, I was bound to come across a few names that prompted me to say something like, "Oh, yeah, that guy." The judges also would have accepted, "I totally forgot about that guy." Pitcher Dan Hammer struck me first. The Orioles selected Hammer in the 13th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Pittsburgh. The name alone made him a good pick. It's the first thing we...

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Five things we learned about Orioles fall instructional league

October 05, 2020, 4:59pm

Orioles

A five-item list is like air to a sportswriter. Not four, not six, not more. "Five things we learned" can't be altered or you'll be reassigned to the mailroom. And you don't get five warnings. We must have learned five things yesterday about the fall instructional league. I'll take a stab at it. * The plan to have all of the draft selections in Sarasota, Fla. was ruined. Outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the second overall pick from the University of Arkansas, can't make it to the Ed Smith...

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Crunching some Orioles numbers

October 05, 2020, 11:25am

Orioles

A pitcher's win total isn't supposed to matter, though it usually does to the pitcher. But Alex Cobb must be wondering what it's going to take for him to get a victory at Camden Yards. Since joining the Orioles in March 2018, Cobb has gone 0-11 with a 5.29 ERA in 18 starts in Baltimore. He's allowed 57 earned runs in 97 innings. And he's lost all 11 of his decisions. Because the baseball gods don't care about your feelings and an ERA above 5.00 can be just as unforgiving. Cobb posted a...

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Elias on Kjerstad's absence from fall instructional league

October 05, 2020, 10:57am

Orioles

Elias on Kjerstad's absence from fall instructional league

The opening today of the Orioles' fall instructional league camp in Sarasota, Fla., brings 55 players to the complex for workouts and perhaps games versus other teams in the area. However, this year's first-round draft pick, outfielder Heston Kjerstad, didn't make the trip. Kjerstad is unavailable due to an undisclosed "medical non-sports related reason," according to executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. The other five draft selections are in camp. The reduction in activity...

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Comparing Mountcastle to Goodwin

October 01, 2020, 4:41pm

Orioles

Ryan Mountcastle had 14 multi-hit games after joining the Orioles on Aug. 21. We knew it was a special achievement. The Orioles public relations crew has explained why. The season summary distributed to the media tells us that only one player in club history had more multi-hit games in his first 35 - the immortal Curtis Goodwin with 17 in 1995. Goodwin made his debut on June 2 and was incredible. He produced multiple hits in 10 of his first 11 games, going 21-for-43 (.489) with - wait for this...

September 29, 2020, 11:48am

Orioles

Latest look at 40-man roster and Rule 5 decisions (updated)

The task of clearing room on the 40-man roster began as the Orioles worked through the final games on their schedule. No need to wait until the last out. Pitcher Carson Fulmer, the former first-round pick of the White Sox, didn't make it through waivers. Reliever Cody Carroll passed through and was outrighted. The 40-man roster was reduced to 37 players, but the Orioles activated pitcher Kohl Stewart from the 10-day injured list yesterday, per their transactions page, and he goes back on the...

Closing arguments on bullpen role

September 28, 2020, 4:34pm

Orioles

Teams in a rebuild, and specifically the people behind it, wonder about the obsession over a defined closer for the bullpen Fans ask about it. The media tracks it. The first reliever to rise after the eighth with his club holding a slim lead is crowned. Five pitchers recorded saves for the Orioles this year and Hunter Harvey wasn't counted among them. He was supposed to handle the responsibility, according to everything written and reported over the winter and spring and during summer training...

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Giving Orioles the business now that season ended

September 28, 2020, 10:38am

Orioles

The next step after waking up without baseball is to gauge your own interest in the playoffs - hard for me to root against the Padres with those familiar faces - and wonder what's next for the Orioles beyond the fall instructional league. Will they be active at the Winter Meetings? Will there be a Winter Meetings? At least remotely, I'd assume. Hold onto that Zoom account. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias is going to determine the interest in his trade chips, including...

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Orioles move back into offseason phase

September 27, 2020, 4:00pm

Orioles

The first day without baseball. It feels like only two months ago that the Orioles were waiting to get started. I didn't like the chances of Major League Baseball making it through the 60-game season, but here we are, with 16 teams ready for the expanded playoffs. The Orioles finished with a 25-35 record, tied for fifth-worst in the majors, but stayed in contention until the final week. A nice sidebar to the main story, which was tracking the progress of top prospects who made their debuts in...

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Orioles win finale 7-5 to secure fourth place (updated)

September 27, 2020, 1:59pm

Orioles

The Orioles will not surrender fourth place. Their heels dug in one last time in 2020. The final notation on the season came this afternoon in Buffalo, where the Orioles rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the Blue Jays 7-5 at Sahlen Field. Keegan Akin surrendered a solo home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the third and a two-run shot to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., with a Randal Grichuk single in between, to destroy a 1-1 tie. But the Orioles knotted the score again with three runs in the...

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Hyde's final pregame media session of 2020

September 27, 2020, 9:44am

Orioles

Hyde's final pregame media session of 2020

The Orioles are finishing their "two-part season" today, as manager Brandon Hyde calls it. Players who were hot early and faded this month. A team that made a run at the playoffs and fell hard down the stretch. "I think a lot of guys are disappointed in the last 20 games and how they're finishing up, and that's really them putting pressure on themselves, wishing from a team aspect they could have done more to help us in the last 20 games," Hyde said today in his final pregame Zoom...

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Final Orioles lineup for 2020

September 27, 2020, 8:35am

Orioles

The 2020 season ends today for the Orioles with Keegan Akin on the mound for his sixth major league start. The Orioles are one game ahead of the Red Sox for fourth place in the American League East. Akin made his first start against the Blue Jays in Buffalo and was tagged with two unearned runs with six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He's walked one batter and struck out 15 in his last two starts over nine innings. Austin Hays is batting .388/.423/.612 (19-for-49) with three home runs and 11...

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Means finishes strong in Orioles' 5-2 loss (updated)

September 26, 2020, 5:37pm

Orioles

The penultimate game of the 2020 season found John Means on the mound again for the Orioles and Randal Grichuk out of the Blue Jays' lineup. Means hasn't caught a lot of breaks this summer. Give him that one. Then again, maybe he didn't need it the way he's been pitching down the stretch. Coming off a 12-strikeout gem last weekend in Baltimore, Means kept the Blue Jays hitless tonight until Cavan Biggio homered with two outs in the sixth. Grichuk entered the game in the top half of the...