A few questions for O's fans

A few questions for O's fans
The playoffs are now well underway, but the hot stove season has not yet begun. The work to get a new collective bargaining agreement is a cloud over the sport right now with a lot of us hoping against any work stoppage. The rancor of the players and owners as they negotiated how to play the shortened 2020 season was terrible for the sport. But let's not spend time worrying about that today and instead invest some time for you to answer a few questions. My 10 questions format is changing to...

O's brass still hopeful for the young pitchers

O's brass still hopeful for the young pitchers
It can be easy to look at some of the Orioles' young pitchers and their stats in the 2021 season and feel the odds are long against them helping the club much in the future. This would represent a rush to judgment, however. And the team's front office has likely not made such judgments, and their opinions count the most. Pitchers like lefty Keegan Akin and right-hander Dean Kremer ended 2020 looking decent and maybe ready for the majors. This past season was a very different story. Let's...

On O's podcast, Elias talks CBA, Rule 5 and more

On O's podcast, Elias talks CBA, Rule 5 and more
The process of identifying players the Orioles could acquire for the 2022 season has begun. Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias discussed that and much more recently on the "Inside the Yard" O's podcast with hosts Geoff Arnold and Brett Hollander. Elias and all executives throughout Major League Baseball are awaiting the results of the collective bargaining talks between the sports' players and owners. A new collective bargaining agreement could be in place...

Prospect check-in: Robert Neustrom on his big 2021 season

Prospect check-in: Robert Neustrom on his big 2021 season
It could not have been easy to do, but in 2021, on the way to a breakout season, Orioles outfield prospect Robert Neustrom made some in-season swing adjustments. Adjustments that took his offense to a higher level as he ended the year among the top hitters on the O's farm. But at the end of May while with Double-A Bowie, he had an OPS of .608 with one homer. It was then that he and Baysox hitting coach Ryan Fuller went to work. He was a power hitter putting the ball on the ground way too much....

Birdland hopeful that wins start trending up next season

Birdland hopeful that wins start trending up next season
Maybe it is a real thing about baseball fans, particularly Orioles fans. Can there be rebuilding fatigue? Can the losses mount so much that fans just get worn out by rebuilding? And while they may understand it is needed and could very well lead to better days, the patience to get to those better days starts to wear thin? It is probably only natural. But Orioles fans are a pretty loyal group. We see that in so many coming to this website day after day after day. Fans still watching and...

After big '21 season, Kyle Stowers heads to AFL

After big '21 season, Kyle Stowers heads to AFL
"Stowers Power" was indeed a thing on the Orioles farm in 2021. Lefty-hitting Kyle Stowers led all O's minor league players in homers and RBIs, and was third among full-season players in OPS. It was a breakout year for the corner outfielder who turns 24 in January. Tomorrow, he will join seven other O's players on the Mesa Solar Sox when the Arizona Fall League season begins. Stowers and Adley Rutschman were co-winners of the Brooks Robinson Award as the Orioles' Minor League Player of the...

Austin Hays stated his case in 2021

Austin Hays stated his case in 2021
When the Orioles and their fans think about some of the young hitters in their lineup producing in the future, as they did in 2021, Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle immediately come to mind. But outfielder Austin Hays should be in that mix, too. And long-term, he might prove to be the best player of this group. He is certainly toolsy, as a scout might say. He's got plenty of ways to beat you. With his bat and power. With his glove, arm and speed. Yep, plenty of tools. O's fans first got a...

Colton Cowser posted .982 OPS in first pro season

Colton Cowser posted .982 OPS in first pro season
While the Orioles were encouraged by the performance of several hitters in their minor league system, especially players at higher levels who had big years, including Adley Rutschman, Kyle Stowers and Jordan Westburg, the group coming behind this group also made its mark during the 2021 season. We are talking mostly about the 2021 draft class headed by outfielder Colton Cowser, selected No. 5 overall in round one in July out of Sam Houston State. Most of the draft picks got their feet wet in...

It's a special anniversary in Birdland

It's a special anniversary in Birdland
It happened 55 years ago today at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The Orioles beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 to complete a four-game World Series sweep built on stunning pitching. The Orioles used just three starters and four pitchers total in the entire series to vanquish the National League champions, who were led by ace pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. But it was the Baltimore quartet of Dave McNally, Moe Drabowsky, Wally Bunker and Jim Palmer that pitched the Orioles to the first of...

Will new CBA impact draft order, plus more notes

Will new CBA impact draft order, plus more notes
Only 20 times since 1901 has a big league team lost 110 or more games in a single season. Two teams did that this year - the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Orioles. You lose that much, you have earned the No. 1 draft pick. But Arizona, thanks to a walk-off homer on the season's final day, is not going to get one next year. That is, barring something in the new collective bargaining agreement that changes that. When teams tie for a spot in the draft - in this case the No. 1 pick - the previous...

More hardware for Grayson Rodriguez, plus other notes

More hardware for Grayson Rodriguez, plus other notes
More honors were announced Wednesday for the Orioles' top two prospects, catcher Adley Rutschman and pitcher Grayson Rodriguez. They keep adding hardware after each had very strong full seasons after missing minor league game action for the 2020 season due to the pandemic. Rodriguez was named the Pitcher of the Year for the Double-A Northeast and Rutschman was named the No. 1 major league prospect in the league. Both also made the league's postseason All-Star team. Earlier, they were ranked...

A '21 highlight: Ryan Mountcastle's push for Rookie of the Year

A '21 highlight: Ryan Mountcastle's push for Rookie of the Year
It is not easy to remember now. But for Ryan Mountcastle, the 2021 season, one that ended with him pushing to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award, did not begin well. At the end of April, Mountcastle, 24, was batting .196/.229/.286./.515 with one homer and seven RBIs. He was chasing pitches big time. It seemed like he would need a 50-inch bat to get to some of them. Was this a sophomore slump? Would he need to be sent to the minors to work it out? No and no. It was a hitter that...

Some of the top farm pitchers get closer to Baltimore

Some of the top farm pitchers get closer to Baltimore
As the Orioles work to improve their pitching in 2022, there remain a few ranked pitching prospects the club has yet to see pitch in Baltimore. And there are others, like Zac Lowther and Alexander Wells, that we saw get their feet wet this year. Enough to know how tough it is to pitch in the American League East. The Orioles still play more than half their games outside of the East, this is true, but the division remains the best in the baseball and maybe the toughest in all of sports. Topping...

Next task for O's: Try to get better in the rugged AL East

Next task for O's: Try to get better in the rugged AL East
The Orioles took two of three games from the Boston Red Sox in their final home series of 2021. They allowed just 10 runs in those three games. But it didn't go as well in the final road series at Rogers Centre. The Orioles gave up 11 homers in three games - and 28 runs in the series - in getting swept by Toronto. The Blue Jays hit nine homers the last two games in posting 10-1 and 12-4 wins. Any improvement the Orioles look to make in 2022 must start on the mound. They will need their current...

That's a wrap: O's fall in 2021 season finale

That's a wrap: O's fall in 2021 season finale
It got lopsided early. And while the Orioles' season began with a bang when they swept Boston at Fenway Park in April, it didn't end that way. The Toronto Blue Jays, in a game they had to have, blew out the Orioles 12-4 today to complete a three-game sweep that ends the Orioles' 2021 season. They finished 52-110 and with the second-most losses in club history, behind only the 115-loss 2018 Orioles. Arizona was tied late in its game today. A Diamondbacks win and the Orioles and Arizona would...

O's game blog: O's play Game No. 162

O's game blog: O's play Game No. 162
For the Orioles, the final day and game of the 2021 season has arrived. They play the Blue Jays this afternoon at Rogers Centre to conclude the year and then head into the offseason and the winter. They have lost the first two games of this series, by 6-4 and 10-1 scores. Toronto opened a 6-0 lead Friday night before a late O's rally. The Blue Jays hit five homers in the first five innings yesterday, opened a big early lead and won by nine runs. The O's have gone 3-2 in their last five...

Notes on Means and Hays, plus Hyde's push for Mountcastle

Notes on Means and Hays, plus Hyde's push for Mountcastle
He may have given up seven runs in three innings on Saturday afternoon - and that tied his career high for runs allowed - but Orioles lefty John Means closed out another strong year. In 2019, he emerged as the top starter on the team. In 2021, he confirmed for all of us that he remains that and was not a one-year fluke. Or that the earlier season was going to be an outlier in a longer career. He missed a few starts with injuries, but Means showed again that he is the ace of this staff. Until he...

O's game blog: John Means makes his final 2021 start

O's game blog: John Means makes his final 2021 start
The Orioles play the penultimate game of the 2021 season this afternoon. After a 6-4 loss Friday night, they are back at Rogers Centre for Game 2 of the season-ending three-game series. Toronto scored twice on Danny Jansen's homer in the third inning and then opened a 6-0 lead, scoring four runs in the last of the sixth. The Orioles pulled within 6-4 in the eighth, both avoiding their 11th shutout and pushing the Blue Jays to the point they needed closer Jordan Romano to get five outs. He...

A scout's take with the Jim Russo Award winner

A scout's take with the Jim Russo Award winner
Orioles area scout Brandon Verley noted he was in a very strange position on Tuesday at Camden Yards. He's used to sitting in the stands at ballparks for long hours watching players. He is not used to sitting in the O's dugout surrounded by reporters and taking questions. But there he was, talking to us about being named the club's Jim Russo Scout of the Year Award winner. "It's an incredible honor," Verley said. "You know, as a scout, we are never really in this position, in the...

O's game blog: Final weekend begins, O's at Toronto

O's game blog: Final weekend begins, O's at Toronto
The final weekend and series of the 2021 season has arrived. The Orioles play three games starting tonight at Rogers Centre and the offseason and winter will follow Sunday's Game No. 162. The O's take momentum north of the border after winning two of three from the Boston Red Sox, beating Boston 4-2 Tuesday night and 6-2 last night to wrap up their home season. They held the Red Sox to 10 runs in the series. Boston began the series leading the majors in doubles and extra-base hits, second in...