Steve Melewski

Using technology to help hitters on the O's farm

Orioles
Using technology to help hitters on the O's farm
He was new to the Orioles organization in 2019 and was one of the first minor league coaching hires by the new front office after Mike Elias was hired as executive vice president and general manager last November. Tom Eller was already close by geographically. Eller had spent the previous 12 seasons as the head coach at Harford Community College in Churchville. In his tenure from 2007 to 2018 the Fighting Owls went 433-230-2, winning five Region XX championships, including back-to-back titles...
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Steve Melewski

Breakout season: Anthony Santander showed potential in 2019

Orioles
Breakout season: Anthony Santander showed potential in 2019
He played briefly in the majors in 2017 and 2018. But it was this season where the Orioles started to see Anthony Santander start to reach some of his vast potential. Taken in the December 2016 Rule 5 draft from Cleveland in large part because of a potent bat, he showed it at the major league level in 2019. As the Orioles try to identify players who could be around when the team is winning again, he looks like he could be one. In a late-season interview, teammate Trey Mancini threw major praise...
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Steve Melewski

Talking about the importance of winning on the farm

Orioles
Talking about the importance of winning on the farm
Several days ago, I posted this entry, gleaned from my interview with new Orioles director of player development Matt Blood. The 34-year-old comes to the Orioles from the Texas Rangers. He's also worked for USA Baseball and was a scout with the St. Louis Cardinals, working in the same front office where the Orioles' Mike Elias and Sig Mejdal once toiled. We covered a lot of ground in that last entry and ended it with a promise to discuss where winning fits in amid all the new data, technology...
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Steve Melewski

Ranking a few questions and issues the Orioles face

Orioles
Ranking a few questions and issues the Orioles face
Let's take a look today at some issues the Orioles and their brass will have to deal with - some sooner, some later. We'll even rank them from least important to most. No. 5 - How to continue to satisfy fans during the rebuild?: Yeah, good luck with that strategy because there is no miracle marketing plan or idea that solves this one. I've said numerous times that I am impressed how many fans understand what the Orioles are going through and are showing patience. The percentage I hear or...
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Steve Melewski

A look at the pitching on the farm this year with Chris Holt

Orioles
A look at the pitching on the farm this year with Chris Holt
The Orioles had a pretty solid year on the farm in 2019. Orioles' affiliates finished with a .517 win percentage, to rank 10th among all 30 Major League Baseball organizations. They sent two teams to the playoffs, three really, but the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League postseason was cancelled due to Hurricane Dorian. Baseball America rated the Orioles ninth in organizational rankings. But it was on the pitching side where some special progress was made. Of the Orioles' top six farm teams, four...
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Steve Melewski

A few World Series notes and takes as the season comes to an end

Orioles
A few World Series notes and takes as the season comes to an end
The 2019 Major League Baseball season is over. The Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 6-2 in Game 7 last night to take the Series, four wins to three. The visiting team won every game of the Series. On their way to their first championship, the Nationals beat a 106-win Dodgers team and a 107-win Houston club. They played in five elimination games in the playoffs, trailed in each, and won all five. The Nationals lost Bryce Harper via free agency to Philly. They were 19-31 after 50...
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Steve Melewski

This reunion seems unlikely for the Orioles

Orioles
This reunion seems unlikely for the Orioles
Reunions can be nice. In sports we see them often. Would the Orioles be interested in one with a player that once made the All-Star team and finished 12th in the American League MVP voting? The player is second baseman Jonathan Schoop, originally signed by the team out of Curacao in August 2008. He played in 635 games over six seasons as an Oriole and played in the postseason with the Birds in both 2014 and 2016. In 2017, Schoop had a breakout year and at the end of it was voted the Most...
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Steve Melewski

Q&A with Matt Blood, O's new director of player development

Orioles
Q&A with Matt Blood, O's new director of player development
As the Orioles look to build what executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has called an "elite talent pipeline," the minor leagues and player development obviously will be critical. On Sept. 16, the Orioles and Elias hired Matt Blood, 34, as their new director of player development. Last November, the Texas Rangers hired him as the club's director of player development. He moved to the role of director of baseball innovation in August. For three years before joining Texas, he...
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Steve Melewski

Another look at Dylan Bundy's 2019 season

Orioles
Another look at Dylan Bundy's 2019 season
For two straight years, right-hander Dylan Bundy has led all Orioles pitchers in starts, innings and strikeouts. He's been dependable. He takes the ball and gives you all he's got. But Bundy is also 15-30 with an ERA of 5.13 and homer rate of 1.9 per every nine innings over those two seasons. We've certainly seen flashes of Bundy pitching well but there have also been some games when he gives a big number to the opponent. In 2019, the 26-year-old went 7-14 with a 4.79 ERA over 161 2/3...
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Steve Melewski

O's played at a 99-win pace with quality starts this year

Orioles
O's played at a 99-win pace with quality starts this year
It is a statistic that has some importance. How much is debated and some discount it. It is the quality start statistic. A starting pitcher records one when he allows three earned runs or less in six innings or more. One reason some don't see its importance is that three earned runs allowed in six innings results in an ERA of 4.50. That is not all that impressive. But of course that is the worst ERA outcome you can produce in a quality start. And a high number of outings produce a single-game...
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Steve Melewski

A look at pitchers that could be part of next wave of rebuild

Orioles
A look at pitchers that could be part of next wave of rebuild
As the Orioles look to put together a starting rotation for 2020, one question will be how soon will some of their homegrown prospects get their chance at the starting five. When will some of the up and coming pitching prospects - homegrown or not - get their shot? Based on how executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and his staff ran the minors and promoted players in 2019, it is probably likely that they won't often have prospects skip levels or more as fast through the system as...
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Steve Melewski

The Orioles will feature five coaches at each affiliate in 2020

Orioles
The Orioles will feature five coaches at each affiliate in 2020
The Orioles affiliates from the Rookie-level team through the Triple-A International League squad will each have five coaches, counting the manager, during the 2020 season. Each club last year had a manager, pitching coach, hitting coach and one field/development coach. New Orioles director of player development Matt Blood, hired by the organization Sept. 16, said that will change next season. As previously reported on MASNsports.com by my colleague Roch Kubatko, the six men expected to manage...
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Steve Melewski

The path to the World Series might be with top 100 prospects

Orioles
The path to the World Series might be with top 100 prospects
This comes up a lot here when we talk about prospect rankings. Some fans say that "the rankings don't mean much." I can't agree with that. Although we can certainly find misses. But without a specific study or stat to prove my point, I took note of an article yesterday by Jim Callis on MLBPipeline.com. In this story, he pointed out that 24 of the 50 players on the World Series rosters - 12 on each team - were once ranked on a top 100 list. That seems like a pretty high percentage to me,...
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Steve Melewski

Baseball stars lack in popularity compared to NBA, NFL stars

Orioles
Baseball stars lack in popularity compared to NBA, NFL stars
Why are stars of Major League Baseball not quite as popular as those of other sports? This was an interesting question discussed in a New York Times story published yesterday with the headline "How Popular is Baseball, Really?" While this article (subscription may be required) points out that baseball blows away the National Football League and National Basketball Association in ticket sales, of course baseball has so many more games in which to sell tickets. The article also notes how well...
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Steve Melewski

Looking at the pitch mix for the World Series teams and the O's

Orioles
Looking at the pitch mix for the World Series teams and the O's
The World Series teams both have plenty of quality starting pitchers who can throw big-velocity fastballs. They just don't throw them as much as many other teams. For instance, the Houston Astros this year threw the lowest percentage of fastballs of all 30 major league teams at 45.6 percent. This despite the fact that Houston's average velocity of 94.2 mph ranked second in the big leagues, according to FanGraphs stats. As for Washington, the Nationals this season rated 15th in fastball usage...
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Steve Melewski

Looking at 2019 notes on Castro, Villar, Mancini and more

Orioles
Looking at 2019 notes on Castro, Villar, Mancini and more
The Orioles public relations staff sent out a package of extensive season-ending notes on the club and its players recently. Let's take a look at a few of those notes today. Miguel Castro: His 73 1/3 innings as a reliever ranked as the 10th-most in the American League. He posted a 0.89 ERA when pitching on three or more days of rest. Castro is durable and often available - he threw 86 1/3 innings the year before - but you can't afford to have a reliever who would need that much rest each...
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Steve Melewski

The path to .300: strikeouts down, base hits up

Orioles
The path to .300: strikeouts down, base hits up
Can a player with a career batting average of .192 coming into the 2019 season hit over .300? Can he do that if he was waived four times between the 2018 and 2019 seasons? If that player is Hanser Alberto, he can. Alberto stunned a lot of people this year when he became the first Oriole to hit .300 or better since 2008. His making the team was a mild surprise since the Orioles designated him for assignment on Feb. 19 and re-signed him on March 1. By the way, Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff both...
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Steve Melewski

Are big changes on the horizon throughout minor league baseball?

Orioles
Are big changes on the horizon throughout minor league baseball?
The look of affiliated Minor League Baseball could be in for major changes beginning in 2021. Baseball America's J.J. Cooper reported Friday that 42 teams could be eliminated, reducing the number of minor league clubs to 120 starting in 2021. This is a proposal from Major League Baseball in current negotiations with Minor League Baseball (MiLB) as part of a remodeled agreement from the one that ends with the 2020 season. It is a long story, but is filled with details and worth your...
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Steve Melewski

Richie Martin made big improvement in second half; what does that mean for 2020?

Orioles
Richie Martin made big improvement in second half; what does that mean for 2020?
There was just one position this year where the Orioles used only two players for the entire 2019 season, and that position was shortstop. Rule 5 pick Richie Martin made 90 starts at short and Jonathan Villar made 72. For Martin, that was the third-most shortstop starts by a rookie in Orioles history behind Cal Ripken Jr. with 91 in 1982 and Ron Hansen with 149 in 1960. But the immediate future of the position in Baltimore is uncertain. Villar could be retained, offered arbitration and wind up...
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Steve Melewski

Cedric Mullins' season included slow start, fast finish

Orioles
Cedric Mullins' season included slow start, fast finish
Things can change fast in a year in baseball. Outfielder Cedric Mullins won the Brooks Robinson Award as the Orioles' 2018 Minor League Player of the Year. Adam Jones moved over to right field that August so that Mullins could take over in center for the parent club. But in 2019 Mullins lasted just 22 games as the O's starter in center, was sent down to Triple-A Norfolk in late April and then was demoted to Double-A Bowie in mid-July. He ended the year playing well for the Baysox, both late...
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