SARASOTA, Fla. – Rain is in the Sarasota forecast beginning later this afternoon and continuing through Sunday. The Orioles’ workout schedule is going to be impacted.

Head indoors and shorten the day.

Corbin Burnes threw live batting practice this morning, with Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn among the batters he faced. Rutschman lined a loud single up the middle against reliever Bryan Baker.

Jackson Holliday finished his workouts and stopped by a group of fans to sign autographs. He could have stood there all day. No one is more popular among players.

No one else is currently the No. 1 prospect in baseball.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Jackson Holliday isn’t in Orioles camp to soak in the atmosphere, get acclimated to the coaching staff and wait to be summoned into manager Brandon Hyde’s office with news that he’s reassigned to the minor league side.

Holliday could sit down again with Hyde and executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, but this time to be congratulated for making the team.

Only a few months past his 20^th birthday.

As the No. 1 prospect in baseball.

“It’s a little bit more exciting, right?” Holliday said this morning in his first media scrum at his locker. “You get a chance to make the team. But just trying to take it day by day and enjoy these guys and enjoy getting better.”

The Orioles today announced that they have invited eight former players to serve as guest coaches at Major League Spring Training in Sarasota, Fla. The list includes ROBINSON CHIRINOS, J.J. HARDY, ADAM JONES, BEN McDONALD, SCOTT McGREGOR, EDDIE MURRAY, BRIAN ROBERTS, and MATT WIETERS. Murray is an Orioles Legend and National Baseball Hall of Famer, and he, along with Hardy, McGregor, and Roberts, are members of the Orioles Hall of Fame. Together, the guest coaches have 22 All-Star selections, 12 Gold Gloves, and five Silver Slugger Awards. A complete list of guest coaches and dates is below: 

When a baseball player is said to have an 80-grade tool by a scout that is as good as it gets. That is like getting a 100 on a test. There is no better score.

On the 20-80 scouting scale, Baseball America recently described 80-grade this way: “ Top of the scale. Some scouts consider only one player’s tool in all of the major leagues to be an 80. Think of Shohei Ohtani's power, Corbin Carroll's speed or Devin Williams' changeup.”

In the Orioles' farm system, they have a center fielder that Baseball America provides not one, two 80-grade tools. He was their first-round draft pick last July, taken No. 17 out of Vanderbilt and Enrique Bradfield Jr. gets 80-grades for both his defense and speed.

Both were on display last season when, after the draft, he played three games in the rookie-level Florida Complex League, 17 at Low-A Delmarva and five at High-A Aberdeen where he will likely begin this season.

In a loaded O’s farm, he was ranked as the club’s No. 7 prospect by Baseball America and he missed their top 100. But he was ranked No. 64 by The Athletic and No. 94 by ESPN, making those top 100 lists.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Jesse Winker had played in Washington several times before as a member of the Reds and Mariners. He had played well in D.C., compiling a 1.084 OPS across 34 plate appearances. He had enjoyed touring the city during his downtime. And anyone he ever spoke to about the Nationals offered positive feedback.

So when the opportunity came this week to sign with the Nats, even if it was on a minor-league deal, Winker didn’t have to think twice about saying yes.

“Oh my god, there’s a bunch of talent here. A lot of really good players,” the 30-year-old outfielder said. “It’s a great city. I’ve heard nothing but great things about the coaching staff and everybody involved here. It’s an amazing spot to play. It was very easy to pull the trigger on it.”

Winker said this Friday afternoon shortly after arriving in the Nationals clubhouse for the first time, unpacking his bags and trying on some of his new employer’s gear. He joins a clubhouse full of young players trying to make their own name for themselves in the big leagues, plus a few other veterans he’s crossed paths with over the years.

The minor-league contract offers no guarantees, but the situation is favorable for Winker. The Nats need more experienced hitters, especially from the left side of the plate. Winker is coming off a down year but was an above-average hitter in each of his previous six big-league seasons, earning an All-Star selection as recently as 2021. He would seem to make for a nice platoon partner with Stone Garrett at the DH position.

SARASOTA – Kyle Stowers got married in November. He’s back to full health after a shoulder injury and fractured nose messed with his 2023 season. He’s surrounded by friends inside the Orioles spring clubhouse.

Life is good.

To make it better, he’d need to again break camp with the team. But it’s hard to kill his positive vibe.

Stowers went 2-for-30 with the Orioles but posted a .364 on-base percentage and .511 slugging percentage with 17 home runs in 68 games with the Norfolk Tides and won a Triple-A championship. He went 5-for-7 with a home run on a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League and 9-for-18 with a double and three home runs with High-A Aberdeen.

The shoulder injury cost the 26-year-old Stowers two months of Norfolk’s season. He was down again after a fastball crashed into his face in an Aug. 29 game against Worcester.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – These early days of spring training are supposed to be reserved for pitchers and catchers. Position players technically don’t report until Tuesday.

Stroll through the Nationals clubhouse, though, or walk around their practice fields, and you can’t help but notice how many position players already are here.

Of the 29 position players invited to big league camp this spring, all but two were on the field today for informal workouts. Only prospects Dylan Crews and Darren Baker have yet to be seen, and if they show up Saturday they’d still be reporting three days early.

This isn’t a byproduct of any message from club officials, subtle or unsubtle. It’s been up to the individual players to arrive at their own preferred pace, and nearly all of them chose to arrive early.

“The message is to make sure they’re ready go for spring training,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I always tell them: Be in shape as if you’re coming in to play a game. And they took it to heart. A lot of them – because the weather’s so good – they came here early and started to work out. When I came here, we already had 15-16 guys working out. I thought that was pretty impressive. I’m happy they’re here. I’m happy they’re working this early.”

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Claimed INF/OF Diego Castillo off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies.
• Designated INF Livan Soto for assignment.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A Nationals club in need of more pitching depth this spring – and perhaps beyond – added another arm to the mix today, signing veteran reliever Jacob Barnes to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp.

Barnes, 33, has considerable experience, having pitched in 265 major league games since 2016 for eight different franchises. His best success came early in with the Brewers, for whom he delivered a 3.93 ERA and 1.359 WHIP in 167 games from 2016-19. He has since pitched for the Royals, Angels, Mets, Blue Jays, Tigers, Yankees and Cardinals.

The right-hander appeared in 13 games for St. Louis late last season, finishing with a 5.93 ERA and 1.537 WHIP. That came after he enjoyed consistent success for the Triple-A affiliates of the Rangers, Phillies and Cardinals, posting a 2.47 ERA and 1.314 WHIP in 35 games.

Barnes, who already has a locker in the Nationals clubhouse, is expected to report in the next day or two and then try to make his case for a spot in the Opening Day bullpen.

“Another guy we feel like should still have something left in the tank,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We’re going to give him an opportunity. He’ll strengthen our bullpen. He’ll be here soon. I can’t wait to get eyes on him. … Here’s a guy that’s been a competitor. I think he’ll fit right in. You can’t have enough arms. We’re going to give him an opportunity in spring training and see what he can do.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – When MacKenzie Gore returned home in October and contemplated his season, the Nationals left-hander focused on the two extremes he experienced.

“Some good and some bad,” he said. “I’ve really just got to figure out why I was good at times, and why I wasn’t. Fix that and go into this year.”

Gore truly did pitch at both ends of the spectrum in 2023. He was either really good, or he was the opposite. Rarely did his outings fall somewhere in the middle.

Perhaps the best statistical evidence of that: In his 17 wins and no-decisions, Gore posted a 2.58 ERA and 1.282 WHIP. In his 10 losses, those numbers skyrocketed to 7.71 and 1.612.

“Just trying to figure out how to have less of those big starts where it’s like six runs or more,” he said. “It definitely helps you have confidence that it’s in there. It’s just: Can you do it for 25 starts, or whatever it is?”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It was something of an offhand comment, thrown in near the end of a longer answer to a question about his bench options to begin the season. But what Davey Martinez said Wednesday made a few ears perk up.

“We’re going to have a battle for center field with Young and Robles,” the Nationals manager said in his first media session of the spring, suggesting Victor Robles and Jacob Young were on equal footing entering camp.

That was a bit surprising, if only because Robles was re-signed over the winter for $2.65 million after missing most of the season with a back injury. Young, meanwhile, began 2023 at Single-A Wilmington and finished with 33 big-league games in D.C.

So, the inevitable follow-up question came Thursday during Martinez’s second media session of the spring: Is there an open competition in center field, with both Robles and Young having the same chances of starting Opening Day?

“If I had a say right now, I’d say Vic has a little bit of the upper hand,” Martinez clarified. “But I liked everything I saw about Jacob. He’s young, but you’ve got to remember, Vic is still really young. And he got hurt. I want to give him the opportunity to come back this year, and have a good spring training and see what he can do. I love what Jacob did, and I know he can play up here and help us win games. I think he showed that, and I think he’s going to get better. But Vic was our center fielder, and right now I say they’re going to compete. If they both were equal, I would say that Vic has the upper hand.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg was sitting on his couch with wife Anna Claire when she suddenly went from spouse to source.

“I didn’t have my phone on me,” Westburg said this morning. “We were watching a movie and she’s like, ‘Hey, who is Corbin Burnes?’ It was just a random question for her to ask. I was like, ‘Why do you ask?’ And she shows me her phone and there’s the Oriole Bird logo and ESPN notification.”

That was the precise moment when Westburg found out that the Orioles acquired Burnes, the No. 1 starter they sought throughout the winter, from the Brewers for pitcher DL Hall and infielder Joey Ortiz.

“I was fired up about it. It was exciting,” Westburg said.

“I’m trying to think of what my initial reaction was. I think it was just pure excitement for the organization really. I think a lot of people on the outside have been wanting that ace and we went and got him. Just really exciting.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Mason Thompson was enjoying what he believed was a productive offseason. Determined to bounce back from an erratic 2023, the Nationals reliever set out to make some mechanical changes to his delivery, and a couple weeks ago faced a live hitter near his home in Texas for the first time this year.

Everything was going swimmingly. Until his elbow told him otherwise.

“It felt great. Ball was coming out good,” Thompson said. “Made it towards the end and just felt something, just felt some discomfort, something that just didn’t feel great. Gave it a couple of days, kind of was hoping that it was just some fatigue from the first time facing hitters throwing full speed. Unfortunately, it just kind of continued to persist, and now we’re here.”

Neither Thompson nor the Nationals know exactly where “here” is yet. He’s been shut down for two weeks, at which point he’ll be re-evaluated and a course of action will be determined.

Thompson, though, is no stranger to arm injuries. He had Tommy John surgery nine years ago while still a junior in high school. He dealt with a biceps strain in 2022 with the Nats and missed three months as a result.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles’ pitching depth will be tested early.

Kyle Bradish will begin the season on the injured list with an ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection and begins a throwing progression on Friday.

John Means is a month behind the other pitchers after experiencing elbow soreness before the playoffs, and he’s also expected to land on the IL.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias is becoming known for dropping injury news on the first day of camp. He was at it again this morning.

Bradish, who finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting and started Game 1 of the Division Series, felt some irritation in the elbow last month while throwing. An MRI confirmed the injury.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – When he threw his first pitch off the mound Monday, Cade Cavalli could have flashed right back to the last time he performed such an act, that horrible day nearly one year ago and about 50 miles up the road in Port St. Lucie when he tried to throw a changeup to Brandon Nimmo and felt his elbow ligament snap in the process.

Instead, Cavalli chose to focus on what this moment – his first bullpen session since Tommy John surgery – meant for him. There was no feeling of regret, only a feeling of achievement and optimism for what he hopes will come in another few months when he finally pitches for the Nationals again.

“To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it much,” the right-hander said when asked about the pending anniversary of his injury. “I just want to forget about it and move on. I’ve got a new elbow. It’s a new me. That’s how I’m approaching it. It’s been a great 11 months.”

Cavalli already was something of a “power of positive thinking” guy before any of this happened. The injury only pushed him to embrace that mindset even more as he began the long, slow, often infuriating process of rehabbing from ligament replacement surgery.

“It’s something that happens, and I believe like I said to you guys 11 months ago, it’s how you look at it and how you approach it,” the 2020 first-round pick said. “If you just approach it with a positive mindset – that this is a blessing in this moment, and I believe God is putting me through something to get me stronger to be able to help this club in the long run – that’s what my mindset’s been.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s impossible to miss inside the Nationals clubhouse. It’s prominently located, at the end of a row of lockers belonging to the rest of the members of the team’s starting rotation.

It’s the same locker Stephen Strasburg has used since the organization began training here in 2017. And it continues to be adorned with his name, his jersey, his shoes and a stack of correspondence, virtually unchanged from the state it was in one year ago.

And as was the case one year ago, Strasburg isn’t here using his locker. He remains at home in Northern Virginia, having conceded last summer he could no longer attempt to revive his pitching career.

But because Strasburg and the Nationals have not been able to agree to the financial details of his retirement, he remains on the club’s 40-man roster. Which means he still gets a locker. Which, it appears, the organization now believes he is obligated to use.

Do the Nats actually expect Strasburg to come to West Palm Beach this spring?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Though a number of Nationals who ended the 2023 season injured reported for spring training on target to return as planned, a new ailment cropped up over the winter for one potential member of the bullpen.

Mason Thompson experienced elbow discomfort while throwing an offseason bullpen session and was told not to throw after arriving in West Palm Beach. The right-hander will be shut down for two weeks before he’s re-evaluated, according to manager Davey Martinez.

“Mason, right now, he’s got a little arm issue,” Martinez said this afternoon in his camp-opening session with reporters. “We’re going to see what’s going on with him. We’ll take it slow with him.”

Thompson, who turns 26 next week, has a history of arm injuries, most notably a biceps strain that forced him to miss nearly three months of the 2022 season. He hasn’t missed any time due to arm injuries since, but he spent 15 days on the injured list last summer with a bruised knee.

“We’re a little bit concerned,” Martinez said. “Like I said, we’ll take it slow with him. We’re still really early in spring training, so we’ll see. We’ll rehab him and see where we’re at in two weeks.”

The Orioles today announced that they have acquired outfielder PEYTON BURDICK from the Miami Marlins in exchange for cash considerations.

Burdick, 26, slashed .182/.270/.333 (6-for-33) with two doubles, one home run, four runs scored, two RBI, three walks, and one stolen base in 14 games for the Marlins last season, appearing at all three outfield positions. He began the year at Triple-A Jacksonville, where he slashed .293/.381/.636 (29-for-99) with four doubles, 10 home runs, 24 runs scored, 24 RBI, 13 walks, five stolen bases, and a 1.017 OPS in 25 games prior to being recalled by Miami on May 3. At the time of his promotion, he ranked tied for second in the International League in home runs. He was optioned back to Jacksonville on May 23, where he spent the remainder of the season. In 114 total games with the Jumbo Shrimp, he hit .219/.327/.448 (92-for-420) with 20 doubles, two triples, 24 home runs, 63 runs scored, 74 RBI, 57 walks, 12 stolen bases, and a .775 OPS. He ranked 11^th in the International League in homers. Burdick did not appear on Miami’s NL Wild Card roster.

Burdick was originally selected by the Marlins in the third round (No. 82 overall) of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of Wright State University (OH). In his debut season in 2019, he was named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star and Midwest League Player of the Month for August. In his first full season in 2021, he was named Marlins Minor League Player of the Year, Double-A Pensacola Most Valuable Player, and MLB.com’s Marlins Prospect of the Year. He made his Major League debut on August 5, 2022, and has appeared in 46 career games for Miami.

To make room on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher FÉLIX BAUTISTA was placed on the 60-day Injured List with a right UCL injury. The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – There admittedly hasn’t been a lot of juice at Nationals spring training in recent years. Such is life when you tear down the remnants of a championship roster and start over, recognizing it’s going to be a while until the fruits of your labor pay off.

For the last two years, it felt like there was more reason to pay attention to minor-league camp than major-league camp, as the franchise’s next wave of prospects began the long trek up the organizational depth chart.

The Nats aren’t all the way there yet. There is no serious talk of contention in 2024. When the season begins, those prospects are almost certainly all still going to be in the minor leagues.

But for the first time, several of them will be participating in major-league camp. And even if none of them survive to the end of March, their presence alone is going to create some sorely needed juice that’s been lacking in recent springs.

The three big non-roster invitees to camp are Dylan Crews, James Wood and Brady House, the organization’s consensus top three prospects. Two first-round draft picks (House in 2021, Crews in 2023) and perhaps the best of the five young players acquired in the Juan Soto trade (Wood). All closed out last season at Double-A Harrisburg, suggesting all could be on track to debut in D.C. sometime this season.

One of the least eventful winters in Nationals history concludes today, spring officially commencing Wednesday when pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach, Fla., for their first workout of 2024.

This offseason saw precious little action from the Nats. They added only four players on major-league contracts, signing Joey Gallo, Nick Senzel and Dylan Floro for a combined $9.25 million and adding Nasim Nuñez (who has never played above Double-A) via the Rule 5 Draft. They didn’t make a single trade.

Even by recent Nationals standards, this was a dead winter.

But does that mean they’re done adding players? There were reasons all along to believe they might not be done. And then they did do something Monday evening, albeit on a minor-league deal.

Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez were pretty clear about their wish list back when the offseason began. Both specifically mentioned an experienced starting pitcher. Both specifically mentioned more power for their lineup.