masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgI wrote yesterday that Miguel Tejada collected his first hit since reporting to extended spring training. He started at third base after serving as the designated hitter in his first game and starting at shortstop in another game.

I received the following text scouting report on Tejada yesterday:

“He’s rusty with the bat/timing. Needs to get in baseball shape (at-bats, balls off bat at short/third). Only had one play at short yesterday. One at third today. Time will tell.”

So there you…I wrote yesterday that Miguel Tejada collected his first hit since reporting to extended spring training. He started at third base after serving as the designated hitter in his first game and starting at shortstop in another game.

I received the following text scouting report on Tejada yesterday:

“He’s rusty with the bat/timing. Needs to get in baseball shape (at-bats, balls off bat at short/third). Only had one play at short yesterday. One at third today. Time will tell.”

So there you go.

The Orioles clearly want to improve their defense at the hot corner, which led to Tejada’s signing. And we’ll probably find Bill Hall at third base before the Orioles hit the road next week.

Hall tweeted this morning that he’s arrived in Baltimore:

“I’M HERE B-MORE!!!!! I can sense the excitement already.!!! #O’sBaseball”

I fully expect to find out whether he’s in the lineup via Twitter. You’ve got to love the social media age.

Meanwhile, I thought Ryan Flaherty looked pretty good at third base last night. He made a couple of nice plays.

Rule 5 picks aren’t usually expected to stick with a team the entire season. The odds are stacked higher than Jose Morban, who actually did it with the Orioles and then disappeared.

When I told manager Buck Showalter that it’s tough to keep a Rule 5 pick, he smiled and said, “Well, I think he’ll be easy to keep.”

“We don’t even look at it that way anymore,” Showalter added. “It’s something like, ‘Oh, by the way, he’s Rule 5, too.’ We’ve kind of moved on from that. And the utility part has a chance to go away at some point. He has a chance to be an everyday position player here.

“There’s still a lot of unknown as far as what he’s going to be and how he’s going to be. There’s only one way to find out. You’ve got to run him out there.”

Shameless plug alert: I’ll be appearing on “Wall to Wall Baseball” with Tom Davis and Dave Johnson from noon to 2 p.m. on MASN.