When the new international signing period begins, likely in January, the Nationals are expected to make a big splash to sign one of the top outfielders in the class. Baseball America reports the Nationals are expected to use most of their pool money on Cuban outfielder Cristian Vaquero, a 16-year-old left-handed hitter. "Vaquero is a dynamic center fielder with plus speed, a strong arm and good defensive instincts for his age," Baseball America wrote, listing Vaquero as the player who will...

The Washington Nationals are proud to announce the Read Like A Champion Summer Reading program. For the last seven years, the Washington Nationals have partnered with area libraries to address the "summer slide" - the loss of learning that children and teens experience when they do not read during summer vacation - and to bring the joys of reading to as many homes as possible. Since the program first began, almost 100,000 participants have logged over 300,000 hours of reading and the program...

Tyler Nevin finished a round of batting practice last month in Orioles camp and caught the eye of executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, who offered a hint at how the organization viewed him in the field. "I got here and I was hitting and Elias was behind the cage watching," Nevin recounted this morning in his Zoom conference call. "I got out and rolled around the cage and he goes, 'Hey, did you bring all your gloves?' I said, 'Yep,' and he goes, 'OK, you're going to need...

The Orioles today announced their minor league coaching staffs for the 2021 season at their four full-season affiliates, plus for two teams in the former Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and two in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League. Gary Kendall will begin his third year as manager at Triple-A Norfolk and it's his 22nd season in the Baltimore organization. He led Double-A Bowie to the 2015 Eastern League championship. Kennie Steenstra is Tides pitching coach, beginning his 17th year with...

The Orioles today announced the coaching staffs for their minor league affiliates for the 2021 season. The staffs of each: Triple-A Norfolk, Double-A Bowie, Class A-Advanced Aberdeen, and Class-A Delmarva are listed below, along with the Complex League and DSL Orioles. Gary Kendall enters his 22nd season in the organization and his 24th in professional baseball. He begins his 18th season as a professional manager, and his third year managing the Tides after managing at the Double-A level for...

Jon Lester is leaving Nationals camp in West Palm Beach, Fla., today and will travel to New York in order to have surgery to remove his thyroid gland, manager Davey Martinez revealed this morning. Lester, the 37-year-old veteran left-hander signed over the winter following long and memorable stints with the Red Sox and Cubs, is expected to return to the club in about a week and should be cleared to pitch immediately, provided Friday's scheduled surgery goes smoothly. "If everything goes well,...

Juan Soto, as promised, is making his spring debut today in West Palm Beach, Fla. And Soto, as speculated for a while around here, is going to be batting second as part of a potentially newfangled top of the Nationals lineup. Manager Davey Martinez is trotting out 1-2-3 of Victor Robles, Soto and Trea Turner, a combination that seemed possible for a while but had not actually been utilized previously. It certainly has potential, if Robles can do his part and get on base at a much higher clip as...

After catching knuckleballer Mickey Jannis yesterday, Orioles top prospect Adley Rutschman is serving as the designated hitter this afternoon against the Braves in North Port. The Orioles (0-2-1) also have Jahmai Jones in their lineup as the second baseman. Ryan Mountcastle is in left field. Austin Hays is leading off and playing center field. DJ Stewart is the right fielder and cleanup hitter. Chance Sisco is catching today, getting at least one at-bat against Braves left-hander Drew Smyly....

Kevin Long was unemployed for about two weeks last fall, two weeks that confused a lot of Nationals fans and observers, given the hitting coach's strong reputation in the sport and success during three seasons in Washington. Was Long really let go by the organization just as pitching coach Paul Menhart and third base coach Chip Hale were around the same time? And if so, how did he end up coming back to the Nats a couple weeks later and now find himself in West Palm Beach, Fla., preparing for...

He has been among the most talented and successful pitching prospects in the Orioles organization. To get to there, right-hander Mike Baumann has used a pretty basic and simplistic approach to getting better. That is one to focus on what he can do to get better every single day and not look too far down the road. He's kept that approach since the day the Orioles drafted him in round three of 2017 out of Jacksonville University. Never spending time thinking about pitching in A-ball when he was...