Ryan Mountcastle had 14 multi-hit games after joining the Orioles on Aug. 21. We knew it was a special achievement. The Orioles public relations crew has explained why. The season summary distributed to the media tells us that only one player in club history had more multi-hit games in his first 35 - the immortal Curtis Goodwin with 17 in 1995. Goodwin made his debut on June 2 and was incredible. He produced multiple hits in 10 of his first 11 games, going 21-for-43 (.489) with - wait for this...

The Orioles public relations staff put out some excellent season wrap-up notes and stats on the club. Some of these stats were posted throughout the season, and here are some of the final numbers: * The Orioles led the major leagues with a batting average of .409 when putting the first pitch in play. San Diego was second at .408, followed by Atlanta at .399, the New York Mets at .394 and Washington at .373. * While O's shortstop José Iglesias did not have enough at-bats to qualify for the...

The 2020 Major League Baseball season was, to put it mildly, unlike any we've ever experienced. We knew that going into it, and we knew that probably meant some unexpected things would happen along the way. That was especially true for the Nationals, whose season didn't go anything like anyone expected. For the most part. Despite the unusual nature of this year, we still published our annual Nats season predictions on opening day. And though we were horribly wrong about a lot of things, we...

One Nationals player who stayed consistent on offense and made good contact throughout the season was shortstop Trea Turner. Regardless of where manager Davey Martinez hit Turner in the lineup, he delivered. Batting first in the lineup, Turner hit .340. Batting second, he hit .323. And for the four games he hit third, the former N.C. State infielder batted .333. Against left-handed pitching, Turner hit .375, and against right-handers, he hit .322. That is consistency. Turner said he got off to...

Despite appearing in only 47 of the Nationals' 60 games this season, Juan Soto reached base an astounding 96 times, fifth-most in the majors. Soto only scored 39 runs, however, which ranked 19th in baseball. That's still good. But not as good as it could've been. Soto was historically good at the plate in 2020, but the Nats didn't take full advantage of that fact. Why? Because they couldn't consistently put a top-notch hitter behind Soto in their lineup. Only 17 times this year did Howie...

Not only did Ryan Mountcastle have a stunningly good rookie year for the Orioles, but if you compare his first 35 big league games to Manny Machado, Mountcastle comes out ahead. Well ahead. It was one strong performance and probably better then we had a right to expect. He walked more, he defended fine, he ran very well and he hit. Man, did he hit. Over 35 games and 140 plate appearances, Mountcastle batted .333/.386/.492 with five doubles, five homers, 23 RBIs and an OPS of .878. His OPS+ of...

The Twins won the American League Central by not losing two consecutive games at home during the season. Then everything changed when the postseason started. The Astros came to Target Field and added more history-making agony to the Twins' postseason record. After losing 4-1 and 3-1 to the Astros in the first two wild card games, the Twins extended their postseason losing streak to 18 consecutive games, more than any other National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, National...

The offseason work conducted by the Orioles has moved past the 40-man roster today and impacted two coaches. The Orioles aren't going to bring back pitching coach Doug Brocail and third base coach/infield instructor Jose Flores, according to multiple industry sources. Potential candidates have not been determined and no other changes are coming to the staff at this time, per a source. Brocail was hired in January 2019 as the replacement for Roger McDowell, who served on former manager Buck...

The removal of media from the clubhouse in 2020 reduced players to images on a laptop screen. Better than just a voice on the other end of a phone call, but a wall that prevented real connections. The weeks spent in spring training provided the only interaction, and there were no introductions, one-on-ones or scrums with starter Jorge López and reliever César Valdez, who became prominent members of the pitching staff. López didn't arrive in the organization until Aug. 9, when the...

The latest maneuver by the Orioles to create room on the 40-man roster has impacted reliever Evan Phillips. The team announced this afternoon that Phillips cleared outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. Only 36 players remain on the 40-man roster and additional moves are coming to allow for placement of minor leaguers eligible to be chosen in December's Rule 5 draft. Phillips made multiple trips between the majors and alternate camp site in Bowie and registered a 5.02 ERA and a...