While pointing out that the Orioles could go underslot with their No. 2 draft pick to go over at No. 30 and/or No. 39, The Athletic's Keith Law still has the club taking Vanderbilt's Austin Martin with its first pick. The draft begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night with coverage on both ESPN and MLB Network. That night, the first round features picks No. 1 through No. 29 and then the competitive balance round with selections Nos. 30 through 37. So the O's will have two picks Wednesday. Draft...

The Nationals are wrapping up a homestand this afternoon, with the fourth and final game of their series against the Mets on tap, a marquee pitching matchup between Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom set for this warm afternoon on South Capitol Street. This is an important stretch of the season to date for the Nats, who through 64 games find themselves in the driver's seat of a competitive race in the National League East. They're in first place at 39-25, with the Braves trying to catch them at...

Over the years, there have certainly not been many players signed after the First-Year Player Draft. Not when it was 40 rounds - or before that, 50 rounds. All the good talent was long since scooped up. But this year is very different. The draft is just five rounds. There will be 160 players drafted, or 13 percent of the 1,217 taken in 2019. Some real good talent will be available that won't be taken. But teams will have only a max bonus of $20,000 to offer. Will players that would have...

The No. 23-rated prospect in the MLBPipeline.com top 200 is a familiar name to the Nationals. The club drafted right-hander Cole Wilcox out of high school in the 37th round in 2018. Wilcox comes at you with a fastball that can reach 100 mph and has the potential to get to 102 mph. University of Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin said that fastball has been the lethal pitch that has got everyone talking about Wilcox. "Obviously, he is very talented," Stricklin said. "He is a big, strong...

Hired by the Orioles in 2013, Brad Ciolek is a young talent in the front office who has had to do some improvising the last couple of months. Ciolek is supervisor, domestic scouting operations for the Orioles, who have the No. 2 pick in the First-Year Player Draft this Wednesday night. They have three of the first 39 picks and six selections in the five-round draft. Time to add to that elite talent pipeline. The O's could take Vanderbilt's Austin Martin or Texas A&M pitcher Asa Lacy with...

And so the end of another week is upon us, the 12th such week since we last had baseball players doing baseball things on a baseball field. It's hard to believe that much time has passed, and it's hard to believe there is still no agreed-upon plan for bringing the sport back. Obviously, there are more important issues in the world right now than baseball, and our heads and our hearts need to remain focused on those issues. But it's also OK to care about baseball right now. It's what...

Carmen Mlodzinski is a 6-foot-2, 231-lb. right-hander out of South Carolina who is ranked as the No. 21 prospect in the MLBPipeline.com top 200 list. The Nationals, who select at No. 22 in the first round, could have a very good shot at choosing this talented pitcher in the June 10 First-Year Player Draft. His college coach believes Mlodzinski has the tools and the makeup to become a solid starter in the major leagues. Mark Kingston has been the coach at South Carolina for three seasons after...

Texas A&M left-hander Asa Lacy, who turned 21 on Tuesday, is expected to be one of the top selections next week in the First-Year Player Draft. If the Orioles take him, turn that 21 into 1-2. He'll be a first-round pick and the second player taken. Many mock drafts still project Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson going first to Detroit, leaving the Orioles to grab Vanderbilt infielder-outfielder Austin Martin should they choose to at No. 2. But there are some reasons to consider...

The Nationals have done a very good job in their scouting over the years in the Dominican Republic, especially recently with the signings of Victor Robles, Juan Soto and Wander Suero. Suero was signed in 2010. Robles inked his deal in 2013 and Soto in 2015. Nationals vice president and assistant general manager of international operations Johnny DiPuglia has spent many years scouting and fostering contacts in the Dominican and Venezuela, way before a lot of other teams started to get into the...

Precisely 12 weeks have passed since Major League Baseball shut down spring training and delayed the start of the regular season, the novel coronavirus having forced the entire nation to shut down like never before. Nobody knew at that moment how much time would pass before baseball could be played again, but slowly it became clear the target date for starting a condensed 2020 season would fall right around July 4. Which meant teams would need to be able to start holding workouts for a second...