I recently got the perspective of high Single-A Fredericksburg manager Tripp Keister on a few of the pitchers he saw throw during October instructional league workouts and more recently in Nationals spring training. The first was left-hander Tim Cate, who I spoke with at the start of 2019 spring training in West Palm Beach. Keister said Cate, 22, moved up to Woodbridge, Va., midway through the season last year. The skipper liked the pitching repertoire Cate brought to the table for the...

I woke up on the morning of June 24, 2011, exhausted from the events of the previous day, and rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Chicago. The Nationals were opening a three-game interleague series against the White Sox, having just won 11 of their last 12 but now employing a temporary manager for the weekend. Jim Riggleman's surprise resignation following a walk-off win over the Mariners at Nationals Park had shocked the baseball world, certainly the baseball-caring portion of...

He was the Earl of Baltimore, and among the Orioles' many fans, just about as popular as any great player ever to wear the orange and black. On his way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., Earl Weaver managed the Orioles to 1,480 wins, including six American League East titles, four AL pennants and the 1970 World Series championship. Between 1969 and 1980, his teams won 100 games five times. No O's team ever managed by anyone other than Weaver ever won 100 games. Fans...

I had a question last week regarding the cWPA (change in World Series win probability) as it pertained to Howie Kendrick's grand slam in the top of the 10th inning in National League Division Series Game 5. Moving away from cWPA for a moment, I studied how The Baseball Gauge displayed the NLDS win probability for the entire series between the Nationals and the Dodgers last October, won by Washington, three games to two. Prior to that 10th inning, the Nationals had better than a 50 percent...

I get asked often about the craziest story I've covered on the Nationals beat, and there's no shortage of choices over the last 15 years. But my answer has been consistent for a long time now: it's Jim Riggleman's surprise resignation during the 2011 season, and the chaotic 72 hours that followed. In fact, when Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (a long ago intern on the Nats beat) asked on Twitter a few days ago "What's the most random sports moment you'd watch a 10-part...

The Korea Baseball Organization season is underway. It is nearly a week old and began without any fans in the stands. For now, it will stay that way and we'll see if that changes at some point. I haven't watched a lot of KBO action yet, but I've enjoyed what I have seen. I admire the ESPN announcers for calling games at 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. from their homes and doing such a good job. As for games without crowds, let me first say I want the fans back. All of them, when it becomes safe to do...

One of my more interesting and enlightening conversations in spring training, before the door slammed shut and everyone headed home, came on Feb. 24 with first baseman Chris Davis as we sat in the media workroom following his final round of batting practice. The Orioles were on the road and I stayed back in camp, waiting for Davis to leave the field and wondering if he'd remember that he agreed to an interview. Seizing a chance to get out of the sun, Davis asked whether we could talk at the...

The Nationals have a plethora of quality catchers in their system and have made a point to stockpile the position. One of their catchers with a ton of experience is Raudy Read, who played 14 games with the Nationals between 2017 and 2019. The Nats signed the 26-year-old in 2011 out of the Dominican Republic. Even a catcher who has logged 632 minor league games - from the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League to Triple-A Syracuse and Fresno - looks to improve and refine his game each season....

Like Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray is an Orioles legend who did not play his entire career in Baltimore. But he sure made a massive impact on the organization. His No. 33 is a retired number and there is a large bronze sculpture of Murray in Orioles Legends Park beyond the left center field wall. The O's Twitter account ran a post that featured a fun look back at Murray's 500th homer, which he hit on Sept. 6, 1996. It happened one year to the day after Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's record...

My article last week on players who easily could be forgotten for their brief stints in Baltimore, or who attained legendary status elsewhere, sparked a fun discussion in the comments section of the blog. My biggest omission had to be Reggie Jackson, forever linked to the Yankees and Athletics and only a footnote in Orioles history. They traded for him prior to the 1976 season, he reported late and then blasted the city as being so boring, there was nothing to do at night except watch the...