We spoke about Nationals prospect Jackson Cluff last month with Troy Gingrich. The Nats hitting coordinator was impressed with the shortstop's ability at the plate, showcasing outstanding bat speed and approach. Cluff's college coach, BYU's Mike Littlewood, knows Cluff's swing very well, and likes the youngster's "quick twitch" ability. "He's got tremendous bat speed," Littlewood said. "He's got good plate discipline. He knows what's a strike and what's a ball. For the most part,...

We still don't know when - or if - the 2020 Major League Baseball season will begin. We do know it won't be a full, 162-game season, though. Even in a best-case scenario, there's just not enough time to play all 162, not without extending the regular season deep into December and the World Series beyond New Year's Day. That's not happening. So if they play in 2020, it's going to be a shortened season. Which is not unprecedented in MLB history, given past labor disputes. But how many games...

The Orioles would have been wrapping up a three-game series this afternoon in Toronto if the coronavirus pandemic hadn't short-circuited the season. Thirty-six games already would be in the books, assuming there were no postponements. The Orioles would enjoy an off-day Thursday, along with the rest of us, and host the Angels for a weekend series. This is how it's supposed to be playing out. The baseball world stopped spinning on March 12 with spring training camps shut down and players in...

The Orioles' history since their 1954 arrival in Baltimore includes three World Series wins. It also includes three World Series losses. But today, seeking some happy news for a change, we'll focus on the three winners. My colleague, Roch Kubatko and I, got together to tape this video, discuss and even rank those championships. We have unique perspectives because we're both from the Baltimore area and have lived a lot of the history. We were in the stands for some of those games at Memorial...

The Orioles announced today that the club will honor community "helpers" collectively as part of the club's Virtual Birdland Community Heroes program. This group includes small business owners who have addressed varying needs in their community; non-profit leaders who have adapted and adjusted their missions to better serve those in need; volunteers who continue to offer their time and skills to local organizations; and all members of the community who are reaching out to their neighbors to...

For many years, Mother's Day and baseball were irrevocably intertwined in my life. The first baseball game I ever attended was on Mother's Day 1966, the day Frank Robinson hit a home run out of Memorial Stadium, making him the only player to ever accomplish that feat. Of course, we didn't know it until the next day, when my dad read it in the morning paper. After my dad passed in 1985, mom and I would usually spend Mother's Day at a ballpark. She particularly loved the intimacy of Harry...

All Nationals fans would admit that Howie Kendrick's two-run homer in the World Series Game 7 was a big moment in franchise history. But fans probably do not realize the homer ranks as the 10th best change-of-fortune hit in Major League Baseball postseason history, dating to 1903, according to a metric developed by The Baseball Gauge. The Baseball Gauge tracks a metric known as Change in World Series Win Probability (cWPA), based off every World Series (and postseason) game played the past 115...

When it's Week 8 of writing about baseball when there's no baseball to write about, you start coming up with some weird ideas. Most of them never see the light of day, but some of them do. And this is one of them. Monday was May 4. For "Star Wars" fans, it's an unofficial national holiday. Why? Cause it's May the Fourth. As in: "May the Fourth be with you." Yeah, it's cheesy. Guess what? So is "Star Wars." I'm a "Star Wars" fan. Not the kind of fan who dresses up in a Stormtrooper...

Guess you'll just have send your mother a card this year. If she's like my mom, she'd probably prefer that you take her to see a ballgame, but sadly, that's not an option this Mother's Day. The good news is that if you happen to be living under the same roof during the Great COVID-19 Shutdown of 2020, you and mom can park yourselves in front of the TV on Sunday (or any other day this week) and enjoy Nationals baseball together. True, we can only bring you the exploits of seasons past, but...

The day will come for all professional baseball players. Through their choice or a team's decision, their playing days will end. Sooner for some than others. Being told you are not good enough to continue would be not easy for anyone to hear. For 25-year-old Collin Woody, the words came late in spring training in 2019. A 38th-round draft pick by the Orioles in 2016 out of UNC-Greensboro, Woody played from 2016 through 2018. He never hit over .226. He had a 228-game career that reached as high...