The Nationals have a new pitching coach at high Single-A Fredericksburg for 2020, and he is a familiar face in the Carolina League. Justin Lord, who spent seven seasons as a pitching coach in the Baltimore system, comes to the Fredericksburg and takes over for Sam Narron, who is now the pitching coach for Double-A Harrisburg. Lord most recently was the pitching coach at high Single-A Frederick. "It's really good. I'm excited about being with the Nats," Lord said by telephone from his home...

If the baseball season begins in its altered state, and in whichever states are deemed acceptable for hosting teams, we're still going to be left wondering what would have happened under the usual circumstances. It's impossible to simulate normal with spring training shut down on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic and months lost past the anticipated opening day. For example, no matter how many games are salvaged - and this is assuming that health risks are reduced and the travel and...

How would an all-time Orioles team do against all-time teams from the rest of Major League Baseball? We're about to find out through the magic of game simulation. Obviously, they can't actually take the field! MLB, in conjunction with Out of the Park Baseball, on Thursday unveiled the MLB Dream Bracket with the tournament to begin Monday and Tuesday. The MLB Dream Bracket is a 32-team best-of-seven simulation featuring all-time teams for each of the 30 current MLB franchises, as well as teams...

An obvious starting point for who will be next to have a good chance of making the big leagues is found in the Nationals top prospect lists. But what is also intriguing are players who are not on this list just yet or were not considered for some reason or another. Similar to undrafted rookies or free agents in the National Football League, these prospects can reside under the radar for a time but then burst onto the scene. I asked Nationals minor league hitting coordinator Troy Gingrich for a...

His last start of an outstanding 2019 season never made it into his final season stats. That's because it was a postseason start. But in a season when right-hander Gray Fenter reminded the organization why he got an overslot draft bonus, it was a gem. In a best-of-three South Atlantic League playoff series against Hickory last September, Single-A Delmarva faced a must-win Game 2. Fenter pitched 6 1/3 scoreless on four hits with no walks and 13 strikeouts. He was dominant, but the Shorebirds...

With so much uncertainty engulfing the 2020 season and the world-wide impact of the coronavirus pandemic reducing the importance of playing baseball to microscopic proportions, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde isn't whittling away the hours at home wondering about his closer situation. Mychal Givens counts as the incumbent, though he worked the seventh or eighth innings in his last five appearances. Hunter Harvey seems to be on deck for the role, though no one on the team has made him an offer....

The work put toward booking travel and hotels for the 2020 baseball season slipped into reverse. The coronavirus pandemic kept the media at home. I would have taken a train to New York for the four-game series earlier this month. I'm supposed to be in Kansas City this weekend for my first visit since the 2014 American League Championship Series. I'm not a huge barbeque guy. I like it, but don't treat it like a religion. Otherwise, yeah, I'd be wrestling Steve Melewski for the...

What's the best team in Nationals history? The one that actually won the World Series. Duh. But it's worth remembering the 2019 Nats only went 93-69 during the regular season. Four previous clubs won more games than that: the 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 clubs. Those four teams, of course, lost in the National League Division Series, often in agonizing fashion. And so they're forever viewed as underachievers. Here's the question, though: Were any of those teams good enough to win the World...

The Orioles, since their first season in 1954, have won 100 or more games five times. The first four times they did so, they made the World Series, even though they lost three times. The fifth time they did so, they didn't even make the playoffs. The 1980 Orioles went 100-62 but finished second in the American League East, three games behind the New York Yankees. Baseball featured four divisions then and 100 wins would have been enough to win any of the other three divisions that year. But not...

The classic coverage yesterday on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network included Game 1 of the 1997 American League Division Series between the Orioles and Mariners. A wire-to-wire team staying on its roll, and in unfriendly territory. Delmon Young's three-run double in the 2014 Division Series created the loudest moment at Camden Yards, but the '97 playoff game at the Kingdome, with 59,579 fans cranking up the volume, nearly burst my eardrums. The ringing noise didn't subside until pitchers and...