SARASOTA, Fla. - The Internet makes pitching statistics easily accessible to the public and there are multiple sites offering full scouting reports. Video can be found in only a couple of keystrokes. It's reached the point where leaving your couch no longer is a prerequisite. Then there are those opportunities to hang out at a catcher's locker and pick his brain. Still one of my favorite activities, and especially in spring training with so many arms in camp. Austin Wynns turned 29 in...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Dusty Baker stood near one of the practice fields outside FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on Thursday morning, wearing an Astros cap and pullover, answering questions about the team he now manages. He looked very much at home, very much in his element. The 70-year-old baseball lifer has done everything there is to do in this sport, and yet he has now found perhaps the ultimate challenge of his career: guiding a Houston roster loaded with talent but stained by proof...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles right-hander Brandon Bailey admits he has spent his first few days of spring training with his new team getting to know all of his teammates' names. That is understandable, with so many players new to him. But he's slowly starting to settle in at O's spring training and looking forward to the best opportunity of his young career. He wasn't drafted by the Houston Astros, but an Astros front office that included Mike Elias and Sig Mejdal traded for him not long after...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Tony Clark, head of the Major League Baseball Players' Association, visits every club every spring. Those meetings can run long, sometimes topping two hours, depending on the list of topics that need to be discussed. This morning, Clark and his associates with the players' union, walked into the Astros clubhouse at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and did not emerge until nearly four hours had passed. Suffice it to say, this was no ordinary spring training meeting,...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - After more than a week of bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-80s, the Nationals walked outside this morning to an unfamiliar sight this spring: rain. For the first time in camp, weather altered the club's plans. What should've been a two-hour full squad workout instead was condensed into a quick session that took care of the day's most pressing needs (a group of pitchers throwing live batting practice, moved to the covered batting cages) and little...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde announced today that left-hander Wade LeBlanc will start Sunday afternoon against the Red Sox in Sarasota and Alex Cobb will start Monday versus the Phillies in Clearwater. We've already learned that Chandler Shepherd is starting Saturday's opener against the Braves in North Port. "I think a few days ago I was asked 'Are we ready yet? and I said, 'No.' Now I think we are," Hyde said, smiling. "It's going to be fun to watch a lot of our guys...

MASNsports.com's Mark Zuckerman describes a Max Scherzer spring training bullpen session.

SARASOTA, Fla. - Infielder Andrew Velazquez has reported to the Orioles' spring training complex, taking Richard Ureña's 40-man roster spot and his locker. Velazquez, who's wearing No. 88, joins the utility competition. Chandler Shepherd found out yesterday that he'd get the start in Saturday's exhibition opener against the Braves in North Port. Félix Hernández is starting for Atlanta. "I knew coming into camp that I was going to have some opportunities to throw," Shepherd said....

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - It didn't compare to the parade they threw the Nationals in Washington three days after Game 7 of the World Series. How could it? Maybe there weren't hundreds of thousands of fans lining Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach on Thursday evening. But those who did turn out - and there were plenty who did - were treated to a yet another nice celebration of the 2019 champs, this one in their spring home. "I am very impressed with all the players that are here,"...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The player stood at his locker and greeted a visitor who wanted a few minutes of his time. The interpreter, meanwhile, had moved to the other side of the clubhouse while assisting someone else with an interview. Anthony Santander was on his own. The way he's wanted it to be in 2020. Tiny gains in confidence have blossomed to where Santander is ready to speak on his own, without the bridge provided by Ramón Alarcón, the Orioles' Spanish translator and coordinator of...