The Orioles haven't named their opening day starter for July 24, an announcement shelved due to baseball's shutdown. John Means was lined up for the assignment and nothing has happened to change the narrative. Means worked four "innings" yesterday while throwing live batting practice, which actually meant dialing down from his home activity. "I think I'm very close," he said today in a Zoom conference call. "Over the quarantine, I had built up to five innings, 75 pitches, but since the...

The ability of a 60-game season to thrust teams with normally low expectations into contender status has become a fascination of sorts in Baltimore. Fans wonder if the Orioles can make the playoffs, or at least flirt with the possibility from their lowered bar until closing time, due to the unusual dynamics brought by the coronavirus pandemic. Media is, at the least, curious about the possibility. The playoff field isn't expanded, since Major League Baseball had to implement its own vision of...

Max Scherzer laughed when a reporter mentioned hearing he threw 65 pitches to live hitters Friday during the Nationals' first workout of the summer, then made sure to clarify that manager Davey Martinez may not have conveyed that information with 100 percent accuracy. Turns out Scherzer threw 32 pitches to hitters over two simulated innings. The 65 total Martinez revealed most likely included his warmup pitches before the batters stepped in. Still, it's a good sign of the current state of...

There are a few things emerging after watching two days' worth of Zoom video interviews from Orioles camp at Oriole Park. The players certainly put their time to good use after spring training shut down in mid-March. And fthey seem determined to abide by the extensive health protocols in place to give this season every chance to both get going and to be played to completion. It was March 12 when spring training was halted by COVID-19 concerns and the second version of training began Friday in...

The Orioles still don't have a full turnout for their summer training camp, with manager Brandon Hyde saying again this afternoon that a couple of Dominican players remain in the intake process for COVID-19 testing. "We're still waiting on that," Hyde said today in a Zoom conference call. While some teams are confirming positive tests, whether or not they receive permission from players to reveal the names, the Orioles are keeping the process under wraps. Major League Baseball announced...

The Nationals had the oldest clubhouse in the major leagues last season. That type of experience and leadership was important to their success. This season, many of those same veterans are back, but the club must adjust without guys like Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman. Manager Davey Martinez was asked Saturday who he felt might step up to take on a more vigorous leadership role on this 2020 version of the Nats? Martinez believes a soft-spoken veteran shortstop might be in line to take on a...

Right-hander Mason Denaburg, the Nationals' top overall selection from the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, has been been progressing well from a shoulder cleanout we reported earlier this winter. Three of the Nats' top four first-round selections the past four drafts are in the current 60-man player pool, including Cade Cavalli, Jackson Rutledge and Seth Romero. Because he is undergoing rehab following the procedure on his right shoulder, Denaburg is not in camp. The arthroscopic cleanout did...

The Nationals' most pressing question of spring training may already be answered at the outset of summer training: Carter Kieboom is expected to be the club's everyday third baseman. Manager Davey Martinez revealed that significant bit of news today during his second video conference with reporters of this unprecedented summer camp, making it clear his plan at this moment is to pencil Kieboom's name in at third base on opening day and to keep him there throughout this planned shortened...

The Nationals enter day two of summer training at Nats Park with the schedule spread out over 11 hours so the players and coaches are never in big groups. General manager Mike Rizzo said his pitchers hit the ground running on Friday and returned looking like they had taken advantage of the three-and-a-half-month pause due to the coronavirus shutdown, especially Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. "The important thing is we came into spring training 2.0 in good shape," Rizzo...

The Sarasota portion of camp ended for the Orioles on March 12, almost four months passing before they could reconvene at Camden Yards for unprecedented summer sessions. The roster has undergone some changes, with 45 players plunging into a pool and 15 others expected at the alternate site in Bowie. Manager Brandon Hyde won't block out everything he saw at the Ed Smith Stadium complex and during Grapefruit League games. It still counts. "Yeah, I think so," he said yesterday after leaving his...