Like other minor league players right now, Orioles top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez is spending time at home while trying to stay ready for a season that might not be played. While fans are hoping, maybe even expecting to see some version of Major League Baseball in 2020, play on the farm is less certain. But the O's No. 2 ranked prospect, behind only Adley Rutschman, is doing his best to prepare, he told me during a video interview this week. Rodriguez said he has a small baseball...

The spring training shutdown did more than stop the workouts and exhibition games. It also led to the shredding of mock rosters, destroying all of the hard work put into choosing the 26 players who would head north for opening day. If there is a 2020 season, it's going to come with an expansion that might allow teams to carry 30 players and a hefty taxi squad. Those camp competitions that held our interest seem so insignificant under these revisions. The idea of carrying a third catcher seemed...

The Zoom conference calls have allowed Orioles catcher Austin Wynns to feel more connected to his family, friends and teammates. The club set up a promotion where he could speak with Birdland Members deprived of a season. The images on his screen have been personal in some ways and linked more to his profession on others days. But they touch his heart just the same. Wynns spent last Friday night talking baseball in a manner he hadn't experienced. A catcher-turned-lecturer of sorts, the virtual...

Taking a deep dive into catching prospects in the Nationals system, I reached out to catching coordinator Michael Barrett, who has been coaching for the organization since 2013 and caught in the majors for 12 seasons. Barrett told me of the sheer numbers he has to work with: The Nats had five catchers in short-season Single-A Auburn last year and as many as 17 catchers from low Single-A Hagerstown on down in the system. The highest rated of the group is Israel Pineda, at No. 14 on the current...

We continue today a periodic look at the state of the Nationals roster at the point spring training was suspended and project how things may look whenever baseball is played again. Up next is the catching corps ... As a whole, Nationals catchers were among the most productive in the majors last season. They totaled 28 homers (seventh-most in baseball), 100 RBIs (third-most) and a .743 OPS that represented a 119-point upgrade from the 2018 season. The club has every reason to believe this group...

One way to see it was that a former player abandoned the interests of the current baseball players. That is probably how most took the comments on ESPN yesterday by former New York Yankee Mark Teixeira, someone not very well liked by Orioles fans. The Severna Park native essentially sided with the owners in what appears to be a brewing dispute with players as the sides try to hammer out plans to have a 2020 season. Owners have reportedly approved a proposal of 82 games with seven playoff teams...

Young students should be filing into Camden Yards this morning for the annual "Weather Day" event at the ballpark. A chance to watch baseball after they learn about barometric pressure. Sun is in the forecast with temperatures in the upper 60s. It's been a little chilly for the second week of May, but no one would be complaining. The weather doesn't really matter. We're stuck at home, wondering whether there's going to be a season. So yes, it's "Whether Day." My optimism fluctuates...

When you watch a baseball game - whether in person or from the comfort of your basement recliner - there's a certain end game at play. Simply put, you want your team to win. You don't really care how they do it, as long as they have more runs than the other guys at the end of the game. Sometimes it takes nine innings, sometimes more. Sometimes it's a stellar pitching performance that does the trick, other times it's a fortuitous piece of offense that's the catalyst. Sometimes, weird things...

Flash back to May 9-12, 2019, as the Nationals continued their long road trip with a four-game set against the defending National League champion Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. Today marks the anniversary to the end of that series, with the Nats coming home with some added confidence that they could hang with the big boys in the NL, even though they were not at full strength. It was the introduction of veteran Gerardo Parra as a member of the Nationals. His grand slam on May 11, 2019, propelled the...

Major League Baseball owners reportedly agreed Monday to a proposal for a 2020 season, one that would include an abbreviated second round of spring training in June, then a regular season of roughly 80 games that would run from July through September, then an expanded postseason that includes two more wild card teams in each league but could still be wrapped up around Halloween. Sounds great, right? Our long national nightmare is almost over! The only thing the league needs now is approval of...