Hired by the Orioles in 2013, Brad Ciolek is a young talent in the front office who has had to do some improvising the last couple of months. Ciolek is supervisor, domestic scouting operations for the Orioles, who have the No. 2 pick in the First-Year Player Draft this Wednesday night. They have three of the first 39 picks and six selections in the five-round draft. Time to add to that elite talent pipeline. The O's could take Vanderbilt's Austin Martin or Texas A&M pitcher Asa Lacy with...

And so the end of another week is upon us, the 12th such week since we last had baseball players doing baseball things on a baseball field. It's hard to believe that much time has passed, and it's hard to believe there is still no agreed-upon plan for bringing the sport back. Obviously, there are more important issues in the world right now than baseball, and our heads and our hearts need to remain focused on those issues. But it's also OK to care about baseball right now. It's what...

Carmen Mlodzinski is a 6-foot-2, 231-lb. right-hander out of South Carolina who is ranked as the No. 21 prospect in the MLBPipeline.com top 200 list. The Nationals, who select at No. 22 in the first round, could have a very good shot at choosing this talented pitcher in the June 10 First-Year Player Draft. His college coach believes Mlodzinski has the tools and the makeup to become a solid starter in the major leagues. Mark Kingston has been the coach at South Carolina for three seasons after...

Texas A&M left-hander Asa Lacy, who turned 21 on Tuesday, is expected to be one of the top selections next week in the First-Year Player Draft. If the Orioles take him, turn that 21 into 1-2. He'll be a first-round pick and the second player taken. Many mock drafts still project Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson going first to Detroit, leaving the Orioles to grab Vanderbilt infielder-outfielder Austin Martin should they choose to at No. 2. But there are some reasons to consider...

The Nationals have done a very good job in their scouting over the years in the Dominican Republic, especially recently with the signings of Victor Robles, Juan Soto and Wander Suero. Suero was signed in 2010. Robles inked his deal in 2013 and Soto in 2015. Nationals vice president and assistant general manager of international operations Johnny DiPuglia has spent many years scouting and fostering contacts in the Dominican and Venezuela, way before a lot of other teams started to get into the...

Precisely 12 weeks have passed since Major League Baseball shut down spring training and delayed the start of the regular season, the novel coronavirus having forced the entire nation to shut down like never before. Nobody knew at that moment how much time would pass before baseball could be played again, but slowly it became clear the target date for starting a condensed 2020 season would fall right around July 4. Which meant teams would need to be able to start holding workouts for a second...

When Baseball America released its latest mock draft yesterday, it had a real surprise with the Orioles and the No. 2 pick. It was not Vanderbilt's Austin Martin or Asa Lacy of Texas A&M. This mock had the Orioles taking high school outfielder Zac Veen from Orange, Fla. This would be part of a one-two approach in which the O's could sign Veen, get a top player and save some slot space to go well over slot with their No. 30 pick and get two top-rated talents. It's a strategy that has...

Orioles pitcher Tommy Milone is spending his days and nights working out and finding tasks to stay busy at his home in Santa Clarita, Calif., a city that's located about 45 minutes north of Los Angeles and known for its variety of roller coasters at the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. Milone should be used to the ups and downs. But his first year with the Orioles has been a shock to the system. How could the veteran left-hander have anticipated everything thrown at him? The coronavirus...

While negotiations continue, time may be running out. Bobby Blanco and Mark Zuckerman break down MLB's latest proposal to play and the obstacles it faces.

A sportswriter walks into a bar and ... I'm not reciting the first line of a joke. I'm actually going somewhere with this. The sportswriter was me and it happened many years ago - so long that I can't remember the exact location. I'm fairly certain that it was Sullivan's Steakhouse, a few blocks from Camden Yards. But this isn't the important part of the story. I ducked inside the men's room before last call - the bar's, not the bathroom's - and saw Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter at one...