WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Will Harris hasn't pitched in a Grapefruit League game yet, but the veteran reliever is confident he has enough time left to build his body up after suffering an abdominal strain to be part of the Nationals bullpen on opening day. "As of right now, I'll be there," he said. "I'll have cleats on. I'll be ready." Harris, the club's key bullpen acquisition over the winter, threw another bullpen session this morning and said he's progressing as he wants from the...

DUNEDIN, Fla. - Hector Velázquez isn't quite set to make his Orioles debut. Maybe it comes over the weekend. The reliever anticipates a second bullpen session before he's cleared to pitch in a game for the Orioles, who claimed him off waivers from the Red Sox earlier this week. He's waiting for manager Brandon Hyde to give him more information. "I think that I'm going to need to throw one more bullpen," he said through interpreter Ramón Alarcón. "After that, the manager is going...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - As opening day inches closer, lineups start to look more and more legit. Well, for some teams, anyway. The Nationals have a whole bunch of regulars playing this afternoon, including Adam Eaton, who will be the DH eight days after he had to leave a game with tightness in his hamstring. That's obviously a good sign. Eaton is batting in his customary No. 2 spot, behind Trea Turner and ahead of Eric Thames, who is the No. 3 hitter du jour. Juan Soto, Howie Kendrick,...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Mason Williams is leading off and playing center field as the Orioles travel to Dunedin this afternoon to play the Blue Jays. Williams is 7-for-20 this spring. Pat Valaika is playing first base and Ryan Mountcastle is the left fielder and cleanup hitter. Yusniel Diaz, who had an RBI triple last night, is in right field. Thomas Eshelman gets the start while left-hander John Means throws a simulated game in Sarasota. Means is lined up to make the opening day start on March...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If you paid any attention to the saga that was Max Scherzer's summer of 2019, the sequence of events that took place here over the last few days should not have surprised you. First there was manager Davey Martinez hinting that Scherzer might skip his scheduled Grapefruit League start, instead throwing an extra bullpen session, all in the name of saving up some of the bullets in his arm leading up to opening day. Then Martinez revealed Scherzer indeed wouldn't be...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Tanner Scott will take the one-pitch outs. Ground ball, fly ball, however they come. He isn't averse to them. There are those occasions, however, when he can't stop the strikeouts. It happened again Sunday afternoon against the Yankees. Scott was assigned the ninth inning and fanned the side. Armando Alvarez, Brandon Lockridge and Trey Amburgey took turns flailing at fastballs clocked at 100-101 mph and the crowd at Ed Smith Stadium reacted to each radar reading on the...

SARASOTA, Fla. - If you look at the first two full seasons for young left-handed pitching prospect DL Hall, you can see better stats in 2018 at Single-A Delmarva than in 2019 at Single-A Frederick. But in Frederick, as he faced better hitters he also was challenged to do things he had not before, and he might have gained a lot to benefit his future even as his ERA and walk rate spiked up. Hall had a 2.10 ERA with Delmarva and a walk rate of 4.00. With Frederick his ERA was 3.46 and the walk...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Making his fourth spring appearance tonight, Orioles lefty pitching prospect Keegan Akin fanned four - and threw one pitch he'd like to have back. An 0-1 fastball with two men on to the Braves' top prospect went a long way. Center fielder Cristian Pache belted the blast to put Atlanta ahead 3-0 on Akin and the Orioles in the second inning at Ed Smith Stadium. One bad pitch marred his pitching line tonight. Over three innings, Akin gave up four hits and three runs with one...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Cody Carroll knows the feeling of impressing the Orioles in spring training and failing to make the club. He might be too good to pass up in 2020. Carroll registered another scoreless inning tonight, stranding the Braves' Yangervis Solarte after a two-out double in the fourth by striking out Alex Jackson with a 96 mph fastball. Drawing praise from manager Brandon Hyde before the game, Carroll has allowed only one run with one walk and seven strikeouts in six innings. He's...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde held his daily pregame scrum this afternoon outside the dugout and at arm's length from the media. Not the way he wanted it to happen, but he was going along with the increased safety measures around the ballpark that also eliminate autographs and handshakes for fans. "People know a lot more than I do that are higher up," he said. "I'm going to follow the regulations that MLB put out for us and just hoping for the best going forward. But it's...