Nationals minor league right-hander Taylor Hill was named a minor league Gold Glove award winner on Tuesday. The announcement was made by Minor League Baseball and the Rawlings Sporting Goods Co., Inc. The Gold Glove is awarded to players that exhibit stellar defense at their position for the season. The 24-year-old Hill joins second baseman Steve Lombardozzi as the second Nationals farmhand to be honored with a Gold Glove. Lombardozzi received his minor league Gold Glove in 2011. Hill made...

Orioles first-round draft pickHunter Harvey, is no longer pitching in any games during the club's instructional league workouts at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla. "He just has a sore lower back and it's from running and conditioning and doing PFPs (pitchers' fielding practice)," O's director of player development Brian Graham said. "We're not pitching him in a game, but it's not a concern, not an injury. "He had a great year and threw the ball well and did everything we wanted...

That stone-cold visage he displays in the dugout isn't the look on Buck Showalter's face every minute of every day. The Orioles manager may look serious as a heart attack during a game, but he has a heart of gold when it comes to kids. So it's no surprise that Orioles manager Buck Showalter has partnered with KidsPeace, an organization that gives hope, help and healing to children, families and communities throughout the United States. Not every kid is lucky enough to get to spend an...

One of the under-the-radar hurlers that is making a nice move within the Nationals organization is right-handed reliever Richie Mirowski. Along with Aaron Barrett and Robert Benincasa, Mirowski is one to watch for in 2014. Mirowski went 8-3 with a 1.50 ERA in 32 games for high Single-A Potomac. In 48 innings, Mirowski had 59 strikeouts and 11 walks, yielding an amazing .180 batting average against. Potomac manager Brian Daubach said Mirowski added a third pitch that became one of his biggest...

The Orioles didn't qualify for the playoffs this year, but Adam Jones will get to experience more of the postseason. Not the way that he did in 2012. Not as a center fielder. Jones will serve as a guest studio analyst for MLB Network during the month of October, joining Raul Ibanez, Mark Teixeira, Mark DeRosa and longtime broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson. Harrelson will be the first guest analyst on "MLB Tonight" with a two-night stint beginning Friday. Did anyone tell him that the...

Offseason baseball events have come a long way since the rubber chicken awards dinners of winters past. Mark your calendars now for Wednesday, Dec. 4 - that's the night when the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation will host "The Hot Corner: A Conversation of Baseball Greats" at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event will feature an intimate conversation between Cal Ripken Jr., the longtime Orioles third baseman who was enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, and...

Last night's Rays win over the Rangers in the American League play-in game means that former Nationals great David DeJesus will taste the postseason for the first time in his 11-year big league career. What do you think DeJesus will remember most about this season - finally reaching the playoffs, or those three at-bats he got in a Nationals uniform back in August? They're probably about even, is my guess. If someone was stranded in a cave without TV or the Internet for the last six months,...

So in 2014, will Jim Johnson pitch more like the 2012 closer that saved 51-of-54 or the 2013 version that saved 50 of 59? Johnson said it will probably turn out to be somewhere in the middle. "The actual truth is probably a combination between what you saw last year and this year," he said Sunday in the Orioles clubhouse. "Last year was probably a tick up from what was expected and this year was maybe a tick down. So in between these two years I think is probably what to expect." Johnson...

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado received good news today following his visit to orthopedic specialist Dr. James Andrews in Gulf Breeze, Fla. I'm told that Andrews' recommendation matched up with the one provided by the Orioles' medical staff. Machado will rest and continue down the same rehabilitation path for his left knee that the club has laid out for him. Machado, 21, tore the medial patellofemoral ligament in the seventh inning of last Monday's game against the Rays at Tropicana...

As long as I'm looking back on the 2013 season, I'd like to pass along an anecdote from the final road game on Sept. 23 at Tropicana Field. May as well keep it light today. I mentioned that the Orioles let Wei-Yin Chen's interpreter, Tim Lin, deliver the lineup card to home plate before the anthem. Lin was all smiles as he walked back to the dugout, but his look soon changed to one of confusion as players and coaches motioned for him to go back. The four umpires posed for a photo with Lin,...