When I interviewed new Orioles co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte recently, I asked him what stats are important to him in dealing with his hitters. When it comes to a question like this one, we have to keep in mind that the teams have so many more available stats and data than the media and general public. No one is going to give away any secrets here. But he did provide a few examples and that is where we began to discuss strikeouts and how the coaches will try to help the hitters produce...

Back on Dec. 14, when the lockout was still fresh and so was optimism for an on-time start to spring training and the regular season, I chose six decisions made by the Orioles after the final game that qualified as surprises in my corner of the baseball world. It was perhaps the first time that I reached for a shovel and really began digging deep for winter story ideas. Fast-forward to this morning and my back constantly aches. I can barely get out of bed. But I don't want your pity. (I...

We gained another reason to admire Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins this week. We learned that he produced a Most Valuable Oriole season, becoming the first player in club history with 30 or more homers and steals in one year, while battling the effects of Chron's disease. This did not keep Mullins from continuing his impressive rise from player demoted back to Double-A in 2019 to American League All-Star and All-Star game starter in 2021. He also won a Silver Slugger in November - the...

Well, here we are. It's February. The Winter Olympics are underway. The Super Bowl is nine days away. And pitchers and catchers will be reporting in ... well, who really knows at this point? There was some news on the collective bargaining front this week, though apparently not positive news. The clock has nearly run out to ensure an on-time start

It likely won't be that popular in Baltimore, where he once treated a phone rudely in the visitor's dugout at Camden Yards, but David Ortiz is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He made it to Cooperstown last night, getting 77.9 percent of the vote. A player needs to get 75 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America for induction. On their 10th and final years on the BBWAA ballot, both Barry Bonds (66 percent) and Roger Clemens (65.2 percent) came up short. They could...

Baseball remains in lockout mode, but representatives for ownership and the union met on back-to-back days. Communication is better than complete silence. My hot take. Per reports, Major League Baseball increased its proposal to raise the minimum salary for players with up to one year of service time from $600,000 to $615,000. MLB also proposed a $10 million bonus pool for pre-arbitration-eligible players, while the union has sought $105 million. Lots of work to be done, but this is...

The lockout may have drained the life out of this winter, but it can't eliminate one of the most important days of the year on the baseball calendar: Hall of Fame election day. (Well, provided somebody actually does get elected today. More on that in a moment.) The time has come for the Class of 2022 to be revealed, for a ballot of 30 candidates with varying cases for selection to be whittled down to the precious few who receive at least 75 percent of the vote among 10-year members of the...

While I am a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, I have not yet been a member for 10 years, and that means I do not yet vote for the Hall of Fame. So I dodged that bullet, so to speak. As no more than an interested observer right now, I look at the writers that do have a vote and wonder how they possibly figure out a way to handle the steroids and/or performance-enhancing drug issue? I have heard voters who will not even consider anyone linked to PEDs and voters that have...

Before we can toss out ideas for an Orioles breakout player this season, we first need to rummage through the qualifications. Cedric Mullins made it easy in 2021. The April demotion in 2019 and inability to claw his way back to the majors. No assurances that he'd hold onto the center field job last spring. The first 30/30 season in franchise history, along with an All-Star berth, Silver Slugger Award and ninth-place finish in Most Valuable Player voting in the American League. And so on and...

There is no greater experience in sports than watching a great postseason game, a down-to-the-wire, back-and-forth affair that comes down to one final dramatic moment that instantly becomes part of the very fabric of each franchise's lore, good or bad. And there is no worse experience in sports than watching owners and players decide not to contest games because they're squabbling over money. Guess which North American professional sport just enjoyed the ultimate weekend of great theater and...