Whenever the Nationals actually report to West Palm Beach, there will be plenty of position battles to dissect. You can pretty much go right up the middle of the field. Will Keibert Ruiz get a strong hold of the starting catcher's spot? Who will fill out the back ends of both the rotation and bullpen? Who will start in the middle part of the infield? Can Victor Robles earn his spot in center field back from Lane Thomas? You can even throw in questions about Carter Kieboom at third base. But...

For just the third time since Baseball America started releasing top 100 prospect lists in 1990, the Orioles had five players in the initial top 100 of the year when the newest list came out on Wednesday. We say initial top 100 because now these lists are tweaked and changed often during the year. Some outlets, including Baseball America, move players in and out as they "graduate" and lose prospect and rookie eligibility. There was once a time when outlets released one list per year and a...

When the Orioles acquired pitcher Garrett Stallings from the Angels in the José Iglesias trade on Dec. 2, 2020, there were no professional starts to sift through. No professional data to digest. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias knew Stallings from the University of Tennessee, targeting him in the previous year's draft before the Angels selected him in the fifth round. Elias kept tabs on the right-hander while Los Angeles shut him down that summer and COVID-19 forced the...

What's better than a midweek mailbag? Basically anything, but it's not up to me to supply the questions here. That's your job. The fans have spoken - or written. They won't be ignored or put in the corner. I present to you the latest sequel to the original. You ask, I answer, you ask again, I answer again. It's the same old story, same old song and dance, my friend. We don't edit for anything. What you send is what I post. OK, maybe a word or a comma ends up on the cutting room...

It's an assumption - but probably a pretty safe assumption - that right-hander Jordan Lyles is not only a rotation candidate for the 2022 Orioles, but he is very likely to be a key member of their rotation. This is why the club agreed with the free agent pitcher on a one-year deal for $7 million right before the lockout, and the Orioles hold a team option on his 2023 contract. Lyles went 10-13 with a 5.15 ERA for Texas last season. And that produced an ERA+ of 85 for last year or 15 percent...

This was always going to be an important offseason for the Nationals. Not in terms of signing big-name free agents or making a big splash on the trade market, but in terms of making significant changes and improvements on the minor league side to start this first full year of the rebuild off on the right foot. They have already signed a handful of veteran players to minor league deals to potentially help the major league roster and add depth to the upper levels of the farm system. They signed a...

The Nationals announced their 2022 minor league player development staff on Tuesday, with 14 new roles and more than 20 new members. This completes the process this offseason of completely revamping the department as the Nationals focus more on the growth of their minor league players during the first year of what is hoped to be a quick rebuild. General manager Mike Rizzo hinted at these changes coming to the organization during his press conference on the last day of the regular season. "We...

The Washington Nationals announced their 2022 Minor League Player Development staff on Tuesday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo and Director of Player Development De Jon Watson made the joint announcement. "We are incredibly excited to announce our expanded player development staff," said Watson. "We added 14 new roles and brought in more than 20 new staff members to the system. This group boasts a wealth of playing and coaching experience at both...

A little over a month ago, I wrote in this space taking a look ahead at some of the projected roster for the 2022 low Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds and how they are expected to feature a club with a strong international flavor. This is yet another big step for the Orioles in their emerging international program, which added 24 signees on Saturday and three more were reported by Baseball America on Monday for a class of 27 to this point. Keep it coming, the fans might say. With major league...

With the pitching minicamp wrapping up over the weekend in Sarasota, the Orioles are ready to conduct two others geared toward hitters in their organization. The breakdown puts more experienced and higher-profile prospects in the first camp, which begins on Friday, followed next Tuesday by a gathering of newer, younger players. The initial wave will consist of first-round selections Adley Rutschman, Heston Kjerstad and Colton Cowser, along with Kyle Stowers, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg,...