They are two young guns who were once starting pitchers but now could be valuable to improvement for the Orioles bullpen. They were both drafted in the first round. Both now enjoy pitching out of the bullpen, and next season 24-year-old Hunter Harvey and 25-year-old Dillon Tate could help improve an O’s bullpen that posted a 5.63 ERA last year. That ranked last in the ... read more
So the Orioles’ rotation depth chart right now is lacking a bit, you may have noticed. Surely they will add some pitchers before spring training, even if it’s only minor league free agents and/or pitchers looking to make good after a poor or injury-marred season or seasons. They could look to add a major league free agent or two, but any such signing would likely ... read more
As the club they support is not loaded with talent, it seems that many Orioles fans are feeling some anxiety about what might happen with middle infielder Jonathan Villar. The only player in the majors with at least 24 homers and 40 steals in 2019, Villar produced 4.0 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), according to FanGraphs.com, to lead the club. Trey Mancini was named Most Valuable ... read more
Orioles left-hander John Means, who was a surprise as the club’s best starting pitcher in 2019, tonight finished second for the Jackie Robinson American League Rookie of the Year Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Means, 26, received 53 points, getting 16 votes for second place and five for third place. Two writers from each AL city voted for their top ... read more
Today we continue a look at Orioles minor league pitching in 2019 through the eyes of director of pitching Chris Holt. We’ve published a couple of entries recently with Holt, and in this one, he’ll take a closer at four of the club’s top pitching prospects. DL HALL Hall was the Orioles No. 1 pick, taken No. 21 overall out of a Georgia high school ... read more
The technology in baseball is moving fast. In this recent entry, O’s minor league hitting coach Tom Eller gave us a bit of a primer on some of the technology that is in place as of 2019 on the Orioles farm. For most of us, it was probably both educational and enlightening. Eller was new to the O’s organization in the 2019 season. He started ... read more
The topic came up again during yesterday’s Orioles Q&A session on this blog: How long will this rebuild take? The fans want to know. That is a very reasonable question, but it just doesn’t have an answer. You can guess, but that’s really all you will be doing. No one knows for sure, including general manager Mike Elias, who is heading up this rebuilding, how ... read more
Today, when we get to the comments section of this blog, the readers will be the stars. Here is the plan: Ask an O’s question, whatever you’ve got, and I’ll provide the best answer I can. Plus other readers can throw in their two cents. It’s time to open this up and get what is on your mind about the club front and center. I’ve ... read more
