So awesome when a baseball lifer reaches the mountaintop

So awesome when a baseball lifer reaches the mountaintop
When the Atlanta Braves won the World Series on Tuesday night - as Atlanta beat the Houston Astros in six games - a Braves employee since 1977 could exhale and realize he got to the baseball mountaintop. He was a world champion - one who started with the organization as a minor league player in 1977. He is a former longtime minor league manager and a man who was promoted to the position of major league coach three times over the years, only to be sent back to the minors each time. He is the...

Leftovers for breakfast

Leftovers for breakfast
Different reasons exist for candidates to qualify for Comeback Player of the Year in the majors. It can be a productive return from a down season. It can be a return from a serious injury. Trey Mancini is a finalist in the Major League Baseball Players Association's Players Choice Awards after missing the 2020 season with Stage 3 colon cancer. Just typing that sentence makes him feel like the favorite over teammate Cedric Mullins and the Mariners' Mitch Haniger, but we'll find out Thursday...

Harvey on Rutschman: "Ain't no joke with him. He's got everything"

Harvey on Rutschman: "Ain't no joke with him. He's got everything"
In December 2020, the Orioles signed Nick Ciuffo to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training as their annual move to improve their catching depth and increase competition for the backup job. Only, in this instance, they didn't target the typical veteran experience. They signed Bryan Holaday and Taylor Davis to minor league deals on the same day in January 2020. They broke camp with Jesús Sucre and Pedro Severino in 2019. Austin Wynns was on the injured list. He could be...

Kendall, Steenstra and Mills won't return in 2022

Kendall, Steenstra and Mills won't return in 2022
The changes on the minor league side of the Orioles' operation continued today at the highest and lower levels. Triple-A Norfolk manager Gary Kendall and pitching coach Kennie Steenstra, and Rookie-level Florida Complex League manager Alan Mills won't be returning in 2022, according to multiple sources. They were informed of the club's decision this morning. The Orioles haven't announced the moves. Kendall spent eight seasons as manager with Double-A Bowie before joining the Tides in 2019....

Pitching prospects lined up at Norfolk, but how long do they stay?

Pitching prospects lined up at Norfolk, but how long do they stay?
As pitching prospects move up or down to Triple-A Norfolk, getting the bump from Double-A Bowie or the boot from the Orioles, the Tides are stringing them together in a rotation that earlier was patched with minor league free agents. Dean Kremer took the ball Tuesday and left-hander Zac Lowther the next night. John Means, on his injury rehab assignment, interrupted the flow on Thursday and pushed back Kyle Bradish to last night and lefty Kevin Smith to tonight. Alexander Wells' placement on...

Diplán the "other" Orioles representative in Futures Game

Diplán the "other" Orioles representative in Futures Game
The list of participants in the All-Star Futures Game is published and eyes race to the American League catchers. There he is, Adley Rutschman, the top minor league prospect and the face, arm and bat of the Orioles rebuild. Right where he belongs. But double back to the pitchers. Rutschman isn't the lone representative in the organization. Far less heralded and totally unexpected is right-hander Marcos Diplán, who plays one level above Rutschman in the system and miles below the surface of...

Proud father Steenstra has two games to follow today

Proud father Steenstra has two games to follow today
As Triple-A Norfolk's pitching coach, Kennie Steenstra won't divide his attention this afternoon. His focus will stay on the field. He'll be locked into Tides starter Alexander Wells and anyone else who comes into the game. But the final out will send him scurrying for updates on the College World Series in Omaha, where son Logan's University of Tennessee Volunteers are playing the University of Virginia at 2 p.m. A coach can turn back into a nervous father real fast. Also a proud...

Armstrong reports to Triple-A confident in return to O's

Armstrong reports to Triple-A confident in return to O's
Shawn Armstrong received a phone call that he knew was coming. You don't have this much professional experience and self-awareness and become oblivious to the situation. Armstrong was struggling in the Orioles bullpen. He was out of minor league options. Someone had to step aside to make room for Hunter Harvey's return from the injured list. Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias was on the other end of the line on June 4. Armstrong had been designated for...

Dean Kremer now looks to build on impressive major league debut

Dean Kremer now looks to build on impressive major league debut
As major league debuts go, this was a really good one. Outstanding, actually. Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer faced the New York Yankees on Sunday, Sept. 6 at Camden Yards. In a 5-1 win as Baltimore took three of four in that series, Kremer allowed one run and one hit over six innings. Yankees batters went 1-for-19 against him. He walked three and fanned seven, throwing 47 of 88 pitches for strikes. His career was off and running. That afternoon Kremer became the fourth pitcher in Orioles...

Searching for reasons to be thankful

Searching for reasons to be thankful
The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us and traditions are being shut down like a spring training camp. Large family gatherings and out-of-state travel are discouraged due to health concerns rather than the bickering and your weird uncle's inappropriate comments. The two football games today interest me about as much as month-old sweet potato casserole, but I'll still watch them. They were supposed to be pigskin appetizers before Ravens-Steelers, which is going to be as satisfying as month-old...

Will Orioles protect Isaac Mattson from Rule 5 draft?

Will Orioles protect Isaac Mattson from Rule 5 draft?
The internal discussions in the Orioles organization related to Friday's deadline for setting the 40-man roster expand beyond the prospect lists that are blooming in the fall. You won't find reliever Isaac Mattson in the top 30 published by MLBPipeline.com. You could find him among the protected players. There's room on the bubble for Mattson and, without any inside information, I'm predicting that he goes on the 40-man along with outfielder Yusniel Diaz and pitchers Michael Baumann and Zac...

Kennie Steenstra discusses Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer

Kennie Steenstra discusses Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer
They combined to make 10 starts for the 2020 Orioles, and rookies Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer made strong impressions. They showed talent, promise and poise and made strong major league debuts. A guy who knows both pitchers very well and worked closely with both this year was probably watching somewhere and nodding his approval. Kennie Steenstra was the pitching coach at Double-A Bowie in 2018, when Akin went 14-7 with a 3.25 ERA in 25 starts. He was the Eastern League Pitcher of the Year and...

Checking in with pitching coaches from the Bowie alternate site

Checking in with pitching coaches from the Bowie alternate site
It was all a bit of mystery. They were playing baseball at Double-A Bowie this year but there were not any games that counted. No other Eastern League teams came to town. Bowie was an important place however, as it was the site of the Orioles' alternate camp this summer. No media or fans were allowed to watch and/or chronicle the happenings. But it was clear that some good instruction and work was going on out of the limelight and the major league spotlight. We saw Ryan Mountcastle come from...

Bringing opposites together in Akin and Kremer

Bringing opposites together in Akin and Kremer
No one is going to mistake Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer for carbon copies as pitchers and personalities, but they seem destined to be linked. It's hard to separate them and there's no real motivation to attempt it. Not as long as their talents and energy are so vital to the current playoff run and the future success of the organization. Two highly touted prospects making their major league debuts in 2020. Working back-to-back in the rotation last weekend. Doing it again this week, with Kremer...

Digging deeper into the hiring of Rosenbaum and Rowe

Digging deeper into the hiring of Rosenbaum and Rowe
The new hires and reassignments in the Orioles' minor league system that were made public yesterday in a press release included a batch of names from outside professional baseball. As expected and, in some cases, already reported. Tim Gibbons, the hitting coach at Double-A Bowie, worked as director of hitting at Elite Sports Training. Ryan Fuller, the hitting coach at Single-A Delmarva, comes from Power in Training. These aren't affiliates. There are recent interns, trainees and apprentices....

Upcoming dates with lots of or little interest to Orioles

Upcoming dates with lots of or little interest to Orioles
Another important offseason date that doesn't really impact the Orioles arrives on Monday. Teams no longer will have exclusive negotiating rights with their own free agents. Other executives can start courting them. The Orioles won't attempt to re-sign Mark Trumbo, so it doesn't matter to them. Monday also marks the deadline for teams to issue the $17.8 million qualifying offer to free agents. The Orioles obviously won't do it with Trumbo. And teams can exercise or decline options and...

Is Mallee a candidate to join Orioles?

Is Mallee a candidate to join Orioles?
The Orioles handled the task this week of notifying three coaches that they wouldn't have their contracts renewed for the 2020 season. The first steps toward making changes. Steps that were bound to happen, though the challenge was identifying the impacted members of the staff. Up next are interviews with candidates that should begin in a couple of days. A procedure that's keeping manager Brandon Hyde in Baltimore. What's known at the present time is that first base coach/outfield instructor...

Holt: "If we can compete in this division, we can smoke anybody"

Holt: "If we can compete in this division, we can smoke anybody"
A big chunk of the early offseason work being done by the Orioles involves the construction of the minor league coaching staffs. A task that already was in motion long before the Red Sox's walk-off win on Sunday. Making outside hires and reassigning individuals to a higher or lower affiliate. Changing a few roles in order to keep people in the organization while also making room for others or eliminating the job as it previously had been defined. Sean Berry is expected to come back to the...

This, that and the other

This, that and the other
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde must get creative again with his rotation, with today's off-day perhaps making the task a little easier. And an expanded roster could come into play. Asher Wojciechowski is expected to be pushed back before his next start due to fatigue. Wojciechowski was charged with four runs yesterday in only two innings and has posted a 7.05 ERA in his last eight starts. "I just thought today he was really battling himself and thinking I'd give him a little bit of a...

More on minor league staffs and an international note

More on minor league staffs and an international note
With exactly one week remaining before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, the Orioles are applying the finishing touches to the construction of their minor league staffs and an announcement is coming within the next few days. Certainly before I board my Monday flight to Sarasota. What do we know? Well, let's start with Gary Kendall, who's replacing Ron Johnson as manager at Triple-A Norfolk. Mike Griffin returns as Tides pitching coach. Buck Britton moves up from low Single-A...