In this entry recently, I interviewed Orioles director of pitching Chris Holt. He was promoted to that position on Oct. 11 after serving as director of minor league pitching for the 2019 season. We addressed several topics earlier with Holt, and today we get his take on a few minor league hurlers. In 2019, four of the O's top six farm teams led their respective leagues in team ERA. The overall strikeout rate of the six teams increased from 8.18 in 2018 to 9.26 last season. Today Holt provides...

As the Orioles look to put together a starting rotation for 2020, one question will be how soon will some of their homegrown prospects get their chance at the starting five. When will some of the up and coming pitching prospects - homegrown or not - get their shot? Based on how executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and his staff ran the minors and promoted players in 2019, it is probably likely that they won't often have prospects skip levels or more as fast through the system as...

It is going to come down to this: Can a team still in the early stages of a rebuild in 2020 afford a $10 million middle infielder? MLBTradeRumors.com yesterday came out with its arbitration projections for this winter, and predicted that the Orioles would have to give Jonathan Villar a salary of $10.4 million for next year, more than doubling his $4.825 million paycheck from this past season. That was a much higher projection than I expected. It surely was a strong year for Villar, who hit...

Pedro Araujo received the news that he made the Orioles' opening day roster as a Rule 5 pick and promptly served up a home run in his next appearance. Because that's baseball. It's unwise to read too much into one appearance in spring training, and that includes how Araujo was burned by Williams Astrudillo's two-run shot in the ninth inning in a 12-4 loss to the Twins, but it probably brought a certain measure of comfort to the Orioles when the right-hander retired the side in order...

Spring training wouldn't feel right unless the media had camp competitions to chronicle on a daily basis. Fifth starter, last bullpen and bench spots, backup catcher. It allows us to obsess over guys like Chad Moeller, Luis Exposito, Zack Phillips, Ryan Drese, Alex Gonzalez, Jimmy Paredes, Travis Ishikawa, Jason Pridie, Russ Canzler, Jai Miller and Trayvon Robinson. It makes us feel foolish later when so many of them disappear and are never heard from again. Oh heck, let's keep going. Hayden...

In 2013, Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman was an American League All-Star. In the 2014 through 2016 seasons, he was the Orioles' opening day starter. From 2012 through 2016, his ERA was under 4.00, but now he sports an ERA of 7.75. Tillman's continuous struggles is one of the biggest mysteries of the 2017 season. He has contended several times he is not hurt. If he is not, why is he pitching so badly this late into the season? If Tillman or the Orioles had that answer, they would have fixed...