O's Matt Blood on Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Stowers

O's Matt Blood on Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Stowers
We will get to see Double-A Bowie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, baseball's No. 1-ranked pitching prospect, make at least one more start in the 2021 season. Limited to three innings on Thursday at Harrisburg, Rodriguez will pitch next week, likely on Wednesday, when Bowie hosts Altoona in the final week of the regular season for the Double-A Northeast. Should Bowie advance to the playoffs the following week - when there will be one playoff series involving the top two teams in the league -...

Mullins joins 25/25 club and O's rally for 8-7 win (updated)

Mullins joins 25/25 club and O's rally for 8-7 win (updated)
Nine consecutive four-seam fastballs to Gary Sánchez in the second inning today showed tremendous confidence in the pitch. But also with the obvious risks and other potential repercussions. Sánchez got the barrel on the ninth, with the bases loaded and the Orioles ahead by a run, and launched it into the second deck for a grand slam. The chance at a rare series win on the road seemed to disappear with the ball, but the Orioles kept clawing, kept putting runners on base and finally found...

Orioles rally to tie and lose in 11th 4-3 (updated)

Orioles rally to tie and lose in 11th 4-3 (updated)
The Orioles couldn't carry pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. as a Rule 5 selection. Tonight, they couldn't break through against him until the sixth inning. Trey Mancini's first home run since Aug. 14 sent Cortes to the bench with two outs and sliced the deficit in half. Jorge Mateo was a three-time Top 100 prospect who began his professional career with the Yankees, finally made it to the Bronx tonight and hit a game-tying homer in the seventh. The redemption angle held up through regulation. Four...

Amid big roster attrition, Aberdeen pushes for winning year

Amid big roster attrition, Aberdeen pushes for winning year
ABERDEEN - On the surface, one could see the high Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds' record at 54-51 and feel like they've had a decent year, posting a winning record on the farm. But it you look deeper at all the players the club has moved up to Double-A Bowie this year - players that have the Baysox in a playoff hunt where Aberdeen is not - it tells you the IronBirds players and staff have done a real nice job during the 2021 season. Their season-opening rotation of Grayson Rodriguez, Garrett...

Because You Asked - The Edge of Reason

Because You Asked - The Edge of Reason
The Orioles aren't playing tonight. They have an off-day in New York. We should all be so lucky. "Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Broadway?" "Practice, practice, practice." I've already mastered the art of the mailbag. How to gather questions, provide answers - or at least make the attempt - and exhibit tremendous patience while repeating myself. And also how to make it conversational at times, which ain't easy with the mail. I implore everyone to be as expansive as you'd like...

Stowers' power: Stanford draftee leads O's farm in home runs

Stowers' power: Stanford draftee leads O's farm in home runs
BOWIE - Last Thursday night, the Double-A Bowie Baysox, chasing a playoff spot, were hosting Erie. Bowie had lost the first two games of that series, blowing a ninth-inning lead in the series opener, and on this night, they held a 6-3 lead. But by the eighth inning, the game was tied 6-6. But Bowie would not let this game get away. Lefty-hitting right fielder Kyle Stowers, the O's minor league home run leader, blasted one out to center for a two-run shot and an 8-6 lead. Three outs later, the...

Mateo moving fast into Orioles' future plans

Mateo moving fast into Orioles' future plans
The freedom to expand their roster by two players on Wednesday also is going to increase the Orioles' level of health. Lowering the chances of the bench running out of available bodies. Anthony Santander is playing with a sore ankle. Ramón Urías is dealing with soreness in his upper right leg and groin area. Jorge Mateo was unavailable for a few days with discomfort in his lower back. DJ Stewart had a sore knee that kept him on the bench. Pedro Severino also was restricted by a sore knee...

Notes from Bowie on playoff push, Stowers' homers, Lowther's outing (updated)

Notes from Bowie on playoff push, Stowers' homers, Lowther's outing (updated)
BOWIE - With 23 games left to play in this minor league season, a playoff push is on at Double-A Bowie, where the Baysox picked up a huge 8-6 win over Erie last night when right fielder Kyle Stowers hit his second homer of the game to break a 6-6 tie in the last of the eighth. When he hit homers No. 19 and 20 Thursday night, Stowers, the Orioles' No. 71 overall draft pick in 2019 out of Stanford, helped the Baysox improve to 19 games over .500 and hang onto the second-best record in the...

Orioles face big early deficit and lose 19th straight (updated)

Orioles face big early deficit and lose 19th straight (updated)
Multiple roster moves on Monday weren't intended to distract from an 18-game losing streak. They weren't designed to spare manager Brandon Hyde from the daily bombardment of questions about it. But he lasted the full seven minutes of today's media session without going into another deep dive. The closest he came was expanding on a suggestion that the jolt of energy provided by new second baseman Jahmai Jones could benefit a team that's beaten down. The streak doesn't care about any of it....

Hyde on rotation, Alexander and Tyler Wells and new relievers

Hyde on rotation, Alexander and Tyler Wells and new relievers
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said left-hander Keegan Akin, who tossed three scoreless innings last night in relief, will enter the rotation in Alexander Wells' spot. The Orioles are staying with five starters and keeping them in turn. Extra rest comes with the off-days Thursday and Monday, "which is needed right now for everybody," Hyde said. The Rays are starting Ryan Yarbrough, Shane McClanahan and Michael Wacha in the weekend series at Camden Yards. The Orioles are starting John Means,...

O's rotation takes small step forward, plus other notes

O's rotation takes small step forward, plus other notes
We know that the Orioles starting rotation has not covered a lot of innings this year, said Captain Obvious. Through Wednesday's games, the Baltimore rotation has thrown 430 2/3 innings to rank last in the majors. That is 15 fewer innings than Kansas City, although the Royals had played one fewer game than the Orioles. The Baltimore bullpen has had to cover 389 2/3 innings, which ranks as the third most in the majors. So we have a bit of an imbalance here. The O's need more starter innings,...

Roster moves, draft pick updates, Kjerstad, Diaz and Rutschman

Roster moves, draft pick updates, Kjerstad, Diaz and Rutschman
The painful blow delivered to the Orioles yesterday with a walk-off loss to the Rays concluded a trip that made them settle for .500 and kept them busy with roster activity. The Orioles dropped their 11th series in a row at Tropicana Field dating back to July 24-26, 2017. They're 2-14 in their last 16 games against the Rays. Their 29 losses in day games lead the majors. And then there's the roster activity. They had to put pitcher Keegan Akin and outfielder Anthony Santander on the COVID-19...

Harvey with six scoreless, first win in two months (updated)

Harvey with six scoreless, first win in two months (updated)
Six pitches thrown in the first inning. Only 18 through the second and 28 through the third. Eleven of 12 first-pitch strikes. No runs against him. Matt Harvey was having himself a day. Manager Brandon Hyde was having visions of a starter plowing through the early and middle innings, removing one of the hardest decisions he routinely makes during the season, which inevitably fuels second-guessing as a first reaction to it. A hit batter, walk and infield single in the fourth, with Domingo...

Walks and woozy bullpen team to topple Orioles 12-1 (updated)

Walks and woozy bullpen team to topple Orioles 12-1 (updated)
Manager Brandon Hyde can laugh now about the play Wednesday night that began as a blown call on a missed catch by left fielder Ryan McKenna and resulted in a run scoring and no outs recorded rather than the triple play that the Orioles thought might be possible. Catch a break? The Orioles are overdue, as Hyde noted. Anthony Santander slid into second base with an apparent double tonight leading off the fourth inning and removed his shin guard, an umpire signaled home run after the ball bounced...

O's Matt Blood on Gunnar Henderson's move up and more on the farm

O's Matt Blood on Gunnar Henderson's move up and more on the farm
He recently moved into a couple of top 100 prospects lists and now Orioles infield prospect Gunnar Henderson is on the move again, this time further up in the Baltimore farm system. The Orioles announced a series of minor league roster moves and promotions Sunday, which included Henderson's move from low Single-A Delmarva to high Single-A Aberdeen. Henderson did not play in Sunday's Delmarva game, but had a quite a run with the Shorebirds. Over 35 games, he hit .312/.369/.574 with 11 doubles,...

Wells good again in series opener, Tides pitch shutout on the farm

Wells good again in series opener, Tides pitch shutout on the farm
It was kind of a tough night for one young Orioles pitcher last night, and a better one for another as they lost 4-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays to start a weekend series. Lefty Keegan Akin pitched with traffic on the bases most of his night, allowing five hits and three runs over four innings. The Rays forced him to throw 95 pitches, and two walks to start the game didn't help his cause. But Akin pitched out of that and minimized a jam in the third inning, allowing just one run. But second baseman...

Ryan Mountcastle's bat perks up, plus other notes

Ryan Mountcastle's bat perks up, plus other notes
As the Orioles take a day off today, the collective mood around Birdland is a little better after back-to-back wins by the O's and more winning on the farm to add to that. The Orioles have been waiting for Ryan Mountcastle to get hot after his slow start and maybe we are seeing the beginnings of an extended stretch of good hitting for him now. He has put together back-to-back 2-for-4 nights in the consecutive wins over the Twins. His booming three-run homer to center in the seventh opened a...

Minor league notes on OBP, Aberdeen's steals, promotion timing and more

Minor league notes on OBP, Aberdeen's steals, promotion timing and more
Birdland has likely noticed and no doubt enjoyed some great starts by both individual players and teams on the Orioles farm. Through Sunday's games, three of the O's four full-season affiliates are playing .667 ball or better. The four teams have a combined record of 29-18 (.617) and the Orioles rank seventh among major league organizations in minor league win percentage. Among several players off to great starts are two of the club's best young prospects. Pitcher Grayson Rodriguez is 1-0...

Notes on Friday's loss, Lowther's start and Aberdeen at 4-0

Notes on Friday's loss, Lowther's start and Aberdeen at 4-0
For the Orioles, the road to get back to the .500 mark is hard. Very hard. They have had seven tries since April 10, playing games where they were one game under .500. With last night's 6-2 loss to Boston, they are 0-7 in those games. The Orioles (15-17) had chances last night, going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 men on base. They fell to 2-14 when scoring three runs or fewer. They have scored two runs or fewer in 11 of their 17 losses. So yep, frustrating. It was...

The RISP issues and a look at opening night on the farm

The RISP issues and a look at opening night on the farm
For the Orioles, it has been a recurring problem with their offense: a lack of clutch hits. This issue showed up again big time in the second game of the Seattle series Tuesday night. The Orioles had the bases loaded and one out in the second inning. They had bases loaded and two outs in the sixth and the same situation in the eighth. The last two times, catcher Chance Sisco grounded out in each instance to end the threat. He went hitless and is now batting .162 with a .414 OPS. He had company...