The last pitch thrown by Orioles closer Félix Bautista in a competitive game was Aug. 25, 2023 against the Rockies at Camden Yards. Bautista was one strike away from his 34^th save but settled for the unwanted hold.

Bautista unleashed a 102.3 mph fastball to pinch-hitter Michael Toglia, tumbled toward first base, began flexing his hand and walked off the mound. He underwent reconstructive-elbow surgery in October, and rest, rehab exercises and baseball activities followed as Bautista missed the entire 2024 season. He’s gotten through bullpen and live batting practice sessions without any setbacks and is expected to pitch Monday afternoon against the Red Sox in Sarasota.

Manager Brandon Hyde provided the update earlier today in his media scrum in Clearwater, where the Orioles are playing the Phillies.

Monday's game airs on MASN and also features Tomoyuki Sugano’s second appearance with the Orioles. Charlie Morton starts and Sugano is scheduled to pitch in relief.

Bautista is expected to be ready for Opening Day, but the team will ease him back into a full-time closing role. He’s got to build up his arm and innings, and the velocity is sitting in the mid-90s.

Tyler O'Neill would have been in today's Orioles lineup except he's dealing with an illness, according to manager Brandon Hyde, who met with the media in Sarasota for his daily pregame dugout session.

O'Neill hit a ball Thursday against the Blue Jays that cleared the concourse in left field for a three-run homer. He didn't make the trip to Fort Myers yesterday, but he wasn't going to play anyway. It didn't raise any red flags.

Starter Charlie Morton also was out of camp recently due to an illness and he made a quick return.

Dylan Beavers is starting in left field today as a late addition to the lineup.

Hyde also said that Jordan Westburg is feeling better and has been cleared for light baseball activities. He isn't swinging a bat because of the soreness in his lower back that's kept him out of the lineup since last Saturday's exhibition opener, but he's able to play catch.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Zach Eflin makes his exhibition debut this afternoon, with the Orioles traveling to Fort Myers to play the Twins.

Gary Sánchez is behind the plate for Eflin.

Coby Mayo gets the start at first base.

Jackson Holliday is leading off and playing second base. Colton Cowser is in center field, Heston Kjerstad in left and Dylan Carlson in right.

Liván Soto, who’s 3-for-6 with two doubles, is the shortstop.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was asked a few days ago about a drama-free camp, how the only injuries were sustained prior to the report dates. The conversation included warnings about the risks of jinxing it.

Here we are.

We learned earlier today that Jordan Westburg hasn’t played since Saturday due to lower-back soreness. And shortstop Gunnar Henderson exited today’s game after one inning with lower right side discomfort.

No further details are available. Manager Brandon Hyde will provide an update in his post-game media scrum.

Henderson made a nice running grab of Bo Bichette’s line drive in the first. He led off the bottom of the inning with a ground ball to first baseman Will Wagner, who bobbled it and flipped to pitcher Easton Lucas.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Félix Bautista completed his second live batting practice session this morning in the intense Florida heat on the Camden Yards replica field, and it won’t be much longer before he pitches in his first Grapefruit League game.

Heston Kjerstad and Gary Sánchez kept alternating at-bats until Bautista faced seven hitters. He threw 25 pitches with Triple-A catcher Maverick Handley behind the plate.

Kjerstad struck out swinging twice and Sánchez was caught looking. Kjerstad also lined to right field and either singled or doubled into left-center field. Sánchez also popped up and grounded to third base.

One of Bautista’s splitters caused Sánchez to flail at it below the zone. He had an audible reaction to it before turning to Handley for apparent confirmation on the pitch. Or perhaps they were just admiring the quality.

Bautista has graduated from bullpen sessions. The first live batting practice was Sunday while the Orioles traveled to Clearwater to play the Phillies.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles reliever Nate Webb is one of today’s scheduled pitchers against the Blue Jays at Ed Smith Stadium.

This is a big deal for Webb and his family. It’s his first outing since March 9, 2023 in the Pirates camp prior to undergoing ligament-reconstructive surgery in his right elbow.

The Orioles signed Webb to a two-year minor league deal and were on the verge of assigning him to an affiliate before he tore his left Achilles tendon in May. He was invited to camp this spring.

Grayson Rodriguez makes his first exhibition start, with Toronto sending former Orioles minor leaguer Easton Lucas to the mound.

I’ll save you the trouble: Lucas was acquired from the Marlins for infielder Jonathan Villar on Dec. 2, 2019. The Orioles traded him to the Athletics for reliever Shintaro Fujinami on July 19, 2023.

SARASOTA, Fla. – One more day of live and cage batting practices, bullpens and fielding drills before the Orioles play their first spring training game. Overreacting to workouts can be replaced by overreacting to exhibitions.

The club seems to have avoided injuries in camp other than some knuckles bloodied from knocking on wood.

Jorge Mateo is recovering from his elbow-reconstructive surgery and won’t be ready for Opening Day. That was probably the most important news to come from executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias’ first-day media scrum, since it provided confirmation of Mateo’s status and shaped the projected Opening Day roster.

Got to be six infielders and Heston Kjerstad and Ramón Laureano as the last two outfielders with Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins and Tyler O’Neill. Right?

Left-hander Trevor Rogers reported with a kneecap subluxation and also won’t be ready for Opening Day. That one came out of nowhere, but Rogers appeared to be a longshot based on the additions of Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano to the rotation. Pitcher Chayce McDermott showed up with a mild lat/teres strain that manager Brandon Hyde said could push him back 10-14 days. He was expected to begin the season at Triple-A Norfolk.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are hoping to catch Albert Suárez in a bottle.

They signed pitcher Rodolfo Martinez to a minor league contract on Nov. 1, the magnitude of it pretty much lost on the baseball world. He hadn’t been with an affiliated team since 2019 in the Giants system, with his travels taking him to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Japan.

Sounds kind of familiar, except Suárez signed with the Orioles in September 2023 after pitching in Japan and Korea, his last affiliated ball was 2018 and he appeared in 40 major league games with the Giants from 2016-17.

“I was in San Francisco before the pandemic and then they sent us home for two weeks while everything was supposed to get cleared out, but as we all know, that didn’t happen,” Martinez said. “The Giants cleared house and they didn’t want me there anymore.”

The most important similarity would be for Martinez to have the same success as Suárez, who made 24 starts and eight relief appearances for the Orioles last season after reporting to camp as a non-roster invitee and registered a 3.70 ERA in 133 2/3 innings. He was in come-to-the-rescue mode as rotation injuries piled up, and he could provide length out of the bullpen.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Jordan Westburg is intense. Fans like intense. 

Would his friends and family describe him that way?

“Probably,” Westburg laughed. “I can be intense, you know? I’m not gonna dodge those allegations. But I do think there’s a lighter side, there’s a less serious side to me off the field especially. But here, I’m kind of very business-like, very matter of fact.” 

Westburg was all business in 2024. Flying under the radar entering the year, the third baseman put together an All-Star campaign. Westy posted a .792 OPS in his 107 games, but rather than boasting about the positives, he would point to the fact that his total wasn’t closer to 160. 

“I learned a lot last year from getting to play more,” Westburg said. “I was very bummed that I didn’t get a full season. I’m looking forward to trying to stay healthy this year and get a full season and see what we can piece together” 

The play still haunts Jordan Westburg and serves as a hard lesson.

Bobby Witt Jr., the Royals’ young star, reached on a tie-breaking infield single with two outs in the sixth inning of Game 2 of the Wild Card series. Westburg’s throw to first base was late as Kyle Isbel crossed the plate in a 2-1 loss that completed the sweep at Camden Yards.

Westburg keeps replaying it in his head, with the same result. He made a diving stop on a ground ball up the middle with runners on the corners, and Gunnar Henderson raced to second base in case Westburg tried for the force.

“Witt is fast,” Westburg told the media while standing at his locker inside a quiet clubhouse. “I got to the ball and made a stop. It’s kind of sandwiched in between dirt and my glove. Didn’t pick it clean right away. Probably took an extra half second to kind of get my feet underneath me and try and get off a throw and he was too fast. Yeah, I want to make that play. It’s a tough play. I’m trying not to beat myself up over that.”

"I was in the hole a little bit, so I was doing my best over there to get it," Henderson said. "Felt like whatever way he decided to go. Obviously the guy at first (Michael Massey) can run and Bobby obviously can run really well. Just tough play."

The second day of the Birdland Caravan brings 10 players to PBR Baltimore at Power Plant Live! Perhaps a few of them will be convinced to sing Karaoke. Riding the mechanical bull might not be included among permissible activities in their contracts.

That’s a difficult injury story to write. It might throw me.

Colton Cowser, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O’Hearn, Jordan Westburg, Albert Suárez, Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott will make appearances between 6-8 p.m. Seven of them seem like locks to occupy the Opening Day roster, an eighth remains a favorite but becomes more vulnerable if another pitcher arrives, and two probably need some breaks to avoid Triple-A.

Cowser

The runner-up for American League Rookie of the Year should get heavy usage again after appearing in 153 games last season.

As the Orioles wonder what their 2025 season might look like, they may also ponder what a full year with Jordan Westburg in the lineup could look like?

Westburg played 68 games in 2023 with an OPS of .715 and played 107 last season with an OPS of .792 when he was an American League All-Star.

If we combine those two years he has played in 175 games as an Oriole, taking 675 plate appearances. That is about a full season’s worth, for instance Gunnar Henderson took 719 plate appearances in 2024.

So over those 675 PAs, Westburg has hit .263/.312/.455/.767 and all four seem easily within reach for him or better during a full and healthy year. In those PAs he has hit 43 doubles, seven triples, 21 homers, scored 83 runs, stole 10 bases and drove in 86 runs.

All those numbers also seem within reach and maybe better for Westburg over a full year. It could be production to really help an already good lineup. 

The Orioles will play a game, a spring training game, for the first time on February 22^nd at home versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. How their lineup will look that day is not important. Can’t read anything into a spring training lineup, especially not the first one of spring.

But how might that lineup look on Opening Day, March 27^th at 3:07 p.m. at Rogers Centre against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rather than wait for that big day, we could make a guess today. Doesn’t cost anything and no matter what we project, no one will get hurt. Unless it’s a player’s feelings that we leave out. But that’s rather unlikely too, so let’s proceed.

First the Blue Jays project to have five righties in their rotation possibly starting with Kevin Gausman or Jose Berrios. So we know it’s likely going to be a right-hander versus the Orioles that day and we’ll go with that.

Everyone’s lineup might be different for different reasons. Here is mine as of Jan. 13.

Rather than let the mailbag fill until it overflows like a clogged sink, I’ve decided to share a few more questions this morning to keep it at a reasonable level.

I sense a little fan impatience because the Orioles haven’t made a big move or one that fits as a medium, but offers reportedly were made for starting pitching and the Winter Meetings could bring news. Stay patient. It's early December.

In the meantime …

Why hasn't the “Hot Stove” been hot?
There it is. Some deals and signings have been announced, but the process slows with the expanded playoff field convincing more teams that they can contend. Agents aren’t in a rush to accept proposals. High-profile free agents like Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes need to come off the board, which makes clubs pivot to Plan B. Stuff like that.

How many Orioles minor leaguers are eligible to be chosen in the Rule 5 draft?
Roster Resource lists 36. Don't worry, all 36 won’t be selected. Some of the more notable names include outfielders Hudson Haskin, John Rhodes and Reed Trimble, catcher Maverick Handley and pitchers Justin Armbruester, Juan Nuñez, Carter Baumler, Kyle Brnovich, Alex Pham, Zach Peek, Jean Pinto, Tyler Burch, Keagan Gillies and Kyle Virbitsky.

Former catcher Robinson Chirinos is making his coaching debut in 2025. The Orioles are bringing him onto their staff, and they aren’t easing him into the next phase of his professional life.

Chirinos was hired as bench coach, with the club making an announcement this morning. He replaces Fredi González, who wasn’t retained.

Also debuting is Buck Britton, who’s promoted from Triple-A Norfolk manager to major league coach. Britton, older brother of former Orioles closer Zack Britton, replaces José Hernández.

Chirinos, 40, is widely viewed as a future major league manager and he drew heavy praise from manager Brandon Hyde for his knowledge and leadership as the backup catcher in 2022. Chirinos, an 11-year veteran with six clubs, batted .179 with a .552 OPS in 67 games before retiring as a player.

From 2013-19, Chirinos ranked as the sixth-most valuable primary catcher with a 13.0 bWAR.

After producing a 44-homer season, hitting 11 more than he ever had previously, O's outfielder Anthony Santander tonight was named an American League Silver Slugger Award winner.

A finalist the last three years, Santander is a first-time winner and joins Yankees Aaron Judge and Juan Soto as AL outfield winners.

The O's had two other Silver Slugger finalists, but Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg did not win.

Santander’s 44 homers ranked second in the AL and third in the majors. He hit .235/.308/.506/.814 with 91 runs and 102 RBIs, both career bests. He became the eighth Oriole to hit 40 or more homers and first since Mark Trumbo in 2016. And the first to drive in 100 or more since Jonathan Schoop in 2017. His 35 homers starting June 1 were third in the majors.

Santander was also the eighth switch hitter (12th occurrence) in MLB history to hit at least 40 homers in a season and one of four (five occurrences) with at least 44. He became the ninth player in O’s history with multiple 30-homer seasons. His 105 homers since the start of 2022 lead MLB switch hitters and rank sixth overall in the majors.

Even in going 0-5 in the last two postseasons, one thing that must be of some comfort for Orioles fans moving forward is that their team should be good again. Both in 2025 and likely for years beyond that.

The Orioles' window to win, as they call it, seems wide open and vast.

The current group plus players that get added should make another run next season and maybe for several years after that.

But having a large window does not mean you will win a championship. It would seem likely to increase the odds, said Captain Obvious. But the Captain also noted that when the Dodgers won this year it was just their second title since 1988, and one came in a shortened season. That is a span of 36 years. In losing the World Series, the Yankees are now without a championship since 2009. That is 0-for-the-last-15 years even though they made 11 playoff appearances in that time.

It's hard to win it all, no matter how good your team is.

An Orioles offense that ranked second in the American League and fourth in the majors in runs per game in 2024, has produced three Silver Slugger finalists in Anthony Santander, Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg.

The Orioles are also up for the American League offensive team of the year. Their batters did slump in the second half and scored just one run in two playoff games.

Henderson is a finalist at the shortstop position, Santander in the outfield and Westburg for a utility spot.

The finalists for the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award are voted on by MLB managers and coaches. Winners will be announced on MLB Network on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Henderson and Adley Rutschman won Silver Slugger awards last year. Santander is a finalist for the third straight year and Westburg is a finalist for the first time.

We’re kind of just thinking out loud here today. But as the Orioles look to win more games and get back on top of the American League East next season, I believe changing or making some slight alterations to how the Orioles do business could be helpful moving forward.

Over the next few weeks, I will take a look in this space at some ways that could happen. 

Less aggressiveness on two-strike counts

Going back several years when I started hearing about and writing about the O’s working hard to make better swing decisions on the farm, I reported that this means essentially that a hitter does not shorten his swing with two strikes.

The thinking was, always put your best swing on the ball and try to drive it. In all counts. Shortening up the swing to just make contact works against that.

A common offseason activity for baseball media is flipping through pages of the last notebook used in search of tidbits that can be posted during slow times.

Any newsy or interesting nuggets that were missed or held. Notations that serve as reminders for later use.

I’m also reminded again that my handwriting looks like I’m wedging a pen between toes on a numb left foot.

Here’s a sampling of what I think that I found:

* A popular opinion inside the clubhouse is that Jordan Westburg provides some of the best at-bats on the team. He might string together the most among the bunch, which really impresses when you consider that 2024 was his first full season in the majors – not counting his time spent on the injured list.