A new 11-month international amateur signing period begins for major league teams on Jan. 15. And the Orioles are expected to sign several of their key targets, including an outfielder that will be given the largest bonus for an international amateur in club history. In the signing period at this time last year, the club announced its first two seven-figure signings in this marketplace. The Orioles announced the signings of 17 players last year on Jan. 15, including 13 that got six-figure...

As the Orioles continue to work to improve their international program, some players signed and/or acquired by the club since Mike Elias took over as executive vice president and general manager, will make their way to full-season ball on the farm in 2022. The Orioles' two teams in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League had a strong international flavor last season and some of the top players are expected to compete for spots on the low Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds roster for the '22...

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers here. I appreciate you today and every day. And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone throughout Birdland. Just a short entry today, and if you have time to push yourself away from the table and talk some baseball, here is an article worth checking out. It's from the team's Birdland Insider Twitter account and is a nice wrap-up of the Orioles instructional league. This year, the Orioles did not play games against other teams, instead focusing on more individually...

With the 2021 season officially over and baseball moving into full offseason mode, important dates on the calendar crossed off one at a time, the mailbag again is inflating like my ego. My new wife is only available to deflate the ego. Not the mailbag. That one is up to me. Just to review: You, my wonderful followers - which unfortunately sounds like a cult that will be documented on Netflix - ask me many questions that I attempt to answer. Some of you ask the same ones as if I ignored you. And...

The Orioles begin their fall instructional league camp this morning in Sarasota, Fla., and players gathering at the Ed Smith Stadium complex include 19 that MLBPipeline.com ranks among the top 30 prospects in the organization. One of the headliners is outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the second-overall pick in the 2020 draft who hasn't been able to play since his diagnosis of myocarditis following his selection. He's been taking batting practice and is now cleared for an increase in baseball...

Teams don't set their season-opening starting rotations going only by spring training stats. But if they did it that way in Sarasota, here is how it might look for the Orioles. Left-hander John Means, as we have known since last season ended, will get the opening day start at Boston. Manager Brandon Hyde will probably make that official today. Then Means will have two spring starts to build up to six or seven innings and be a full-go at Fenway Park. Means' ERA was 12.29 after his second...

He has been among the most talented and successful pitching prospects in the Orioles organization. To get to there, right-hander Mike Baumann has used a pretty basic and simplistic approach to getting better. That is one to focus on what he can do to get better every single day and not look too far down the road. He's kept that approach since the day the Orioles drafted him in round three of 2017 out of Jacksonville University. Never spending time thinking about pitching in A-ball when he was...

While the Orioles keeping waiting for Major League Baseball to establish its rules for 2021, especially roster sizes for spring training, they must prepare their case against outfielder Anthony Santander in next month's arbitration hearing. "Against" is a cringe-worthy word when considering his value to the club, his importance in the current state of the rebuild. But there's no other way to phrase it when one side wants to pay $2.1 million and the other side wants to receive $2.475...

The Orioles today announced a signing class of 17 international amateurs, including the club's first two players signed for seven figures. Per industry sources, the club has contract agreements with catcher Samuel Basallo from the Dominican Republic for $1.3 million and with Venezuelan shortstop Maikol Hernández for $1.2 million. The Orioles announced that 11 more from this group are six-figure agreements. Of the 17 agreements, 13 are from the Dominican Republic and four are from...

When I wrote this entry earlier this week, I detailed the Orioles' efforts to reach agreements with 20 international amateurs for their upcoming signing class. It will be the second international class since Mike Elias took over as the club's executive vice president and general manager. Elias and the team's senior director of international scouting, Koby Perez, both have extensive international experience and contacts and it is beginning to pay off for the Orioles. It will take years before...

The Orioles continue to make some huge strides in their pursuit of international amateur talent. A class of what would eventually be 44 players was added in the signing period that began July 2, 2019 and ended in October. The Orioles will sign fewer players in the coming class, but were involved with many more players commanding bigger signing bonuses. This is the latest sign that the club is serious about becoming a player on the international front and the club will be making history when it...