Leftovers aren’t just for the days after Thanksgiving.

I had some extra questions in last week’s mailbag. I’d prefer green bean casserole, but maybe later.

The portion is modest, unlike your server. Just a couple handfuls of inquiries that didn’t make the first one.

Also, my mailbag serves homemade stuffing and your mailbag uses a box that expired three years ago.

Who will be the top two Orioles in stolen bases in 2024 and who will get the most innings at third base?
Two questions packed into one. Sort of like a casserole. I can’t make bold predictions without knowing the Opening Day roster. Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins were 1-2 this season, but Mateo appeared in 116 games. I wouldn’t expect the same in 2024. The second part is easier because I can just choose between Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg. I’ll get back to you.

Recently I wrote here about some players that were surprises this year for the Orioles as they made their way to an AL East title. On the farm there always seem to be a few surprises, if for no reason other than we have more teams and players to choose from.

This year was no different, but I think two of the biggest surprises on the farm were two players that both ended their years with Double-A Bowie in outfielder Billy Cook and right-handed pitcher Alex Pham.

Both ended the year in the O’s top 30 via MLBPipeline.com with Cook at No. 27 and Pham at No. 29. Cook is currently unranked by Baseball America, but Pham made it all the way to No. 17 via BA.

They were players on the rise during the 2023 season and both are hidden gems no more. They’ve found their way onto the radar and will be watched closely in 2024.

Both were college draft selections in the 2021 MLB Draft – Cook out of Pepperdine in round 10 and Pham in round 19 out of San Francisco. So, neither will need to be added to the 40-man roster to be protected from the Rule 5 draft until the Rule 5 draft in 2024.

CLEVELAND – Nine Orioles minor league players and one coach are included on the Mesa Solar Sox roster in the Arizona Fall League, which begins Oct. 2.

The organization is sending pitchers Carter Baumler, Zack Peek, Trey McGough, Carlos Tavera and Peter Van Loon, catcher Connor Pavolony, infielders TT Bowens and Billy Cook, and outfielder John Rhodes to Mesa. Double-A Bowie pitching coach Forrest Herrmann is on the coaching staff.

MLB Pipeline ranks Rhodes as the organization’s No. 20 prospect, Baumler No. 22 and Cook No. 27.

Rhodes was the 76^th-overall pick in the 2021 draft who appeared in 108 games at Double-A Bowie this season and batted .228/.323/.422 with 22 doubles, three triples, 17 home runs and 69 RBIs in 108 games.

Baumler, a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, has undergone Tommy John and right shoulder surgeries. He appeared in seven games between the Florida Complex League and Single-A Delmarva and allowed six earned runs with nine walks and 21 strikeouts in 17 innings.

The Double-A Bowie Baysox have a record that is under the .500 mark at 43-47. But they are just a ½ game out of first place in the second half. And since May 19, they have been playing .589 ball at 33-23.

Infielder Coby Mayo was a big reason for that. He had an OPS of 1.027 in 78 games with Bowie until his recent promotion to Triple-A Norfolk. On July 14, the Baysox added shortstop Jackson Holliday, now ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the sport by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com.

But as the Baysox have played better since a slow start, three somewhat unheralded position players with varying levels of success on the stat sheet, have been fixtures in the lineup. Billy Cook, who can play all over the diamond on defense and outfielders John Rhodes and Donta' Williams have all had some nice stretches of play for Bowie. All three are members of the Orioles’ 2021 draft class.

After a slow start – and he was hitting under .200 well into May, Cook’s bat has heated up big time. Baltimore’s 10^th-round pick out of Pepperdine in that 2021 draft, Cook posted an OPS of .885 in May, .909 in June and it’s 1.017 in July. So yeah, that bat is hot.

“He started out with some struggles and now he is one of our top offensive producers,” manager Kyle Moore said in a recent interview. “Made some good adjustments. I feel like this staff was doing some of our best coaching earlier when our team was struggling. John Rhodes has done tremendous making some adjustments, Donta Williams, OPS over .800 in June and earlier he scuffled badly.

The Orioles' high Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds affiliate, at 28-12, has produced one of the best records in minor league baseball this year. There are obvious reasons for that, to include one of the best offenses in the South Atlantic League. The IronBirds score, on average, 5.56 runs per game through Wednesday’s contests.

Then there's a team ERA that ranks third in the league at 3.84 with an unheralded but solid rotation.

And there are more hidden reasons for Aberdeen’s success. Like the club’s tremendous ability to steal bases.

They have stolen a whopping 74 bases this year and have been caught just 13 times for an 85 percent success rate. They rank second in the league in steals, and the “go-go” IronBirds have four players with 11 or more steals and 14 players with at least one stolen base.

In the minor leagues, pitchers can only make a pickoff move toward a base twice per plate appearance. On a third try, the runner will be awarded second base if not picked off. That helps, but manager Roberto Mercado said the club's success in swiping bases comes mainly from talented players employing a good process, not from a rule.

The fall instructional league camp is entering its fourth day down in Sarasota, Fla., more activity at the Ed Smith Stadium complex before pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Feb. 15. Here are a few more participants who caught my eye when the Orioles shared their list with the media: * They loaded up their camp roster with 17 of the 2021 draft picks, and they included outfielder/first baseman Billy Cook, a 10th-rounder out of Pepperdine University. Cook, 22, led the West Coast...

The Orioles released the names of the 50 players invited to their fall instructional league camp in Sarasota, Fla. An interesting mix that highlights the organization's commitment to the amateur draft and international market - two of the most powerful fuels to get the rebuild moving in the right direction. What did we learn from the names on the roster and accompanying information? * Players recovering from injuries or surgeries are progressing to the point where they can be participants in...

We tend to poke fun at the Rule 5 draft and the Orioles' past obsessions with it. Selecting three players at the 2017 Winter Meetings. Trying to carry more than one. Allowing it to become the biggest story for beat writers at those sites. "I attended the Winter Meetings and all I got was this lousy Rule 5 pick" There have been a few good choices, however, and Tyler Wells is proving to be a steal. Dice are rolled when a team gambles by trying to carry an inexperienced pitcher in its bullpen,...

In what his manager called a "masterful" performance, Orioles right-hander Chris Ellis followed up a very strong outing at Rogers Centre with a better one at Yankee Stadium. If the question is whether a pitcher who went 1-5 with a 6.32 ERA at Triple-A Durham this year while giving up 14 homers in 57 innings can shut down two good American League East teams on the road back to back, the answer is yes. Ellis, 28, drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in round three in 2014, was traded by the Angels...

The Orioles keep a shorter bench to provide manager Brandon Hyde with an extra reliever, a survival tactic with his starters routinely unable to provide much length. More position players are coming with rosters expanding on Wednesday. Meanwhile, with the timing odd, Hyde's rotation is attempting to produce the kind of streak that the Orioles won't regret. Keegan Akin closed out the Angels series by going a career-high seven innings. Matt Harvey logged six last night before succumbing to the...