This, that and the other

This, that and the other
As the Orioles continue their search for starting pitchers, casting a wide net that covers the free agent, trade and international markets and potential non-tenders, they also are banking on two strong halves from Kevin Gausman. Tabbed as this year's opening day starter due to Chris Tillman's shoulder injury, Gausman registered a 5.85 ERA and 1.763 WHIP before the All-Star break and a 3.41 ERA and 1.204 WHIP after it. In 2016, he had a 4.15 ERA and 1.304 WHIP before the break and a 3.10 ERA...

A look at the Orioles' list of pending minor league free agents

A look at the Orioles' list of pending minor league free agents
To put in perspective how long Garabez Rosa has been in the Orioles organization, when Adam Jones was traded to the club in February 2008, Rosa was about to begin his second season on the O's farm. Signed out of the Dominican Republic at 17 in November 2006, Rosa has played 1,154 games over 11 seasons in the Orioles' minor league system. Save for a few games at Triple-A Norfolk, he's been at Double-A Bowie since the 2013 season. He is the Baysox's all-time leader in games (590), hits (650),...

A look at the Orioles' top 30 prospects per Baseball America

A look at the Orioles' top 30 prospects per Baseball America
SARASOTA, Fla. - Earlier here we discussed the Orioles' top 10 ranked prospects, according to Baseball America. Here is the previous story and another look at the top 10: 1) Dylan Bundy 2) Hunter Harvey 3) Chance Sisco 4) Jomar Reyes 5) Mychal Givens 6) Chris Lee 7) Ryan Mountcastle 8) Trey Mancini 9) D.J. Stewart 10) Mike Wright According to the Baseball American Prospect Handbook (which went to press in early December), here are the players rated 11 through 30 with a comment on each and...

Minor league notes on Cleavinger, Davis, first-place teams and more

Minor league notes on Cleavinger, Davis, first-place teams and more
A relief pitcher in college with big strikeout numbers, left-hander Garrett Cleavinger has gotten his pro career with the Orioles off to a strong start, pitching for short season Single-A Aberdeen. Taken by the Orioles in the third round of the draft in June with the 102nd selection out of the University or Oregon, Cleavinger has not been scored on in his first eight pro games. Over 10 innings, he has allowed three hits with seven walks, nine strikeouts and a .100 average against. "It's been...

O's 2009 top draft pick Matt Hobgood to have season-ending shoulder surgery

O's 2009 top draft pick Matt Hobgood to have season-ending shoulder surgery
Right-hander Matt Hobgood, the Orioles' 2009 first-round draft pick, will have arthroscopic right shoulder surgery July 6 to remove a bone spur. The procedure will end his 2015 season. Hobgood is 1-1 with an ERA of 6.52 in six games this year at Double-A Bowie. He got off to a good start for the Baysox, throwing 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his first two games, but a DL stint soon followed, and on June 19 he went back on the disabled list for the second time. The recovery time for this surgery...

Prospect profile: Glynn Davis elevated his game in 2014

Prospect profile: Glynn Davis elevated his game in 2014
While Dariel Alvarez and Mike Yastrzemski had strong 2014 seasons on the Orioles farm and are now among the club's top 10 prospects, another outfielder also took his game to a higher level and did so without getting much attention. Glynn Davis played very well between Single-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. He didn't make Baseball America's list of the O's top 30 prospects, but there are those who feel he should have. Davis, who turned 23 on Dec. 7, batted .299 with 27 doubles, four triples,...

Schoop plans to be lighter and faster in 2015, plus FanFest and prospect notes

Schoop plans to be lighter and faster in 2015, plus FanFest and prospect notes
At the tender age of just 22, Jonathan Schoop realized his dream to play in the major leagues. He did it after just 70 games at the Triple-A level and he hit 16 homers last year for the Orioles, more than he'd ever hit in any minor league season. But Schoop knows there is more development to come for him and his game, and in an interview yesterday, he repeatedly stressed that he needs to get better and is very motivated to take his game to another level in 2015. Schoop was among a group of...

This, that and the other (Melky Cabrera off the board)

This, that and the other (Melky Cabrera off the board)
An Orioles official told me yesterday that they're still working on a minor league deal with pitcher Chaz Roe. It's going to get done. I'd expect the deal to include an invitation to spring training. Roe appeared in 21 games with the Diamondbacks in 2013, posting a 4.03 ERA. He got into three games with the Yankees this season, allowing three runs (two earned) and three hits, walking three and striking out four in two innings. Roe worked the eighth inning in Game 2 of a Sept. 12...

Talking about the June draft and Rule 5 draft with Jim Callis

Talking about the June draft and Rule 5 draft with Jim Callis
SAN DIEGO - Few if any know the First-Year Player Draft and the Rule 5 draft better than Jim Callis of MLB.com and MLBPipeline.com. With the Orioles holding four picks among the first 73 selections next June, I asked Callis today at the Winter Meetings about the 2015 draft. The O's highest picks are currently No. 26 and No. 33. If more teams sign players that received qualifying offers, the 26th pick could get even higher. "There is depth in the draft," Callis said. "You'd always rather...

Davis, Burgess moving to Bowie and other O's notes

Davis, Burgess moving to Bowie and other O's notes
Two outfielders are moving up today on the Orioles farm. Outfielders Glynn Davis and Michael Burgess are moving from Single-A Frederick to Double-A Bowie and are expected to be in the Baysox lineup tonight. The 22-year-old Davis, a Baltimore native, was batting .295 with one homer and 31 RBIs for the Keys. In 89 games, he has a .363 OBP, .386 slugging percentage, a .750 OPS and 20 steals in 28 attempts. According to Baseball America, he is the Orioles' No. 29 prospect. The 25-year-old Burgess...

Minor league notes on Givens, Davis, Rodriguez and more

Minor league notes on Givens, Davis, Rodriguez and more
Even though the Single-A Frederick Keys have not gotten off to a good start, going 3-7 through their first 10 games, a couple of their players sure have. That includes relief pitcher Mychal Givens. The 23-year-old right-hander was converted from an infielder to a pitcher last season at Single-A Delmarva. The Orioles' second-round pick in 2009, Givens went 2-3 with a 4.22 ERA and three saves for Delmarva. Over 42 2/3 innings, he walked 19 with 36 strikeouts, allowing just one homer, and had a...

Tillman provides ace-like effort, plus some minor league notes

Tillman provides ace-like effort, plus some minor league notes
Chris Tillman made 15 starts for the Orioles in the 2012 season and they team went 10-5 in those games. He made 33 last season as the Orioles went 21-12. He has made two this year and the team is 2-0. Sense a trend? When Tillman starts, the Orioles have a good chance to win. That adds up to a mark of 33-17 in his 50 starts since 2012, a team win percentage of .660. Tillman delivered an ace-like performance Sunday giving up just five hits and one run over 8 1/3 innings in outdueling Justin...

Glynn Davis adds some weight and it paid off recently for Frederick

Glynn Davis adds some weight and it paid off recently for Frederick
Back in August of 2010, I reported the Orioles signing of a player from Baltimore who had gone undrafted earlier that year in June. He was a rarity in that the Orioles felt they got a player with top 10 round talent that wasn't drafted by anyone. You don't see that very often. Here is the behind the scenes story I wrote that August on how the Orioles knew about Glynn Davis well ahead of just about any other organization in baseball and how they acquired this young man who was a 2009 grad of...

Q&A with the author of the O's top 10 prospects list

Q&A with the author of the O's top 10 prospects list
For more than 10 years, Will Lingo of Baseball America put together the Orioles top 10 prospects list. But this year, those duties were turned over to Matt Forman. Last week he released this list of the Orioles top 10 prospects: 1 - P Dylan Bundy 2 - P Kevin Gausman 3 - IF Jonathan Schoop 4 - IF Nicky Delmonico 5 - P Eduardo Rodriguez 6 - OF LJ Hoes 7 - OF Xavier Avery 8 - P Mike Wright 9 - P Branden Kline 10 - IF Adrian Marin Recently, I interviewed Forman about this top 10 list. In this...

O's minor league homer leader suffers oblique injury

O's minor league homer leader suffers oblique injury
Aaron Baker, who leads all Orioles minor leaguers this season with 22 homers and 76 RBIs, suffered an oblique injury today during batting practice with Double-A Bowie and the injury could keep him out for the rest of the season. Sometimes, these types of injuries can take four to six weeks to heal and there are only about six weeks remaining in the minor league regular season. The 24-year-old Baker was acquired by the Orioles from the Pirates last July 30 in a deal for then-O's first...

Five to watch in the minors this season

Five to watch in the minors this season
When Baseball America recently ranked its top prospects, the Orioles placed three players in the top 100, with Dylan Bundy at No. 10, Manny Machado at No. 11 and Jonathan Schoop at No. 82. No other Orioles minor league players came close to cracking that top 100 and most analysts consider the O's farm system somewhat top heavy with the elite top two prospects heading up the farm and no one after that - save for Schoop - rated very highly. It's a system lacking in high-end prospects. But the...

The back story on the O's signing of Glynn Davis

The back story on the O's signing of Glynn Davis
It probably doesn't happen very often, but last week the Orioles agreed to terms with a player that did not get taken in the June draft, but one they feel has a lot of talent. They came to terms with 18-year-old Glynn Davis of Catonsville Community College, a player with great speed that played shortstop in junior college but will move to center field in the O's minors. The right-handed hitting Davis hit .430 with ten homers and 35 steals, but went almost totally un-scouted at Catonsville. ...