The Orioles don’t need more reminders that their bullpen has a giant hole in the back. They’ve felt the impact of losing Félix Bautista. They’ve made late-inning relief a priority in the offseason.

But Bautista’s importance to the club, how much he dominated hitters this summer, was discussed again last night with his selection as the American League’s top reliever.

Bautista received the Mariano Rivera Award, with Milwaukee’s Devin Williams getting the National League’s version named for Trevor Hoffman.

A six-man panel of former relievers, including Rivera and Hoffman, handled the voting, and Bautista was the unanimous choice.

This is the latest honor for the Orioles, after Gunner Henderson was chosen as the AL’s Rookie of the Year, Brandon Hyde as Manager of the Year and Mike Elias as Executive of the Year. Henderson and Adley Rutschman won Silver Slugger Awards.

SAN DIEGO – As he watched the chaos unfold before his eyes from his perch in the on-deck circle, Alex Call saw the Nationals take the lead against the Padres in the top of the ninth and saw his opportunity to expand on that lead with Lane Thomas now standing at third base after Josh Hader’s three-base throwing error changed the entire complexion of Friday night’s game at Petco Park.

“OK, time to drive this guy in,” Call thought to himself.

Davey Martinez had the same thought, and with the count 0-1 on Call, the Nats manager gave the safety squeeze sign, hoping the 27-year-old rookie could get the bunt down and get Thomas home to extend the lead to two runs.

Except Call proceeded to foul the squeeze attempt straight back into the backstop, leaving himself in an 0-2 count and taking the bunt out of the equation altogether.

“When I didn’t execute, there’s a lot of things that go through your mind,” he said. “So you’ve really got to step back, take a deep breath and then get into my normal two-strike mode, which is: ‘I believe I’m the best two-strike hitter there is. He’s got to bring a good pitch.’

The double play combination of shortstop Richie Martin and second baseman Jorge Mateo resurfaced last night at Camden Yards after a brief interruption. Martin was on the bench for the series opener, but Ramón Urías slid over to third base last night. Getting comfortable with a new middle infielder is a process, but Martin said it's gone smoothly. Not by accident, of course. They take ground balls and throws prior to batting practice. "He's super talented and super athletic and it's...

Catcher Tres Barrera made his major league debut late last season with the Nationals, appearing in two games. The Eastern League All-Star got off to a good start with Double-A Harrisburg and never looked back. Barrera was able to crank out 23 doubles, eight homers and 46 RBIs in the spacious FNB Field. "Tres had a great year last year," said Nationals minor league hitting coordinator Troy Gingrich. "Put him in a different park, give him the big league balls, he'd probably hit 15-20 homers...

For seven innings Tuesday, the Brewers' bullpen game was working to near perfection. Then, the eighth inning arrived. Brewers closer Josh Hader couldn't find the strike zone and the Nationals scored three runs to beat Milwaukee 4-3 in the National League wild card game at frenzied Nats Park. With one out, Hader hit pinch-hitter Michael A. Taylor with a pitch. Then pinch-hitter Ryan Zimmerman hit a broken-bat single to center, with Taylor going to third. Anthony Rendon walked to load the...

The Orioles haven't changed their stance that Manny Machado will represent them tonight at the All-Star Game. There's no way he's going to be traded before first pitch. However, it still seems likely that he's wearing another uniform by Friday's start to the season's second half. A source confirmed again today that Machado probably will be moved by the end of the week. I wrote yesterday that it was "very close," and now comes word via ESPN's Buster Olney that the Orioles have the...

Within the span of a few weeks in July, the Orioles traded for four players, three of which were pitchers. In those deals they traded away five players. Here is a look at how those five players have done for their new organizations since those deals. On July 2, the Orioles acquired pitcher Scott Feldman and catcher Steve Clevenger from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for pitchers Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop and international signing bonus slots numbers 3 and 4. Arrieta first was sent to...

The Orioles have acquired right-hander Bud Norris from the Astros ahead of the 4 p.m. non-waiver trading deadline. To get the veteran starter, they had to part with outfielder LJ Hoes and minor league pitcher Josh Hader, a left-hander who was a 19th-round draft pick in 2012. In the trade, consummated at about 3:30 p.m., that the Orioles also sent the Astros the second selection in Round A of the competitive balance lottery in the 2014 draft. The deal will require Hoes and Norris to switch...

He is a 19-year-old left-hander who at this time last year was a brand new Orioles draft pick and a recent high school graduate. Now Josh Hader is on his way potentially toward top 10 prospect status. Whether he'll make those top 10 lists at the end of this year or not, the results have been pretty stunning for this young man from Millersville, Md. In 11 starts this season for Single-A Delmarva, Hader is 3-2 with a 1.94 ERA and opponents are batting .186 batting against him. In 60 1/3...

Left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada worked 5 1/3 innings last night in his fifth injury-rehab start at Triple-A Norfolk, allowing three runs and six hits, walking one and striking out six. He threw 95 pitches, 70 for strikes. For the first time since signing his two-year, $8.15 million deal with the Orioles in December 2011, Wada was credited with a win. There's another W besides the first letter in his last name. In 23 innings with the Tides, Wada has surrendered 18 runs (15 earned) and 27 hits,...

The Orioles hold the 22nd pick in the first round of tonight's First-Year Player Draft, which makes it a heck of a lot harder to project their selection than back in the days when they chose third or fourth. They like South Carolina high school catcher Nick Ciuffo, but they usually lean toward pitching, and University of San Francisco right-hander Alex Balog has been linked to them in some mock drafts. That's as deep as I'll venture into this guessing game. But check back with...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Matt Hobgood is nearing the one-year anniversary of his shoulder surgery from last April 2 that kept him out all of last season after he was limited to 37 innings in 2011. He's been dealing with shoulder soreness since he pitched for rookie-level Bluefield in 2009, the year the Orioles made the fifth overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft. Hobgood hopes his injury issues are behind him for good and today he pitched a scoreless inning for Single-A Delmarva against Tampa...

When the Orioles drafted pitcher Josh Hader out of Old Mill High School in Anne Arundel County in June, they knew they were getting a kid with impressive high school stats, but not yet an impressive fastball. But that changed this summer. The 18-year-old left-hander, who went 10-0 with an ERA of 0.39 as a senior, was pitching in the mid 80s during his high school season but ended up touching 93 and 94 by the end of his first pro season, surprising even some seasoned members of the Orioles'...

He pitched on the mound at Camden Yards yesterday and tonight he agreed to a contract with the Orioles. The Orioles this evening came to terms with a local Baltimore product, 19th-round draft pick Josh Hader, a left-handed pitcher from Old Mill High in Anne Arundel County, MASNsports.com has learned. The 6-foot-3, 160-lb. Hader had tremendous stats this season, going 10-0 with an ERA of 0.39. and he fanned 125 batters over 72 2/3 innings. Hader pitched two shutout innings yesterday at Camden...

LSU's baseball season ended last night with a shocking upset loss to Stony Brook in the Super Regionals. Let the Kevin Gausman negotiations begin. The Orioles made Gausman the fourth overall pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft and watched helplessly Saturday as he pitched the 12th inning of Game 1 and seven innings of Game 2 on the same day. Now that LSU has been bounced, the Orioles can work toward signing him and determining how that prized right arm is used. Were the Orioles a bit...