Maduro on Perez: "I think it's an outstanding hire"

Maduro on Perez: "I think it's an outstanding hire"
The hiring of Koby Perez as the Orioles' senior director of international scouting enabled executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias to reach further into his professional past, all the way to his Cardinals days in their scouting department. Elias also has brought in assistant Sig Mejdal, who worked with him in St. Louis and Houston, and minor league pitching coordinator Chris Holt, formerly the Astros' assistant pitching coordinator. If anyone needs additional information on...

More on the Orioles and their pursuit of international talent

More on the Orioles and their pursuit of international talent
The hiring this week of Koby Perez as the Orioles' senior director of international scouting is the latest step forward for the organization on the international front. For years, the club just didn't do nearly enough in this market, and it hurt the team in numerous ways. Baltimore lacked in producing international talent. Hopefully, those days are over, although certainly it will take years for general manager Mike Elias and Perez to produce significant results. But you have to start...

Latest winless road trip followed by Yankees clash, plus farm notes

Latest winless road trip followed by Yankees clash, plus farm notes
Well, as they are 2-17 in their past 19 home games, we can't necessarily say it will get better for the Orioles as they return home today. They host the New York Yankees this afternoon at 4:05 p.m. in a single-admission doubleheader. The last-place Orioles (24-65) are now 41 games under .500 and 37 games out of first as they begin an eight-game homestand today. They just endured their third 0-6 road trip of the season. They lost all six in April at Boston and Detroit. They did the same in May...

It's time to take a longer look at David Hess

It's time to take a longer look at David Hess
He may have allowed five runs and three homers in 4 2/3 innings Sunday at Fenway Park, but here is one vote for right-hander David Hess to stay in the Orioles' rotation. He has gotten two big challenges to start his career. The first was making his MLB debut on three days' rest and overcoming allowing a three-run homer in the first. The second was facing Boston on the road on seven days' rest. Now maybe the Orioles will let the kid settle into an every five-day schedule, give him at least...

Wrapping up an 8-5 win

Wrapping up an 8-5 win
BRADENTON, Fla. - The spring stats meant nothing to manager Buck Showalter. The runs and hits allowed by Dylan Bundy didn't reflect his readiness to break camp. Improvement today? For Showalter, Bundy has always been on his game. The numbers just didn't support it. Bundy today became the first Orioles starter to go five innings this spring. He allowed one run and seven hits, walked none and struck out five. He was done after 84 pitches. Bundy had surrendered 10 runs and 11 hits over 4 1/3...

Wrapping up a 5-2 win

Wrapping up a 5-2 win
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter noted the progress today made by Rule 5 pick Nestor Cortes Jr. One run allowed over two innings in both starts, but not a duplication. "I thought he was a little better this time out," Showalter said. "He can do a lot of things with the baseball. He's presenting himself as advertised. I thought he was a little better today. That was good to see. "He's got good command of the fastball, works fast and can spin the ball. He'll need all...

Orioles lineup vs. Red Sox

Orioles lineup vs. Red Sox
SARASOTA, Fla. - Austin Hays is serving as the designated hitter today and Craig Gentry is leading off and playing center field, as the Orioles make the trip to Fort Myers to play the Red Sox. The lineup is missing a projected starter for the 2018 season. Joey Rickard is in right field - he could work into a platoon - and Anthony Santander is batting cleanup and playing left field. Austin Wynns is catching after hitting a home run last night to give the Orioles a 1-1 tie with the Twins. For the...

Minor league notes and a look at the Yankees-O's series

Minor league notes and a look at the Yankees-O's series
All but one of the Orioles' minor league affiliates have completed the regular season after Monday's games. Short-season Single-A Aberdeen (40-33) still has three games to play and is three games behind in the New York-Penn League wild card race. Single-A Frederick (68-71) and Double-A Bowie (72-68) will begin the playoffs at home on Wednesday night. While Frederick finished three games under .500, its second-half record (37-33) got the Keys in and they will host Lynchburg Wednesday and...

O's add Tim Raines Jr. as Aberdeen's hitting coach, plus other notes

O's add Tim Raines Jr. as Aberdeen's hitting coach, plus other notes
The Orioles have hired Tim Raines Jr. to be the hitting coach at short-season, Single-A Aberdeen. Raines Jr. is the son of new Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines Sr. Raines Jr. played for the Orioles in 2001 and again in 2003-2004. On Oct. 4, 2001, father and son played in a game together for the Orioles against Boston, with Raines Jr. in center field and Raines Sr. in left. They became the second father-son combo to play for the same team in the same major league game after Ken...

After strong finish, Drew Dosch gets off to fast start (plus O's notes)

After strong finish, Drew Dosch gets off to fast start (plus O's notes)
Since opening day, Triple-A Norfolk has placed two third basemen on the disabled list. First, Chris Johnson suffered a right forearm injury and then Alex Castellanos went on the disabled list yesterday with a left hamstring injury. This all opened the door for third sacker Drew Dosch to get promoted to Triple-A for the first time yesterday. After a strong second half at Double-A Bowie last season, followed by a good start to this year, Dosch may prove to be ready for this chance. Last season at...

O's game blog: Jiménez on the mound at Cincinnati (O's win 2-0)

O's game blog: Jiménez on the mound at Cincinnati (O's win 2-0)
He has pitched just 4 1/3 innings in each of his two starts this season. But after right-hander Kevin Gausman went just 2 2/3 innings last night, the Orioles (8-4) could use a solid outing tonight from right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez (0-0, 10.38 ERA). Jiménez has given up five runs against both the Yankees and Red Sox to begin the season. Over 8 2/3 innings, he has allowed 15 hits, including three homers, with three walks, six strikeouts and a .385 batting average against. In those two...

Talking player development: The O's team that did it well while losing

Talking player development: The O's team that did it well while losing
If you look at the job of any minor league organization, its biggest task by far (but not the only one) is to develop players. Coach, teach, instruct and provide a framework for players to get better so they can one day reach the bigs and help the major league team win games. If you can win games on the farm while doing the first job, all the better. But make no mistake, when it comes to developing players or winning, the first is much more important than the second. Let's look at some players...

Adam Jones on donation to Boys & Girls Clubs (plus other notes)

Adam Jones on donation to Boys & Girls Clubs (plus other notes)
Earlier this week we saw yet another example of how Orioles outfielder Adam Jones is a leader for the team not only on the field, but off the field as well. The Orioles Charitable Foundation and Jones, along with his wife Audie, made a $75,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore for the fourth consecutive year. The donation will include $10,000 to fund Youth of the Year Scholarship Awards and $65,000 to help to renovate the O'Donnell Heights Club gymnasium. "I...

A look at the PECOTA projection and O's infield depth

A look at the PECOTA projection and O's infield depth
Death, taxes and PECOTA projecting the Orioles for a losing season. The Orioles may have two promising young pitchers to join Chris Tillman heading up their rotation and a bullpen that led the American League in ERA last year. Despite that, PECOTA predicts that they will give up the most runs in baseball this season and finish with the third-worst record in the majors as they finish last in the AL East. The annual PECOTA projection from Baseball Prospectus is out and a tradition continued with...

A few things to track over the remaining 29 games (plus farm notes)

A few things to track over the remaining 29 games (plus farm notes)
Despite the avalanche of negativity on the blog and social media yesterday, I notice the Orioles have a game scheduled with the Yankees tonight. I assume they will show up. I plan to go cover it, so I hope both teams are there. Yes, of course, the Orioles' poor play has given fans plenty of reasons to doubt them. Some of you have pointed each one of them out about 1,000 times now. So yeah, we kind of get it. But they also have 29 games left, are tied for the second wild card and are four games...

Bowie hitting coach talks about some minor league batters

Bowie hitting coach talks about some minor league batters
About a week ago, I wrote about Double-A Bowie hitting coach Keith Bodie and how he fit in very well in his first season in the Orioles organization in 2015. Bodie has had a long and strong career in pro ball. During my visit with Bodie, we talked about a few Bowie hitters during the Eastern League playoffs. To no surprise, Bodie is pretty high on first baseman Trey Mancini. "I've been around a lot of good and special players and what he has done this year is very special," Bodie said. "He...

O's offense: Inconsistent, but scoring more runs than last year

O's offense: Inconsistent, but scoring more runs than last year
We all know the Orioles offense is struggling lately. The O's scored just two runs over the last 23 innings in Miami and have scored two runs or less in seven of their last 13 games. The Orioles are just 1-15 when they fail to score at least four runs. They have scored 10 runs total in their last seven losses. That is not nearly good enough and must improve. But while the Orioles are scoring just 3.3 runs per game in May, the same players for the most part scored a major league-best 5.6 per...

Dosch off to solid start for Frederick (plus the Gonzo numbers)

Dosch off to solid start for Frederick (plus the Gonzo numbers)
Third baseman Drew Dosch of the Single-A Frederick Keys is off to a promising start this year, moving up a level pretty seamlessly in his first go around in the Carolina League. After finishing seventh in the South Atlantic League batting .314 last year, Dosch is batting .291 with six doubles, two triples, a homer, two steals, 14 runs and 18 RBIs for the Keys. He's got a .361 OBP and is slugging .442. He leads the league in RBIs. Dosch sized it up pretty well recently when I asked him what...

Minor league notes on Norfolk's pitching, Dosch, O'Brien and more

Minor league notes on Norfolk's pitching, Dosch, O'Brien and more
The Triple-A Norfolk Tides are off to an 8-4 start after beating Gwinnett 1-0 at Harbor Park last night. Right-hander Mike Wright pitched six scoreless innings and is 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA. After allowing three runs in his first 2015 outing, Wright has put together 12 scoreless innings over his past two starts. Tides pitchers have been good all year. Their starters have worked to an ERA of 2.33 over their last nine games, while the Norfolk bullpen has pitched to an ERA of 1.75 for the season. The...

Mitch Horacek will start Keys' opener, other media day notes from Frederick

Mitch Horacek will start Keys' opener, other media day notes from Frederick
FREDERICK, Md. - Left-hander Mitch Horacek will be on the mound Thursday night when the Single-A Frederick Keys open their Carolina League season against Winston-Salem. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium. Horacek, the Orioles' ninth-round pick in 2013 out of Dartmouth, went 6-10 with a 3.80 ERA in 137 1/3 innings last season for Single-A Delmarva. He will be followed in the Keys rotation by David Hess, Luis Gonzalez, Jim Miller and Sebastian Vader. Orlando...