As he evaluated his club's catching corps during the offseason, and then examined the likeliest outside candidates to be added, Davey Martinez quickly came to one conclusion: Yan Gomes was going to be the Nationals' No. 1 catcher in 2021. And that wasn't a bad thing in the manager's mind. "I talked to him a lot this winter and told him that he would get the bulk of the catching this year," Martinez said from West Palm Beach, Fla., during a Zoom session with reporters. "I want him to...

The Orioles are not exactly featuring an abundance of bullpen left-handers. Even on a spring roster with 73 players that includes 37 pitchers. They do return Paul Fry and Tanner Scott from the left side in the 'pen. Who, if anyone, joins them this year is to be determined. Fernando Abad, who signed a minor league deal, may have a good shot. Zach Muckenhirn from the O's farm is another 'pen lefty. Josh Rogers has returned after two surgeries and Bruce Zimmermann made one bullpen appearance...

César Valdez has become so important to the Orioles, and in such an unexpected manner after his prolonged absence from the majors, that manager Brandon Hyde is open to using the veteran right-hander in pretty much any role. The rotation isn't closed to him. Valdez became a starter in winter ball after one relief appearance with his original team, Tigres del Licey, and dominated for Gigantes and Águilas Cibaeñas - the latter being the Dominican Republic's entrant into the Caribbean...

Davey Martinez has made no secret about his desire to use Joe Ross as his No. 5 starter. While acknowledging the open competition that also includes Erick Fedde, Austin Voth and perhaps even Rogelio Armenteros taking place this spring, the Nationals manager has openly stated he wants Ross to prove he's earned the job. But in their evaluation, Martinez and new pitching coach Jim Hickey need to consider not only Ross' performance but the state of his arm after he opted out of the 2020 season....

Reporting to the first day of spring training as rookies must feel a lot like a freshman arriving on campus for the first day of high school. But instead of being surrounded by jocks, cliques and faculty, you're stepping into a clubhouse full of world champions, a World Series MVP, a Cy Young Award winner and All-Stars. OK, so in a sense, still jocks. But for the sake of the analogy, if spring training is like high school, then rookies are freshman, veterans are upperclassmen, coaches are...

Spring training is too long. Find a ballplayer who disagrees with that assessment. You won't. Six weeks in Florida and Arizona is a long time, and it gets awfully repetitive awfully quick. You can only run pickoff drills and practice fielding bunts so many times before your brain goes numb. But as everyone gathers in the warm sunshine this week, you might find more than a few ballplayers who are actually looking forward to the long slog of spring training this time. They may not have realized...

Now that Major League Baseball has announced minor league affiliations and schedules for the 2021 season, the Nationals took care of one remaining piece of unfinished business Friday afternoon, announcing their minor league coaching staffs for the upcoming campaign. Matt LeCroy will move up a level to manage Triple-A Rochester after spending the 2016-19 seasons as the skipper at Double-A Harrisburg. In his 13th season in the Nationals organization, LeCroy served as minor league quality control...

The Washington Nationals announced their Minor League managers, coaches and coordinators for the 2021 season on Friday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. * Matt LeCroy will take over as the manager of Triple-A Rochester. The 2021 season will mark his 13th in a coaching role in the Washington Nationals organization. In 2020, LeCroy served as the Minor League Quality Control Coordinator and he most recently managed the Double-A...

Give a cerebral, young pitcher some time on his hands during quarantine baseball, with no games to play or spring training complex to report to, and he can do some unique and ultimately very productive things. For Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer, starting last March, that meant taking his slider, which had always been a work in progress, and morphing it into more of a cut fastball. They are similar pitches, but the cutter is often thrown a bit harder and has the nice sharp and late break...

The evolution of the Orioles bullpen over the years has stripped away the veterans and increased option flexibility. More importance is placed on the freedom to shuttle relievers back and forth and to get multiple innings out of them. Less baton-passing. Less stress trying to cover for starters running short on innings. This is amplified in pandemic seasons and with pitchers coming off a 60-game schedule. "Guys being able to throw multiple innings are going to be really valuable," said...