Major League Baseball is attempting to start up a season. That much we can agree on. Is it a legitimate season? Don't get me started. I respect most opinions. You won't sell me on Caddyshack II or Gary Cherone fronting Van Halen. You won't convince me that a plant-based burger is a burger and zoodles replicate a bowl of pasta. Or that pickleball is equal to or better than tennis. But I'll accept most opinions because you're entitled to them. Baseball in 2020 is a shell of its former self,...

If rules are going to change in the 2020 season, the Orioles must keep up by implementing special drills in workouts and intrasquad games. This is a matter of baseball survival beyond staying safe in a pandemic. Beginning with Hunter Harvey in the bottom of the first inning, the Orioles sent a succession of relievers to the mound for the "visitors" and placed a runner on second base to simulate extra innings. Because this team has been known to stretch games beyond regulation. Mason Williams...

Tonight's workout at Nationals Park featured a parade of relief pitchers, a trial run of baseball's new extra-inning rule and the return of a key member of the coaching staff. Rather than put two separate teams on the field that switched sides every half-inning like they did Monday, the Nationals mixed and matched their defensive players and batters throughout the hour-long intrasquad game. No starting pitchers participated because they need to build in a day between Max Scherzer (who starts...

Orioles catcher Austin Wynns doesn't duck the question. He was asked if the 2020 season represents a big year for him. "Every year is huge," he said during an interview Tuesday afternoon. "Every year, for everyone. You can't take anything for granted. Each year, you have to take in strides. You have to improve, you have to be better and make adjustments. This game is built on adjustments. And physically, mentally you have to be there. To answer your question, it's huge. Every year,...

Baseball, more than most team sports, naturally creates social distance. There aren't many circumstances that bring people together in close quarters for more than a second or two during a specific play. With one major exception: The catcher and the plate umpire. For all the extensive changes and protocols Major League Baseball is putting in place to protect everyone on the field during a game, there isn't much that can be done about the need to have an umpire peering over the catcher's...

Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander has reported to Camden Yards and is participating in this afternoon's workout. Manager Brandon Hyde didn't provide any details on Santander's prolonged absence from summer training camp, which likely has been related to COVID-19 testing. Outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. remains absent. The club is rushing to get Santander ready for the July 24 opener against the Red Sox in Boston, with a multitude of factors in play. "We're going to try our best," Hyde...

Another Orioles prospect is taking a dip in the player pool. The team announced today that right-hander Dean Kremer has been added to the 60-man pool and is headed to the alternate training site in Bowie. Pitcher Hector Velázquez, viewed as a long relief candidate when summer training camp began, has been optioned to the alternate site. He's no longer in the running for a bullpen role. Also, infielder Richie Martin has been placed on the 60-day injured list and removed from the player pool...

They wore jerseys with names and numbers on them for the first time in four months, one team in red tops and gray pants, the other in all white. They played music between innings from a large speaker near the dugout. They sent two big league starters to the mound for this five-inning intrasquad matchup, but didn't have enough available position players to fill both lineups after one had to be scratched due to a "contact lens issue." So they were forced to use a minor league coach as the...

As manager Brandon Hyde provides the occasional reminder that it's still too early to offer a completed lineup projection for opening day, he keeps batting Austin Hays and Hanser Alberto in the leadoff spot during intrasquad games and offering a glimpse at the options that enable him to complete one of the tasks. Proven leadoff hitters aren't falling from the Orioles' tree. Hays and Alberto are the only logical considerations - the former based on tools that eventually could lower him into...

Ryan Mountcastle was given another look in left field tonight for the "visiting" Orioles in their intrasquad game at Camden Yards. Use him before they lose him. Both teams had a full outfield, which in itself is a noteworthy achievement. Mountcastle, Andrew Velazquez and Mason Williams for the team wearing white. DJ Stewart, Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins for the team in orange. Both lineups held 10 players. The Orioles suddenly are overflowing - though still minus outfielders Dwight Smith...