Starting lineups: Nats vs. Astros in West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s been an encouraging start to the spring season for the Nationals, who have won four of their first six games, gotten some pretty good pitching and seen their top young prospects deliver in their first big league camp. At some point, though, you’d also like to see their projected regulars start producing a little more at
Masn Nationals

A look at MLB Network's stop at O's camp

The Orioles got some national attention this week when MLB Network aired its “30 clubs in 15 days preview” on the Orioles on Thursday afternoon.  If you missed it, the analysts are high on the 2024 Orioles with former player Cliff Floyd projecting another 100-win year. Yes, expectations are very high for a club that was 47-115 in the 2018 seas
Orioles

Newly unveiled sweeper shows Finnegan's willingness to evolve

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Four years into his big league career, Kyle Finnegan has established himself as good late-inning reliever. And he’s done so with a fairly simple repertoire of pitches. He throws a high-90s fastball most of the time (70 percent on average). And he mixes in a slider to right-handed batters and a splitter to hitters from both s
Masn Nationals

Kjerstad on Cowser: "It’s good to see him come out of the gate hot"

SARASOTA, Fla. – No one in the Orioles organization is enjoying Colton Cowser’s hot start in exhibition games more than teammate and friend Heston Kjerstad, who doesn’t ponder how it might impact his own chances of making the Opening Day roster. Kjerstad isn’t wired that way. He wants everyone to be electric, to put up good numbers. And he remains

Orioles

Rainey's healthy debut, Corbin's sharp cutter and Wood's latest homer

JUPITER, Fla. – This wasn’t Tanner Rainey’s return from Tommy John surgery. That came late last September, when he tossed a scoreless inning in Atlanta as a reward for all the time and effort he put in over the previous year-plus. What was the significance of Rainey’s 1-2-3 inning today at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium? Consider it his return to a n
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Holliday stands out after Skenes' matchup, Burnes works on cutter and slider (Orioles win 9-8)
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles leadoff hitter Jackson Holliday swung at the second pitch from Paul Skenes today and grounded to second baseman Nick Gonzales. The first-overall pick in the 2022 draft retired by the first-overall pick in the 2023 draft, with the assist going to the seventh-overall selection in 2020. And after catcher Henry Davis, the top s
Hall of Famer Rolen is surprise guest speaker at Nats camp
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
JUPITER, Fla. – It’s not unusual for former players to speak to the Nationals and offer advice to the organization’s younger up-and-comers. Certainly not this spring, which has seen Ryan Zimmerman spend a week at camp and Sean Doolittle and Gerardo Parra take on full-time coaching positions. But those are all former Nationals, guys with distinct co
Hearing from newest Orioles Wong and Teheran on their first day in camp
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles might not be a last-chance stop for pitcher Julio Teheran and second baseman Kolten Wong. However, they’re grateful to be detached from the free-agent market and the uncertainty in their futures, and hope to seize the opportunity as late arrivals in camp. Their minor league deals became official yesterday and they found
Starting lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
JUPITER, Fla. – The temperature has slowly been rising each day this week, to the point where it’s starting to become a little bit steamy down here. It could crack 80 degrees this afternoon, with some humidity, when the Nationals face the Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. This is the Nats’ sixth exhibition game, and for the sixth straight
Orioles lineup vs. Pirates in Sarasota
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
SARASOTA, Fla. – Jackson Holliday is playing second base again and leading off this afternoon against the Pirates’ Paul Skenes, pitting the 2022 first-overall draft pick against the 2023 first-overall selection. The hype keeps building. Adley Rutschman, the first-overall selection in 2019, is catching and batting directly behind Holliday. Heston Kj
Just for fun, a look at PECOTA projections
Steve Melewski
Orioles
If there is one computer projection that seems consistently confounded by the Orioles, it is PECOTA. From Baseball Prospectus, that stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm. PECOTA is the Baseball Prospectus proprietary system that projects player (and also team) performance based on comparison with historical player s
Healthy Barnes arrives at Nats camp with goal of making club
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Matt Barnes, born and raised in New England, spent the first nine years of his big league career pitching for the Red Sox. So why not continue to make his home in Connecticut, even during the offseason? Winters in the Northeast, of course, require some creativity for ballplayers who want to stay in shape. So it was that Barn
A few thoughts on Teheran and Wong acquisitions
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are back home this afternoon to play the Pirates, with baseball’s No. 3 prospect, Paul Skenes, starting opposite Corbin Burnes. Yes, everyone is primed for the expected Skenes-Jackson Holliday matchup - the first-overall picks in the last two drafts going head-to-head. A potential sneak peek of the Spring Breakout game
Rutledge labors, Finnegan cruises, Robles progresses
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Neither of Jackson Rutledge’s two innings today was particularly strong. He walked three batters in the top of the first. Then he surrendered four hits in the second, two of those Red Sox batters eventually coming around to score. As poor as the results were, Davey Martinez much preferred Rutledge’s second inning to his firs
Hilliard claimed on waivers to create spot on 40-man (O's win 12-3)
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Orioles reduced their 40-man roster to 39 players this afternoon in the latest move - their third in less than 24 hours - by losing outfielder Sam Hilliard on a waiver claim by the Rockies. Hilliard was claimed from the Braves in November and competed for a backup spot with the Orioles, an intriguing possibility with his left
       
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