He had a breakout year in the O's Minors in 2009
He had a breakout year in the O's Minors in 2009
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Heading into the 2009 season, little was expected of O's minor league relief pitcher Luis Lebron. He missed most of 2008 due to a right elbow injury, pitching just 20 innings. It looked like he might be headed for Tommy John surgery but instead he chose to rehab the injury. At the start of the 2009 season, O's officials were just hoping he could get that mid 90's fastball back. And if he could develop some control of his pitches, all the better.
Dave Trembley weighs in on Jones' GG award
Dave Trembley weighs in on Jones' GG award
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Orioles' manager Dave Trembley sounded like a proud dad on the other end of the phone line. He was excited to see one of his players get some national recognition when Adam Jones won his first AL Gold Glove for fielding. Jones became the first Oriole since Mike Mussina in 1999 to earn the honor and first O's outfielder to do so since Paul Blair in 1975.
Jones reacts to winning his first Gold Glove
Jones reacts to winning his first Gold Glove
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Adam Jones said he was shocked and surprised but honored as well to win his first-ever American League Gold Glove. "The Gold Glove is hard to get into because so many guys win it consecutively. Ichiro and Torii do it every year and it's deserved. To get into that fraternity is an honor in itself," the 24-year-old Jones said. "It did (surprise me). I was just sitting here relaxed and got a call from our general manager. I was like 'wow.' I always thought I had a chance if I played a...
Pondering the gold
Pondering the gold
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Two things came to mind when thinking about Adam Jones winning a Gold Glove award. One, after 12 straight losing seasons, it's great to see an Oriole get recognized for good play - in any award. When you follow a losing team you don't expect that teams' players to get many awards. This was a nice change. Second, you can't always use stats to prove something. The gentleman from Baseball Prospectus had several stats at hand on yesterday's ESPN News broadcast of the awards to show that...
A matter of statistics
A matter of statistics
Steve Melewski
Orioles
No game is more about numbers than baseball. There is a stat for everything and in baseball the numbers seem to mean more, both for players now playing and even throughout history. There are magical numbers like 20 wins for a pitcher and a .300 batting average for a hitter. Even the most casual fans probably understand the basics of batting average, wins and losses, ERA, RBI and so on.
Updating injured minor league pitchers
Updating injured minor league pitchers
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Since I've been asked a few times by readers how several of the O's injured minor league pitchers are doing now, today we try to answer that question. O's Director of Player Development David Stockstill was nice enough to update us on eight different O's hurlers. All the quotes throughout are from Stockstill.
Talking Norfolk pitchers with Gary Allenson
Talking Norfolk pitchers with Gary Allenson
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Today we continue our review of the 2009 Norfolk Tides season by looking at how some Tides pitchers fared this year. We featured mostly hurlers that did not pitch in Baltimore this year. The quotes are from Tides' manager Gary Allenson. All stats in bold are with Norfolk only.
No shortage of bullpen candidates
No shortage of bullpen candidates
Steve Melewski
Orioles
If you want to point to an area where there will likely be jobs to be won in spring training in March, it's the Orioles' bullpen. There are a lot of questions right now. Will Koji be the closer? Can Sarfate and Ray come back from injury? Will Kam Mickolio emerge with that mid 90's fastball? Here are some candidates for next year's bullpen that maybe you haven't thought much about.
Joe Jordan sizes up some O's draft picks
Joe Jordan sizes up some O's draft picks
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Today in this space we begin a two-part series sizing up the Orioles' top ten draft picks from last June's First-Year Player Draft. Who better to analyze the players than the man who drafted them, O's scouting director Joe Jordan. All the quotes in the article are from Jordan who took plenty of time for MASNsports.com to provide some interesting insight. The O's selected nine players in the top ten rounds. Not all have even played for the Orioles yet, and of those who have, most played...
Baseball is going to miss Ernie Harwell
Baseball is going to miss Ernie Harwell
Steve Melewski
Orioles
I don't remember too many facts from that day. I know it was March, perhaps in 2003, and I was at the ballpark in Lakeland, Florida, getting ready for a spring training broadcast. That day I would host the Orioles pregame show for my then employer, WBAL Radio. It was several hours before the game and almost no one was in the stadium at the time. I was the only person in the main area of the press box for a while. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. An older, gray-haired man extended his...