Tony-OH

Thanks, where did you get this info? The way Denoyer's stuff fell off dramatially last year, it's not surprising to see him on the list. Pinto was the best guy on this list.

Yeah, good observation. I also have not seen Wagner so I'm guessing those guys are down with something. Considering we've seen some Low-A guys like Isaac DeLeon get PAs, something is up with those guys. I just saw @Dreadnought post that Haskin got a hit. That's a first sighting of him for me. I was surprised not to see him getting any kind of spring training PAs late in games.

Skenes is an impressive pitcher no doubt, but I would take Holliday. Holliday is going to be a lead off hitter who is going to get on base at a .400+ rate and probably end up hitting 20-25 bombs and year while playing plus defense at 2B or Averge-ish defense at SS if he plats there at some point. When you add in the additional injury risk that comes with pitchers, that also leans towards Holliday. Two great players for sure, but I'm taking the position player who has few holes in his game already at 20-years old.

I remember this and it's great analysis on him. I know I've said this before and in a non stacked system, I probably would have paid more attention to him, but he really does remind me of Zach Davies. Davies was very similar in that his fastball was nothing to write home about, but he was just a pitcher who used all quadrants of the zone to attack hitter with four pitches. Pham does the same. Now that we have a little statcast data on him, we can see that he has good spin rates on his cutter, fastball and curveball, particularly for their speed. I need to look at the movement data from that outing to see how he matches up with big league pitchers, but haven't had the time. Still, there is something about the way he pitches and the amount of big league time he's gotten this spring without being a true NRI, tells me they like him as well. He's going to be one that could fly up the prospect list and I may have underrated him on last year's list.

Karl, I can look up your old info and send it to you f you want. Or you can just use this one. Thanks for the info. Doc would be proud!

We forget sometimes that he's a very young man who has very high expectations for himself. He had a ton of success last year so we haven't seen how he handles struggles that much. Perhaps the injury that got him behind has frustrated him a bit because maybe he thought he would get more big league opportunities in spring training. Then he struggles a bit in a game and it just kind of builds up. It's nice to know a coach was over there talking to him after seeing that. He was probably asked to hang around a bit so he could be talked to after his display. That's good coaching in my opinion. Players get upset. Gunnar can still be a helmet slammer a bit, but what he doesn't do is anything that could hurt himself. Hopefully that was just a blip because hitting lasers off Skenes just shows how good he can be.

He looked good and he did it without using his best off speed pitch (changeup) very often (5 of 40 pitches). He went very cutter heavy which is something I don't remember seeing last year as much. He got the second most whiffs on the day with 7. The more I see him the more I see a bit of Zach Davies. If he can get to AAA this year and have some success there, he could become legitimate starting pitching depth.

And he did by using his best offspeed pitch (changup) only 5 out of his 40 pitches. There is more on him in his 2024 page that Frobby started in the minor league section.

Westburg is probably more consistent but Mayo will make the impressive plays that Westburg can't at times because of his big arm.

That's why I've kinda chuckled when I've heard people say Cowser doesn't have plus power. He can absolutely cover a ball when he gets into one. That was an absolute bomb, and on two-strikes against a lefty.

It's a valid point though Westburg's minor league power numbers suggest he will hit for more power. I was disappointed in his lack of home runs though I don't expect him to be a big time power guy. He's more like Doug DeCinces. The ceiling is certainly much higher for Mayo, but the Orioles may want to keep him down for a bit and gain that extra year of control and then if Westburg is not producing, option him and then bring Mayo up. The same goes for Mountcastle. Basically in this scenario, Mayo goes back to Norfolk, tears the cover off the ball down there, and whatever one of Mountcastle or Westburg that is not hitting by May 1st gets optioned.

Here's what I know. Mayo is a talented young man who is ready fore the major leagues. He's one of the top prospects in all of baseball and is 22-years old. Will it be the end of the world and he goes down to the minors for a month or so and plays some RF and 1B to open up more opportunities and gains the Orioles another year of control? Probably not. Really what the Orioles need to decide right now is Holliday more ready for the majors than Mayo? Only one of them are making the team unless they can find a trade partner for Mountcastle (unlikely). Westburg is going to start the season at either 3B (if Holliday makes the team) or 2B (if Mayo makes the team) unless something crazy happens. The crazy scenarios include optioning either Mountcastle of Westburg for Mayo (Mayo has been playing a lot of 1B lately). I just can't imagine either Westburg or Mountcastle not making the team so I really think it depends on Mayo vs Holliday. Both look ready but Mayo is older and probably deserves the chance ahead of him. Of course both might not make it so the Orioles can gain another year of control, but that seems like a worse case scenario.

Nice synopsis and good to know Bright is looking good this spring so far. This is a big year for him to show he can stick as a starter. He's got he repertoire, but has to refine the command. I'm looking forward to watching him more and hoping they expend statcast data to AA this year to get a better feel for the pitches. I'd really like to see them move Seth Johnson to relief and move him fast if he has success. If he can sit in the mid to upper 90s he's got a chance to help this season at some point. I get trying to get him as many innings as possible still, but he's going to be 26-years old before the year is out so they may want move him fast. The only other pitching prospect he missed with Luis De Leon. I wonder what's up with him this spring? Haven't heard or seen any video of him pitching yet. Hope everything is good with him. He's one I'm really looking forward to seeing pitch this year with another year under his belt.

Thanks for the info. Typically players that have no chance of starting at Delmarva are not going to play in regular spring training games, even with the "Delmarva" squad. AS much as I'd love to see Almeyda make the jump to Delmarva, we have to remember how young he is and how even the FCL will be a nice test after missing so much time last year with the injury. Basallo may be putting too much pressure on himself if he's struggling to keep his emotions in check during a spring training game. That's not great to hear but hopefully just a blip on the radar.

I think Elias will always be active on the waiver wire. He's a master at finding hidden talent there. As for McKenna, perhaps he makes it through but when you see some of the guys that get claimed, you have to think someone may give him a look as a 4th outfielder against left-handed pitching.

Did you lose the signon to your other account? thanks for he info though. Good to see Estrada healthy. I'm very interested in how he, Arias, Tavera and Sosa do. I'm a little surprised that Cunningham is not with the Aberdeen team though. I imagine that Acevedo and Prado will start at Frederick along with Etzel and Bradford. Please keep posting the lineups if you have them. It's always good to see where players are playing and at what positions.

I think Castillo is going to get the most plating time at SS with Robinson sharing it as well. Overall, they will move those guys around as utility depth at the major league level.

Elias probably knows they are probably DFAing him and McKenna and will try to do it when a lot of other players are being DFA'd to give them the best chance to get through. I doubt anyone is picking up Maton, but you never know. I think he moves McKenna for a low level pitching prospects instead of losing him on waivers.

Can we at least say since the draft era started that this is the most talent the system as ever had? The Orioles were fantastic in finding talent before the draft, but they were never a great drafting team until Elias came here. The Orioles were outstanding at trading for talent more than drafting talent in the late 60s and throughout the 70s. Sure the 1967 draft netted Baylor and Grich, and the 1973 draft netted Eddie Murray in the 3rd round, but the Orioles run as the best team AL team of the 70s was not really built on drafted talent. Once free agency became a thing, it spelled doom for the Orioles and led them to the 1984-1995 drought, that was only changed by Peter Angelos trying his best Steinbrenner impersonation by buying his way to a championship. The Orioles were absolutely at brutal drafting in the 80s and only slightly better in the 90s. The 2000s and especially the 2010s were a little better as Rajisch was actually pretty decent before Elias took over. Now, between Elias and his staff's drafting and the international program under Koby Perez, this organization is the best it's ever been. Now, will this group of players in the system right now outperform the youngsters of 1966? That's remains to be seen, but I think we're going to be able to take this organization's players that were drafted or signed internationally, and find out they will produce the most major league WAR of any Orioles organization of the past.

Feel better about what? Elias picks? the Orioles as contenders? I'm not sure what you're still out on. Rutschman has been all-star and was second in the RoY and Henderson was the rookie of the year last year. Sure, none of other picks have made an impact at the major league level yet but a lot of that is because players like Hays, Santander and Mountcastle are still productive. With Holliday, Cowser, Mayo, Kjerstad (I'm not going to read too much into his poor spring and base it off last year, Norby and Stowers all looking ready to be contributing as every day major leaguers, I think his scouting chops have been validated. The team won 101 games last year so he's had in season success. His next step is winning a playoff series and hopefully making it at least to the AL Championship series.

Thanks for the quote. We forget sometimes that there are people behind these names and sometimes that leadership or personal quality makes the clubhouse and perhaps team better. O'Hearn probably does deserve to be part of the team anyways based off last year. I just wished they would have moved either him or Mountcastle to a lesser extent and opened up a spot for Mayo who looked ready last year in AAA and now this spring. But either way, as long as Santander, Mullins and Hays are on this team, there is no room for both Stowers and Cowser.

This is a concern for a guy like Stowers since he's never really produced well in a part-time role. Even this spring, it's taken him a bit to get into a groove but once he's playing regularly, he produces. I've never given up on him and still think he's going to end up an everyday player for someone. Unfortunately for him, it looks like that someone is going to be the Norfolk Tides if he's not moved.

How do you tell Cowser, Mayo, and Holliday too? They're all having great springs and there's maybe room for two of them.

From his scouting report that I did at the end of last season. "Listed at 6-1, 160 pounds by most publications, Sosa showed up this season at 6-4, 190 and hasn't even completely filled out yet and he's already putting up some of the best exit velocities in the entire Florida Complex League. "

Perhaps because he lives in the United States, but because of VISA's they only bring over the players who will play in the states.