Tony-OH

Do they have a different centerfield camera?

He is a big dude.

Looked like Stallings shook off Adley, and then threw a curveball for a hit. Maybe throw what the big league catcher rook.

Damn, seems like everything is blurry on this telecast like they are using the first HD camera's ever.

Could be nerves. New team and first appearance and all.

Heasley really has slowed the pace of the game down by getting into deep counts on everyone.

Nice job by Holliday to deak the runner on that bad throw by Rutschman.

Heasley was like, "I'm not walking this guy after starting off 1-2, so here's one down the chute." BOOM!

Hope they get this shaky Cf cam settled.. Nice start for Burnes!

Can't wait for the new owner to take over so we can have announcers enjoying the sunny Sarasota instead of announcing from the feed. Just a weird vibe when they do this, but better than no broadcast.

I think that's a valid take and I get what you are saying. I too do not see that explosive first step you'd like to see from your shortstop but then again, you could probably say that about Mike Bordick. Does he have the ideal tools and quickness to be an elite defensive shortstop, I'd say probably not, but its not out of the question that he could improve enough to play there effectively one day. I agree with you that right now, his home should be second base. It very well may end up his "forever" home defensively or maybe one day they Robin Yount him and send him to center field to use his speed. Who knows, but we all know his bat is going to play at the major league level at some point and he's going to end up a very good defender somewhere.

That chart is really interesting, thanks for sharing. Here's the thing to remember about arm strength at SS, while it's important, it's not the be all, end all if your can throw accurately and transfer quickly. Take Dansby Swanson from the Braves, he has 19th percentile throwing but was worth 20 OAA and 15 fielding runs. So even if Holliday's arm does not improve and judging by a few videos I've seen this spring it does not appear it's going to be a strength for him, that does not necessarily mean he can't become a good major league shortstop. Now is he better than Gunnar Henderson right now? No, I don't think so and besides Law, I don't think any other evaluator would say so. Will he be better in a few years if Gunnar's range, which is average now, becomes below average due to him getting bigger and older? Perhaps. I think over the next few years at least, Gunnar is going to be at SS and Holliday at 2B. But it would not surprise me in 3-4 years if Gunnar doesn't move over to 3B and depending on who is ready (remember the Orioles have some highly thought of International SSs developing) Holliday could move to SS or he may just stay at 2B because he's comfortable there by then and because he'll probably end up a plus defender at 2B.

Hardy actually had a plus arm, it's just he only used it when he needed to.

I fixed it. @SteveA is still in spring training too!!!

Holliday getting the start in the opener and Urias over Westburg is very interesting. Yeah, it's just spring training and McKenna is starting in RF so we know you can't totally read into things, but still interesting.

Nice Article before today's opener by Roch : https://www.masnsports.com/blog/some-early-camp-observations-before-today-s-exhibition-opener Nothing earth shattering here, but some nice words on how bigger Holliday looks. I could tell that in the few video clips of him taking BP.

Probably just to stick it to the Orioles for giving up the Farm for Cease. lol

Yes, but still better than nothing!

He could, but I'm not a fan of that. I'd rather see him get used to pitching every 2 to 3 days or even back to back to learn that recovery skill.

I'll be honest, I'm very interested in seeing how Johnson is used this spring and this season. With current bullpen needs I can see the Orioles being tempted to convert him and take a look. He's not going to open the season with the Orioles, but I could see a path for him to pitch some innings out of the pen in the second half in Baltimore if he's converted to a reliever.

It is. do you have a bookmark that takes you only to the Orioles Talk forum? You may want to bookmark this https://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/ so you can see them all.

Me too. A 37.5% K rate in AA for a 23-year old is a pretty big red flag for me. Doesn't mean he doesn't have other attributes that makes him interesting which is why he's still in my top 30, but yeah, he's got more questions than answers at this point.

You can't find the minor league forum?

Hard to say really. He has a good arm and can play SS effectively so he's a nice piece to have in the org. He has good exit velocities but seems to struggle with off speed. He's 26 this year. At first blush, probably in the 35-50 range somewhere. Certainly would not be a top 30 guy for me and the fact he made it through waivers suggests teams think he has a hole in his game that he won't be able to close. Either way, nice AAA depth piece and definitely needed so it's nice he made it through and they were able to stash him.

Don't let Wildcard hear you say that!