Tony-OH

Cowser singled in his first professional at bat, There is no truth to the rumor that @Can_of_corn believes he should be immediately sent to the big leagues and that Elias should stop gaming his clock.

Conner Norby makes his professional debut today playing 2B and batting second for the FCL Orioles orange team.

Cowser will make his professional debut today in the FCL playing for the Orioles orange team. He's batting 3rd and playing CF.

Good, I can finally add them to the power rankings!

I have to go video scout a few of his starts and take a look.

I was watching this live when it happened. Pretty cool!

Getting hit by the pitch is literally Cumberland's greatest skill at the plate besides popping a home run every once in awhile. He does crowd the plate and he does not move. He once got plunked 41 times in a season between two teams when he was in Atlanta's organization so this is not new.

All I'd like to say here is that "Homicidal Snot Pigs" would make a great Punk Rock band name!

Easy to say now, but the Orioles on paper felt they were still contenders that year after so it's doubtful you move a guy then.

Not sure what this has to do with the 40-man since none of these players are on the current 40-man. I saw Chris Saw play on rehab and he looked like a guy going through the motions. He was weird pick up anyways and goes to show no matter what your EV is when you hit the ball, if you have huge holes in that swing and doesn't matter. Carroll and Phillips are guys with good arms but no consistent command.

Just moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic. Neither pitcher is part of the future here.

I try to monitor this as much as possible, but consider add an @ before more username so it will tag me and send me an alert if you want an opinion from me. Vespi's curveball has become a real weapon against both righties and lefties. He's still only throwing in the low 90s, but he's able to command that curveball for strikes while also getting guys to chase.

Nothing, but at least he has marginal major league stuff. Eshelman is one of the luckiest guy around to have made the majors with the stuff he has. Nice story, and he threw a couple good games here and there, but there are 100s maybe 1000s of guys in the minor leagues that are better than him. His slider was ok, but eventually he had to throw something else and nothing else was close to major league caliber. If it makes you feel any better, no one will claim him and he'll go back to AAA and be a break glass if random innings eater that can be DFA'd is needed.

I don't think Richie Martin is clogging the system. While Martin has been hurt a lot since making his debut in 2019 as a Rule 5 pick, he does have some value and still could end up an everyday second baseman, though I think his future is as a utility guy spelling guys against left-handed pitching. Mason McCoy is starting in AAA and Martin can replace him while also bouncing around to other positions. Besides, Henderson needs to stay in Aberdeen all season and Westburg could move up to AA with time sharing SS with Grenier and 3B with Dorrian who can swing over to 1B.

Seems like a strange time to promote Jones considering he's been in a slump for the last few weeks slashing .160/.208/.280/.488 over his last 14 games and 54 PAs. While Jones has held his own at AAA this season, he's hit just .238/.347/.420/.767 in 168 PAs this season against AAA right-handers. He's mashed left-handers which reminds me a bit of Richie Martin. Defensively, I see a guy without great hands who doesn't turn a double play that great. Pat Valaika is definitely a steadier second baseman overall and has a stronger arm than Jones. His best position may ultimately be in left field, but I'm not sure he has the bat to profile there unless it's in a 4th outfielder type role and while his bat may be better than McKenna's, I don't think he's going to bring the defense and speed McKenna brings to the 4th outfielders role. Ultimately, he's on the 40-man roster so if they want to take a look at him at 2B over Valaika that's fine since Valaika is not the future nor does he have trade value and is most likely a DFA candidate after the season. But saying that, I prefer to see guys promoted when they're hot, not cold.

Greene just throws too many types of pitches. Its too hard for all of them to be good every outing especially as a reliever.

Not really. I think his stuff is better than Wells overall and he does throw a tick or two higher. Wells is more 87-89 T90, and Rom is more 89-91, T93. I've seen Rom's change in the past and it's pretty good so not sure why I didn't see many in his AA debut. Roms slider is better than Wells' and is much farther along than Wells' slider. If Rom can maintain his stuff up through 100 pitches and he bring uot that change I think his upside is a 3rd starter. Rom has enough stuff to overcome when his fastball command is off. Wells doesn't in my opinion.

He's sitting mostly 89-91 still, he'll top out 92 or 93 on occasion. The Orioles official is giving the party line of talking up all of their players. It's how the buzz for Bradish got so strong then you see him this year and its like, "Eh, it's ok but the command if not great and the velocity is not sitting anywhere close to what was reported". I've quickly learned to take anything put out by the club on player with a grain of salt. As for Rom, he commands his curve and slider so well that he pitches off them for the most part allowing his fastball to play up a little. I didn't see a ton of changeups in his start last night, which was surprising because in the past it was a really good pitch. Saying that, both his slider and curve were very effective against both right-handers and lefthanders though he works mostly with a slider, fastball combination to lefties. He didn't have great fastball command last night so the results show how well his slider and curve were working. He's got a great limited effort delivery. I like him a lot honestly, even without the plus velocity. If he comes out and adds in more change ups for strikes in his next start that would really be impressive.

Let's hope this is not one of those situations where the team tries to rehab only for it to require a surgery that takes him out next year as well. These stress fractures seems to be hit or miss on whether surgery is required but I'm trying to find a MLB pitcher that had one and came back just as good.

Where did you see this reported? Everything i could find just says "stress fracture".

Looking at his stuff in baseball Savant, he looks to have a similar repertoire as Alex Wells, but with less command and much less spin rate. His four seamer looks like it has plus run but everything else looks below average. Not a left on left guy since his slider is below average so he's either an innings eating 5th starter type or long guy.

I'm not quite sure what you disagree with in my statement. I never mentioned Mancini, I just said if he moves no one it will be disappointing, but unless I know what was offered I can't say he was right or wrong. Besides someone like Galvis (little to no value because of injuries) or Franco (who has zero value), Fry, Scott, Means or Mancini don't need to be moved yet. I'd like to think he could get something of value for the future for one or two of them, but again, unless i know what's being offered, i can't say that Elias was wrong for not moving them at the deadline. As you stated, this offseason is another trading time and perhaps they will have more value then?

I'm going to imagine that Elias is waiting until the last minute so people can improve their offers. If will be a disappointment if he doesn't end up making any moves, but without knowing what's being offered, it's hard to say whether he was right or wrong.

I think the Blue Jays know Martin's value will never be higher. Questionable defensive ability, little power will limit his overall value despite the plus hitting tool.

I haven't ruled out that he can't hit enough to be an effective everyday second baseman yet, but there are enough other options moving up through the system that he's probably heading to a utility role.