Tony-OH

Just would like to clarify since I saw it mentioned a few times. Me posting the original piece has nothing to do with me lending any credibility to the piece, but everything to do with having a conversation over the potential of moving the team.

It's pretty clear that Elias/Sig are very big on keeping the "State Secrets" just that. That's certainly understandable but I appreciate Sig at least talking about the current metrics and why they may not be as useful as they once were. Again, I don't think the current metrics are awful or take a plus infielder and show him to be a negative or vice versa, but I do think they were "what we had" and that statcast information will give us much more accurate assessment, just like they with outfielder and catcher assessments.

It is, but the data is being released on baseball savant for most things minus infielder data. I'm not sure what the process is currently on what can or can't be released or whether it's MLB's call or not, but believe the deal trackman has for minor league data is reportedly with each club vs MLB as a whole. From what I understand, there is a follow on for Trackman that MLB is looking at going to in the near future, but I don't believe the plan includes the minor leagues. I will say one thing, I'd pay a pretty good amount of money to have access to the Orioles minor league trackman data. I feel like with that data I'd be able to to put out much better prospect lists and more accurate scouting reports. I'm like a kid in a candy store when prospects I've been following make their major league debuts and I now can see whether the data backs up with my scouting eyes have seen, especially since 95% of my work is done off video and the camera angles can be tricky in a lot of minor league parks or just non existent like most of the Carolina League.

Is that really what you think he and Elias did this year?

Glad to hear him say it publically. I an't wait until infielder statcast information is released to the general public. That along with minor league trackman data (The Holy Grail of information for me) gets me excited about the future.

Tough break for Sisco today. Saying that, he's slashing .178/.259/.192/.451 with one XBH and a 5-26 BB-K ratio in his 81 second half PAs.

I don't see the Orioles sending Hall to the Arizona League unless one of their pitching coaches is his pitching coach and can control his usage. My guess is they shut him down, let his lat fully heal, and look forward to seeing him next spring.

If you write an article about the Orioles and its not discussed on the Hangout, it didn't really matter now did it? Seriously though, despite the fact that it's still looked down upon by some in the local media, the Hangout remains the place to find out what's important to be discussed or addressed with the Orioles. It's power is having so many great and knowledgeable posters and collectors of information working on Orioles information. This is crowd sourcing with a heavy sprinkle of some really smart people from all kinds of lines of work. This is why I scoff at the people who were giving me a hard time about posting this article. I didn't agree with the article, nor did I think the team was going anywhere, but now we have the entire situation out being discussed enough that "Orioles officials" had to comment. Sometimes I think people forget I've been doing this for 20+ years now. Not my first rodeo.

Yeah, he's no doubt in that conversation. He has the best fastball, slider combination of any of these pitchers and his ability hold upper level velocity deep into games is giving him a big push up the prospect list!

McKenna non-chalanted a ball in Sunday's game while playing left that allowed a runner to tag from 2nd and 3rd. Then yesterday, he did something similar and it allowed a runner to score from first base on a ball into LC that should not have scored the runner. I'm going to say this benching was a "teaching moment" for a young player. He's physically fine.

This seems likely. Velocity numbers, specifically sitting numbers, are typically inflated.

Kremer looked like the guy we saw last year last night. Kremer worked 92-95 with a plus CB while working on his slider a bit more. The slider doesn't have a ton of tilt or depth, but he keeps it low and away to rights well but it won't be a good pitch against lefties. He threw only a couple of changeups but diod throw one on a 3-1 count for a strike. His fastball was back with bats as he got 7 swinging strikes on the pitch mostly up in the zone suggesting his spin rate is high. He made 2nd over pick in the 2018 draft Joey Bart (who was just promoted to AA) look pretty silly against his curveball all night. Bart took some really ugly tentative swings against Kremer's CB. 8/11 1st IP 1 (R)- K looking on 92 fastball inside low (92) 90 earlier 2 (L) - 0-2 slider, lined to deep center 3 R - 1-2 K swing on CB after 95 MPH low and away FB 2nd IP 4 L - 1-2 K looking on CB FB (94) 5 R - 3-1 BB on low outside fastball just off plate. Not missing by much 6 (L) - 2-2 K swinging up and in on 94 FB 7 R - 0-0 FB away lined into RF for 1B (1st and 3rd) 8 L - 0-2 FB up and in lined to 2B for out 3rd IP 9 R - 1-2 FB, missed his mark (grooved) for 2B 10 (1) R - 1-2 CB for swing K 11 (2) L - 1-2 CB swinging K 12(3) R 2-2 FB away K looking (47 pitches) 4th 13 (4) L 3-2 FB, long fly ball to CF (hit well) 14 (5) R - 3-2 FB up and away.. BB 15 (6) L - 3-1 FB/CH away F-7 semi deep 16 (7) R - 2-2 SL away, weakly popped up to 1B in foul 5th 17 (8) L - 3-2 FB, lows and inside for K looking (couple of CHs) 18 (9) R - 2-2 FB, up and away for K swinging 19 (1) R - 0-1 slider popped into RF for 1B 20 (2) L - 3-2 BB on CB - 88 pitches 21 (3) R - 0-2 K swinging on CB (91 pitches)

OFFNY brings a lot to the board and we appreciate him!

Let me make one thing clear though, Akin is already better than most of the guys in the Orioles bullpen right now, even as he's working on things. Saying that, the prudent thing for him to do is to continue to develop as a starter by using all his pitches.

For me, I look for trends and of course most importantly, consistency. Does he normally drop off late in the year, or is this something different. What we know is that there is a quality major league stuff in there, but the question is whether it can be consistently in there and does he wear down? One of the drawbacks I had with pitchers like Tanner Scott, and Jimmy Yacabonis is that they both can carry plus major league stuff at times, but they are not consistent. Neither can command the baseball enough to be successful consistently. For me, Akin has shown me a plus fastball and slider at times along with an average change, but his command has been inconsistent of all three and now the velocity has fallen off a bit. Could be a bit of tired arm or he could be working on a new grip or something. It's hard to know.

Earlier in the year his stuff had taken a step up, particularly the velocity of the fastball and slider depth. While his slider depth has still been pretty good, he's not commanding it as well and his fastball velocity has taken a step back of late. It would be fantastic if he could end up a start in the big leagues, but he's starting to give me a reliever vibe, but a darn good one. Either way, he's a major leaguer for me.

Nice, I hadn't heard that. Obviously no one likes the walks, but he may have been working on something. Glad to hear that velocity hadn't fallen off at all.

Rodriquez has walked 15 batters in his last four starts after walking 16 in his first 12 starts. He was just coming off a dominant performance on July 26 (10Ks, 2BB over 5IP) and most of those walks have come in two starts (11) so it may just be the ups and downs of a young man trying to work his way through his first professional season. I haven't heard any reports of the stuff or if he's working on something so no real worries at this time.

Still not missing as many bats with the fastball as last year, but the curveball is a real weapon.

Exit velocity is up at least 1 MPH this year from what I've heard. The ball that Guerrero hit last night for the monster homer looked like a drive from a golf club.

I was at the game last night. Rodriguez is a funky delivery fastball-slider guy who can throw strikes with both pitches. His fastball sits a a pretty solid 92-94 though he touched 95. there's a little life in the end but he does a good job or using around the edges of the zone. His slider gets more downward action though there is some break as well. He likes to use it low in the zone and gets a lot of swings over the pitch from New York Penn League batters. His slider is typically in the 82-84 range though he flashed an 87 MPH wipe out slider that was a plus pitch once. His change is firm and straight and he doesn't have any feel for the pitch. He's a pretty good athlete for his size and is unafraid to shake off his catcher and call his catcher out to talk if he wants to talk over something despite his limited English. Is he a guy for me? I'll say he's interesting enough to keep a watch on but he definitely has a reliever profile for me. If he can sit 95-96 as a reliever and that slider can bump to the 85-87 range, he suddenly gets a potential late inning reliever. He'll be in consideration for the top 30 no doubt. Right now I think he's in the 20-30 range but can rise or fall still over the last month.

As long as Proctor and Brother Lo come back!

Say what you want, but the midwest loves its baseball still. Top Five ratings Milwaukee Brewers, FS Wisconsin 6.34 St. Louis Cardinals, FS Midwest 6.22 Minnesota Twins, FS North 6.12 Cleveland Indians, SportsTime Ohio 5.76 Cincinnati Reds, FS Ohio

That's actually true. The regional sport channel fees have become very large and exorbitant and its unfair to people who don't watch sports. I'm fine with paying to watch what I want to watch, which is the Orioles, but I know I would not want to have to pay for a team/sport that I don't watch.

This is great reason why MLB should get rid of all blackout areas. I'd love to cut the cable but can't due to MASN.