With spring training underway and so many intriguing young prospects and possibilities for the defending AL East champions, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Orioles roster and who will be where on Opening Day in Baltimore on March 28th.
SUMMARY KEYWORDSyear, baseball, tommy john surgery, pitcher, orioles, good, point, day, spring training, play, jackson, talking, holliday, case, works, tommy john, injury, base, throwing, pitchSPEAKERSLuke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio Nestor J. Aparicio 00:00Oh, welcome home we are W N S T A and 1570, Towson Baltimore. at Baltimore positive. I’m going to talk about the crabcake tour and give it away 10 times the cash and John Mark is gonna come on later. I could pick jackpots right now, huge, huge as they say, when I’m listening to the FM stations around town, we’re gonna be getting back out on the road, having some fun habits Conversations. I’m planning on doing a live thing on Fridays before Oriole games. So we’re just putting a bunch of ideas together. It is sort of a slow, icky time of sports where I’ve been doing this 32 years now professionally, we’re actually about 28 of them. I have disappeared sometime on around Valentine’s Day, usually with my wife the last few decades to go do something exotic or not just some something that’s warmer than this. But this year, I’ve been building and watching spring training and thinking about the new day of Orioles baseball and and really kind of having some fun with the success of Baltimore sports. And as much as people think I hate the teams around here, oh, no, oh contraire. I sort of built thing because I love when things get active and things feel active and certainly social media timeline when I’ve been out around town. I did the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, student visionary of the year. That’s a mouthful. And a big thanks to whiting Turner and our friends out of whiting Turner, if you know those folks who they really stepped up, raised about 800 grand in a night for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, folks. So we had a big weekend. But really all of its backdrop and I’m wearing my curio, orange in black and we’ve seen the debates about the TJ Maxx Marshalls uniforms, and the C three uniforms and all that stuff. But I wanted to bring Luke in. Because Luke wants to get serious about all this not shaky cameras or how much opening day tickets are, you know whether we’re gonna get World Series tickets, but really, I’m intrigued as a fan because that’s all I am at this point. I mean, nothing more. Maybe one day soon, I’ll be a media member and talk to Jackson holiday and have things to talk about with these young people who I find to be a little reserved, but also not in regard to baseball, they like talking about spin re they like talking about the game. They like talking about situational things in regard to baseball, at least from my maths and I view but that who’s gonna be on this team. And when I see Jackson holiday, and I see Colton Couser and I see Jordan Westberg. And I you know, I just go through all of this and then the top of it has been the same outfield for a long time. We know the catcher is, and then I dude, I brought Rick Emmett from triathlon last week, Luke, and he didn’t want to talk about his band, or his book, he wanted to talk about Adley rutschman. He said, I love that catcher, you know. So this is a rockstar in another country talking about our baseball team. And it’s February and I think a guy like us waited a long time to talk about roster makeup on a 101 win team searching. It’s second, no chance at glory in October that this, there’s a lot of script to be written here. You’re gonna be doing a lot of writing at the bottom or positive about this team. Luke Jones 03:14Yeah, no question about it. I think what’s interesting, though, is now the injury to Kyle Bradish. And finding out the John means is behind, you know, but because stemming back from the elbow soreness he had that took him out of play in the Division Series, and they just kind of shut them down. And we know he’s not going to be ready for spring training but or for opening day. But he’s, you know, it’s not an injury. It’s just he’s behind. But beyond that, before that, it didn’t feel like there was a ton of roster decisions to be made beyond a bench spot or to beyond a couple spots in the bullpen. But obviously, and as I wrote it, Baltimore positive.com late last week, you know, the trickle down impact of the Kyle Bradish situation injury, however you want to characterize it, right, because we just don’t know right now we know what an elbow injury typically means. We know what it means, at least for the start of spring. So we’ll go off of that. You know, what does that mean for the rotation? What does that mean for the bullpen? I mean, Tyler wells I think is kind of penciled in now into the number four spot in the rotation. Cole Irvin, as you and I talked about in a previous conversation, good spring debut for him in Bradenton against the pirates throwing the ball hard, but it’s Corbin I think there was much more of a thought of being excited about him being your long man, swing guy out of the pen. If you need a spot start for a doubleheader something along those lines he’d be your guy well now you’re looking at him as your number five starter at least start the year so you know, it’s, there’s disappointment there in terms of what the rotation could have looked like, what it looks like now and what you’re hoping it’ll look like but still so much unknown there. But, you know, you look at the roster. They’re starting nine is basically decided. I mean, I guess the question is, okay, well what’s it look like if there’s a left handed starter because that takes Ryan O’Hearn out of play and puts him on the bench. But we think most nights Missy mountcastle and O’Hearn first base DH or vice versa against a right handed starter. Again, that’s the start, right? That’s the beginning of the season. This time last year, we weren’t even talking about Ryan O’Hearn, we were laughing about updates about guys like Ryan O’Hearn and you look at what he ended up doing another example of someone that they did some work with to try to, quote unquote, fix, you know, after a disappointing start to his career, and, you know, not really figuring it out in Kansas City. So, you know, you never really know on that front. But, you know, I think it’s very simple. You know, just, you know, as you mentioned, the roster roster construction at this point in time. The two two big areas that really stand out for me, beyond the Jackson holiday question that everyone’s talking about right now. And in late February, frankly, we just we don’t know he’s got to we got to see how he performs over the course of the next month but backup, outfielders and bullpen you know, how are you filling out your bullpen? It’s and it’s, you know, for me, the bullpen is less exciting in terms of discussing it. Because, you know, you’re talking about filling out the back end, we know, Craig Kimbrel is going to be the closer we know your Canola is going to be a setup and we you know, the Oreos are hoping Danny coulomb can duplicate what he did last year as a really solid strong left handed reliever who defended himself well against right handed hitters as well. So you go down the list. I mean, you hope Dillon Tate can be what he was two years ago. But I have questions there. But you know, rotation looks basically set barring health concerns, which are always there for any team starting nine, mostly looks at, but bullpen and then for me. And when we talked about this, we touched on it briefly in our previous conversation. But what’s the outfield going to look like? In a big picture sense? Because you have your three starters, they’re gonna be the three starters on opening day barring any injuries, no questions there. I’m not suggesting otherwise. But in a big picture sense. Sometimes there’s going to be a free agent. Hayes and Mullins are now a year away from free. They have one more year after this year, Hayes and Mullins have had either injuries or in Hayes’s case last year, just kind of worn down in the second half. So what does that mean in a big picture sense? I mean, I’ll say this, do I look for as much as we’re going to talk about new ownership and the potential for contract extensions? I’m not sure Anthony Santander Cedric Mullins or Austin Hays are guys that are going to fit that description beyond, you know, maybe a modest extension or something like that. I mean, you’re certainly not going to be investing big long term money in them. So what does what does this look like, you know, it’s cold and cows are on the opening day roster is Heston curse that on the opening day roster? We mentioned Kyle sours and passing I’m guessing not after a really rough year for him. But can he put himself back in that conversation? Where does Jorge Mateo fit into the outfield reserve depth chart just in terms of can he be a backup centerfielder for you just to enhance his versatility. So, you know, these aren’t? These aren’t major headline grabbing kind of ideas as it pertains to the big picture for 2024. But they are still important questions for the organization, and especially for the long term future for the organization. You know, I’d be remiss and you alluded to this, but you look at the depth that they have at some of these spots. We’ve talked about this a lot with the infield, and we’ve since seen Joey Ortiz traded in that Corbin burns deal. But you’re one of those names I just mentioned to someone get moved for a pitcher. I mean, it’s that’s what’s so exciting. Yeah, you have some of these questions. But you have a farm system that has graduated guys already, is going to graduate Jackson holiday either on opening day or late April, May, June at the latest barring something really strange and something unforeseen, and you still haven’t been widely regarded as the number one farm system in baseball and you still have really interesting guys on the way you know, that are going to be here in the next year or two. I haven’t even mentioned someone like a Kobe mayo or a Conor Norby guys that are certainly individuals who have an exciting future you know, guys that could really factor into this team, especially in the case of mayo with really impressive power. So it’s really exciting just from the standpoint of I think back to the do cat era, or even go back way longer than that. You know, you made mention, you talked about in a pretty This conversation talking about uh, Jamie Moyer type or different prospects that they had and what player development was 30 years ago compared to what it is now and obviously it’s changed across the board and baseball but you know, the Orioles it for decades upon decades even preceding the Peter angelos, you know, regime, they would have a prospect and you would say, Okay, this guy’s the Savior, you know, the rocky carpenter or whoever it is, if we talk about someone in these terms of they have to make it because there’s no one else right? There’s no one else in the pipeline. I mean, Dylan Bundy back in like 2012 and Nestor J. Aparicio 10:42was hurt. And in my era of Oriole way baseball, it was always Earl Weaver trying to get one more guy from the farm system on the team this year. It’s going to be dour next year, it’s going to be Murray the next year, it’s going to be Bartok. Like it was always like just trying to get one more established player that could stay for four or five years. And then even into the 80s when it fell apart. And they were buying players. There was always a Craig Worthington a KanCare hard guys it made it and other guys that didn’t make it right. Yeah, we got an error here where we’ve just had a whole lot of not making it right. And we had a whole era of first round draft picks. It never made it never heard from like the whole totality of the last 30 years. And I don’t know where to go with what we have here because I’m paying attention to box scores a little bit, because I just want to see what they’re doing. Like what Yeah, what do we expect in the spring? And what does holiday need to do? And what do we need to see from Kimbrough to feel like peace, okay, because you’re not going to see the same thing out of a 30 Something relief pitcher, as you’re gonna see at a mayo, you know what I mean? Like, you’re just you’re getting different levels of effort in some cases, but also, out of the watchman’s in Hendersons. These guys that haven’t experienced a whole lot of this, they’re gonna be ready to play in for and they are, they’re young, they’re excited to your point a lot of guys with a lot of money, make corn burns comes into your like, you make a lot of money. And and this team can do a lot of great things over the next couple of years. And they get them Calvary coming over the hill with ownership coming. i But this month, month and a half of getting ready right now is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced here because never had a young team never come off a division. Like it’s all new water for me as a guy that’s been doing this for 32 years, man. Luke Jones 12:37Yeah, and I think I don’t think it was it’s drastically different from last year. I think there’s a lot of optimism last year, but last year, there was more of a sense of what’s the second half of 22 real, you know, have they arrived? Or was that a little bit of a false alarm? And they’re still, you know, certainly on the calm but not in this position where they’re gonna win 101 games, you know, I don’t think anyone was thinking 101 wins last February right there was there was the thought of seems got a good chance to make the playoffs. I think that’s where people kind of were at this point. Now it’s a case of you better make the playoffs and it’s a case of what are you doing? How are you shaping this roster? Who’s developing what’s going to happen with the starting pitching especially now with Bradish and just the unknown that Nestor J. Aparicio 13:23are on the lights are on Broadway now. And that’s all the more they shouldn’t have shaky cameras to start. Like literally like you know what I mean? You want to you’re you’re the best team in the sport, wear the suit, play the role, you know, be the best serve your fans the best serve your media the best serve your community the best. So to the best of everything right, like that’s what Rubenstein is going to come in here and start to talk about, but on the baseball side, you know, I don’t know what I expected them to do. I mean they they went out and got one their former ones are maybe falling off we knew the relief pitcher wasn’t coming back and they replaced that we know the pipeline so crazy rich to expect them to shed pay roll of a Mullins or try to move somebody to make room for a might be we’re not in that era right now. We’re in like, what’s going to be who’s going to be a pile diver on November 2 Wherever they play game six of the World Series. And that’s just a different kind of conversation. Luke, come on, dude, you’ve been here 15 years you bet optimism Yes. And and, you know, the big bad Yankees and the Red Sox and the Blue Jays mean, competing with all of them. I I don’t I put MLB Network on and I don’t I’m it’s getting cocky, like who’s coming to get us? Because we’re not gonna be a wildcard. You don’t I mean, like, how could they possibly not win the American League East? Dude, I’ve never had that conversation not even when they were good. Luke Jones 14:51Yeah, yeah. And, and that’s where the Bradish injury was disappointing. Because before that, you know, put I was getting Corbin burns, and before Mike Elias revealing Bradish his elbow. I mean, you’re looking at that rotation and saying, my goodness, I mean, when was the last time the Orioles on paper had a rotation that looked like this? I mean, talking a really long time. So yeah, but, you know, even with the Bradish injury, and let’s assume for a moment, and it’s not like we’re making a major leap here, and I don’t want to say that this is going to happen, but we know how these elbow injuries typically work. Let’s assume that he’s not pitching this year. Does that Nestor J. Aparicio 15:30workers have this star thing whenever we talk, and they always have this bright like, well, maybe? And I’m thinking to myself, probably not. You know, I’m on the plus side on this one. Because you’re, you put him if you had to bet on it right now, the bet money on it, right. I mean, I’m sure maybe you can call Hollywood you probably can. If you can bet on it right now you would bet against it. I can tell based Luke Jones 15:53on kind of have to. I mean, you kind of and look, I also pointed out, Aaron Nola had a UCL injury late in 2016. And he’s thrown I think it’s 160 Plus innings every full baseball season since then, you know, Zack, gallons avoided Tommy John Messi hero, Tanaka famously avoided Tommy John and pitched for years successfully for the Yankees. So there are success stories, but for every success story of avoiding Tommy John, and I don’t just mean avoiding it. And while you can pitch, avoiding it and pitching well, and not having diminished stuff, and being a lesser pitcher, and being on and off the injured list. For every success story of someone who avoids that and PRP and rehab works, then you have more guys who inevitably, they’re, they’re getting Tommy John surgery at some point, or they have a situation and this is where, let’s be clear, this is why it’s worth going a conservative approach. Tommy John, surgery is not fail proof. It’s not a 100%. safe, free of risk endeavor. That’s why, you know, when I hear people say, Well, he should get the Tommy John surgery now that way, he’s not missing so much time next year. I love Nestor J. Aparicio 17:08dealing with people’s bodies. My knee hurts right now. Like, I don’t even know what to do about it. I certainly wouldn’t want the internet talking about it. Luke Jones 17:15Right? Right. Well, but but no one’s paying you to run around with it with your knee right? Nestor J. Aparicio 17:22With this knee loop for a long time, it’s a bad time to game out, you know, Luke Jones 17:26but the point is that I want to remind everyone of is with Tommy John surgery as much as we think of. Yes, it’s highly successful. And Dr. Jobe way back when when when this thing was invented, and Tommy John resumed his career and, and we think about what that meant for 45 years of baseball and how it changed pitchers who, back in Jim Palmer’s day, when someone blew out their elbow, guess what happened? They went away, they didn’t pitch anymore. That’s why, you know, we, we kind of think about this in terms of all these pitchers break down now, pitchers have always broken down, it’s just back then when it happened, they just disappeared. Right? You never talked about him again. And they were forgotten in 20 years. But you know, the point with with Kyle Bradish, or with any pitcher who’s in this case, clearly it’s not this major UCL tear. It’s not like he ruptured it. He didn’t snap it like a rubber band, or he wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing right now. Smaller tear. You see a PRP injection works. You see if rest works, you see if rehab works. He’s got he’s done that. Now. He’s gone through a throwing progression. And you see what happens here. But the truth is, and this is why you’ll gamble, and someone would say, Well, look, if he gets the Tommy John surgery right now that chances are he can come back relatively early in 2025. And I don’t disagree with that. However, you are as a pitcher. This is your livelihood. Kyle Bradish has not made any money yet at this point in his career relative to what baseball money is. That’s why I felt bad about Batista, bro. Yeah, exactly. But the point is, you’re risk a couple months potentially on the back end of a Tommy John rehab, if you can avoid it entirely. And when I say that meaning you can avoid it and resume your career and be fine like Aaron Nola has Aaron Nola, eight years later is one of the best pitchers in the National League just got a lucrative extension with the Phillies. So because there are examples of guys who don’t come back from Tommy John surgery, I mean, look at John means who I’m not saying will not come back and pitch effectively. But John means he’s coming up on close to two years. He’s made for Major League starts since he had Tommy John surgery in April 2022. And is still dealing with I don’t want to say complications, but soreness, right? And we’ve seen examples of guys that come back and are never the same. It’s a high return rate. Look, I’m not saying that. Tommy John surgery is a career ending thing for most guys. It’s not but it’s not 100% that you come back and everything’s going to be fine. So with that assumption, yeah. If you have have a chance to try a more conservative approach, you do that now, you run the risk. And I don’t want to focus too much on Bradish. Because there’s other guys we can talk about. But you do run the risk at some point that you’re going so far down the timeline that you don’t want to cost yourself all of next year, too. So yeah, you get to a point where he’s gonna have to try this. And he will, he’ll start throwing, assuming his elbow continues to respond well, and he’s not feeling any pain, he’ll start throwing some bullpens. And if that’s good, guess what happens next sim games, and he’ll do that. And if that works, in April, maybe he’ll start making some rehab starts and you see how that works. The Oreos would love Oreos, fans would love Kyle Bradish would all love if he can get to that point. And he’s feeling good, because the longer he goes throwing and he’s feeling okay, that increases the probability, you know, to go back to what you asked me as far as whether I’m betting for or against it right now. If he’s throwing minor league games in April, and the Velo is good, and he’s recovering, well, then I’ll feel way better about his chances than I do right now. Just knowing Yeah, he’s dealing with the UCL sprain, so, but it’s the time of year where you’re gonna, you’re figuring that stuff out, as I said to you last last week or the week before, I guess it was the beginning of spring training. You know what, as much as there’s excitement and hope springs eternal. It’s a really nerve wracking time for an organization especially for pitchers it’s hold my breath time because all those innings a guy through last year and career career highs for Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kramer and all these guys, younger guys. Spring Training is usually when health concerns show up the beginning of spring training so you go Nestor J. Aparicio 21:40out there and watch these guys tackle each other out you know, it’s 100 degree days you know 25 years ago right and you know that they do less of it now and guys still get you know, Dennis pit it goes down and a heap noncontact I mean, all these weird things happen right? That that wreck careers, wreck rosters, wreck dreams and hopes, and put Lamar and bubble wrap for the next six months and break him back out again. But on the baseball side, it’s you know, buses back and forth and fielding ground balls and taking the ground balls to the crotch and you know, swinging the batting cage and something gets wrong or I ran the air condition wrong or like crazy stuff happens in spring training, let alone fishing trips that end with tragedy, right? We don’t want any anything crazy happening. But I mean, it is a time where these young guys go down and you know I was the young guy wants to get back in the day get loose over shooters in Fort Lauderdale and and you know what I’m talking about. But um, I was just say there’s, there’s a seriousness for this organization, to your point, from the minute they get there, and they walk in there pictures are being taken and the cameras are on because it’s a big television show now for all of it. For holiday, where where are you with what you see from him what needs to be done with him. And when we talk about guys that I interviewed as Father 25 years ago, right, like his dad was a little player and he’s got this gym and this ranch and his cage and he’s a 24 hour a day baseball machine. And we went through this with rutschman We’ve been through this with weeders and other you know other guys where there’s a lot of expectation martec is maybe less so and Adam Jones in that era. But this guy’s got like another other worldly level of Adley. You know, weeders kind of more so than even Henderson who kind of came on? He’s 19. Let’s see. And now he’s gonna be the one that gets all the money holiday may say not so fast. But what’s gonna get him in the lineup every day and give me the lineup shuffle as that happens. Luke Jones 23:48Well, I mean, I think first of all, it’s really exciting. I mean, my goodness, we’re still talking about someone who I don’t think can have his first legal beer until I think it’s what December’s you know, I think it’s December, early December. I think. Nestor J. Aparicio 24:01He’s 20. Yeah. Yeah. Luke Jones 24:03I mean, that’s what we’re talking about here so heavily rutschman is really not the appropriate comp gunner Henderson’s not even really the appropriate I mean, you kind of go back to Manny Machado. Right. And you think about that even through that lens. The Orioles are at a different point. Machado wasn’t. No one was talking about him at the beginning of 2012 that he was going to be in the majors. I mean, he was I think he began that year at single way right. I mean, he worked his way up the double way and then he was clean didn’t have Nestor J. Aparicio 24:29playoff, like Buck knock playoffs, but like they did halfway Luke Jones 24:34through the year. But even that was not a case that Manny Machado was viewed as a complete finished, polished prospect ready to play in the majors. If we all recall, that was out of need they needed a third baseman they they had Wilson betemit Bruton the ball around left and right he couldn’t, couldn’t pick up the ball as the third baseman and they thought hey, you know what? This Machado kid Okay, the bat That’s not entirely ready. But he’s such a good defender and we think he can play third base. We think he can hold his own, you know, even if he can get to 30 to 40, whatever. He’s going to play Gold Glove caliber defense, and that’s going to give us a heck of a left side of the infield. That’s why they did that. And he got caught up in August, right. This is different than that because Jackson Holliday had Nestor J. Aparicio 25:21just what they felt like having them around Nelson Cruz and some other guys, which is a good idea. Sure. Well, Cruz wasn’t Chris was in there that but you’re you’re right. JJ Hardy, Luke Jones 25:28Nick Marcus. Adam Jones. Absolutely no question about that. And that that’s where something like that they viewed that and through a lens of it’ll work. And I think even though the Orioles don’t have those veteran types to that degree on their current roster, Adley rutschman is in his mid 20s. Right. I mean, Anthony Santander has been around Austin Hays has been around Cedric Mullins, they’ve been around, you know, they’ve experienced a lot of losing, they’ve experienced a lot of the lows, which generally, is kind of what you want guys to, you know, at least be exposed to because handling failure is a big part of baseball more so than any other sport, probably. So through that lens, I think they feel okay, but a couple things for Jackson Holliday, one, I want to remind everyone, he is just 20 years old. So that’s part of this, too. While he was impressive at triple A last year, he didn’t put up ungodly numbers in what was a small, relatively small number of plate appearances. So, you know, is he at a point in his minor league career where he has nothing left to prove I would disagree with that sentiment in the way that you know, you looked at an Adley rutschman Or you look at someone like Holton Couser right now, you know, who raked it triple A? I’m not really sure what else he can prove a triple A which is weird to say that because he’s not thought of in the same way that Jackson Holliday is thought of obviously. But you know, so you look at that, but the big one and this to me and we saw this on Saturday. Can you play second base? I think the reality is for him. He’s going to play some shortstop don’t get me wrong and that still may end up even being his long term position. I don’t know how it’s going to shake out entirely there. But I think it’s very clear in the same way that Gunnar Henderson had to play short and third, they are going to want to see Jackson Holliday play a lot of second base because I think in a natural alignment if you’re all things working perfectly and everyone’s healthy and everyone’s developing and ready to go, you know I kind of look at this Orioles infield of, you know Jordan Westberg at third. Gunnar Henderson, it’s short. Jackson Holliday at second. Now, you could flip you could move those positions around a little bit you can put Jackson Holliday at short, could put Gunnar Henderson at third and Jordan Westbrook we’ve seen play a lot of second base as well. But I think the alignment that they’re at least a mad imagining. If we’re talking about a Jackson holiday in the major leagues, and obviously in the everyday lineup is probably going to be him playing a good bit of second base. So you know, he’s got to prove that he on average last year. Yeah, someone broke it down. I think I saw, I can’t remember if it was the massive broadcast or I was watching MLB Network or whatever it was, on average, he played second base about once per week last year in the minor leagues. Now, do I think a shortstop can play second base? Of course, we’ve seen that happen plenty of times. I mean, Jonathan scope was by trade a shortstop and we saw him become a really good second baseman. So you know, it’s not, it’s not unheard of. It’s really not all that weird, but it’s just something else to add on the plate of a 20 year old. So that’s where I just want to remind everyone about this that, look, I think there’s a really, I don’t know what the percent would be, but it’s a good chance that he’s on the opening day roster. And even if he’s not, I think there’s a good chance he’s going to be in Baltimore very early in the season. But one, how’s he going to handle going up against some major league pitching? That’s still new for him? And two, how’s he going to handle this transition? Go into second base? And, you know, I think it’s one of those deals where a lot of a lot, quite frankly, yeah, that’s a lot. That’s a lot of learning on the job. And that’s not to say he came Nestor J. Aparicio 29:04in to move, you know, 15 years in right he was Cal Luke Jones 29:07Ripken. Absolutely. Absolutely. So and look, the fact that we’re, this is not to cast doubt on him. The fact that we’re having this conversation speaks to what kind of talent they think they have and Jackson Machado, Nestor J. Aparicio 29:20let’s just get him up here. We’ll we’ll he can play. He’ll play wherever we put him because he’s a bright player. Sure, sure. Luke Jones 29:27But at the same time, if you do think and this is where we go back to how the Orioles have approached how Mike Elias has approached player development, for the most part, they have been methodical with guys but Jackson Holliday felt like the exception last year. I mean, look at where he was at the beginning of lax last season. He wasn’t at Norfolk in April right. He was at Norfolk at the very end of the season. He was in buoy and he was in Aberdeen and Delmarva I mean, like that’s, that’s where it was for him. I mean, he he demolished every level we got to until triple A and triple A He more than held his own. Yeah, no if he didn’t put up 1000 Oh, PS but it was an OP s writer, I think just under 800. And he walked as much as he struck out. I mean, for a 20 year old, 19 year old, it wasn’t even 20 Yet a 19 year old to do that, at the end of his first full professional season. A triple A Boy, that’s exciting. I mean, that is that’s an exciting, not just for the Orioles. That’s an exciting baseball prospect for any team to do something like that. So that’s where you look at this thing and say, yeah, he’s got it, he’s got a chance. This is a, you know, fit, whether it’s a 5050 proposition, whatever it is, he’s got a very significant nonzero chance of being on the opening day roster. So there’s excitement, everybody’s got to check some boxes, right? I mean, if second base is a little more of an adjustment for him, then you’re hoping that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it might be a case of go play in AAA for a month and a half. Right? I mean, I don’t think it’s hard to say that you’re sandbagging with the guy when he’s 20 years old, right? I mean, as much as we know, every team does this to some degree, with service time and things of that nature. It’s hard to say while they’re trying to manipulate a service on when he’s 20 years old, right? I mean, and he’s not even close to being 20. He’s not gonna be 21 until after the fee, so 380 and, you know, but if he’s still Yeah, but when spring training and 32 at bats, and that’s my point. Right. Right. And to be clear, even with some of the, with some of the MMA service type stuff, keep in mind, that’s changed now with rookie of the year and I mean, Gunnar Henderson wins Rookie of the Year, you know, I mean, that’s Adley rutschman was second, he got a full year of service time, even though he didn’t come up till late May. So you know, there were guardrails in place there. And also there are incentives in place like a team like the Orioles, you have a guy when the Rookie of the Year, get a draft pick, you know, in certain instances, so. So that’s less of a thing now, but I really do think sincerely in the case of Jackson, the holiday, just see how this is gonna play out as much as you don’t want to put too much into spring training performance for him. And it’s not even the numbers as much faster but process what’s the process look like? For him? How comfortable does he look at second base turn into double play with the pivot? You know, how comfortable does he look, you know, go into his right and throwing, you know, jump throw from from near shallow centerfield, you know, How comfortable is he looking when he goes up against some teams legitimate? Number two starter and grapefruit league action? These these are? These are all good things. You know, these are all good questions to ask right now. It’s not an indictment on him if he’s not quite ready. But it’s a it’s a case of Let’s see if he is ready, because, boy, the way he progressed last year, you know, he isn’t gonna hit 300 Right off the bat most likely. I mean, we saw Gunnar Henderson struggle early last year, we saw Adley rutschman struggle in a June of his rookie year, a big time before he took off. So yeah, there’s gonna be an adjustment for him. So that’s not to say he’s not going to have some failure. But what’s it look like process wise, you know, how comfortable does he look? has a really, really impressive mature approach at the plate in terms of taking pitches and drawing walks. How does that look? You know, at the same time, in the case of I mentioned Gunnar Henderson last year, early on, he was a little too patient at times to his detriment. So these are the things a young player is going to figure out. So I think it’s really, really exciting to even have this conversation. I mean, it’s less than two years from being drafted out of high school. And we’re talking about a kid who could be in the opening day lineup. I mean, it’s a good time to be an Orioles fan. I’ll put up put it that way as it pertains to young players like Jackson Holliday. So we’ll see how it plays out, you know, and if he’s on the opening day roster great. And if he’s not guess what, this is still an excellent team, even without him as they prove last year, and if he’s not there in late March, he’ll be there in April or May or June. I mean, there’s no question about that barring an injury so you know, I think nothing but excitement with Jackson holiday, but yeah, he’s got some boxes to check if he’s ultimately going to be on the 26th day roster, or 26 man roster on opening day. Nestor J. Aparicio 34:14I don’t know how they’re gonna beat the angels if they’re gonna play with 60 Guys like they had the dugout the other day, that picture that was circulating certainly take what they did to dilute Shohei Otani. We’re gonna do a new baseball season I’ve been watching some MLB Network. My wife had the the Mets game on with a kid behind home plate yelling let’s go Mets on every pitch. They were playing the Astros so we thought blue ball was just such a great name for a pitcher. So we were we’re back into like, you know, childish, moronic jokes around here about baseball and then I sort of wished Chris Berman we’re coming back to sort of give some nicknames for like Matt Holliday, celebrate. You know, maybe I’ll come up with some names around here and have some fun for some of these guys that do something with kick Craig Kimbrel as well. We’ll talk Some pitching later on I do want to talk some football looking are gonna be out of Baltimore positive all week long you find us at wn St. as well. I’m going to crabcakes we’re back out on the road with our friends at the Maryland lottery in conjunction with wind donation 866 90 nation as well as Jiffy Lube MultiCare we have a new sponsorship from Liberty pure solutions going to be talking about fresh water. And of course our friends at curio wellness are continuing this 25th anniversary thing where I’m gonna have some fun with our 25th anniversary as we get into March and April. I am re releasing the book I wrote 2006 of my love of baseball. People asked me Aparicio Luis whatever. Look, I’ve gone back to collecting some Louis Aparicio items from the old days that I did not have in my collection. And I talked to Robbie Jr. About this over the Robbie’s first base. So I get a little baseball on the brain. You saw me bust out my old school, orange Aparicio, Jersey that fits me that’s going to be real nice and polyester on 103 degree day at Camden Yards when they’re taking on the Royals in front of 38,000 and we’re all drinking beer because it’s the first day that the Rubenstein group opens it feels like a Wizard of Oz. Like after the storm moment. We’re like color TV will come in and we’ll see little orange slippers. I don’t know. I’m Nestor he’s Luke. We’re going to talk some football back for more wn St. Stay with us.
