With Orioles spring training workouts officially beginning in Sarasota, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Angst accompanies optimism at the start of spring training as teams typically reveal new health concerns like arm injuries for pitchers ramping up from the winter. The news about Kyle Bradish and John Means was a real buzzkill at this time last year, so you’ll gladly take Thursday’s tamer updates.
2. The best news was Grayson Rodriguez being cleared for a normal offseason days after last season concluded. It was bad enough the 25-year-old missed the final two months of 2024, but you didn’t want that lat strain to linger for someone really needing to take the next step for Baltimore.
3. The Orioles are being smart taking it slow with Felix Bautista with designs of having him available for a full regular season plus postseason, something the 29-year-old hasn’t done in his career. Time is on Bautista’s side 16 months after elbow surgery, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges.
4. Jorge Mateo not being ready for Opening Day makes it easier to carry five outfielders with Ramon Urias being the top infield reserve. With Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg being everyday players and Jackson Holliday hopefully joining them sooner than later, will Baltimore really need two utility infielders?
5. Mike Elias indicated a path to plenty of at-bats for Heston Kjerstad, who needs to take advantage and stay on the field. Given the platoon splits and injury history of this outfield, Colton Cowser is the only one you’d project to come close to starting every day.
6. Barring an injury or trade, Coby Mayo appears unlikely to make the season-opening roster, but you’d like to get him extensive at-bats against legitimate major league pitching and plenty of reps at first base. Mayo forcing Elias to reevaluate the Ryan Mountcastle-Ryan O’Hearn timeshare would be a positive development.
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7. Trevor Rogers appeared likely for Norfolk’s rotation before hurting his knee, but you wonder how this disrupts any progress he was making working with Baltimore’s pitching development. Elias always had an eye toward the future when dealing for Rogers despite how much of a flop the immediate return was.
8. Speaking of lefty starters, Cade Povich remains a back-of-the-rotation sleeper after pitching to a 2.60 ERA and averaging more than a strikeout per inning over his five September starts. Given the volatility with the projected rotation, Povich is likely to see opportunities at some point.
9. San Diego signing Nick Pivetta has reignited speculation about the Padres trading Dylan Cease or Michael King, who are both entering contract years. Speaking of rental deals, DL Hall is hurt again and Joey Ortiz posted a .645 OPS after the All-Star break last year.
10. Credit the organization for announcing plans to invest $21 million to build a performance center at their spring headquarters in Sarasota. Considering how many players seek out pitching and hitting “labs” in the offseason, you might as well provide such resources in-house to better protect your investments.
11. The list of guest coaches in Sarasota includes Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Zack Britton, J.J. Hardy, and Brian Roberts in addition to Al Bumbry, Scott McGregor, John Shelby, and Ben McDonald. Feeling old yet?
12. After televising seven Orioles games last spring, MASN is up to eight this year. Meanwhile, SportsNet Pittsburgh plans to show 19 Pirates spring games. It’s tough to grow interest in your brand when you won’t even make it available to people paying for the network existing to… televise your games.
