By Avi Miller, on May 21st, 2012  You hear both opinions often, but the Orioles seem to be sticking with their original plan. Some say that Dylan Bundy should have started the year at AA Bowie, while others think the Orioles should keep on their current track with slowly increasing his workload at a lower level.
Let’s remember, the kid is only 19 years old.
But after seeing Bundy pitch yesterday up in Hagerstown, against a Suns lineup that features a good amount of .300 hitters and a potent offense in the South Atlantic League, I have to take a midpoint between those views. While I like that Bundy started off with the Delmarva Shorebirds, it’s time for a change. He needs to be moved up to High-A Frederick.
The original goal, according to reports, was for Bundy to work on his offspeed offerings and really establish a fastball/changeup combo as well as get acclimated to the pro baseball lifestyle. He’s done all that has been asked of him. No earned runs and 40 strikeouts (along with only two walks and two hit by pitches) in 30 innings through eight starts is more than enough to prove to me that he has the ability to pitch at a higher level. Not that the Orioles or any scouts doubt his ability to perform, and I understand the original objectives, but they have been reached.
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By Avi Miller, on May 12th, 2012  …over Mitch Atkins. And Rick VandenHurk. And Jo-Jo Reyes.
Okay, maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch.
The point is, Dana Eveland got the spot start for the Orioles last night with Jason Hammel being skipped for his start this week due to a sire right knee; and he performed just as a spot starter should. His stat line of three earned runs over six innings is a bit deceiving considering he let up five hits, walked five, hit two batters, and only struck out three. His changeup and curveball were hanging up in the zone all night, and his fastball was quite unimpressive in my opinion, topping out around 89-90 MPH.
But getting back to the subject at hand.
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By Avi Miller, on May 3rd, 2012 
MASN posted the above graphic during last night’s Orioles/Yankees game preceding Mark Reynolds’ 3rd at bat of the night. Look at it for a minute and tell me what’s wrong.
Hopefully you see it. Hopefully. If not, I’ll explain after the jump. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on May 3rd, 2012  Pitching coach Rick Adair walking along side catcher Matt Wieters Yes, THE Baltimore Orioles. The same Orioles who couldn’t string together much of any pitching last season are currently atop the American League in Team ERA with a 2.83 mark. Before last night, the Texas Rangers held the lead in this category in the AL, but after Toronto scored a whopping 11 runs off of them at the Rogers Centre, the Orioles have taken over.
The only two teams in all of baseball pitching better than the Orioles (in terms of ERA) are the Cardinals and the Nationals, both of which have stacked rotations full of star quality names like Stephen Strasburg, Edwin Jackson, Adam Wainwright, and Chris Carpenter.
The Orioles rotation made it through the month of April without any changes, and includes Jake Arrieta, Tommy Hunter, Wei-Yin Chen, Jason Hammel, and Brian Matusz. The worst of those guys in the ERA category is Matusz at 4.67, which isn’t terrible right now considering the 10.69 he posted in 2011 along with the fact that he has shown major progress in each start over the last month. Hammel leads the group with a 1.97 ERA. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on April 20th, 2012  To the right you can see the 2012 top 10 Orioles prospects as ranked by Baseball America. While they are only prospects, and as we know with guys like Adam Loewen and Billy Rowell that even top round draft picks don’t always pan out, the top tier of players in the Orioles system have come out to some solid starts in 2012, ranging from just about perfect to injured and on the bench.
To give you an idea of how the farm system has progressed, the top three prospects at the beginning of the 2011 season (per Baseball America) were Manny Machado, Zach Britton, and Xavier Avery. Machado only went down to the two slot because of the crazy potential Dylan Bundy has shown out of high school on the mound, not because of any performance issues, as he is still highly touted and ranked in the top 15 prospects overall in baseball. Britton is now in the major leagues, and Avery dropped down six spots most likely because of his inconsistent 2011, where he showed a lot of raw ability and speed, but his plate discipline showed weak as he struck out 156 times (in 557 ABs).
In this piece, I will be touching on each of the top three prospects; RHP Dylan Bundy, SS Manny Machado, and SS/2B Jonathan Schoop. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on April 18th, 2012  When most people hear the name Bumbry associated with the Baltimore Orioles, they assume you are talking about former Orioles outfielder Al Bumbry who played for the club from 1972-84. What many people don’t know is that the baseball gene in the Bumbry family was passed on to Al’s son, Steve, who is currently an outfield prospect in the Orioles farm system.
At 24, Steve Bumbry has been pushing his way through the lower ranks of the Orioles system over the last three years, eventually earning a starting role with the AA Bowie Baysox last season. After injuring his hamate (bone in the wrist) last summer and having surgery on it in September of 2011, Steve rehabbed his injury all offseason and expected to come into camp ready to go for the 2012 campaign. After feeling pain when swinging once he arrived at Spring Training, Steve had a cortisone shot and continued treatments to relieve the pain and is now back to a hitting program where he will eventually get some live at bats in extended Spring Training then make it up to Maryland to play soon enough.
I got a chance to ask Steve about his baseball past and expectations for the future, as well as many other baseball related topics recently:
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By Avi Miller, on April 18th, 2012  Dylan Bundy pitched 9 innings of shutout baseball for the Delmarva Shorebirds, allowing no hits and striking out 15…over three separate appearances.
The headline may be a stretch of the truth, but I wouldn’t doubt if it becomes a fact sooner than later.
Through three starts for the Class A Delmarva Shorebirds, Bundy has pitched 9 almost perfect innings, losing that “perfect” term last night in his home debut versus the Hagerstown Suns when he issued a walk in the 3rd inning of the game. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on April 6th, 2012  Manny Machado's first home run with the Frederick Keys on June 23, 2011 Manny Machado began his minor league career last season at Single-A Delmarva, and in his first game there, went 2-3 with a double and 2 RBIs. When he got promoted to Frederick mid-season, he went 1-4 in his 1st game there, tacking on a home run at the High-A level.
After being promoted with 2B Jonathan Schoop to the Bowie Baysox this year, Machado got into AA pitching in a hurry. On the first pitch he saw of the 2012 season last night, Machado hit a rocket shot over the left center field wall (the ball was eventually retrieved by fan Romeo Santos). He went 2-4 on the night overall.
A strong start with the Baysox would give Orioles fans some great hope in 2012 as the Orioles look to rebound from a disappointing 2011 under Buck Showalter. While the pitching core has had its ups and downs, Machado is the first position player since Matt Wieters to get national hype for his star power ability, and a start like this surely helped to boost fan morale about the organization.
By Avi Miller, on April 6th, 2012 
The Orioles named Tim Bascom their minor league pitcher of the year in 2011 after going 10-4 with a 2.97 ERA in 136.1 innings pitched between Frederick and Bowie, and it was a good sight to see last night when he took the mound in Bowie’s home and season opener versus the Harrisburg Senators and pitched six innings, allowing only three hits and no runs while posting a 4:1 K:BB ratio on the night.
The Senators lineup included MLB players Michael Morse and Rick Ankiel, both with the team for rehab stints as the season starts and they are coming off of injury. The major league talent didn’t scare Bascom or the other Baysox pitchers on the night, Stu Pomeranz and Ross Wolf, as the two combined to go 0-5 with four strikeouts and a walk. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on April 3rd, 2012 Manny Machado's first home run with the Frederick Keys on June 23, 2011 The Bowie Baysox finished with a record of 75-66 in the AA Eastern League last season, and come back in 2012 with a similar looking squad lead by head coach Gary Kendall.
The biggest story breaking camp into Bowie is the addition of top prospects Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop to the Baysox roster to begin 2012. They will man the middle infield with Machado at SS and Schoop at 2B. Though many scouts have noted that the Orioles could have wisely started them at separate levels so they could both get time in at shortstop (their natural position), the Orioles brass decided to keep the pair together seeing them make a great double play duo last year at Delmarva and Frederick. Could this be an early look at the 2014 big league middle infield? Might just be. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on April 2nd, 2012  Jake Arrieta throwing his final ST bullpen before his Opening Day start (photo: Roch Kubatko @masnroch) Entering Spring Training, the Orioles claimed to have 10-15 guys as rotation candidates for the 2012 season. While ST is coming to a close, and the roster spots are slowly being locked up, one thing is for sure: RHP Jake Arrieta has been given the nod for the Opening Day start at Oriole Park.
Arrieta, who has pitched just over 100 innings in each of the last two seasons in Baltimore, had an on and off spring but worked hard on his command, spotting a 12:4 K:BB ratio in 14 innings of work. Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com hinted at this coming to fruition last week, and so the 26 year old drafted in 2007 will get the ball come this Friday, April 6th. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on February 14th, 2012  Pop the champagne bottles and print the championship t-shirts!
Okay, well maybe that headline is only slightly misleading.
Fox Sports reporter Jon Paul Morosi posted an article yesterday discussing five teams that he has already declared out of the playoff race for this upcoming season. Listing the Mets, Astros, Mariners, Athletics, and White Sox, Morosi leaves off the Orioles in his piece with the subline “These MLB teams actually got worse over the offseason.”
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By Avi Miller, on January 2nd, 2012  Coming into the 2012 MLB season, the Baltimore Orioles have uncertainties in many areas around the diamond, including who will play 2nd base if Brian Roberts is incapable of doing so on a regular basis. Yes, there are those who have jumped onto the Robert Andino bandwagon, but Dan Duquette went to the six year minor league free agent list a little over a month ago and signed middle infielder Matt Antonelli to a big league deal. This not only secures him an invite to Spring Training, but also a 40 man roster spot, which is highly valuable to any organization to give to a player.
I had a chance to catch up with Matt and find out a little bit about him and his background:
Matt Antonelli is a new name to the people of Baltimore. Tell us a little about yourself as a person and also about your baseball style and past.
I am from a city about fifteen minutes north of Boston, Massachusetts and have lived here my entire life. In high school I played baseball, hockey, and football. My biggest hobby is sports. I love every sport there is and in some ways have an unhealthy addiction to the NFL. I played baseball at Wake Forest University from 2004-2006. I was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2006 and made my Major League debut in 2008. In 2010 I signed a one year deal with the Washington Nationals and then signed with the Baltimore Orioles this past November.
By Avi Miller, on December 8th, 2011  With the announcement of DeMarlo Hale as the new Orioles 3rd base coach and Bill Castro as the new Orioles bullpen coach, Buck Showalter’s staff seemed to be complete after yesterday’s announcement of these hirings.
Looking at the published coaching staff (pictured on right), one would think that every position is filled. Even the bullpen catcher spot, seeing as Rudy Arias will return in 2012. But one name is still missing from this list on Orioles.com:
Ronnie Deck. READ MORE >>>
By Avi Miller, on November 15th, 2011 Along with changes to the Oriole Bird logo and the script for the “Baltimore” writing on the Orioles jerseys for the 2012 season, the organization unveiled today a new orange alternate jersey to be used at select home games this season.
A third change to the uniform set includes a patch for the 20th anniversary since the opening of Camden Yards.
What do you think of the pure orange look for the Orioles? READ MORE >>>
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You hear both opinions often, but the Orioles seem to be sticking with their original plan. Some say that Dylan Bundy should have started the year at AA Bowie, while others think the Orioles should keep on their current track with slowly increasing his workload at a lower level.
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