Andy Kostka

Jon Meoli: What the Orioles told Craig Albernaz this offseason speaks volumes COLUMN | A few months ago, new Orioles manager Craig Albernaz recounted his early calls with the team’s returning players. We asked players what they told him.

From Jon Meoli: Remember what the Orioles’ stars told Craig Albernaz in the fall? Their explanations speak volumes. www.thebanner.com/sports/oriol...

But he said you were not hacked

Young gained confidence from his nearly perfect game in 2025 The right-hander wants to improve his consistency.

Brandon Young has rewatched his almost-perfect game a few times.

“But then I turn it off right before Ramón Urías comes up, so I don’t have to relive that,” Young said.

Still, that magic in Houston proved to Young something valuable: He belongs.

www.thebanner.com/sports/oriol...

Oh no! Anyway…

Brandon Hyde on his final Orioles season: ‘I wish I could have done more’ "It’s just a strange feeling, kind of the way it happened in May, and then not seeing people for a while," Hyde said. "But it’s great to see these guys.”

It was a weird sight to see Brandon Hyde in Tampa Bay blue. Weirder still for the ex-Os skipper to see his club playing without him.

Looking back on his last season, Hyde said, " I wish I would have done more to help in certain ways" but he still keeps his pride: www.thebanner.com/sports/oriol...

Banger

Orioles reliever Yennier Cano returns to old training methods As Cano aims to recapture the form he had during the best season of his career, his first step was returning to the routines he developed in Cuba that helped him blossom in 2023.

To rekindle his 2023 success, Orioles reliever Yennier Cano returned to old training methods

www.thebanner.com/sports/oriol...

I’m heading home to Maryland for a week. Hit up Kyle if you need anything from Sarasota!

Reliever Andrew Kitteridge talked today about the shoulder injury that is expected to cause him to miss the start of the season: He said it has been “barking” but every conversation he’s had with trainers and doctors is that it is not too serious. He hopes to resume throwing soon.

This spring, Vance Honeycutt is 4 for 4.

Four at-bats. Four home runs.

The 22-year-old’s stunning streak in Sarasota is turning heads. Honeycutt hopes it’s a sign that his slow-starting career might finally take off: www.thebanner.com/sports/oriol...

A key win for West Ham in the bid for a great escape

One big Vance Honeycutt issue last year was how frequently he struck out (178 times in 101 games at High-A). that is not sustainable. But if his swing changes and improved path to the ball, more efficient load, pitch recognition is for real, we'll see it quickly in the minors.

And then watch out

Not to douse water on a fire but doing this in late-game spring training action is different than a full season. Vance Honeycutt must prove himself at Double-A first (if not High-A).

Of course, balls flying that hard and far aren't a mistake. It's good. He's showing pitch recognition improvements.

Crysencio Summerville may have just scored one of the most important West Ham goals in some time. Can we keep the lead?

Vance Honeycutt: “Is that how far it went? Yeah, I got it good. That one felt good.”

Tough, man. Tricked me

Still: ball go far!

I deleted a stat that said Vance Honeycutt's the 471-foot homer would be tied for the third longest homer in the Statcast era. That was tied for the third-longest in a SPRING TRAINING game. My b

This latest home run traveled 471 feet. 471!

You cannot make it up. Vance Honeycutt hits his fourth home run of the spring ... in his fourth at-bat

A brilliant idea tbh

A quick note on the bullpen: There are very few locks in this group.

Ryan Helsley: lock. Tyler Wells: lock.

The rest are varying degrees of front-runners to outsiders. Keegan Akin, Yennier Cano, Rico Garcia and Grant Wolfram, at this point, seem to be on the inside track. But things can change

Keegan Akin allows a solo homer from Ethan Frey, the first batter he faced out of the bullpen today. This spring, Akin has allowed three runs in three games (2 innings, plus one batter today)

Tyler Wells, who will be in the Orioles' bullpen, completes two scoreless frames with three strikeouts. He has thrown five scoreless innings this spring

Shane Baz: "I can get it down when I want. I can still throw it up when I want. ... Just kind of going with the cutter grip and manipulating it based on what we want in that scenario."

Interestingly, Shane Baz said he's throwing his slider with his cutter grip now, and he just manipulates it upon release differently to create different life. He says that is helping his command of the slider

@oriolesreview.bsky.social naturally has a good thread about this. Basically, if the cutter can be effective in-zone spin and the slider effective low, it could be quite a combo

two-run strikeout is a new one

Shane Baz is attempting to use his cutter and slider this year. He abandoned the slider partway through last season and introduced his cutter. We've seen both today, and the slider drew four whiffs on four swings.

The last whiff was also a dropped third strike that resulted in two runs scoring

Coby Mayo lined a single to left field with Pete Alonso on second base. Alonso tried to score from second but he's out by a mile