Monday Bird Droppings: Cole Irvin dazzles in spring debut

Irvin’s velocity has everyone talking, it was fun having baseball on tv, and more in today’s Bird Droppings

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a lovely weekend. The Orioles kicked off the 2024 Grapefruit League with two wins, one each against the Red Sox and Pirates. Everyone knows that wins and losses are unimportant in spring, but I’ll still take a win over a loss any day.

If you have access to MASN, you may have tuned in to see Saturday’s game. And if you have MLB.tv, you might have also watched the Pirates feed of today’s game. I gotta say, the results don’t matter and most of the players won’t make the team on Opening Day, but there is something very comforting about a weekend spent with baseball on TV both days. Part of the joy of baseball is the routine of it all, and having two spring training games on TV this weekend felt like a sneak preview of what my spring and summer (and fall!) will look like.

It got me thinking about cable and streaming and how soon baseball on TV is going to look very different. Back when everyone had cable it was easy to find baseball regularly. But Regional Sports Networks are dying and fewer people have cable every day it seems. Heck, MASN might not even be on Comcast as early as next week.

Streaming is the future, yes, and it’ll come for the Orioles eventually. But how does the sport grow if you have to buy a special package on the internet just to watch it? I guess we all have to just wait and see how it plays out.

If you did watch yesterday’s game against the Pirates, you saw an unfamiliar sight from starting pitcher Cole Irvin. In two innings pitched yesterday, Irvin struck out three and did not allow a hit or a walk. He threw 28 pitches, 20 for strikes.

I clipped a Banner story below with details on what Irvin did differently this offseason, but the short story is that he looked incredible on the mound. Not only was he efficient, his velocity was way up. Last year his fastball averaged 92.3 and yesterday he touched 96. His cutter velocity was also up.

Look, it was just one game. Nay, it was just two innings. And Irvin would I’m sure be the first to tell you that it’ll take more than that to prove he is improved over the long haul. But the fact is that his spring could not have gotten off to a better start. With the uncertainty in the rotation due to Kyle Bradish and John Means being on the shelf until sometime after Opening Day, this couldn’t come at a better time for Irvin. And if he can sustain that improvement into the regular season, look out.

Today the Orioles play two games! It’s a split-squad day. They’ll play on the road against the Braves and at home versus the Rays. Neither game is anywhere on video but if you have MLB.tv or At Bat you can tune in to the Braves radio broadcast. Both games are at 1:05.

Links

Cole Irvin’s velocity gain takes center stage in first Orioles spring training start – The Baltimore Banner
Cole Irvin made some changes this offseason that seemingly paid off going by today’s results.

Orioles pregame notes on Norby, Henderson, Kimbrel, Guzmán, upcoming starters and more – Blog
Connor Norby says he’s fine, don’t worry about him. I feel bad for Norby. He has proven all he can at Triple-A but there just doesn’t seem to be a place for him in the crowded O’s infield.

Ronald Guzmán in camp with Orioles as relief pitcher – MLB.com
Visa issues kept Guzmán from camp until yesterday but he’s ready to go. If you don’t remember a pitcher named Ronald Guzmán, it’s because he used to be a first baseman. In 2018 he hit 31 dingers!

Orioles’ O’Hearn eager to prove last year wasn’t ‘a fluke’ – BaltimoreBaseball.com
I don’t want to be a Ryan O’Hearn downer, but I think he has a pretty steep road ahead of him this year. I love his story and want it to continue, but I don’t feel a lot of optimism. Later today we are publishing a story about O’Hearn’s 2024 projections so stay tuned.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have just one Orioles birthday buddy: Josh Towers. Towers, who turns 47 today, was drafted by the Orioles in 1996 and appeared in 29 games with them from 2001-02. He went on to play for the Blue Jays for five seasons after that.

Not many transactions on this day in Orioles history. On this day in 2017, the Orioles released former Rule 5 draft pick TJ McFarland after four seasons with the team. He attempted a reunion with the team last June but couldn’t make it out of Norfolk. He signed with the Dodgers last month.

in 2018, Pedro Álvarez signed his third straight one-year contract with the team. He played just 45 games with the Orioles that season, his last in the majors.

Orioles on the Socials

Finally, today, I want to call your attention to the social media channels for the Orioles. Even though I participate somewhat in social media, I generally think it’s the worst. But I just want to say that the Orioles are killing it. If you haven’t been checking them out, please do.

On Saturday, the Orioles posted a video on their channels where the interviewer asked “Who sounds like an owl?” The joke being of course that the player being interviewed would say “Who?” and then they sound like an owl. It’s stupid! So incredibly stupid. But it, and other videos like it, put this very fun team’s personality on display in a way that makes me feel like we know them. You gotta watch it for Grayson Rodriguez’s owl impression alone.

Before that, they asked the players for an interesting fact about themselves. From Adley Rutschman’s saying, “Yesterday I caught a fish” to Jorge Mateo’s long story about watching Ramón Urías do the worm at his own wedding, it’s an A+ from start to finish. Please enjoy.