00:00Hey Orioles, they're less than three weeks away from opening day, taking on the Cardinals this afternoon down at Ed
00:05Smith, here to talk about what he has seen through the first couple of weeks of spring training from MLB
00:11.com, covers the Birds of Baltimore, is on the Window Nation guest hotline. Let's welcome back Jake Rill. Jake, good
00:17afternoon. How are you feeling today?
00:19Doing well. Thanks for having me on, guys.
00:21Appreciate the time as always, and let's talk about that Zach Eflin, the back surgery, and the velo coming pretty
00:27strong through two innings yesterday, and he couldn't have been happier with his performance, and I guess puts Albert as
00:35an interesting scenario, because you have six guys for five spots, so Eflin doing well is great for him, great
00:42for the Orioles, obviously, but is there a quandary, perhaps, with the starting rotation?
00:48Yeah, I think there could be. I still believe the Orioles are going to be slow with Zach Eflin, be
00:54cautious with him. I know he obviously looked really good yesterday. The velo wasn't lighting up the gun by any
00:59means, but it was kind of back to where he was pre-surgery and pre-having all those back issues
01:03last year, which was a very encouraging sign, but I still think they're going to be cautious with him.
01:08It would not surprise me if he still ends up maybe having a short IL stint to start the season,
01:12just because he was kind of the last one in the Grapefruit League play. He's a little bit behind the
01:16other guys in terms of innings, logs out here in the spring.
01:20He says he feels good, but they're going to kind of go on a start-by-start basis and see
01:25how he does along the line as he gets further in the spring, but if he doesn't go on the
01:31IL, then you're right. I don't know exactly what the plan is. They could always go six-man rotation, but
01:35that's kind of tricky early in the season, just because there are a lot of those off days early in
01:39the schedule, so it might not make the most sense to do that.
01:42So it'll be interesting to see if Eflin says he's good, he's ready to go, and he avoids the IL,
01:47what exactly they do, because they will have to make a decision here in a couple weeks on that.
01:51Now with Kyle Braddish, and I guess, Jake, we're still kind of shell-shocked from the injuries that have befallen
01:57the rotation the last couple of years. Are all systems go with him? No restrictions on workload. We expect he'll
02:03be the opening day starter. Will Kyle Braddish, when he gets that baseball, he's going to pitch until he can't
02:08get people out anymore? Is that the deal?
02:10Yeah, it is, and he's been a full go the whole time down here, but it would not surprise me
02:14if they kind of try to manage his innings workload maybe a little bit this year, just because it has
02:18been a while since he's had a full season.
02:21That's why I think maybe a six-man rotation goes more of an option further down the line when they
02:26get to the dog days of summer and those months without many off days.
02:30It might make sense to switch to a six-man for a little bit, just so that they can manage
02:34his innings limit. But the stuff looks good. It would not surprise me if he is named the opening day
02:39starter.
02:40And yeah, he's been full go the whole time down here, and I expect that to continue for the next
02:45couple weeks of spring.
02:47Circle back to Eflin real quick. Did you notice anything different about his delivery this spring?
02:53Because when he said he was coming off that back surgery, he was saying that he was able to raise
02:57his arm higher than he had in years,
03:00just because of that nagging back issue was so bad for him all this time that he's pitching through it,
03:05and you're overcompensating. Does he look any different delivery-wise?
03:11I don't think there was any huge, really noticeable changes.
03:14I think it was kind of more just small mechanical things to kind of get back to where he was
03:19before having all the back issues.
03:20Because it seemed like at the point last year, he was trying to do the same mechanics that he always
03:24had,
03:24and it's just the back soreness and the back pain was just too much,
03:27so that he kind of got away from the rhythm and the motions of his mechanics that had made him
03:32so successful in the past.
03:34So I think now it's just kind of getting back to that a little bit.
03:37I mean, he looks like Zach Eflin in the second half of 24,
03:40and what Zach Eflin looked like before he came to Baltimore,
03:42because he's gone back to those mechanics fully.
03:45So it's not any huge, noticeable things.
03:47It's more so just small tinkering things that got him back on track and makes him a more effective pitcher.
03:53Now, how about this whole Vance-Honeycutt thing?
03:55I mean, this is just completely unexpected, but for a guy that's not even a part of Major League Camp,
04:01are you putting any stock in what we've seen, you know, the four home runs and four at-bats?
04:05And I guess at the very least, should this guy be playing more the rest of the way this spring?
04:10Yeah, I mean, if I had to pick a guy from Minor League Camp who I thought would come over
04:13and do this,
04:14it probably wouldn't have been Honeycutt just because of how much he has struggled at the start of his professional
04:18career.
04:19It really does feel like it's come out of nowhere a little bit,
04:21but he keeps kind of crediting his off-season work.
04:24He said he really put a heavy focus on his swing mechanics and trying to get stronger and more athletic.
04:29And it sure seems like he had a good off-season because now we're seeing the results over here.
04:34Albie kind of shot down the notion the other day that maybe he'd get more playing time here.
04:39They kind of just want to keep him on his progression.
04:40They want him to have a strong Minor League Camp, get some opportunities over here.
04:45But it would not surprise me that because he's playing so well, and I think these results kind of are
04:50real,
04:50I mean, he's not going to homer every at-bat once we get to Minor League season.
04:54He has been in latent games when the other teams are kind of throwing some of their lower-tier Minor
04:58League starters.
04:59But I think the results have to be encouraging, and it would not surprise me if he gets the AA
05:04this year,
05:04maybe even starts the AA this year, and has better results than he did in Aberdeen last year.
05:09Jake Rill covers the Orioles in Major League Baseball, obviously, for MLB.com.
05:13Bob Hattie and Nolan McGraw here on this featured Artist Friday.
05:16Mike Pope, other side of the glass.
05:17Speaking of encouraging results, Adley Rutschman, first couple of weeks of spring training.
05:22What do you think of him?
05:23And, you know, the injuries certainly affected his play last year.
05:28Doesn't admit that it affected him in 24, but we're seeing offensively anyway.
05:33Jake, a descending player offensively.
05:35What do you think of Adley Rutschman?
05:37And then, you know, bounce-back candidate, where would he rate on your list here for 26?
05:42Yeah, I'd probably put him near the top of my list of bounce-back candidates.
05:45His swings looked really good from both sides of the plate.
05:48Now, of course, we were down here last spring training,
05:50and I also thought he was going to be a bounce-back candidate last year,
05:52and I thought that his swings looked really good last year in spring training.
05:55So that's why I really think the injuries kind of played a huge role in what happened last year.
06:00Just he wasn't really able to get into a rhythm.
06:02And then when he finally did there that one time in about June,
06:05then it was just injuries the rest of the way.
06:07So I think the big thing for him is staying healthy, staying durable.
06:12It'll surely help having a guy like Samuel Desire on the roster,
06:14maybe take more of the workload at catcher away from Adley a little bit
06:18so that he's not catching quite as much.
06:19And we've seen in the past when he's DH'd more, the offensive results have been better.
06:24So I think the combination of him being able to stay healthy,
06:27maybe getting a few more reps at DH, taking a little bit off his catching workload,
06:30I think it's going to help him have a bounce-back year this year.
06:33And we're trying to put this bullpen puzzle together.
06:36You've got another spot opens up with Kittredge going down.
06:38What can you tell us about Jackson Kowar?
06:42You know, he comes over from Seattle, just another name in the mix.
06:45But does he have a real shot here to make the club?
06:48Did he even before Kittredge went down?
06:52Yeah, I think now that Kittredge is down, it does open up another spot
06:54for maybe somebody that wasn't really on the radar,
06:57wasn't really going to make this bullpen.
07:00Jackson Kowar is intriguing because he can throw really hard.
07:02The stuff's looked really good.
07:04He's had a couple of walks in these game outings,
07:06but surely he's also just working on stuff in spring training.
07:09You can't put too much stock in the numbers.
07:10But the ball's coming out of his hand really well.
07:14The velo is obviously the most impressive thing.
07:16And one thing that's kind of working in his favor is he doesn't have options.
07:19So if they want to keep him around,
07:21they're probably going to have to keep him in the Major League roster off the start.
07:24So I think he's a guy that's making a case.
07:26And I think if he strings together some good outings here
07:28over the next couple of weeks,
07:29he could definitely slide into that last spot in the bullpen.
07:32Jake Rill, MLB.com, covers the Orioles
07:35and obviously Major League Baseball.
07:37Jake, appreciate the time as always.
07:38Enjoy the game today.
07:40Orioles take it on the Cardinals.
07:41Chris Bassett on the hill.
07:42Maybe Vance can make it five for five with the home runs.
07:45Would it be maybe the biggest story of spring training for sure?
07:48Jake, have a great weekend.
07:50We'll talk to you soon.
07:51Thank you, guys.
07:51You too.
07:52You got it.
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