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Baltimore Orioles Add Prospects & Announce Opening Day Pitcher

By Kristen Bentley

BALTIMORE, MD - JULY 09: John Means #47 of the Baltimore Orioles walks to the dugout during an intrasquad game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 9, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - JULY 09: John Means #47 of the Baltimore Orioles walks to the dugout during an intrasquad game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 9, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) /
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In the speedy preseason in the MLB, team dynamics change rapidly, and the Baltimore Orioles made a few roster changes and announcements.

The Baltimore Orioles announced that they added a few prospects to their player pool. The team also announced who will pitch on Opening Day.

The pitcher announcement wasn’t much of a surprise, but the added prospects were. Especially considering our predictions for who would and wouldn’t show up at Camden Yards.

Let’s start with the pitcher announcement. The Orioles shared that John Means would be the starter on Opening Day.

According to Jon Meoli with The Baltimore Sun, Means pitched on Thursday. In his typical consistent style, Jose Iglesias hit a double off of Means. Unfortunately, these intrasquad games aren’t televised. But, it’s nice to hear that players are finding success, even against their own pitchers.

With Means facing live batters on July 9, the coaching staff will most likely give him two more starts against his teammates. That would put Means on par to start on Friday, July 24 against the Red Sox.

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With Chris Sale out and Eduardo Rodriguez testing positive for COVID-19, Means might face off against Nathan Eovaldi or Collin McHugh as the Red Sox have not announced their Opening Day starter yet.

The other exciting news for the Orioles is the addition of prospects. On Friday evening, the Orioles announced that a large group of prospects would be joining the player pool. The most exciting announcement involved top prospect Adley Rutschman. Brandon Hyde also announced that pitchers Michael Baumann, Keegan Akin, and Isaac Mattson would be there, with outfielder Cedric Mullins and catcher Taylor Davis. Hyde said that DL Hall would also be joining the team soon. Some of the players began arriving on Friday.

The Orioles still only have 53 players in the 60-man pool. According to Joe Trezza with MLB.com, Hyde said about the 2019 #1 pick Rutchsman:

"“Just get him here and get him playing,“We want to see him here and see him take BP and catch some of our starters. The bottom line is just to get him playing again.”"

In the same article, Trezza reported that all six players were working out on Friday. Rutschman, Davis, and Mullins were all taking BP, and the pitchers were all throwing. The six prospects will join the Big Leaguers on Saturday when they all workout together.

Next. Predicting Which Prospects Will Play in 2020. dark

Hopefully all of the players can continue to stay healthy. Other teams haven’t been as lucky and many are still seeing veterans choosing to opt out for the season. The latest was Buster Posey with the San Francisco Giants.

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