On one side of town the Orioles held a simulated game w/members of their minicamp. Lots of stars were in the lineups and the pitchers were righties Grayson Rodriguez vs rookie Carter Baumler. Lineups included star prospects like Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Heston Kjerstad, Kyle Stowers and Colton Cowser.
Adley hit an inside-the-park home run and Stowers blasted one out pull side to deep right. Pitchers Ofelky Peralta, Spenser Watkins, Cody Sedlock, Travis Lakins and Ryan Hartman followed the starters to get their work in.
Don't see this too often during #SpringTraining intrasquad minor league sim games. Adley Rutschman with the oppo inside-the-park-HR off Ofelky Peralta. #Orioles #Birdland #MiLB pic.twitter.com/11Ybt0UiM9
— Scott Greene (@Scotty_Ballgame) March 11, 2022
Kyle Stowers dinger!!! You can hear it bang off the far wall. Score(?) is 3-1 pic.twitter.com/78EID5rtba
— Eric_Birdland (@Eric_Birdland) March 11, 2022
Young catcher Creed Willems continues to show his baseball acumen, and today was no different. In an AB in the game he was beat by two distinctly different kinds of pitches to get to a two-strike count. As I’ve seen before, he stepped out to gather himself and took a deep breath. Willems stepped in, and on the next pitch dropped the bat head perfectly to connect on a hard liner that hit the pitcher. Creed wouldn’t/didn’t give up on a tough plate appearance. He got out but the contact was clean and his swing was ideal. Nothing like seeing the little bits of progress on display in Sarasota. Sedlock hit his spots well and Baumler lasted quite a few hitters; both outstanding signs for this year. Former WBAL sports director Keith Mills was in the house and noticed some good action on Watkins’ spinning stuff too.
And 3. Nice frame for the lefty! pic.twitter.com/heb7i6yvcn
— Eric_Birdland (@Eric_Birdland) March 11, 2022
The game ended with a squeaky clean inning from lefty Nick Vespi as he got three outs by way of the K. He’s as warm as I’ve ever seen him and the ball is just floating where he wants it to. Shortstop prospect Henderson had a pair of knocks and RBI, but the hardest contact came from big Jacob Nottingham who looks like he can provide innings behind the dish and effective lineup protection for Adley and crew. Tomorrow the simulated game will feature some younger names and will be at the Buck O’ Neil Baseball Complex at Twin Lakes.
I’ll be there and if you’re an O’s fan you should be too!
