Steve On Baseball Podcast

I really enjoyed recording today’s edition of this podcast, taped about a week ago with O’s minor league player Ethan Anderson.Anderson, 22, was the O’s second-round pick (No. 61 overall) in the 2024 draft out of the University of Virgina.He just completed his first full year and second season on the O’s farm. It ended with him playing well for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League where he hit .300 with an .841 OPS in 19 games. He made the AFL’s Fall Stars game.In 2024 at Virginia, Anderson, a switch-hitting catcher and sometimes first baseman, hit .331/.435/.508/.943 and he was all ACC. For his career he walked one more time than he struck out. On the O’s farm in 2025 with 70 games at High-A Aberdeen and 20 to end the year at Double-A Chesapeake, Anderson hit .248/.338/.339/.677. He made 49 starts catching, 22 at first base and two in right field,Ethan provided some great insights for this podcast and it is well worth your time to hear him talk about the process of trying to improve and make the majors. How the O’s work with their young players, his days at UVA and how he was born in Hawaii, but then his family moved numerous times during his youth.Thanks Ethan for a great interview!Hope Birdland enjoys the latest Steve on Baseball podcast. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Good Monday Birdland!Let’s start the week with a video entry discussing a few topics. More talking, less writing.Friday’s press conference introducing new Oriole Pete Alonso was interesting for a lot of reasons. Alonso was impressive and clearly was impressed with numerous aspects of the Orioles’ organization.He got off to a great start with his new club.Take a few minutes to watch the video and leave some comments or questions. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Hey let’s talk more about the O’s signing of Pete Alonso which became official yesterday afternoon. Alonso will be introduced later this afternoon at a Camden Yards press conference.Once again on this podcast I am joined by my former MASN teammate Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com.He returned from the Winter Meetings late Wednesday after a stunning day that saw the O’s reach an agreement with Alonso on a five-year deal for $155 million.Per Jon Heyman, the deal includes a $12.5 million dollar signing bonus and a 2026 salary of 18.5 million. Then Alonso’s salary is set at $31.0 million from 2027 through 2030 to complete the deal.He is a five-time All-Star, 2025 Silver Slugger Award winner, and 2019 National League Rookie of the Year, all over a seven-year career with the New York Mets.The first baseman is one of six active players with five or more seasons of at least 35 home runs and joins Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber and the New York Yankees Aaron Judge as the only players in the majors since 2019 with five or more seasons of 35+ homers. Since debuting in 2019, he’s driven in an MLB-high 712 runs, 33 more than any other player during that time.To make 40-man roster room, catcher Maverick Handley was designated for assignment.Today’s Oriole Park press conference is set for 4 p.m. Speakers will include Alonso, Mike Elias, Orioles President of Baseball Operations & General Manager, David Rubenstein, O’s Control Owner and Alonso’s agent, Scott Boras of the Boras Corporation.Fans can tune into the press conference on Orioles.com, Orioles Facebook, and YouTube channels. The press conference will also be carried live on MASN and MASN+. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Took a few minutes to talk about the O’s five-year agreement for $155 million today with slugging first baseman Pete Alonso.The fans have waited for this day - the day when the O’s won one in free agency against the big boys.He’s not going back to the Mets or joining the Red Sox. Alonso is heading to Baltimore.Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

After a season that ended with the Orioles ranked 24th in MLB in runs per game and 19th in slugging, the team recently traded for outfielder Taylor Ward. He hit 36 homers in 2025 for the Los Angeles Angels to rank tied for fifth in the American League.That may not be the only big bat the O’s add this offseason.Several outlets have now reported that the Orioles are expected to meet today with free agent slugger Pete Alonso with a face-to-face meeting in Orlando at the Winter Meetings. Alonso will drive the 90 minutes from his Tampa home to meet with the O’s and Red Sox and maybe other clubs as well.Prying Alonso away from the large market, big spending Mets would be an upset on the order of Super Bowl III, but the O’s at least have a shot to pull that off.Alonso, who turned 31 Sunday, hit .272/.347/.524/.871 last season with 38 homers and 126 RBIs. He was second in MLB in RBIs, eighth in homers and 10th in OPS.The five-time All-Star and two-time Home Run Derby winner produced an OPS+ of 144 last year. Since 2021, that number is 134 and, in that span, he has averaged 39 homers and 111 RBIs.That is a very, very legit MLB slugger who would sure boost an O’s lineup that struggled for much of last year.Clearly O’s president Mike Elias is not just counting on the young core to all bounce back and improve the O’s offense in that manner. One big move has been made and others could be coming.Adding another first baseman would add to a position where the O’s already have Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo.Elias said for now, that is not a concern. If they added a top bat, they’ll sort it out later.“If the player is good enough, we can figure out ways to accomodate them,” Elias told media in Orlando late Monday afternoon.The O’s continue to be linked to top free agent pitchers, including lefties Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez.Could they add both a top bat and a top arm?“Yes, I think so,” said Elias. “You look at our payroll as it stands right now and it’s still well below where we were at last year, and we’ll just consider opportunities as they come up and have those conversions with ownership. But we do have room for more moves, multiple more moves.”Check out the video at the top of this entry for more thoughts from yours truly on the opening day at the Winter Meetings.On tap todayIt’s the MLB Draft Lottery at 5:30 p.m. today in Orlando. The first six picks for next summer’s draft will be determined via this lottery. Heading into this event, the O’s have the fourth-best odds to get the overall No. 1 pick.The Chicago White Sox are listed with a 27.73 percent chance to pick 1/1 with Minnesota next at 22.18 percent, then Pittsburgh at 16.81 and the Orioles at 9.24 percent.The O’s have had the overall No. 1 pick previously in 1989 (Ben McDonald), 2019 (Adley Rutschman) and 2022 (Jackson Holliday).UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is rated the No. 1 prospect for the next draft by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com. The right to draft him is what is likely at stake today. BA calls him the “one of the better college shortstop prospect in years.” Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Jim Duquette is one of the real bright minds in baseball media today. One reason for that may be the time he spent over the years working in MLB front offices.Today we’re all lucky he took time to do this podcast just days ahead of the start of the 2025 Winter Meetings in Orlando.O’s fans know Jim well, both from his time as Orioles’ co-general manager with Mike Flanagan in 2006 and 2007 to his time now in broadcasting.“Duq” as I call him, is an outstanding commentator and analyst and heard Monday through Friday with co-host Mike Ferrin on their “Power Alley” show on MLB Network Radio via Sirius-XM. That show airs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. Jim also co-hosts a Sunday show on the network with former GM Jim Bowden.O’s fans also know him from many appearances over the years on MASN and also on 105.7 FM the Fan sports radio.Jim and Mike will broadcast their show next week live from the Winter Meetings.In this podcast we covered a lot of ground and one topic we discussed was will the O’s spend big money on a free agent starting pitcher and who should they pursue?I even asked Jim if it turns out that Mike Elias is concerned that the price of pitching gets too high (after all Dylan Cease already signed for $210 million), could it be that O’s ownership actually has to sort of overrule him to get a big deal done?“I think part of that learning curve and let’s say aggressiveness and push (to spend more for Baltimore now) is coming from ownership now,” said Duquette. “Whether it’s (David) Rubenstein or (Mike) Arougheti or both. “I think for sure in those type of situations, when you have an executive who is maybe not as risk-averse as others within MLB, I think it does help that the owner is like, ‘Listen, I’m not worried about the risk on this one. I’m giving you the permission to go sign him.’”We got into a lot of topics with Jim today and even spent some time talking about Flanagan and Jim’s time working with Mike atop the O’s baseball operations department.A great guy who spent a lot of time to drop some knowledge for us today. Thanks to Duq!Enjoy this one Birdland. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Hey Birdland and welcome to another work week after the extended Thanksgiving break. Hope many of you had a great time with your family as I did. Now back to the business of baseball, which of course continued even during the long weekend.The O’s reached agreement on two-year deal with right-hander Ryan Helsley on Saturday afternoon.Yes he pitched to a 4.50 ERA for the Mets and Cardinals last year. But over a three-year run fron 2022 through 2024 he posted a 1.83 ERA and 82 saves.Twice in that span he got National League Cy Young votes, finishing 12th in 2022 and ninth for that award in 2024.Few more notes on Helsley:He has been on the injured list just four times in his career.He was the longest-tenured Cardinal at the time of the trade.He is one of three Cardinals to ever throw an Immaculate Inning. He did so on Sept. 16, 2022 versus Cincinnati, joining Bob Gibson and Jason Isringhausen in St. Louis history.He is one of three St. Louis closers to make more than one All-Star team joining Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter. Helsley made the All-Star teams in 2022 and 2024.During the 2024 season, when he led the majors with 49 saves, he was named NL Reliever of the Month three times. He won that honor in April, June and September.A fifth-round pick of the Cards in 2015, he turns 32 on July 18.Let’s get your take in the comments below on this addition and how the O’s bullpen is coming together for next season. Plus feel free to pass on any O’s comments or questions. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Happy Thanksgiving Birdland!In and around your family fun today or while you are traveling, hope you can find time to listen to my latest Steve on Baseball podcast.My guest is John Eisenberg, who for 23 years starting in 1984 wrote over 3,000 columns for the Baltimore Sun. He has also written about and worked for the Baltimore Ravens and is the author of 11 books.Wow, yep, 11!His third was titled “From 33rd Street to Camden Yards” which is an oral history of the Orioles.That book came out in 2001 and while writing and researching for that project, John interviewed every big name in club history and many others too.His Substack “The Bird Tapes” rolls out many of those audio interviews for readers of his Substack. It’s a can’t miss for any O’s fan that remembers watching some of the all-time O’s greats. In this podcast we spent time talking about the current team and what this winter could hold for the club in signings and additions. We also discussed his time with the Baltimore Sun. And John told some stories about covering the team then and we also talked about his current venture, the Bird Tapes. Enjoy the holiday weekend and enjoy this latest edition of my podcast. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

O’s right-handed pitching prospect Nestor German is from a school without a big name but one with a big name MLB pitcher among its former players.In 2023, German was the Orioles’ 11th-round pick out of Seattle University. In 2018, the same school sent lefty Tarik Skubal to the Detroit Tigers. They got him in the ninth round and 254 players were selected ahead of him.Now he’s the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner in the American League.German doesn’t talk about winning any future Cy Young Awards, but his strong 2025 season could lead him to talk about possibly getting a shot with the Orioles during next season. And we did talk about that and much more when he joined me for my latest podcast out today.German, age 23, pitched at three levels and in 26 games last season. First for High-A Aberdeen for six games, then for Double-A Chesapeake for 18 and he ended the year throwing two games at Triple-A Norfolk.For the three clubs he was a combined 6-7 with a 3.93 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, .220 batting average against and 10.41 strikeout rate per nine innings.He is currently ranked the O’s No. 11 prospect (and third pitcher) via Baseball America and No. 14 (and sixth pitcher) via MLBPipeline.com.Those outlets give most of his pitches 50 and 55 scouting scale grades, so pretty solid across the board.Here are German’s rankings on the O’s farm last year (min. 80 IP)1st in WHIP (1.18)2nd in innings (123 2/3)3rd in swinging-strike percentage (14.8)3rd in K/BB ratio (3.11)4th in K percentage (28.0)5th in K/9 (10.41)5th in FIP (3.54)8th in ERA (3.93)Today is the 30th episode since April of the Steve on Baseball podcast with many more to come! I hope you enjoy this interview with German, who provided some nice insights on his career and being a pitching prospect for the Orioles. One change on my Substack: This Substack will remain with a mix of free and paywalled articles. The paywalled stories can be accessed by paying subscribers to this Substack. Those subscribers have access to every story and my full archive.Also beginning today a free article will remain that way for a week and then will be behind a paywall. This is obviously one way to grow the revenue generated here and that is my goal with this move. Once again an article that is free to all will remain that way for one week moving forward. And there will always be some free content produced in this space. To everyone that subscribes and reads here, thanks for the continued support.By the way, all audio and video remains free for all and those posts do not apply to this change. That includes, of course, podcasts and videos. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

If you went to bed at a certain time last night, maybe you awoke to a surprise today in that the Orioles pulled off their first big move of this offseason late last night.They acquired outfielder Taylor Ward from the Los Angeles Angels for O’s right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez in a one-for-one trade.Ward, who turns 32 on Dec. 14, has played in 156 and 157 games the last two years. He made 153 starts last season for the Angels in left field while batting .228/.317/.475/.792 with 31 doubles, two triples, 36 homers, 83 runs and 103 RBIs.In the AL stats, he ranked tied for fifth in homers, sixth in RBIs, seventh in extra-base hits, 20th in slugging and 29th in the league in OPS.Check out this video on the deal and leave some thoughts and comments below.Please keep subscribing to my Substack in addition to checking out my Facebook page for this Substack right here. My orginal story on the deal from late last night is right here. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

From the Gilman School in Baltimore to pro baseball on the farm for the O’s and Nats and now onto his media business, Ryan Ripken is the latest from a famous baseball family to make his mark.When your grandad is Cal Ripken Sr., your father is Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and your uncle is former Oriole and current MLB Network star Bill Ripken, you may have picked up a few things about the game along the way.As a player Ryan reached the Triple-A level. He was drafted by the Orioles in 2012 and the Nationals in 2014. He played on the O’s farm from 2017-2021.A couple years ago he started Ryan Ripken media from scratch and now he hosts the Ryan Ripken show a couple of times a week via his YouTube channel which has thousands of subscribers and keeps the posts humming via his social media.He’s making his own name for himself in this famous family and doing it his way. Fans are finding and enjoying his work and he’s also a part of the great baseball coverage during the season on 105.7 FM the Fan in Baltimore.I hope you enjoy Ryan’s comments today as we discussed several players now avaiable to the Orioles and all teams via free agency and several other topics. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Hey Birdland, a new video for my Substack readers and subscribers to watch and react to.It’s been a minute since I posted a video or produced a live video, but both are returning in full force this winter and this is the start.Today the topic - Is there pressure on the O’s to make a big signing this winter? The obvious answer is yes. Could they win without one? Yes. They had a $71 million dollar payroll and won 101 games and the AL East in 2023.But the division is so strong again and Toronto was two outs away from winning the World Series. In keeping up with Jonses in the AL East, a team has to spend some dollars.It’s time for the Orioles.Elias comments at the General Manager meetingsAt the GM meetings in Las Vegas Wednesday, the O’s Mike Elias discussed his club’s ability to pursue players and spend some of those dollars this winter.“We’re still down from where our 2025 payroll was. We’ve got quite a bit to go just to get back to 2025 levels, and I think that’s definitely a possibility if we want to go there, and we’ll assess opportunities beyond that,” Elias told reporters, including MLB.com Wednesday. “I think we’re just going to look at things on a case-by-case basis. The ownership group has a lot of willingness to invest, but also wants to win. ...“This is a group that’s really enabling us to invest. We’re going to go out in the market, see what we’re able to do to improve the team. But we’ll definitely be behaving as buyers this season, whether it’s free agency or trade.”In this article, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand asks - “Will this be the offseason that Baltimore goes all-in?“Industry sources believe the Orioles will be aggressive in free agency as they look to return to the postseason following a disappointing 75-win season and last-place finish in the American League East.”New coachesThe local media has now reported on and confirmed three additions to the coaching staff of new manager Craig Albernaz.Yesterday, the Baltimore Sun was first to report that Donnie Ecker will be hired as bench coach. He was the Texas Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator from 2022 through 2024. He was not their bench coach last year and, in fact, was fired May 4 with the Rangers at 17-18.He was on the Rangers staff as the team beat the Orioles in the 2023 playoffs on their way to a World Series championship. He has an extensive background as a hitting coach in the majors and minors and worked with Albernaz in San Francisco for a couple of seasons.Earlier, BaltimoreBaseball.com was first to report the O’s addition of Dustin Lind from the Phillies to serve as lead hitting coach. And the Baltimore Banner was first to report the additon of Jason Bourgeois from the White Sox as O’s first base coach and outfield instructor. Albernaz is building a staff he is quite familiar with and obviously has a lot of belief and trust in. He coached with Ecker and Lind on the Giants staff and played Triple-A ball with Bourgeois. That should make for a close-knit staff with this group already quite familiar with each other. Also last night, MLB.com and the Baltimore Banner were first to report that Buck Britton, Drew French and Ryan Klimek are expected to return and remain with the Orioles. They were on the 2025 coaching staff, but in which exact roles they return is not yet clear.MASNSports.com reported that Grant Anders won’t return as major league development coach.Please leave some comments on my video today here if you are so inclined. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Fans around Birdland will finally hear in depth from their new manager, Craig Albernaz, during next Tuesday’s press conference at Oriole Park.We will soon start to get to know him.But Tampa Bay Rays radio broadcaster Neil Solondz has known Albernaz since his Triple-A playing days. Neil was the radio broadcaster for the Durham Bulls and Albernaz was a player there for parts of five seasons, the first three with Solondz at the mic from 2009-2011.Neil makes a great pairing in the Rays radio booth with Andy Freed, himself a long-time Rays broadcaster who grew up an O’s fan and went to Towson University. Go Tigers!Neil just completed his 14th year on the Rays Radio Network and his second as a play-by-play voice. Before that he hosted pre and postgame shows and was a fill-in play-by-play broadcaster.The Rays have some wonderful people in their media and it seems most of the O’s reporters are always happy to see an O’s-Rays matchup to get to see everyone.We covered a lot of ground today with Neil. Everything from Albernaz’s playing days with the Bulls, to what made him an outstanding minor league manager on the Rays farm to what kind of skipper might be coming to Birdland. To how he might handle the pressure to win in Baltimore. We get great insight today on this podcast from someone that knows Albernaz well.Thanks to Neil for joining me today. Enjoy this one Birdland. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner just completed his fourth year covering the Orioles as the Banner’s lead beat writer. Andy grew up in Rockville and is a 2020 University of Maryland graduate.His introduction to O’s fans was with the Baltimore Sun for the 2022 season. He was hired by the Banner in December of that year and just completed his third season leading the Banner’s coverage.We got into several topics including his recent stories about Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage of the Blue Jays and how those players could be linked to the Orioles. Gausman for obvious reasons. Yesavage as the high-draft pick pitcher - a selection that the Orioles have not made under Mike Elias. We talked a bit about his career and covering a big league clubhouse at a young age. We discussed the pressures that may be facing the organization this winter to sign a free agent to a big contract. “Baltimore needs to make a splash,” said Kostka and I agreed with him. Andy is a proud winner of - the inaugural winner in fact - the John McNamara Sports Writing Award. It is named in McNamara’s honor and Andy was the winner from May of 2019 while he reported for the Diamondback student newspaper. The award is issued by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.Mac, as many of us knew him, died in a shooting in June of 2018 at the Annapolis Capital. He was a long-time, good friend and I saw him often covering the minors in Bowie over the years. We first got to know each other when we were starting our careers - John in Hagerstown and myself in Frederick.No doubt Andy is proud of that honor and being linked with such an outstanding reporter and person.We had a fun conversation and covered a lot of ground on the Orioles. Hope you enjoy today’s podcast. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

I believe I first met Brett Hollander when he was at the Gilman School in Baltimore and at the age of 15 was an intern at WBAL Radio where I was the Sports Director.His memory is better than mine from those days but that means, in a sense, I was there for the start of an outstanding broadcasting career.From Gilman, Brett went on to Dickinson College in Pennsylvania where he broadcast many sports and really fell in love with working in the booth. He met a classmate there named Geoff Arnold and later they would team up in the O’s booth!Brett grew up around broadcasting. His dad, Rich worked many years at WBAL-TV. I remember watching him often on Channel 11 where he was a great news reporter as we say “back in the day.”Brett worked early in his career at CBS Radio in Baltimore where he noted in this podcast, he broadcast the first sports update heard on 105.7 FM the Fan when the station switched from AM to the FM dial.He worked many years at WBAL Radio, hosting O’s pre and postgame shows, also was the host of Sportsline and at one time hosted the afternoon drive talk-show, showing he is more than just a sports guy.He was named the 2015 Maryland Sportscaster of the Year.This was a real fun conversation, mostly about broadcasting and Brett’s career, between two long-time friends.Who knew that kid from Gilman would one day wind up in the O’s booth!Enjoy today’s podcast with Brett. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

For a lot of us, growing up as an O’s fan there were many players to cheer for and admire. There were Hall of Famers like Brooks and Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer. Later there were Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray.We loved them all. Some of us loved Earl Weaver as much as we loved those players.He was a winner and he would fight for his team. He would get us fired up each time he got ejected. All 96 times.But what many of us loved most was the winning. Between 1969 and 1982, five Weaver-led teams won 100 games or more. There was the O’s incredible run from 1969-1971 when they won 109, 108 and 101 games. They made the World Series each year, winning it all over the Big Red Machine in 1970.The 2023 Orioles are the only O’s team to ever win 100 or more and not be managed by Weaver.Earl was great, he was the Earl of Baltimore.All that winning and his .583 career win percentage (that is 94.5 wins per year) led him to baseball’s highest honor - the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in August of 1996.I was there that day - not as a reporter but as a fan. Had to be there to see Earl.So today’s podcast meant a lot to me to talk about Earl with author John Miller. His New York Times bestseller - a three-year project - was published earlier this year called “The Last Manager - How Earl Weaver tricked, tormented and reinvented baseball.”We covered a lot of groud in this interview - from Earl’s youth in St. Louis, to his minor league playing days, to his battles with players like Jim Palmer, to the many things that made him great.Earl probably had a few issues he dealt with in his life, but in Baltimore, they built a statue for him at Camden Yards.We loved him then and still do today.Hope you enjoy today’s podcast as much as I enjoyed taking part in it. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

The offseason is here for the Orioles, but the Steve on Baseball podcast continues on, games or no games.Sometimes the offseason speculation provides more interesting topics to discuss and today we got into several of them.My guest is Matt Weyrich, one of the Baltimore Sun’s beat writers. Matt joined the Sun in January of 2024 and just completed his second season on the beat. He is a 2019 James Madison University grad and a proud fan of the Dukes.We discussed the season-ending press conferences, the manager search, the struggles of the young hitters, possible roster additions, Samuel Basallo and more.We covered a lot of ground today, so enjoy the first offseason edition of the Steve on Baseball podcast! Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

This was not the first time Roch Kubatko and I were on air or any broadcast format together. Not hardly. But it was the first time he came on as a guest on my podcast!About time!And yes it was like old times as we discussed many O’s topics, including going back to how it was around the club when Brandon Hyde was fired in May. We discussed how things have gone with Tony Mansolino as interim skipper. We of course discussed next season and how close are the O’s to contending again in 2026?I also asked Roch how the job of beat writers has changed over the years.After an over 20-year career writing for the Baltimore Sun, Rocho, as I know him, a Maryland Terrapin from back in the day, joined MASN and MASNSports.com late during the 2008 season.From then through this past January, we made a pretty good team covering the Orioles, if we don’t say so ourselves. I promised good baseball conversations here with great guests, so here is another one.This was recorded yesterday in the press box at the Yard. Fresh material! Enjoy. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Now that we are a couple of months out since the July MLB Draft where the Orioles had a whopping seven picks that first night, I wanted to check in with MLBPipeline.com’s and MLB.com’s senior writer Jim Callis.For many years Jim has been a go-to guy for me and many others, such as MLB Network, for his knowledge and insights on the draft.Jim and his colleagues do a great job at the top of the draft each year and then for, in the case of this year, one more day, Jim is part of the coverage for the rest of the draft through 20 rounds.On this podcast we discussed how the O’s did this draft and got some thoughts on some of ther top draft selections.The O’s have had a solid year on the farm in their pitching program and I asked Callis what he thinks of this crop of O’s farm pitchers?Also during this podcast, Callis provided some interesting news about Dylan Beavers and his chance to soon get into the MLBPipeline.com top 100. Beavers earlier was ranked in the top 100 by Baseball America and ESPN. Enjoy today’s edition of the “Steve on Baseball” podcast.This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Please consider a subscription to get every article, minor league features, O’s analysis and the Steve on Baseball podcast. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

BOWIE, Md. - Fresh off the presses, or at least off the digital recorder, check out a podcast taped just yesterday at Bowie’s Prince George’s Stadium.My guest is the manager of the O’s Double-A Chesapeake Baysox affiliate, Roberto Mercado.Mercado is in his fourth season with the Orioles. He managed High-A Aberdeen in 2022 and 2023 and Double-A Chesapeake (formerly Bowie) in 2023 and 2024.Through Wednesday’s game, he was 280-272 (.507) overall on the Baltimore farm.Mercado, age 45, from New Britain, Conn., managed Surprise in the 2024 Arizona Fall League. That club went 18-10 and played for the AFL Championship, but lost in the title game.In 2022, his first year as a minor league skipper, Mercado led Aberdeen to a 78-54 record and they advanced to the South Atlantic League Championship. But they lost to Bowling Green in the third and deciding game of that series. After that season, Mercado was named the winner of the Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award, a top honor in the O’s minors.That club included players such as Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo, Heston Kjerstad and Connor Norby.The O’s hired Mercado right out of the high school ranks, where he was varsity coach starting in 2011 at New Britain High School where he was also Dean of Students.During his time there, Mercado got valuable additional high-level experience as an assistant coach for Yarmouth in the prestigious Cape Cod League.This season, Chesapeake is 56-70 but playing better ball lately. Heading into last night, the Baysox had won three in a row and six of their past eight.The 17th manager in Baysox history, I find Mercado to be someone who truly cares about his players and is willing to do anything in his power to help each one get better and closer to the majors.In recent years he managed both Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo and earlier this year Jeremiah Jackson began his 2025 season with the Baysox.We touched on all three players and several others with Chesapeake this year on this podcast. Plus we got into other aspects of managing on the O’s farm.A Spanish speaker, Mercado got close with Basallo and he actually interpreted for me when I had a long one-on-one interview with Basallo late in the 2023 season when he was with Aberdeen. Enjoy the latest addition of the Steve on Baseball podcast with “Berto.” Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe