When it comes to covering international amateur signings, few do it better and with more experience than Ben Badler of Baseball America. Ben is my guest this week on the Steve on Baseball podcast, the initial edition of calender year 2026.

Next Thursday, Jan. 15, is the first day of the new international signing period. Under the Mike Elias front office the O’s have signed six players to million dollar bonuses since 2021.

This year they have four such players in this one class, per Baseball America.

We will get into that a whole lot more today with Ben, who has been at Baseball America since 2007.

“The Orioles this year seem like they are going to have one of the better classes this year. They’ve got some big bats at the top of the class. Arms as well. I think this is going to be one of their better signing classes in recent years,” Badler said.

The O’s top signee is expected to be shortstop Jose Luis Acevedo, a right-handed hitter from the Domincan Republic, who turned 17 in November. He’s got a plus hit tool and may be able to stick at shortstop as a solid defender.

On BA’s bonus board - they rank these international amateurs based on the amount of their projected bonuses - he is the No. 11 player. He might set an O’s team bonus record for an international amateur. That mark is currently held by Luis Almeyda who got $2.297 million in 2023.

Per the BA bonus board, the O’s are also getting players currently rated No. 24, No. 40 and No. 42. The board will be updated and expanded next week ahead of Thursday.

With international players making up about 30 percent of major league clubhouses, it is a talent source a team can’t ignore and under Elias and Koby Perez, the O’s do not. They make it a priority.

Once it was stunning to see even a few players from the international ranks in an O’s top 30 prospects lists. On the lastest BA O’s top 30 there are 11 international players led by Samuel Basallo at No. 1.

So today’s podcast is both very timely and very informative as we were able to grab Ben as the guest. He provided some great insights.

Enjoy the lastest podcast Birdland.

And click here for Badler’s latest on the BA international bonus big board top 50. (subscription may be required).

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.

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.

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+.

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.

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 today

It’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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.