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.

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