My Next New Oriole Prediction (I know that you've been holding your breath)

(So I've finally scanned (some) of the autographs that I got on my Spring Training trip and will be showing them off in the coming weeks. Today I'm going to use a few to show my final prediction of the player who I think will become Oriole #943. And I'm pretty excited that two of my dad's cards are some of the first that I'm showing here.)

Exactly a month ago today, I wrote a post about who I thought would be the next player to debut for the Orioles once the season started. At that time, my "short" list was Jair Jurrjens, Travis Ishikawa, Chris Dickerson, Conor Jackson, Trayvon Robinson, Russ Canzler, Danny Valencia, and Alexi Casilla. (I know that's not exactly a short list but the Orioles had like 60 guys in camp, so it was all relative.)

Anyway, at that point, I selected Alex Casilla as the player who was most likely to be the first new player to debut for the O's this season. And I think I'm actually going to stick to that prediction since I see Casilla coming in as a late inning defensive replacement in one of the first few games.

The other possibility at this point is really left-handed relief pitcher and Rule 5 pick from the Indians, T.J. McFarland, the only other new player to make the O's Opening Day roster. Back when I made my original newest Oriole predictions, he was struggling and had a few bad outings in a row, so I didn't see how he would break camp with the big league club, yet there he is in Tampa. After his stretch of bad outings someone tinkered with his arm slot (I think) and he turned things around and started mowing down the competition.

McFarland could very easily debut before Casilla, since you never really know when relievers will be needed, but I'm going to stand by my original prediction anyway. And since the Orioles need a fifth starter on Saturday, there is an outside shot that McFarland somehow never does make it into a game for the O's after all.

I want to wrap this post up by again thanking my dad for his awesome work on these cards, and my mom and dad for all of their help getting autographs during my week with them in Florida. And I have to fess up that my dad got that Casilla card signed since Alexi was one of the few players who eluded me during my time in Sarasota and my parents were staying an extra week. Nice work getting it done old man!