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CLEARWATER, Fla. -- There was a player sitting in the Orioles’ bullpen last Sunday at BayCare Ballpark who had long dirty-blonde hair, sleeve tattoos down his non-throwing arm and the name “Vespi” on the back of his jersey. He was there for this Sunday’s O’s-Phillies game, too. No, Nick Vespi

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Speed is the name of the game for White Sox right-hander Grant Taylor. Speed, and accuracy. Actually, for a pitcher who touched 101.2 mph with his fastball on Feb. 23 at Surprise Stadium, it would be more about velocity and accuracy. But in this case we are

Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from his newsletter is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.

A version of this story originally appeared on MiLB.com in 2018. We present it here once more as Minor League Baseball celebrates Black History Month with stories of Black baseball pioneers.

Nicknamed “baseball’s most hoppinest team” by the local newspaper coverage at the time, the Fredericksburg Frogs were one of the Chesapeake Bay area’s more successful teams in the 1920s, standing out amid a long lineage of segregated Black teams that played in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia, between the 1880s and 1940s.

This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Might the Karroses have a new family tradition? Jared Karros and Kyle Karros, the sons of former Dodgers first baseman and current SportsNet LA broadcaster Eric Karros, exchanged lineup cards before Thursday afternoon's tilt between the Dodgers and Rockies at Salt River Fields. Last year, it was

The home run is the most efficient event in sports. It’s the maximum outcome a single batter can achieve, and all it takes is one swing. One very powerful, well-timed, well-coordinated swing. It’s why power is such an important tool in prospect development and evaluation. You can put the ball

Joe Ayrault is the sort of Minor League manager who likes to have a laugh, so you can imagine the surprise of Brewers prospects who gathered at Double-A Biloxi last season to hear Ayrault tell the parable of the cow and the buffalo. When a cow sees a storm coming,

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – One is a left-hander from North Carolina with a world-class changeup. Another is a hard-throwing right-hander from Southern California whose diet consists almost entirely of meat. The third is a 6-foot-8 Floridian who is known for his knee-buckling curveball and general affability. Meet the Carsons -- Whisenhunt,

This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith walked together from Camelback Ranch’s stadium field to the White Sox facilities in the eighth inning of a 3-1 loss to the Padres on Wednesday afternoon. Schultz, ranked by MLB Pipeline as baseball’s No. 16 prospect overall, threw a scoreless fifth inning