Thursday Thoughts: Edition 10 – MASN spring coverage, guest coaches & more

Written by:

Justin Sutphin

Spring training is here, as pitchers and catchers began their workouts early Thursday morning.

Excitingly to see, a majority of the Oriole position players have also made their appearances early in camp.

Nonetheless, with the start of exhibition games on the horizon, we have been provided with a television schedule, as well as a list of honorary guest coaches that will be joining the club this spring.

First off, the television schedule. Although it’s an improvement on the four televised spring games from last season, the coverage is still simply not enough.

This year, fans will be shown eight games on MASN. Again, it’s an improvement. However, there’s simply no reason to not have all 15 home Grapefruit League games televised.

Full #Orioles Spring Training broadcast schedule pic.twitter.com/8R8n9cwhmi
— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) February 12, 2025

Spring training is a lot of fan’s sole opportunity to catch some of the younger prospects who get a chance in the first leg of exhibition play. When you have a television network, ironically, one of the few that is actually owned by a team, not showcasing their organizational talent, that is quite frustrating.

Situations like these make it harder for fans to connect and get to know a lot of these younger guys, especially when they’re not local to the minor league stadiums as other fans.

Beyond the young guys, spring is everyone’s first impression of new free agent acquisitions, especially pitchers. With only eight televised games, it’s likely you can go the entire spring without the chance to see one of the new arms, which is textbook on how to condense your fanbase.

Luckily, the Orioles have also made a couple of decisions for this spring that definitely help ease the pain of that TV schedule. Many former Oriole players will join the club as guest instructional coaches and commentators. These players include but aren’t limited to Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Brian Roberts and J.J. Hardy.

Here are the dates for when each guest coach will be in #Orioles camp: https://t.co/Ji5CKZOvQq pic.twitter.com/q454lPMgeR
— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) February 12, 2025

My first thought seeing a lot of these former Orioles is one thing. Adam Jones is already succeeding in his new position.

One of the primary things he referenced when explaining his position was his desire to rekindle the relationship between the organization and its former players. Although we have seen appearances from the likes of Markakis and Roberts in the sense of team activities as of late, this is a little different.

Roberts will join former Orioles pitcher Dave Johnson in the Ed Smith Stadium commentator booth, similar to last season. I’m really excited about that, as getting the chance to listen to Roberts was really fun last year.

What are your initial thoughts on the spring coverage and guest coaches? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!

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