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World Champions 1983, 1970, 1966 American League Champions 1983, 1979, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1966 American League East Division Champions 2014, 1997, 1983, 1979, 1974, 1973, 1971, 1970, 1969 American League Wild Card 2016, 2012, 1996 Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Columns: Orioles' 2015 top pick DJ Stewart hopes late-year success carries over in Bowie The Sun 4/5 J.J. Hardy's performance this season will dictate whether the Orioles keep him in 2018 The Sun 4/4 Orioles notes: Wade Miley says he's ready to go after sim game; Darren O'Day on the mend The Sun 4/4 Orioles' Adam Jones spearheads Youth of the Year scholarship contest The Sun 4/4 Jones, wife put emphasis on education MLB.com 4/4 Check out Manny Machado's cool Opening Day cleats, with secret candy inserts MLB.com 4/4 O's Top 30 prospects starting assignments MLB.com 4/4 Bundy ready to get his season rolling vs. Jays MLB.com 4/3 Orioles will lean toward the right with tonight’s lineup MASNsports.com 4/5 Dylan Bundy on his spring, his cutter, facing Toronto and more MASNsports.com 4/5 Notes from Bowie on the rotation, Mullins, DJ Stewart and more MASNsports.com 4/4 Baseball is back and so is the chance to win up to $50,000 instantly, thanks to the Maryland Lottery! MASNsports.com 4/4 Orioles go for opening sweep against Blue Jays ESPN.com 4/4 Rick Dempsey: The 2017 Orioles Are A 'Sleeper Club' PressBoxOnline.com 4/4 Machado Just Shy Of No. 1 Spot On MLB Top 100 Player Rankings CBS Baltimore 4/4 Orioles, Adam Jones Donate $75K To Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore CBS Baltimore 4/4 Rob Long: Opening Day Had That ‘Orioles Magic’ CBS Baltimore 4/4 Video: Manny Machado made a ridiculous play yesterday NBCSports.com 4/4 True Bromance BaltimoreMagazine.com 4/3 Dean’s Dozen: Our updated O’s prospects list heading into Thursday’s minor league start BaltimoreBaseball.com 4/5 Tap-In Question: Was Monday’s win just one game or does it mean more? BaltimoreBaseball.com 4/3 Thoughts from the Opening Day win: Trumbo’s heroics; Britton’s outing; Machado’s D; a kickstarter? BaltimoreBaseball.com 4/3 http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-2015-top-pick-dj-stewart-hopes- late-year-success-carries-over-in-bowie-20170404-story.html Orioles' 2015 top pick DJ Stewart hopes late-year success carries over in Bowie By Jon Meoli / The Baltimore Sun April 5, 2017 DJ Stewart, the Orioles’ first-round pick in 2015, spent his first full season in professional baseball dealing with something he now realizes every player has on his path to the majors: failure. And when he returned home after the minor league season ended, his message to himself to deal with that was simple. “I get to play again,” Stewart told himself. “Baseball, you can go 3-for-10 and you’re considered a Hall of Famer. I get to continue playing. Every day is going to be a work in progress. It’s the first time I’ve struggled before, but if you don’t struggle now, then you’re the best player ever, right? “I’m looking to take what I’ve had in pro ball and learn from it and just continue to grow as a player and get better every day. You’re going to have good seasons, you’re going to have bad seasons. You look at major league guys, they don’t hit .300 every year. Hardly anyone does that. I’m looking to gain what I’ve learned from that season and just continue to grow as a player.” Stewart, a Florida State product who came to the Orioles with a reputation of having a knack to hit, didn’t have the easiest time doing that in his full-season debut last year. He broke camp with Low-A Delmarva — a conservative assignment for a college bat from a major school who had the track record Stewart did — and never found a groove. He ended the first half of the season batting .230, but was promoted to High-A Frederick just to get him a fresh start at the outset of the second half. There, he hit .279/.389/.448 with 20 extra-base hits in 59 games, and did so with the help of Keys manager Keith Bodie, who he said helped close up his stance and shorten his stride to prevent him from bailing out in the batter’s box. Part of dealing with struggles at the plate was finding out what advice he should take — something he’d never had to discern before. “It was definitely different, because like I said, I haven’t really struggled before,” the 23-year-old Stewart said. “So usually when you’re not struggling, no one is saying much of anything to you because it’s working. But learning from everyone, getting their input, you have to see what works for you and what doesn’t. Listening to everyone’s information, maybe there’s one thing someone says, and it clicks for you. Another person could say the same thing in a different way and it doesn’t click for you.” Stewart faces a big challenge in his assignment to the Eastern League, though he sees it as a positive that the Orioles sent him there after such a small sample in High-A. “They wouldn’t have drafted me if they didn’t have confidence in me,” Stewart said. “There’s 30 teams, and they were the one team that saw something in me, and I don’t think that they’re going to give up on me. I’m not giving up on the organization.” http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-offday-0405-20170404-story.html J.J. Hardy's performance this season will dictate whether the Orioles keep him in 2018 Eduardo A. Encina / The Baltimore Sun April 4, 2017 Much has been made of the looming decisions facing the Orioles front office over the next two years, and whether the team will keep its core group of players intact. One of the first players the team will need to make a decision on — and one who's not always mentioned when discussing the team's future path — is shortstop J.J. Hardy. Hardy made his sixth Opening Day start with the Orioles on Monday — only Adam Jones (10) actively has more — and has been the cornerstone of the team's infield since 2011. There's no question he has been important to the Orioles' success the past five years. His offensive numbers aren't where they were in his prime, but his defense remains Gold Glove caliber, and he has played a key role in grooming the two talented players who flank him — third baseman Manny Machado and second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Hardy's biggest obstacle recently has been staying on the field. He has averaged just 123 games over the past three years, and has played through several injuries. In the Orioles' deep lineup, Hardy's bat is in the bottom-third of the order, but his value there sometimes goes unnoticed. Last year, he was second on the team in batting average with runners in scoring position (.295) and pitches seen (4.12 per plate appearance). Hardy, who will turn 35 in August, said last season that he felt the best physically since his high school days, and the broken bone that cost him seven weeks when he fouled a ball off his foot was a freak injury. His spring training was slowed by a flare-up of back spasms suffered while bending over to pick up a stretching band during an offseason workout. Despite not playing his first spring game until March 13, Hardy is optimistic that injury is behind him. "The game is hard enough as it is, so trying to play through pain makes it that much harder," Hardy said. "When you're going out there and having to grind that much just to get through games, it's not as much fun as it could be. But when your body feels good and you're playing the game, it's awesome." Ultimately, Hardy's power numbers have suffered the most over the past few years. After averaging nearly 26 homers in his first three seasons in Baltimore, including a 30-homer season in 2011 when he missed the season's first month with an oblique strain, he hasn't had a double- digit home run total in the past three years. Part of that is because of the time he has missed, but he has averaging just 12 homers per 162 games over the past three seasons. At the end of this season, the Orioles must decide whether to pick up Hardy's $14 million option for 2018 (or pay him a $2 million buyout) as part of the three-year, $40 million extension he signed during the 2014 postseason. Hardy is earning $14 million this season, making him the third-highest paid shortstop in the majors behind Troy Tulowitzki of the Toronto Blue Jays ($20 million) and Elvis Andrus of the Texas Rangers ($15.25 million). Hardy's deal includes a vesting option for 2018 based on plate appearances — 600 in 2017 or 1,150 combined in 2016 and 2017 — which will be difficult to meet after he had just 438 last season. That means the decision to keep Hardy beyond this season belongs to the Orioles.