Kuzul

In yesterday's spring training game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies, Orioles' pitching prospect Zach Britton made his major league spring training debut in the bottom of the third, relieving starter and fellow pitching prospect Chris Tillman with his team up 2-1. He then proceeded to throw two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, Ryan Howard. Granted, that could mean he's got great stuff and could transfer such success over to the majors, and it could mean absolutely nothing, as some things in spring training tend to do, but one thing is for sure: That's a pretty impressive spring debut for any pitcher. Britton, one of the five starting pitching prospects that Orioles' President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail likes to group into what he calls "The Cavalry," is viewed by many to have a bright future ahead of him ...

As baseball's opening day approaches teams are sizing up their division chances. Spring brings excitement to every team. Even those teams whose chances look bleak have the potential to catch lightning in a bottle and make this season memorable. For every team, it will take more than dumb luck to reach the postseason. They’ll need to play from their strengths and hope that there weaknesses can be covered or muted by breakout stars or exceptional play. So here’s a look at each teams strengths and their glaring weaknesses and what it means to each team. Begin Slideshow

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings. Much like Zack Greinke, Justin Verlander has given us three very different looks in the last three seasons. In 2008, Verlander posted ugly strikeout (7.30) and walk (3.90) rates, and an even uglier ERA (4.84) on his way to losing 17 games. In 2009, Verlander flipped the switch, setting career bests in K/9 (10.09), BB/9 (2.36), ERA (3.45) and wins (19). His FIP (2.80) and xFIP (3.26) suggested he was (and would continue to be) even better. 2010 brought a more realistic, yet still very good version of Verlander. In his fourth consecutive season logging 200-plus innings, Verlander settled in with 18 wins, a 3.37 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 8.79 K/9 and 2.85 BB/9. His FIP (2.97) and xFIP (3.68) didn’t suggest anything out of ...

We have already covered a bunch of fantasy player projections for the upcoming 2011 season, and now I want to talk about one guy who I am a big fan of—Jordan Zimmermann. (Yes, that’s TWO N’s at the end of his last name. Get it right, guys!) Even though JZ is coming off a season where he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, the success stories of Josh Johnson, Francisco Liriano, Chris Carpenter and Tim Hudson make me feel confident that he can return at full strength. It is becoming more common for pitchers to undergo this procedure earlier in their careers if problems start to arise because they can come back stronger once their confidence returns. In the ESPN mock draft, JZ was drafted in the 21st round (pick 202) by Jason Grey, who I think is the most knowledgeable expert in Bristol, and he also made the top 50 in both Brandon Funston (48) and Brad Evans’ (46) SP rankings ...