Rosters for the Spring Breakout feature Orioles Infielder, Jackson Chourio from….. plus Orioles Sale Clears Next MLB Procedural Hurdle
Baltimore infielder Jackson Holliday, Milwaukee outfielder Jackson Chourio, and Pittsburgh right-hander Paul Skenes are the top names on the rosters for the inaugural Spring Breakout event, aimed at highlighting promising prospects.
All 30 major league organizations unveiled their rosters on Thursday for the event scheduled from March 14-17 at various spring training sites. The rosters feature players who still maintain rookie eligibility, meaning they haven’t exceeded certain thresholds such as 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched, or 45 days on an active major league roster.
The games, mostly comprising seven innings, will be part of doubleheaders alongside Cactus League or Grapefruit League matchups.
Holliday and Chourio are highly regarded as baseball’s premier prospects.
Holliday, son of the retired seven-time All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, was the top overall pick in the 2022 draft. Chourio, who celebrates his 20th birthday on Monday, made headlines this offseason by securing the most lucrative contract ever for a player without major league experience – an eight-year, $82 million deal.
The Spring Breakout schedule includes a March 14 showdown between the Orioles and Pirates, potentially setting the stage for an intriguing matchup where Skenes could pitch to Holliday, featuring the top overall picks from the last two amateur drafts.
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Orioles Sale Clears Next MLB Procedural Hurdle
The sale of the Baltimore Orioles cleared a critical hurdle on Friday.
The MLB ownership committee, the working group that vets team sales before they are submitted to league owners for a vote, approved the sale of the team from the Angelos family to a group led by David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti.
The Baltimore Sun was among the outlets that reported the approval. It has not been announced officially.
The Orioles announced in January that the Angelos family would sell a controlling stake to the private equity billionaires for $1.725 billion.
That didn’t make the sale official. It still had to go through MLB’s vetting process, which included the ownership committee.
The fact that the proposed sale flew through the process that quickly is a good sign. Immediately after the announcement it was reported that the sale might not be approved until the All-Star Break in July.
The next step is approval from all of MLB’s owners. The sale must be approved by at least 23 of the league’s owners. It’s not known when that vote will take place.
Assuming the sale receives final approval, Rubenstein, a long-time Orioles fan and co-founder of the private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, will be in control of the team. Arougheti is the co-founder of Ares Management Corp. and lives in New York.
The pair will inherit a team with a small-market payroll but one of the most stocked rosters and farm systems in baseball as the franchise is coming off a 101-win season and an American League East title.
Offensively, the Orioles look set, with returning players at every position, including Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson at third base and Silver Slugger catcher Adley Rutschman. That doesn’t include No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday, who is waiting in the wings, or the other five Top 100 prospects the Orioles have in their system, some of which are MLB-ready.
The pitching staff is led by Kyle Bradish, who finished in the Top 5 of Cy Young voting last year. The Orioles’ most significant free-agent addition was signing Craig Kimbrel to a one-year deal to close while Félix Bautista recovers from Tommy John surgery.
The new ownership group will include Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. and will give Rubenstein and Arougheti control of 40 percent of the team. Once Peter Angelos, who bought the team in 1993, passes away, the new ownership team can buy the Angelos family out.
After the sale is complete, the Angelos family will remain a major investor and John Angelos, who currently controls the team, will be a senior advisor. But Rubenstein will be in control.
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