5+ hour, 15+ min ago (625+ words) J.D. Urso was selected by the Loco Beach Coconuts in the Banana ball draft. He is on the same team as former Spartan CJ Williams. Urso and his dad have been working on trick plays ahead of the season in February. TAMPA, Fla. - Former UTampa baseball star J.D. Urso is feeling thankful. ""Just so blessed to be able to have this opportunity," J.D. Urso said. That's because his baseball career will be extended beyond his playing days as a Spartan. "I'll be able to say I was on the first ever roster of the Loco Beach Coconuts," Urso said. Urso signed a one-year contract with the newly established Loco Beach Coconuts of the world-famous Banana Ball Championship League after he was drafted by the team following five weeks of playing tryout baseball for the Savannah Visitors. JD and his former Spartan teammate CJ…...

13+ hour, 21+ min ago (594+ words) Nov 24, 2025 | 3:26 PM EST New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman talks on a cell phone during a team workout two days before they host game one of the American League Division Series against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 in New York City. NYP20191002146 JOHNxANGELILLO If you thought that every Japanese star seems destined to land in the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tatsuya Imai is here to tell you otherwise'and loudly. The right-hander, dubbed by some as the "second Yoshinobu Yamamoto," went on Japanese TV earlier today and gave a message that probably has Yankee fans grinning ear to ear. Not only did he prefer to join a team without other Japanese players, but he even took a direct shot at baseball's biggest Japanese pipeline'the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I want to take them down," Imai said. "Beating a team like…...

13+ hour, 48+ min ago (339+ words) Geoff Arnold won't be returning to the Orioles' broadcast booth in 2026. The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network chose not to renew Arnold's contract after it expired following the 2025 season, The Athletic's Britt Ghiroli reported. Orioles radio play-by-play announcer Geoff Arnold will not be returning in 2026, sources say. He was recently named one of Front Office Sports 26 rising pxp stars. Spent 5 years at Class-A before making the jump to MASN in 2020. " Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) November 24, 2025 It's a surprising move for a broadcaster who seemed to be on the rise. Arnold won the 2023 Maryland Sportscaster of the Year award and was recently named one of Front Office Sports' 26 play-by-play announcers to watch. He was even a finalist for the Marlins' primary TV job last year, which eventually went to Jack McMullen. Arnold joined MASN in 2020 after spending five years calling games for the Frederick Keys,…...

16+ hour, 14+ min ago (482+ words) The 2025-26 MLB free agent class is fascinating despite lackingAaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto, the three superstar MLB free agents of the past three winters. It's deep in sluggers and late-game relievers, with a helping of starting pitchers and third basemen. It feels hard to predict where players will land, and that should make this a fun offseason. The domino effect of one or two surprise signings -- such asKyle Schwarber not returning to the Philadelphia Phillies or Pete Alonso not returning to the New York Mets -- will create chaos. As always, a lot of money will be spent -- not all of it wisely. Last year's top-10 domestic free agents did pretty well, historically speaking, going from a combined 34.2 WAR in 2024 to 28.2 in 2025 to retain 82% of their value. In 2023-24, that figure was just 57% and in 2022-23, just 54%. Let's dig into the…...

16+ hour, 14+ min ago (482+ words) The 2025-26 MLB free agent class is fascinating despite lackingAaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto, the three superstar MLB free agents of the past three winters. It's deep in sluggers and late-game relievers, with a helping of starting pitchers and third basemen. It feels hard to predict where players will land, and that should make this a fun offseason. The domino effect of one or two surprise signings -- such asKyle Schwarber not returning to the Philadelphia Phillies or Pete Alonso not returning to the New York Mets -- will create chaos. As always, a lot of money will be spent -- not all of it wisely. Last year's top-10 domestic free agents did pretty well, historically speaking, going from a combined 34.2 WAR in 2024 to 28.2 in 2025 to retain 82% of their value. In 2023-24, that figure was just 57% and in 2022-23, just 54%. Let's dig into the…...

22+ hour, 25+ min ago (1850+ words) The paper fliers went up early one morning in April, an advertisement of hope in the cell blocks of California's most notorious prison: Baseball tryout, Saturday, 9 a.m. Richard Williams couldn't have been more excited. He had been incarcerated in San Quentin for over three decades, and for the next six months, he would not be just Richard Williams, inmate H-07618. He would be Coach Will, the leader of the San Quentin Giants, the country's best baseball team behind bars. When Saturday morning came, dozens of men gathered on the edge of the infield dirt, still in their prison blue work clothes. They were as young as 24 and as old as 60; some had played college baseball, while others were picking up a bat for the first time since Little League. They would open their season on the day before Easter, and Williams began…...

22+ hour, 34+ min ago (316+ words) We've gotten accustomed to having a big superstar pitcher jump to MLB from Asia in the last two years, first with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and then with Roki Sasaki. There might not be a player who can have that kind of impact, but there are four prominent players coming over this offseason. MLB clubs looking for a third baseman will have Okamoto on their shopping list, especially the ones that miss out on Alex Bregman and Eugenio Su'rez. He won't hit as many home runs as Murakami can'or Su'rez for that matter'but he doesn't turn 30 until the end of June and makes more contact, giving him a likelier chance of hitting for average and getting on base. Tatsuya Imai could land a bigger contract than either Murakami or Okamoto. The 27-year-old right-hander was one of the best pitchers in Japan this…...

23+ hour, 17+ min ago (1041+ words) Taylor Ward's phone rang around 8 p.m. Tuesday, he checked the name of the caller and saw that Angels general manager Perry Minasian was trying to contact him. Ward had always prepared himself for the possibility of a trade, and now, Minasian randomly was on the other end of the line. "Obviously," he said today in a video call, "there's been rumors for years now." The chatter apparently didn't cause him to make any assumptions that night, to come away as anything except surprised when told that the Orioles acquired him for starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez. "Our conversation was pretty brief, but just told me that I was traded to Baltimore and he appreciated everything that I had done with the Angels and wished me luck. But had no idea," Ward said. "I mean, you could say it was definitely a blindside....

23+ hour, 24+ min ago (799+ words) BALTIMORE -- The trade rumors had circulated around Taylor Ward for years. The 31-year-old outfielder had known for a while that he could be dealt at any time. That didn't make the phone call from Angels general manager Perry Minasian around 8 p.m. PT last Tuesday any less surprising to Ward, who was informed he had been traded to the Orioles in a 1-for-1 swap for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. "I had no idea," Ward said in a Zoom call with the Baltimore media on Monday. "You could say it was definitely a blindside. I had no idea that the Orioles were interested in me, but definitely thankful, grateful for the opportunity and excited to get going with them." Ward may not have known about the O's interest, but the club had been targeting the slugger for quite some time. "There's a lot to…...

23+ hour, 24+ min ago (799+ words) BALTIMORE -- The trade rumors had circulated around Taylor Ward for years. The 31-year-old outfielder had known for a while that he could be dealt at any time. That didn't make the phone call from Angels general manager Perry Minasian around 8 p.m. PT last Tuesday any less surprising to Ward, who was informed he had been traded to the Orioles in a 1-for-1 swap for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. "I had no idea," Ward said in a Zoom call with the Baltimore media on Monday. "You could say it was definitely a blindside. I had no idea that the Orioles were interested in me, but definitely thankful, grateful for the opportunity and excited to get going with them." Ward may not have known about the O's interest, but the club had been targeting the slugger for quite some time. "There's a lot to…...