Baltimore Orioles: 8 Players Who Will Get Every Chance to Make the Club

The Baltimore Orioles will again enter spring training with an unsettled 25-man roster and many players looking to latch on to the team when it goes up north for Opening Day.

Competition remains for many roles, such as a backup infielder, the bullpen and a 12-man race for the five available starting rotation slots.

It should be interesting to see how it all unfolds. The great thing about it is that almost all the players vying for spots are young and have some upside. If the O's are lucky, some of these young players will force the team's hand and be included on the 25-man roster by starting to show what they're capable of.

Then, the O's would have a nice problem to have with these following players.

Nolan Reimold, Left Field

Nolan Reimold isn't exactly considered a prospect anymore, but he still hasn't completely established himself in the major leagues just yet.

He seemed well on his way to during a spectacular rookie season in 2009 but tore his Achilles tendon, and ever since he hasn't been exactly the same.

His 2010 season was a disaster, but in 2011 he had a decent year with the O's after a midseason call-up and really began to catch fire in the last month or so.

Reimold is a player with a great eye at the plate, a bat that's got some enormous pop and was timed as the second-quickest player in baseball running from home to first last season (after the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's Peter Bourjos). However, he has a little trouble in the field, but the club believes he can improve his game there as well.

Manager Buck Showalter was on record recently as stating he wants Reimold to win the starting left field job out of spring training. At this point in time, I don't see why Reimold can't do it.

Ryan Flaherty, Infielder

Taken in the Rule 5 draft earlier this offseason, Ryan Flaherty will be given every shot imaginable to win the starting second baseman job this spring (because, let's be real here, Brian Roberts isn't going to be ready in time to start the 2012 season).

The club will be searching for a serviceable replacement for Roberts, and they see that in Flaherty.

That, coupled with the fact that if he doesn't remain on the 25-man roster all year he has to be offered back to the team he was taken from (the Chicago Cubs), means the O's will let him try his best to stay with the team.

It would definitely be nice to see Flaherty step up and become a nice starter for the Orioles, letting utility man Robert Andino stay in his current role, a set-up preferred by Showalter.

Chris Tillman, Starting Pitcher

Though Chris Tillman has unmercifully dominated AAA-level pitching, this slide's accompanying picture is a pretty nice summary of what happens to him when he throws to big-league hitters.

He's looking more and more like an AAAA player—someone who can light it up in the minors, but can't translate the same success to the major leagues—and since just a couple years ago he was thought of as a good pitching prospect, the Orioles would not like to see that become of him.

He has the potential and all the tools. Now he just needs to learn to control himself better, be more consistent and simply mature.

I'm sure he'll be given plenty of spring innings for the O's to determine whether he belongs in the majors or still needs to work on his mechanics while baffling opposing players at Norfolk.

Armando Galarraga, Starting Pitcher

Everyone knows him for the Perfect Game That Wasn't.

Well now, he's known as the guy who just signed a minor league deal with an invite to spring training with the Baltimore Orioles.

Armando Galarraga is an interesting case. He has potential, as evidenced by his 2008 rookie season when he went 13-7 with a 3.73 ERA over 178.2 innings pitched.

But he's 30 years of age now. Honestly, I doubt he'll ever match those numbers again. His presence in the Orioles organization is simply just for depth.

I expect he will be given a fighting chance to win a role with the parent club, be it as a starter or swingman/long reliever type. If not, hopefully he'll be waiting for his turn at AAA, because he'd be some pretty decent insurance to have in case of injury, and every pitching staff has a few of those throughout the grueling 162-game season.

Matt Antonelli, Infielder

Like Ryan Flaherty, Matt Antonelli was brought in as insurance to Brian Roberts and will be looked at very closely this spring to see if he can fill in for the injured Orioles' lifer.

Unlike Flaherty, Antonelli wasn't a Rule 5 selection, so he may be able to stay in the system were he not included on the Opening Day roster.

Antonelli is pretty much a depth move. Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette has been stockpiling able bodies throughout the Orioles' system to help slowly thicken the team's minor league affiliates. Antonelli is one of those bodies.

Even still, expect to see him getting equal playing time during March.

Brian Matusz, Starting Pitcher

The Orioles will be hoping their former first-round draft choice will be able to do a 180 degree turn this season and return to what he was in 2010, namely in the months of August and September of that year.

Brian Matusz had a historically bad season last year after showing up to spring training out of shape and then getting injured. So far this offseason, Showalter has been please with Matusz's offseason training with former Orioles and current front office assistant to Duquette Brady Anderson, which is a good sign.

O's fans will be praying Matusz can dominate hitters as he showed that he can do in the final months of the 2010 season. If he can do that, the Orioles have a legitimate ace in the making and Matusz could help propel them to a better record.

He'll be given every chance and then some to make the club out of spring training, but if he doesn't, it's off to AAA for the young lefty.

Tsuyoshi Wada, Starting Pitcher

The lefty from Japan was expected to be inserted directly into the rotation, much like Koji Uehara was back in 2009, upon his signing.

That is of course, until Wei-Yin Chen decided to make the transition from Japan to the Baltimore Orioles as well.

Now, the common perception is that Wada will have to impress greatly to avoid a bullpen role, but that's OK with Duquette and Showalter, who are just happy to have the pitching depth.

With Jeremy Guthrie assured a spot in the rotation and young guns Zach Britton and Jake Arrieta given theirs to lose, it'll be a battle for the final two slots in the 2012 Opening Day starting rotation for the O's.

If Chen is thought to be able to secure one of them, who is going to be Wada's biggest competition outside of Matusz?

Tommy Hunter, Starting Pitcher

Tommy Hunter, of course!

Brought over with first baseman Chris Davis in the trade deadline deal this past year where the O's sent Uehara to Texas, Hunter is a bulldog pitcher with some upside who could possibly settle in as a No. 3- or 4-starter type.

He has decent stuff and the drive to give his team a perfect game every single time he toes the rubber. Hunter helped the Rangers reach their first World Series in 2010.

If Hunter isn't one of the Orioles' five starters on Opening Day, look for him in their bullpen and expect to see him at least get a handful of starts throughout the season.