The Orioles on Wednesday added top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez to their 60-man player pool, assigning the right-hander to their alternative training site in Bowie, Md. The club’s No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline, Rodriguez was long a candidate to be added to its player pool, which now stands at 56 players.

Rodriguez, 20, is not a candidate to play in the Majors this season, having completed his first full professional season last year at Class A Delmarva. Rodriguez faced few issues in the Sally League, going 10-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 20 starts, striking out 129 in 94 innings.

The 11th overall pick in the 2018 Draft was slated to begin 2020 at Class A Advanced Frederick before the Minor League season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Rodriguez, MLB’s No. 36 overall prospect, kept busy during the layoff long-tossing in impressive fashion near his East Texas home.

The Orioles now have eight of their top 10 prospects from the Top 30 list in the fold for hands-on instruction this summer at Bowie, where Rodriguez joins the likes of No. 1 prospect Adley Rutschman, No. 3 lefty DL Hall, No. 4 slugger Ryan Mountcastle and others.

Trade!
Since arriving in Baltimore from the Astros’ front office in November 2018, Mike Elias and Sig Mejdel have often plucked away players from Houston via waiver claim and other methods. But they hadn’t executed a trade with their former organization until Wednesday, when the Orioles sent right-hander Héctor Velázquez to Houston for a player to be named.

Velázquez, 31, was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox in spring, but he never appeared in a game for the Orioles. He was outrighted to Triple-A and removed from the Orioles’ 60-man player pool on July 24. Velázquez went 11-7 with a 3.90 ERA in 89 games as a swingman for Boston from 2017-19.

Scheduling news
The Orioles announced a programming change for Thursday’s game against the Yankees at Camden Yards: That contest will now begin at 7:05 p.m. ET, not 7:35 p.m. ET. Left-handers John Means and JA Happ are the probable pitchers for the game, which will be broadcast on MASN 2.

Pitching plans
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde called it “very, very probable” Means would return from the injured list to start Thursday against the Yankees. That has been the plan for some time, ever since Means missed his Opening Day assignment last week due to a bout with arm fatigue. Hyde said he wasn’t ready to announce the Orioles pitching plans for their upcoming three-game weekend series against the Rays, though Alex Cobb, Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone would all be rested and are likely to pitch in that series in some order.

MoStrong
Hyde began his pregame media availability by offering condolences to the family of Mo Gaba, the Orioles and Ravens superfan who died Tuesday at the age of 14. Hyde spoke wearing a “MoStrong” shirt, becoming the latest in a long line of Orioles personnel to react to the news of Gaba’s death.

“We are extremely sad to hear about the news about Mo yesterday,” Hyde sad. “I’ve only been here a year, but I understand how close some of our players were to him, how much he meant to this organization. I know the relationship he had with Trey [Mancini], as well as many others, and this is just a really tough day for everybody here. We felt like he was a part of the team.”