Minor League Podcast: Qualls talks life as a minors exec; September call-ups pondered

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When Dan Duquette was first hired to be the Orioles’ executive vice president in 2011, people in the industry said he had a small group of longtime baseball men that formed his brain trust. He didn’t have a lot of close advisors, but there were several people he truly trusted — and loyalty means a lot to Duquette.

In his five-season tenure in Baltimore, Duquette has brought several people into the organization that he has worked with before, including scouts/special assistants such as Wayne Britton, Ray Poitevint, Fred Ferreira and Lee Thomas.

Perhaps there is no one as closely connected to Duquette as current Orioles’ director of minor league operations Kent Qualls, who is in his fourth year overseeing the organization’s minor league administration.

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In his 19^th season in pro baseball, Qualls first worked with Duquette in the Montreal Expos organization and then later with the Boston Red Sox. Qualls also spent a decade as director of the Dan Duquette Sports Academy in Hinsdale, Mass.

In his current position with the Orioles, Qualls has myriad responsibilities, including coordinating the operations of the team’s minor league affiliates, overseeing contractual issues within the minor league system and maintaining communication throughout the organization, including its international operations.

On this week’s “Minor League Podcast,” Qualls talked about his job duties and his baseball background with Adam Pohl, the voice of the Bowie Baysox.

In addition to Qualls, Pohl spends some time in this episode talking with Dean Jones Jr., BaltimoreBaseball.com’s minor league writer.

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Pohl and Jones discuss September call-ups – rosters expand on Sept. 1 and new faces are expected to join the Orioles for their series against the New York Yankees that begins Friday.

Some of the names being seriously considered include catcher Caleb Joseph, pitchers Logan Ondrusek, Parker Bridwell and Jason Garcia, and outfielders Dariel Alvarez, Pedro Borbon and Chris Dickerson. Pohl and Jones also look at the chances of promotion for prospects such as Trey Mancini and Chance Sisco.

And they put a spotlight on 2016 draftees Keegan Akin and Cody Sedlock.

Lots of info in this one. Give it a listen.

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Dan Connolly

Dan Connolly has spent more than two decades as a print journalist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate first covered the Orioles as a beat writer for the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record in 2001 before becoming The Baltimore Sun’s national baseball writer/Orioles reporter in 2005. He has won multiple state and national writing awards, including several from the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013 he was named Maryland Co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And in 2015, he authored his first book, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." He lives in York, with his wife, Karen, and three children, Alex, Annie, and Grace.