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Will Tyler O’Neill be in Orioles’ Opening Day lineup? | MAILBAG

Question: Do you think Craig Albernaz purposefully puts Tyler O’Neill in right field  to give him a chance to hit another Opening Day home run? (O’Neill holds the MLB record with six in a row.) And while I’m at it, why hasn’t there been more coverage of Orioles playing for Team Canada … Tyler O’Neill and Micah Ashman? Rightfully lots of attention paid to Gunnar.  From: Stuart Nabors

Answer: Stuart, I think manager Craig Albernaz will not take personal records into account when constructing an Opening Day lineup or any lineup. He’s not given us any clues on what it will look like.

As for Team Canada and the World Baseball Classic as a whole, I’m in camp covering the Orioles, and other than a column by Peter Schmuck, we haven’t covered the WBC because I’m writing about the team in camp, and you can get WBC coverage elsewhere.

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I’ve written about the WBC players before they left, and will talk with O’Neill when he’s available. Ashman is not in major league camp and pitched in one game as an extra player.

Question: Wondering how the umpires have been doing in spring training with the ABS system challenges. Mostly upheld, overturned or 50-50? From: John Miller

Answer: John, through Saturday 52 percent of calls challenged in the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System have been overturned. Forty-four percent of calls challenged by batters have been overturned while 59 percent of calls challenged by catchers or pitchers have been overturned.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.

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Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

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