It was a day of live batting practice and battery mates getting to know each other around Orioles camp in Sarasota today.
Grayson Rodriguez worked two innings or “ups” as they call them in camp, with veteran backup catcher James McCann.
After a short first inning saw Rodriguez force a line out from Anthony Santander, a strikeout to Ramón Urías and a ground out by Ryan O’Hearn, he would return to pitch another “up.”
“Just good to see hitters in the box, get used to some game-speed type stuff. Obviously, seeing guys from both sides of the plate. In the offseason, it’s hard to see leftys and rightys up to bat. Getting to face our guys is a lot of fun. Getting to talk a lot of trash in the clubhouse and all that stuff. It’s a fun day at work.”
– Grayson Rodriguez on his day of work
Craig Kimbrel got a chance to show off his stuff and his unique stance, as he worked with Adley Rutschman today.
“I tried to explain to him where my angle is and where I want to start pitches and why, and why certain things work best and hopefully communicate that with him to where as we grow throughout the season, we’ll be on the same page. I told him I don’t want to shake him. I feel comfortable with all my pitches, and when we get into the games, I’m going to trust whatever he puts down. So, the more we work together, the easier the rhythm’s going to come. We’re going to be able to be on the same page. We’re going to be able to call pitches together. But that just comes with time, so it was good.”
– Craig Kimbrel on working Adley Rutschman
Kimbrel faced nine batters during his “up,” striking out three of the last four hitters, which included Santander, O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle.
“I come into spring to work to get ready for the season, and I’m pretty happy with where I am right now. Ball was coming out good. Body feels good. Just work on progressing as spring goes on, making sure the body feels good, and then just watch my velo kind of climb as we go through spring. Kind of how I’ve always done it, and expect to do it again this year.”
– Craig Kimbrel on his approach to spring training and preparing for the season
Orioles manager hasn’t decided if they will carry four or five outfielders on the Opening Day roster. Of course, we’re still only a week in.
With Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins and Santander in place, barring injury, that would put Heston Kjerstad, Colton Cowser, Ryan McKenna, Kyle Stowers and Sam Hilliard competing for one or two spots.
Jorge Mateo could be the deciding factor in how both the outfield and infield are approached for the bench.
“You definitely want to be able to cover center and left in our place. I honestly don’t know at this point if we’re going to carry four or five, how that’s going to look. That’s why McKenna’s been so valuable for us the last couple of years, a guy that can play above-average both in center and left field. And he’s back again.”
– O’s manager Brandon Hyde on playing the outfield and having players with versatility
Orioles camp has 62 players this year, versus over 70 last season. With some players out of options, competitions will be more interesting this spring.
“You definitely want guys to get this major league experience, but we also want to see some of these guys get a lot of at-bats and a lot of innings in the field. Don’t want to crowd it too much to allow some guys to really compete for a major league job. That’s really important.”
– O’s manager Brandon Hyde on camp this spring
Hyder will announce the starter for Saturday’s exhibition opener with the Boston Red Sox on Thursday.
We will see what tomorrow brings, as we are closing in on the start of spring training games. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s edition of SpringNotes.
What stood out to you today around O’s camp? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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