masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgIf Nolan Reimold is going to play first base this season, he’ll need to take care of an important piece of business.

“I don’t even have a first baseman’s mitt yet,” he said, grinning at his locker.

Reimold took grounders at first on the last day of spring training, which created quite a stir after manager Dave Trembley and president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail kept insisting all winter that he was strictly an outfielder.

“People asked why we waited until the end of the camp….If Nolan Reimold is going to play first base this season, he’ll need to take care of an important piece of business.

“I don’t even have a first baseman’s mitt yet,” he said, grinning at his locker.

Reimold took grounders at first on the last day of spring training, which created quite a stir after manager Dave Trembley and president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail kept insisting all winter that he was strictly an outfielder.

“People asked why we waited until the end of the camp. Because he wasn’t 100 percent healthy before the end of camp. If he was 100 percent healthy at the beginning of camp, we might have done it sometime earlier than that,” Trembley said.

“It gives us another option down the road. I don’t think you’ll see Nolan Reimold playing first base the first week of the season. I think it’s a ways down the road if, in fact, he does that. As I’ve heard it said, we’re just kicking the tires on that. I wouldn’t read too much into it or get too far ahead of yourself on that one.

“There’s a lot that needs to be covered before you’d feel comfortable putting him out there. You’ve got to be fair to him as well as the other guys who are playing in the field with him. You can’t just put somebody out there who’s never done it before in a big league camp.”

Reimold said he’s been told that taking grounders won’t be an “everyday thing,” and will only happen “once in a while.” He also said that he didn’t do anything “first base related” on that back field. He just took grounders “and it happened to be at first base.”

Trembley is looking for ways to start Reimold and Felix Pie at the same time, “but it’s way, way, way too early to start thinking about Nolan Reimold’s name with a 3 beside it.”

Trembley isn’t certain when he’ll write Reimold’s name in the lineup, “but I would expect him to play sooner rather than later and be a contributing factor to the success of this team.”