masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgAs the oddities of the 2021 season stack up like bar Jenga, though they never crash to the floor, I have to admit that I didn’t anticipate how running out of first basemen would be one of the pieces.
I must have blocked it out.
The Orioles were criticized for having too many corner outfield/first base types. OK, perhaps. I’ve probably said it a few times. But Ryan Mountcastle goes on the concussion injured list, Trey Mancini suddenly is starting every night at first after settling in as the…

As the oddities of the 2021 season stack up like bar Jenga, though they never crash to the floor, I have to admit that I didn’t anticipate how running out of first basemen would be one of the pieces.

I must have blocked it out.

The Orioles were criticized for having too many corner outfield/first base types. OK, perhaps. I’ve probably said it a few times. But Ryan Mountcastle goes on the concussion injured list, Trey Mancini suddenly is starting every night at first after settling in as the designated hitter, and Maikel Franco is needed across the diamond when Mancini is rested or hobbled.

How the heck did this happen?

Pat Valaika was designated for assignment to make room for Jorge Mateo, an understandable swap for a rebuilding team that shouldn’t pass on a three-time top 100 prospect. But Valaika would have come in handy with first basemen dropping like popups.

Heck, Stevie Wilkerson would have been helpful, since he made five appearances at first in the minors, but he was released from Triple-A Norfolk.

Solutions aren’t found in the corner outfield unless the Orioles want to do more experimenting. Anthony Santander and DJ Stewart haven’t played first. Austin Hays and Ryan McKenna haven’t played first. And McKenna was optioned yesterday.

Mateo has played three infield positions. Guess which one is missing from the list.

Catcher Austin Wynns takes ground balls at first base in batting practice and played one inning this season. Again, not really a solution.

This is bottom rung among Orioles problems, but it does exist. And it’s just weird to me.

McKenna-Safe-At-Home-Black-Sidebar.jpg* McKenna has a future on this team because he’s a plus runner and defender in the outfield. He brings energy. And he can hit more than he’s shown in limited opportunities.

He’s still getting used to the shifts from everyday player at Triple-A to bench role.

Here’s the transactions log for McKenna:

April 5: Recalled from alternate site
April 20: Optioned to alternate site
April 21: Recalled from alternate site
April 27: Optioned to alternate site
May 9: Recalled from Norfolk
May 21: Optioned to Norfolk
May 26: Recalled from Norfolk
June 10: Optioned to Norfolk
June 27: Recalled from Norfolk
July 20: Optioned to Norfolk
July 21: Recalled from Norfolk
Aug. 17: Optioned to Norfolk

I might have missed a few, but you get the idea.

McKenna could join the expanded September roster if he isn’t recalled sooner.

“I think the important thing for Mac is, we felt like he needs to play every day,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We’ve sent him out before with that same idea, then we had something happen where he stayed on the roster. He’s done a great job for us in the role that he’s in.

“I really like Mac, I think Mac’s got big upside. But in our right now, the way our roster is, we felt like the more important thing was for him to go down and get as many at-bats as possible. Maybe he’ll be back here soon. We’ll see. But I really like what he brings from the defense, I like the competitiveness of the at-bats, like I’ve talked about, the baserunning aspect. When we had leads, how he’d defend for us late. So a lot of good things from Mac.”

* Mateo stayed in the lineup last night at shortstop, where he’s made three starts, compared to seven at second base. He also played seven innings at third base after Mountcastle exited with concussions symptoms.

The Orioles are expected to keep playing Mateo, who prefers shortstop, where he struggled last night, but will do whatever he’s told. He just wants to remain in the majors.

I was asked this week on the “Inside the Yard” podcast about Mateo’s possible role in 2022. First, of course, he’d need to make the club. After that, it’s really wide open with such a small sampling.

I can see him breaking camp as the starter at short or second. I can see him being a super-utility player with his experience in the outfield. His 80-grade speed and plus arm make him useful in a variety of ways. He just hasn’t hit at this level prior to the Orioles claiming him on waivers.

Just as the Orioles figured out a rotating system with their outfielders, using first base and the designated hitter spot, they could implement a different kind of shift with their infielders if they decide to recall Jahmai Jones.

Remember him?

Jones is trying to convince the Orioles that he’s ready defensively at second base. The Orioles want to give Mateo a lot of starts at second base. They also want to give Richie Martin a chance at short.

Not to mention, but I will, the clogging of third base if the Orioles decide to promote Rylan Bannon.

* Major league coach Fredi González has noticed that Mateo’s inexperience at second shows on occasion during relays with his failure to be in the right spot. González went back to the hotel Monday night and did a search on triples throughout the league to see where the cutoffs and relays are happening.

“If I saw 70 triples in the league, it took me 40 minutes to come up with five good ones that other teams were running,” he said. “So it’s not only us. It’s, everybody’s not in the right spot. Finally, I got five good ones.”

González didn’t share his information yesterday because Mateo played short, but they’ll talk about it later today.

* The Orioles hired González in December 2019 to provide a “sounding board” for Hyde, as he put it yesterday. The equivalent of a bench coach, minus the title. But González approached Hyde at the All-Star break and suggested an expansion of his duties.

González wanted to become sort of a fundamentals guru or sheriff because of the youth on the club, the number of players joining it through the farm system and waiver wire.

“If it’s a cutoff or relay that’s not done well, we break it down and make sure we go over it the next day,” he said. “If there’s a bunt defense that doesn’t go well, we go over it the next day or the first day of the series. We’ve even covered rules in our meetings, in particular the infield fly rule, and it’s really close to my heart, if you guys remember about seven years ago with the St. Louis Cardinals in the playoffs.”

González was Braves manager in 2012 when they played the Cardinals in the National League’s wild card game. Andrelton Simmons’ fly ball dropped in shallow left field with St. Louis ahead 6-3 to load the bases, but it was nullified when umpire Sam Holbrook invoked the infield fly rule. St. Louis won and González indicated that he’d protest the game.

But back to the Orioles …

“We’ve covered it with the players, because sometimes you forget these guys play the game but they don’t know the rules, so we pick up a rule every couple of days and go over it, whether it’s the infield fly rule or the mechanics of it or guys covering two runners on the same base and those things,” González said.

“That’s my role that I haven’t done in a long time, maybe going back to my minor league days, but it’s important, especially when you have a team that’s kind of transitioning to play big league games. So I’m excited for that. I haven’t done that in a long time, but it’s a thing that’s close to my heart and is important.”

Hyde has been stressing the importance of fundamentals for three years, “something we’ve hammered,” he said.

“In our meetings that’s an area that Fredi kind of takes over with,” Hyde said. “We go over it collectively and any kind of fundamental mistake we make defensively, we show it on video, we talk through it. We have a lot of moving pieces on our roster, too, Mateo’s now here, Richie Martin’s here, Franco came from out of the organization, Ryan Mountcastle hasn’t played much first base in his career, so there’s a lot of new things going on and so there’s a lot of teaching that’s happening on a daily basis.

“Pre-series meetings, we go over fundamentals that we made mistakes on in the previous series, we go over that as a group. We show it. But also just day-to-day, making sure we’re in the right spots. Mateo hasn’t played much second base, so that’s a constant, cuts and relays, etc. And Fredi’s done a really good job of kind of leading the way with that.”

González also can lend a sympathetic ear to Hyde. He had 91- and 95-loss seasons as a manager and was a coach during some down times with the Marlins.

“That’s something that Hyder and I talk about all the time,” he said. “We talk about, ‘Hey, you’ve just got to keep running the game. Run the game, because people are watching. Keep putting guys in positions where you think they’re going to be successful and keep doing it that way.’ “

González can provide motivation through his successes, too. The Marlins won 84 and 87 games in his second and third years as manager and almost made the playoffs in 2009.

“There is always a silver lining with the losing,” he said. “I think we’ve got to keep our heads and keep teaching and keep motivating these guys. As a coaching staff, I think the best thing we’ve got to do is we’ve got to be ourselves. We’ve got to forget what happened last night, build on it, talk about some talking points today about what we can improve and keep going forward.”