Ryan Mountcastle was drafted by the Orioles as a shortstop in 2015, the 36^th-overall selection out of a Florida high school with bat skills that figured to stamp his ticket to the majors. Evaluators assured that he’d hit at any level.

But where to play him?

The arm didn’t work at short, leading some members of the organization to quickly push for a position change. Others were slower to concede.

Valuable time was lost, and that created some friction. As if more of it was needed behind the scenes.

The Orioles decided to try him at third base full-time in 2018 after his 16 starts in the Arizona Fall League. They introduced him to left field the following year at Triple-A Norfolk, setting up his major league debut in 2020. But the career-changer came with the commitment to first base, where he made 82 starts in 2021 and 123 in ‘22.

The Orioles will try again for their first multiple Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners since 2014.

They have three candidates this year – catcher Adley Rutschman, first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and left fielder Austin Hays.

Rutschman is pitted against the Rangers’ Jonah Heim and the Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk. Mountcastle joins the Yankees’ Anthony Rizzo and the Rangers’ Nathaniel Lowe. Hays joins the Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho and the Guardians’ Steven Kwan.

Winners are determined from voting by the managers and coaches in each league who are prohibited from choosing their own players. A sabermetric component accounts for about 25 percent of the vote total.

The results will be announced on Nov. 5 beginning at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight.”

The finality of the Orioles’ season erases games and ticket requests – and I definitely can speak to the latter - but not the lingering questions.

There’s much to review about a 101-win season, as well as the three straight losses to the Rangers in the Division Series that left manager Brandon Hyde “irritated” and “pissed.”

Those feelings were shared by many in the organization.

Two subjects came up in last week’s media session that are worth revisiting this morning.

Is the five-day layoff an excuse for early playoff exits?

Awards season is upon us despite the leagues competing to determine who competes in the World Series.

The Orioles' Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Bradish and Ryan O’Hearn are finalists for the Major League Baseball Players Association’s Players Choice Awards. The announcement was made earlier today.

As the name suggests, the players handle the voting.

Henderson is competing with the Rangers’ Josh Jung and the Red Sox’s Triston Casas for the American League’s Outstanding Rookie honor.

Bradish is competing against the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Twins’ Sonny Gray for AL Outstanding Pitcher. And O’Hearn is a finalist for AL Comeback Player along with Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow and White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks.

The task of constructing a 26-man roster for 2024, and it’s never too early to begin the process through staff meetings, is easier in some ways for Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias.

The backup catcher already is in place with another season left on the four-year deal that James McCann signed with the Mets. The Orioles usually hold a camp competition that involves players on one-year contracts and minor league deals, or with salaries set via the arbitration process. But next spring’s drama will be reduced to determining who’s the next man up in case of injury.

Anthony Bemboom headed north with the team again after McCann went on the IL with a left oblique strain.

The outfield already is crowded and Elias could be dissuaded from pursuing a veteran. He’s got to figure out how to potentially fit Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad. Not to block them.

The infield also is deep, and Jackson Holliday has a chance to make the Opening Day roster. Second baseman Connor Norby put up big numbers in Triple-A. Third baseman Coby Mayo mashed in Double-A and Triple-A, hitting a combined .290/.410/.564 with 45 doubles, three triples, 29 home runs and 99 RBIs in 140 games, and earning Most Valuable Player honors in the Eastern League.

The Orioles’ swift exit from the Division Series brings us to the first mailbag of the offseason. Tailor made if you’re the Rangers, also bringing us to the first Taylor Swift pun.

I'll get to ERAs later.

(Her current tour is called Eras. Try to keep up and be cool like me.)

The organization doesn’t go dark. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and his staff are plotting their roster strategies and, after the weekend news about Brad Ciolek taking a job with the Nationals, how to find their next director of draft operations.

A scout from outside the organization texted me yesterday that the Orioles have “plenty of in-house candidates.” Maybe that’s the solution.

It used to be said that the Orioles worrying about a closer was akin – as opposed to Keegan Akin, which wasn’t said – to putting shiny hubcaps on a rusted Ford Pinto.

They had far bigger issues than worrying about ninth inning leads. Like, trying to get a ninth inning lead.

But we’ve moved past bad teams. The Orioles won 101 games this season. They are expected to be the favorites to win the division again in 2024. Their odds to win the World Series won’t be 100/1.

The Orioles have tried their own relievers in the past, most recently Félix Bautista, who went from imposing setup man to imposing closer and made the All-Star team. Averaged an obscene 16.2 strikeouts per nine innings and entered the Cy Young conversation before tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and undergoing surgery that removes him from next year’s roster.

Jorge López went from starter to closer before Bautista replaced him. Jim Johnson was a minor league starter in the Orioles’ system and later a closer who saved 50-plus games in back-to-back seasons. Zack Britton was Zach Britton while starting and later closing for the Orioles, going 47-for-47 in 2016 and finishing fourth in Cy Young voting.

Mike Elias confirmed this week that he’s returning as Orioles executive vice president/general manager, and Brandon Hyde remains the manager following a 101-win season.

However, the scouting department won’t go untouched.

An industry source confirmed today that director of draft operations Brad Ciolek is joining the Nationals as senior director of amateur scouting.

The hire is part of a massive shakeup by the Nats, who also are replacing director of player development De Jon Watson. Johnny DiPuglia resigned as international scouting director in September. Twelve scouts were told later that month that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed.

Ciolek will report directly to former Orioles scout Danny Haas, hired last week as vice president of amateur scouting. Kris Kline, who held the job since 2009, moves into a scouting position on the professional side.

Matt Swartz at MLBTradeRumors.com created a model to project salaries for arbitration-eligible players, which the site has published for 13 years. Is it 100 percent accurate? Of course not, because that would be impossible. But he nails some and comes darn close with others.

That's to be expected with an algorithm that, as the site describes it, “looks at the player’s playing time, position, role, and performance statistics while accounting for inflation.” We’re also warned against using it as a “scorecard.” But does that stop us?

Of course not.

Anyway, the Orioles have an astounding 16 players eligible for arbitration, tied with the Rays and Mets for second most behind the Yankees’ 17. My unscientific projection is there’s zero chance that the club retains all of them.

Anthony Santander’s salary could jump from $7.4 million to $12.7 million. Starter Kyle Gibson led the club this season at $10 million, since the Yankees carried the bulk of Aaron Hicks’ salary and the Mets handled the bulk of James McCann’s.

The reflection period after the last playoff game also covers press conferences in the auxiliary clubhouse at Camden Yards, where the ballpark was eerily quiet yesterday. No one milling around the concourses. No prep work for Game 5 of the American League Division Series.

Sort of like a bug-out but without taking down the tents.

The place will be hoppin’ again next spring. The Orioles open at home against the Angels on March 28.

In the meantime, out of the public eye, team officials are gathering to discuss various points of business. You want specifics? Check back later.

“This is very fresh,” said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. “We just got off a plane.”

More players arrived at Camden Yards this morning to pack their belongings. Others hopped in cars or boarded flights home. Félix Bautista arrived before 11 a.m. to get further instructions on rehabbing his right elbow, an arduous task that begins in a few days in Sarasota.

The Orioles’ offseason is in its infancy stages, which precludes executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias from offering specifics on targeted areas of improvement, payroll, handling arbitration-eligible players, the status of front office personnel and the coaching staff, replacing Bautista and roles for other pitchers.

Elias didn’t tap dance during today’s season-ending press conference, but he chose his words carefully and warned that he would be “kind of boring today with positional roster questions.”

It’s just too soon. The wounds are fresh after being swept by the Rangers in the Division Series.

“I just want to thank our players,” Elias said in opening remarks during his 30-minute session. “Just tremendous group of individuals I’ll never forget. Getting a chance to work with these guys, and luckily we’re going to be working with many, many, many of them going forward. We asked a lot of them and they delivered, so, any shortcomings that anyone perceives with the 2023 campaign should be directed towards me.

The end was laid out early for us, the six runs scored over the first two innings in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. And yet, it felt so abrupt. Funny how that works.

A strikeout with two down in the top of the ninth inning, Rangers sprinting out of the dugout to celebrate, Orioles staying in theirs to watch and maybe learn. The hurt so evident later.

“It doesn’t really feel real right now,” said catcher Adley Rutschman.

Everyone looked like they were in a haze.

I could carry away so many images from the 2023 season, but I may be stuck with the sight of players sitting in front of their lockers after the media entered. Pretty much a full room, which is highly unusual. It actually was jarring. And not a sound made. Just blank stares.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Maybe the wounds are too fresh for players and fans to be reflective.

Time has healing powers.

The disappointment last night was evident along every wall of the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field. Total silence except for media interviews in front of lockers. Blank expressions. And then, a lot of hugging.

The Orioles didn’t want to go home unless they were prepping for Game 5 of the Division Series.

They truly believed until the last out that they could become the 11^th team to fall behind 2-0 in a best-of-five series and win it. The same mentality that led to those 48 comeback victories that tied the Reds for most in the majors.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Rookie Jordan Westburg struck out on three pitches, and the Orioles ran out of comebacks. Out of chances to keep playing. They’re going home, and not to host the decisive game.

A team that wasn’t swept in its last 91 series couldn’t squeeze a win out of the ALDS.

Dean Kremer allowed six runs in 1 2/3 innings, with homers by Corey Seager and Adolis García traveling a combined 863 feet, and the Rangers rolled to a 7-1 win in Game 3 before an announced sellout crowd of 40,861, the largest ever at Globe Life Field.

The 101 wins in the regular season and first division title since 2014 must suffice. The launch out of the rebuild and the promise of many playoff teams in the future.

Players had to deal with the present as they sat in the dugout and watched the Rangers celebrate, then made the painful walk back to their clubhouse. The best record in the league didn’t give them a pass.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The temperature of the Orioles hasn’t changed in the Texas heat or the air conditioning inside Globe Life Field.

They aren’t in a panic after losing the first two games of the American League Division Series. They aren’t consumed with doubts.

They aren’t paying attention to the skeptics and doomsayers.

“Obviously, this is different because of the playoffs, but we've been in this spot before,” said catcher James McCann. “We've lost two games in a series and we've bounced right back. I think that's the mindset we have to have today. We can't change our mindset. We can't change who we've been for 162 games, the success we've had coming into the playoffs. Just because we're down 0-2 doesn't mean we need to change who we are. Staying true to who we are, having each other's back and go out and play the game hard. See what happens.”

“Every game we play, we're trying to win the game. I feel that way,” said Ryan O’Hearn, who’s serving as designated hitter tonight.

ARLINGTON, Texas – A must-win Game 3 for the Orioles brings changes to their lineup against Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

Ryan O’Hearn gets his first start, batting fifth and serving as designated hitter. Adam Frazier is playing second base and batting ninth.

Gunnar Henderson is leading off.

Cedric Mullins is batting seventh, followed by third baseman Jordan Westburg.

Dean Kremer gets the call over veteran Kyle Gibson. He’s posted a 3.59 ERA in his last 26 starts.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles are preparing for their first playoff game in Texas since the 2012 wild card game. They headed back to the visiting clubhouse that night and stepped into a champagne shower. A wild scene that left everyone soaked, including media that got too close.

I returned to the hotel, where I’m staying again this week, and the woman behind the desk handed me a plastic bag for my clothes. I didn’t say a word. She didn’t say a word. Just looked at me and understood.

The bubbly won’t be on ice with the Orioles down 2-0 in the Division Series. They need to win twice on the road and get back to Camden Yards for Game 5.

Cover the lockers and floor with plastic again or break out the boxes to be shipped home.

“This team’s pretty resilient,” said veteran starter Kyle Gibson. “They’re young, but they’ve got a lot of experience this year when it comes to playing in big games. None obviously as big as the one (tonight), but I think they’ll be able to draw on that experience and they’ll be all right.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde knew that Dean Kremer wanted the ball in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. The high stakes, the confidence he brings to the mound, the impressive starts in two clinchers last month.

Hyde approached Kremer yesterday, prior to Game 2, and updated him on the team’s plans. He was the choice. But Hyde checked back this morning amid the violent conflict with Hamas in Israel, where at least 900 people were killed over the weekend in a surprise attack. Israel declared war on Sunday.

Kremer has Israeli dual citizenship and makes yearly visits to his family. He pitched for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic during spring training, his proudest moment in a baseball uniform.

“I saw him at breakfast this morning,” Hyde said at today’s workout at Globe Life Field. “We had a nice conversation. Gave him my support and sympathies for him and his family that's involved, and he seemed OK. He seemed like he was ready to pitch. He seemed like he felt comfortable with where his family situation was at with the whole thing.

“Obviously, he's very disturbed and there's a lot of things going on, but I didn't sense that it was going to affect (him). I think he's really looking forward to pitching tomorrow, so I didn't think it was going to affect him.”

The first batter that Yennier Cano faced last night in the top of the ninth inning, Rangers rookie Josh Jung, slapped a double down the right field line. Beyond the fence in left-center was veteran Kyle Gibson warming in the bullpen.

A reliever in an immediate jam. A starter perhaps getting ready to replace him.

What made it a curious situation was Gibson’s candidacy to start Game 3 of the Division Series Tuesday night in Arlington. Did manager Brandon Hyde show his hand?

Hyde told the media earlier in the day that he’d announce his starter during Monday’s workout, with the only choices Gibson or Dean Kremer. No one else qualified after John Means came down with elbow soreness that kept him off the roster.

Perhaps the decision hinged on whether the Orioles were down 0-2 or tied 1-1.

Grayson Rodriguez handed the ball to manager Brandon Hyde, walked to the dugout without raising his head and bolted down the steps. Too brisk a pace for teammates to reach out to him. Nothing they could have done anyway to soothe him.

The rookie was put in a tough spot. He didn’t make it through the second inning.

Can the Orioles make it past the Division Series?

They are teetering on the edge after today’s 11-8 loss to the Rangers in Game 2, played before an announced sellout crowd of 46,475 at Camden Yards. Aaron Hicks greeted José Leclerc with a three-run homer in the ninth, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

Mitch Garver hit a grand slam off Jacob Webb in the third after Bryan Baker walked the bases loaded. Nine runs on the board. A team in distress.