masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSARASOTA, Fla. – The competition for backup catcher with the Orioles appears to be a two-man race between Chance Sisco and Austin Wynns, though Andrew Susac remains in camp and is trying to make a push after a staph infection led to a brief hospital stay.
Wynns was in the lineup yesterday against the Rays and had a single and walk before striking out with the bases loaded to end the fifth. Susac replaced him and singled in his only at-bat.
Susac is 2-for-2 and has walked twice in limited…

SARASOTA, Fla. – The competition for backup catcher with the Orioles appears to be a two-man race between Chance Sisco and Austin Wynns, though Andrew Susac remains in camp and is trying to make a push after a staph infection led to a brief hospital stay.

Wynns was in the lineup yesterday against the Rays and had a single and walk before striking out with the bases loaded to end the fifth. Susac replaced him and singled in his only at-bat.

Susac is 2-for-2 and has walked twice in limited opportunities. Wynns is 2-for-9 with a home run and four walks, but anything he offers at the plate instead of behind it is a bonus. He’s considered to be the top defensive catcher in the system and the Orioles protected him in the Rule 5 draft because they thought a team would select him as a backup.

Sisco-Catches-Drill-Sidebar.jpgSisco rates as one of the top prospects in the organization with plus skills at the plate and noticeable improvement behind it. He’s 5-for-14 with a double, home run, four RBIs and six strikeouts.

The easy analysis is that the Orioles must decide whether to place the greater emphasis on offense or defense. But they also may consider whether Sisco, who just turned 23 last month, should be getting steady at-bats and catching instruction at Triple-A Norfolk instead of spending most nights on the bench in the majors.

They also may decide that his left-handed bat is important on a club that’s seeking balance and weigh the benefits of having him work daily with bench coach/catching instructor John Russell and alongside Caleb Joseph.

Is there any separation in the competition?

Manager Buck Showalter paused yesterday and said, “There is.”

Really?

“No,” he said.

“Each one brings a little different skill set right now. One may have something to offer that the other one doesn’t. Sometimes in spring training, they don’t show it. Maybe Chance has got a pretty good track record of hitting, but he might not be doing it right now. Austin’s got a good track record of defending and blocking and throwing and what have you, and he’s shown that.

“The tough thing for these guys is getting to know these pitchers. The learning curve is pretty short. That’s a lot to take on.”

Susac used to be the top prospect in the Giants system, but he hasn’t lived up to his offensive potential and his body has failed him on multiple occasions. The infection was the latest example.

“He was well thought of over there at one time,” Showalter said.

* Showalter often refers to the joyless task of calling players into his office and delivering news of their removal from the camp roster. It can happen in the morning before batting practice, during lunch or following a game.

The exit meeting yesterday with young pitcher Jesus Liranzo apparently came with a side of tough love.

Liranzo, 23, appeared in only two games and followed his clean inning on March 1 with five runs charged to him in one inning Tuesday afternoon against the Twins. He was brought along slowly in the early days of camp as a precaution after experiencing some shoulder discomfort.

The club expected more of Liranzo last summer, but he posted a 4.85 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in 65 innings with Double-A Bowie. He walked 43 batters, but also struck out 75 and allowed only 54 hits. Opponents batted .224 against him.

“I talked to him,” Showalter said. “He’s basically a college senior and you look at his hits to innings, you look at his strikeouts and what the batting average is off him on balls put in play (.271 per FanGraphs.com), this guy should be having better results than last year. The walks have been a bugaboo for him. And you don’t watch him and think this is a guy who’s throwing the ball all over the place. He can go 0-2 to a walk.

“We spent about a half hour on each one of these send-outs. But in his case, you see the batting average against, you see the hits to innings, you see the strikeouts. Again, what’s the missing piece? It’s the base on balls and letting the innings get away from him that shouldn’t. The problems with relievers is if they have a couple of really bad outings, all of a sudden you give up five runs or something, they spend two or three months trying to climb out of that statistical hole. With his numbers, he should be getting better results. He’s got a big arm, he’s healthy. I don’t know what comes first, the health or the …”

What came yesterday included a conversation with bullpen coach Alan Mills and, it’s assumed, a challenge to Liranzo to step up his game and get back to where he was in 2016 when he recorded a combined 1.87 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 27 relief appearances at low Single-A Delmarva and Bowie.

“Alan gave him the Alan Mills speech today,” Showalter said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

* Former first-round pick DJ Stewart has been used in right field in exhibition games as part of the experimental phase of camp.

Stewart is listed only as a left fielder on baseball-reference.com, which is truth in advertising because he’s appeared in 274 games at the position since the Orioles drafted him out of Florida State University. He made one start in right in the Arizona Fall League in 2016 and four with Bowie last summer.

Anthony Santander started yesterday’s game against the Rays in right field and Stewart replaced him in the sixth inning.

“I think that’s his third time out there this spring,” Showalter said. “I’m just trying to get him a look from both sides. Dan (Duquette) had talked to me about it a little bit, wanted to kind of get a look at him out there, so we did. It’s a good time to play around.”

* The Orioles are pleased with their outfield depth, regarding it as a position of strength, but they kept checking on Jon Jay before he came off the board Tuesday by signing a one-year deal with the Royals that guarantees $3 million and can earn him $1.5 million in incentives.

Jay was seeking a two-year deal in the neighborhood of $16-$18 million when the Orioles signed Colby Rasmus to a minor league pact that also guarantees $3 million if he makes the club. The Orioles checked again last week and there were no indications that Jay had come down to the point of accepting the type of offer made by the Royals.

Jay is a better contact hitter than Rasmus, offers plus speed and defense and is a popular teammate. He always made sense to me as an ideal fit. But certainly not at his initial price.

Unfortunately, it appears that he wandered closer to the Orioles’ financial neighborhood after they moved.

At least there wasn’t an agreement and an abrupt change of heart to take us back to the days of Dexter Fowler.

* Former Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold and catcher Steve Clevenger, the latter a Baltimore native, tried out for the Tigers after attending the union’s free agent camp in Bradenton, but they weren’t offered contracts.

Reimold also had a tryout with the Mets, but it was held at the camp in Bradenton. He worked out for the Tigers at their Lakeland complex.