BOSTON – Cooper Hummel exercised the opt-out clause in his contract with the Yankees shortly after midnight Wednesday, didn’t see a path back to the majors and was minutes away from agreeing to a minor league contract – one person described it as “pen to paper “ - when the Orioles called his agent.
Baseball can tug at a player’s emotions and pull him in many unexpected directions.
The Orioles signed Hummel to a one-year deal and brought him to Fenway Park for today’s game. They sought a corner outfielder with Colton Cowser, Tyler O’Neill and Ramón Laureano on the injured list.
“The last few days were kind of a whirlwind for me. I’m excited for this,” he said this morning.
Hummel, 30, has appeared in 66 games with the Diamondbacks, 10 with the Mariners and six with the Astros over the past three seasons. He’s played left and right field in the majors and also caught in 18, and he brings corner infield experience from the minors.
The Yankees signed Hummel, who’s out of options, on April 7 and he went 8-for-31 with a .415 on-base percentage. He’s a career .284/.419/.475 hitter in five Triple-A seasons.
“I feel great,” he said. “Made some swing changes in the offseason. It seemed to pay off in spring training. I was hitting the ball hard and then went through a little rough patch with a small injury, but now I’m back and I feel really good at the plate. Seeing the ball well and hitting it harder than I ever have before, so I feel really good about it.
“I went to Driveline for the offseason, worked on some bat speed stuff but also just how my bat path works and the plane of the bat,” he said. “Being a switch-hitter, both sides are very different from each other, so I tried to get the ball in the air better right-handed and then left-handed was trying to rotate better. Just little things that kind of have gone wrong the last couple years that I’m trying to fix. I’m excited about it.”
The same goes for his chance to play for the Orioles. The standings and losing streaks are ignored.
“We’re early in the season,” he said. “What, there’s four months left? I wouldn’t be worried about struggles up to this point. It’s a really talented team. I’ve seen them from the other side of the field for the last couple of years. It’s a really talented team. I wouldn’t be worried if I was a fan or a (member of the) coaching staff or a player at all. It’s fun to be a part of this group.”
Interim manager Tony Mansolino likes Hummel’s ability to get on base and control the strike zone. And having a third catcher can come in handy.
Hummel also brings a lot of enthusiasm to the job, which can be an asset on a team stuck in last place.
“It’s a cool reputation to have,” he said. “I’m high energy, a lot of excitement, a lot of work. I think the best thing I can do is just work my hardest every day and try to help the team, whatever that role might be. There’s a lot of really talented players in here. Whatever that role is, I know I’ll have to just be ready any day. As far as energy goes, I’ll be the same person every day, high energy and ready to go.”
Mansolino is managing a roster that keeps changing, with Terrin Vavra coming and going here, Hummel arriving today, reliever Cionel Pérez being designated for assignment yesterday and the Orioles selecting Yaramil Hiraldo’s contract in the corresponding move.
“I’m not so sure it’s something normal on a team in the big leagues that’s winning a ton of games,” he said. “Usually, stability kind of leads to good records and success in the major leagues going back to my last experience managing 2019 in Triple-A. So yeah, this is normal for me. I don’t think there’s much of a difference going back to that, the revolving door that Triple-A teams have.
“I think that year that we did it, I want to say we set a record on actual players that came through Columbus that year, and we won the thing, so it can be done. I think it’s just an excuse if you make it or just a circumstance if you make it that.”
Laureano considered himself day-to-day before the Orioles put him on the injured list yesterday with a left ankle sprain, an injury caused Tuesday by his spikes getting caught in the turf in Milwaukee.
“I’m grateful I got on the IL, because it could have been worse,” he said this morning.
“It feels way better. The training staff’s been doing a great job with it. I’m doing whatever they’re saying. I’m trending up from that.”
The play looked gruesome, with Laureano twisting his leg in an awkward manner as he chased a fly ball.
“I watched it just one time and I think that was enough,” he said. “It was pretty scary.”
Laureano said he doesn’t want to put a timetable on his return, having done so in the past and coming back earlier.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Hopefully I’m back whenever the IL stint says.”
Jorge Mateo is making his sixth career start in left field today and his second with the Orioles, the other coming in 2021. His left knee is bandaged from cuts sustained last night after he flipped over the center field fence and landed in the Red Sox’s bullpen while trying to catch a fly ball in the ninth. He was walking a bit gingerly this morning, but he’s in the lineup.
“We’ll throw him back out there, see what happens,” Mansolino said.
Here are the pitching matchups for the Cardinals series at Camden Yards:
Monday: RHP Charlie Morton vs. RHP Erick Fedde
Tuesday: RHP Tomoyuki Sugano vs. RHP Andre Pallante
Wednesday: LHP Cade Povich vs. RHP Miles Mikolas