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Cedric Mullins must rely on his own organization to feel the love for his glove.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino spoke again yesterday about “the eye test,” just as his predecessor always did. Just as most people do who watch him on a nightly basis.
Mansolino praised Mullins yesterday while the metrics continued to pummel him. The Fielding Bible calculated his defensive runs saved (DRS) at minus-17, the worst of his career, the worst in baseball. And then, Mullins bolted into left-center field in the third inning, the angle taking him toward the fence, and laid out to snag Orlando Arcia’s 105 mph line drive.
Statcast calculated the catch probability at 75 percent. Mullins, it seems, can’t catch a break.
He could scale the warehouse and break glass to rob a home run and be downgraded for the angle.
“I feel like he gets beat up with the throwing sometimes,” Mansolino said earlier in the day. “We’re trying to make some adjustments, trying to have him play shallower to try to help him with some of that stuff. I know coach (Anthony) Sanders, with some of our internal analysts, are doing a deep dive on that right now and we’re trying to figure out why.
“The eye test doesn’t show that. When you look at the DRS, and you guys watch the games every night, it doesn’t match up with what I’m watching. So we’re trying to figure it out. And I would say, I don’t know exactly where our internal metrics are on him. Most of the external metrics, the reason why there are so many is because they’re not all perfect by any means.”
The numbers don’t dictate how Mullins rates his performance in the field. He doesn't crunch them, doesn't obsess over them.
“I stay pretty confident out there and I don't necessarily pay attention to the analytics,” he said. “If there's ever a situation where there's something that I can be approached with and making me better numbers-wise and it stays within my gameplay, I'm always open. It's just continuing to play my game.”
Mullins was in the Orioles’ lineup last night against Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela, lowered to eighth in the order again while he kept scuffling at the plate. The passing months weren’t heating up his bat and he might be on the clock with the trade deadline less than a week away.
Baseball can torture and reward. You just never know which way it’s going.
Mullins hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning in the Orioles’ wild 18-0 victory over the Rockies. Already a member of the 30/30 club, he also joined Brady Anderson and Paul Blair in the 100/100 club for career homers and steals.
The first half was a chore, but the post-break has been worse with Mullins 4-for-23 with a double, one RBI and 10 strikeouts before going 2-for-3 last night. He went on the injured list May 30 with a right hamstring strain but returned June 10 and was 2-for-4 with two doubles on the 11th and 2-for-4 with a home run on the 14th.
His only other multi-hit games were July 10 in the nightcap of a doubleheader and July 13. He’s gone 14-for-56 with three doubles and two homers this month. But last night was a sweet and powerful reprieve.
“That’s him. That’s what we’ve seen,” Mansolino said.
"Ced’s streaky in some ways and I’ve got a feeling he’s coming up on a good streak.”
Prior injuries have derailed Mullins’ attempts to recapture the form that made him the first 30/30 player in franchise history and an All-Star in 2021.
“We’ve seen him be the 30/30 guy for stretches,” Mansolino said. “There’s a stretch this year, in the first month of the season, where it was 30/30 Ced. I think last year in those two playoff games, he was our best player, which is huge. That’s a big deal to play that well in the postseason.
“I feel like, for me, he’s been searching for the swing here kind of off and on all year this year. After April, I don’t feel like he’s been comfortable with what his swing has been, but I feel like the second 30 part of it is still there, the stolen base part. Just not the 30 homers. Or hasn’t been.”
* The Orioles weren’t short-handed in their bullpen last night after recalling Yaramil Hiraldo from Triple-A Norfolk, but Grant Wolfram stood alone as the only left-hander. He lost his southpaw partner Friday with Gregory Soto traded to the Mets.
“It is a big deal,” Mansolino said. “I think having lefties, especially in today’s game right now with how many left-handed hitters are across the league and in our division, it would be nice.”
Mansolino also said that Keegan Akin is “floating out there,” and the lefty should be reinstated from the injured list Monday after he retired both batters last night with Norfolk. The Orioles just needed another good report on him.
Cionel Pérez surprisingly is the only left-hander on Norfolk’s roster who isn’t on a rehab assignment. Akin and Cade Povich make three.
* Tyler O’Neill has hit five home runs this season, with at least one against a fastball, breaking ball and off-speed pitch, and at least one to each part of the field. He launched a full-count, four-seamer to center last night at 108.1 mph.
O’Neill didn’t have back-to-back multi-hit games with the Orioles until Thursday and Friday. Now, he’s got three in a row.
Two trips to the injured list and other physical issues that kept O’Neill out of the lineup, including a recent bout of general soreness, hadn’t allowed him to get hot at the plate. The interruptions and buildups were ruining his first season of a three-year, $49.5 million deal.
“I think as his body got beat up, he was unable to do the work in the cage necessary to make the corrections he needed to make as his swing got out of whack,” Mansolino said. “Tyler’s a guy that, he really relies on his swing feeling good and feeling right, and there’s a lot of hitters like that throughout the league. Where there’s other guys that maybe their swing doesn’t feel as good or as right and they’re still able to compete and perform, similar to when they do feel good. Tyler’s a needs his swing to feel good guy.
“I think lately as his body has felt better and his health has improved, he’s had the ability to get in the cage and take the reps he’s needed to make the corrections he’s had. So as I watch him start to perform on the field, it absolutely coincides with the amount of work he’s been able to do in the cage.”
* The two baserunners allowed by Trevor Rogers last night in seven innings were the fewest of his career.
“Execution-wise and stuff-wise, I think this definitely ranks up there this year,” he said. “Just constantly mixing, moving the ball in and out, really just keeping them in between the whole night. My hat’s off to (Jacob) Stallings. He did an unbelievable job back there. So a lot of credit to him.”
* Colton Cowser has hit eight home runs this season. None at home.
Cowser’s last homer was July 5 in Atlanta. Last night was his 16th game and 15th start without one.
* The Orioles began last night with a .372 average when ahead in the count this season, the best mark in the majors.
* The 18-run margin of victory was the third largest in franchise history after the 23-1 win over the Blue Jays on Sept. 28, 2000 and the 22-1 win in Atlanta on June 13, 1999.
