SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter always warns against falling in love with September and spring training statistics. They can be the great foolers.

Where does this leave reliever Oliver Drake, who isn't fooling many hitters in the Grapefruit League?

Drake was fantastic over the final month of the 2016 season, posting a 1.59 ERA in 11 1/3 innings and holding opponents to a .146 average. He's gone in the other direction since reporting to camp, allowing 11 runs and 18 hits over 9 1/3 innings for a 10.61 ERA. Opponents are batting .409.

Which one is the fooler?

"That's tough," said manager Buck Showalter. "Come on in the meeting tomorrow and help us."

Drake can't be sent down without clearing waivers and another team may lean more toward the September stats and the minor league track record.

"That's the quandary every year, especially when they're out of options," Showalter said. "Every year you go, 'OK, is this going to play?' It's like trying to read (Joey) Rickard. He couldn't have had a better spring than he had last year. Is it going to carry over to this spring and April, May and June? It's hard.

"That's really where you earn your keep, because it's full of September and March really good performances that don't seem to show up. And you look at the pitchers they're facing, the hitters they're facing, especially early in the spring. There's a process there and you've got to remember where you are in the process. Early in the spring, don't get fooled. That last week, you really get a feel when guys are starting to lock in their stuff."

Drake surrendered three runs and five hits yesterday over 1 1/3 innings against the Red Sox in Fort Myers. He's allowed three runs in three of his eight outings, also doing it in back-to-back appearances against the Yankees on Feb. 27 and March 2.

"We're going to take the best 25 and Oliver's got a chance to be one of those," Showalter said. "There's not anybody that you're going to see today that has a better track record in the minor leagues than Oliver Drake, so we try to keep that in mind, and he's showed us flashes of it in the big leagues. I try to keep that in mind.

"The track record, usually the problem with it is it's been a short sample in the big leagues, but there's a lot of guys in that boat. But he's in a different boat because of the options. It's designed to protect the player, where you can't hoard these guys like people used to do years ago.

"Oliver is going to pitch in the big leagues this year."

It just may not be with the Orioles.

Pedro Álvarez is the designated hitter today after starting in right field yesterday and hitting his second Grapefruit League home run. He also homered in a B game against the Pirates.

Asked whether Álvarez understands that he might have to begin the season at Triple-A Norfolk while learning to play right, Showalter replied, "Everything's been addressed."

"He's showing us that spring training doesn't mean a whole lot, does it?" Showalter said. "He had other options. He liked being here and the way he was treated. I'm sure there are going to be some people during the course of the next week or so go, 'Wow, forgot about him.' "

As I wrote earlier, Zach Britton struck out the side yesterday while pitching in a minor league game at Twin Lakes Park. He threw 12 pitches.

"Some guys are not good at it," Showalter said. "He's real good at simulating the aggressiveness and the tenacity you need in those games even though it's down there. He's good at simulating what he needs to simulate and it usually shows up, so you feel comfortable sending him down there."

Britton appreciated how Caleb Joseph drove over to Twin Lakes to catch his one inning.

"I would say it was about 60 percent Caleb, 40 percent us, but that's Caleb," Showalter said when asked where the idea came from. "That's another one of those things you can't quantify in a stat. I don't think that shows up anywhere in analytics, does it?"

Update: Ubaldo Jiménez allowed four runs and five hits in four innings, with three walks, five strikeouts and a wild pitch. All four runs scored with two outs in the fourth.

Chris Davis hit his first spring home run in the bottom of the fourth and a passed ball later in the inning scored Hyun Soo Kim to reduce the Blue Jays' lead to 4-2.