Taking another look at Orioles' All-Star possibilities

SEATTLE – Major League Baseball launched its annual All-Star Game voting yesterday and the Orioles pretty much had the expected representation on the ballot.

Pretty much.

Preseason predictions likely would have put Jordan Westburg at third base, but he’s appeared in 23 games due to a hamstring injury and is batting .217/.265/.391 in 98 plate appearances. The Orioles could reinstate him today.

Ramón Urías is on the American League ballot at third. He played in his 40^th game last night and is hitting .269 with a .680 OPS.

The bigger surprise is that Colton Cowser went from outfield lock to exclusion after fracturing his left thumb on March 30 and staying on the 60-day injured list until Monday. Ramón Laureano broke camp as a reserve and is the third Orioles outfielder on the ballot with Cedric Mullins and Tyler O’Neill.

Laureano joined Triple-A Norfolk in Nashville to begin a rehab assignment after spraining his left ankle May 20 in Milwaukee. He rebounded from a slow start to post a .266/.320/.532 line with seven doubles and six home runs in 36 games.

Westburg made the American League roster last summer as an injury replacement, raising the Orioles’ total to five players, their most since Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo, Matt Wieters, Zack Britton and Brad Brach in 2016. They had four in 2023 with Rutschman, Austin Hays, Félix Bautista and Yennier Cano.

Opinions can change this month but O’Hearn, starter Tomoyuki Sugano and second baseman Jackson Holliday seem to be most deserving of the honor.

O’Hearn actually went hitless last night and his on-base streak ended at 19 games, but he led the club yesterday with a 2.0 fWAR and bWAR and is batting .328 with eight doubles, nine homers, 23 RBIs and a .940 OPS. He was an All-Star finalist last summer at designated hitter, losing to the Astros’ Yordan Álvarez.

The legend of Ryan O’Hearn continues to grow like mustaches in the clubhouse. The Orioles got him from the Royals in a cash transaction in July 2023 and designated him for assignment two days later. Any team could have grabbed him. Every team passed.

O’Hearn will go down as one of Mike Elias’ best moves since the Orioles hired him as executive vice president/general manager in November 2018. This is the kind of theft that often is captured on Ring cameras.

“We want all our guys to make it, but especially with a guy like O right now who is 31, 32 years old,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “He’s been released, he’s been DFA’d, he came up and got sent out in Kansas City, and he’s kind of been through it. And he came out on the other side and put himself in this position.”

Mansolino didn’t know the extent of O’Hearn’s production until flipping through a stat packet, which he’s rarely done.

“It’s the first time I’ve opened that thing in a long time,” Mansolino said. “I don’t know why I opened it, but I did, and I saw the league leaders. And strangely, I haven’t been following the league leaders for a couple years now. I think he’s third in OPS, and I was floored when I looked at that. I knew the average was up there, but you look at slug and you look at the whole package, I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, he’s having an incredible year.’

“I’m really happy for O. He’s a blue collar-type guy, not a lot has been given to him in the game. He’s earned everything. He’s kind of been left for dead and he’s returned with a vengeance, so we’re really happy for him.”

O’Hearn is raising his profile, as evidenced by last year’s All-Star push, and should make it at least as a reserve. The Red Sox’s Rafael Devers could be hard to beat. The Athletics' Brent Rooker began yesterday with the most home runs at 13, one more than Devers, who 53 RBIs were 19 more than Yandy Díaz’s total. However, O’Hearn ranked first in average, OBP, slugging and, of course, OPS.

If you want to crown him, then crown him.  

Sugano registered his sixth quality start Tuesday night and lowered his ERA to 3.04, making him one of the top rookies in the league and the runaway highlight of Elias’ offseason. Sugano has gone seven-plus innings in four starts. Burnes was the only Orioles starter with more last season (nine).

Earning the starting job for the AL is a long shot with Tarik Scubal, Garrett Crochet, Max Fried, Hunter Brown, Kris Bubic and Nathan Eovaldi among the early favorites, but Sugano could be chosen as a reliever.

Every team must have a player on the roster, which can lead to some snubs. And All-Star voting is largely a popularity contest, which usually leads to some dubious selections and more screaming about how voting should be ripped out of the fans’ hands.

Cedric Mullins was blazing hot before his cool-down period and subsequent hamstring injury. Henderson and Rutschman might have to depend on the above-mentioned popularity to have a shot. And Holliday might need some folks to take a closer look at his ascension among second basemen.

Holliday is sneaking up on the industry. He got too much attention for his early struggles, but he ranked first at the position yesterday with a .434 slugging percentage and two triples, second with 53 hits, a .326 OBP and .750 OPS, third with a .268 average and 26 RBIs, and fourth with seven home runs.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It’s special. It seems surreal after kind of the crazy year last year. But it’s early, so just excited to be able to play winning baseball the past few days and looking forward to continue winning games.”

Holliday won’t begin cross-checking stats of the other second basemen in the league.

“I’ll try not to,” he said with a laugh. “Try to focus on winning games and putting together good at-bats each day.”

Holliday attended plenty of All-Star Games as a kid. His father, Matt, was a seven-time selection beginning in 2006 with the Rockies and concluding in 2015 with the Cardinals.

“I went to pretty much all of them,” Jackson said. “I think the first one, I don’t remember, but we went to them and it’s a pretty special time.”

Bautista has time to influence players and the commissioner’s office. He retired the side in order Tuesday night and earned his 11^th save last night after putting two runners on base, but he posted a 5.59 ERA and 1.552 WHIP in 10 May appearances.

The most deserving Orioles reliever is Bryan Baker, and no one could have predicted it back in February. He isn’t a closer or primary set-up man, which creates a steeper uphill climb for selection, but he deserves to be in the conversation with his 2.67 ERA, 0.963 WHIP and 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings over 28 appearances.

Brach could serve as his All-Star role model.

“I think with how our bullpen is structured, it kind of ebb and flows a little bit,” Mansolino said. “I think the flow is heading toward Bake right now in the moment and he’s answered.”