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The Orioles burst into the unofficial second half of the season with four days’ rest and a streak of 11 wins in their last 13 games. They were energized, and they were playing at home. A perfect pairing on a sweltering night.
The Yankees were swept yesterday in a day-night doubleheader in Houston, boarded their charter flight and arrived in Baltimore this morning. Losers of seven of their last 10 games. They were tired and perhaps a bit irritable.
Holders of the best record in baseball, tormentors of teams below them in the standings, put in an unenviable position.
“Doesn’t matter at all,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said before heading outdoors for batting practice. “It’s the New York Yankees. It’s a really good team, it’s a huge payroll, superstars up and down. They’re pros. They’ll be ready to play.”
All of it true. Nothing that the Orioles could do about it, no matter how hard they fought.
The All-Star break did wonders for the Orioles’ collective health.
Outfielder Austin Hays needed to rest a sore right wrist, and reliever Félix Bautista is available tonight after the exercise band mishap at Tropicana Field last weekend that bruised his right hand.
Tyler Wells, who’s starting tonight, has a restriction on his innings this season, a task made easier with him idle since last Friday against the Rays.
Manager Brandon Hyde said Hays "rehabbed" the wrist for four days, exactly what needed to happen to reduce the level of discomfort.
"He played banged up at the end of the break," Hyde said. "Saw him last night, it felt better. It feels great today, so the break came at the right time."
The Orioles are 92 games into the season and resume it tonight after a brief pause for the All-Star break, the first seven against the top two teams in their division. Twenty of the next 30 played within the American League East.
Bad news in the past. Nothing to celebrate in 2022. But the Orioles are 16-21 versus the East after going 20-56 last year, 24-52 in 2019, 23-53 in 2018.
The 2017 team that remained in contention at the beginning of September finished two games below .500 in the division.
You must go back to the 2016 season to find the Orioles above .500, when they went 40-36. The current division record is more impressive when placed alongside the others.
The Orioles are 12-12 versus three teams in the East. The 4-9 record comes against the Yankees, who arrive tonight after the Astros swept them yesterday in a doubleheader.
Maxwell Costes has no memories of the old Memorial Stadium, the site just a couple of miles from where he grew up. But the trips to Camden Yards are priceless to Costes. So vivid. And far too many to count.
His membership in the junior fans club. Throwing out the ceremonial first pitch after his freshman season at the University of Maryland, where he batted .266/.397/.547 with 15 doubles, 15 home runs and 49 RBIs and earned first-team All-Big 10 honors, and after his Orioles 16-18 RBI team won its regional tournament and moved on the first-ever World Series for that age group.
Did he throw a strike?
“I did not, but it’s OK,” he said, laughing. “There was a lot of pressure. I’m not going to lie.”
The story of how Costes made his way from his Pen Lucy neighborhood in northern Baltimore City to Gilman School to four-year starter with the Terps – where he hit .298/.458/.560 with 37 doubles, 40 home runs and 145 RBIs - would provide a wonderful read, but the local kid keeps making good. And there’s more to him than the sport he plays.
The Orioles have an agreement in place with prep shortstop Jackson Holliday, the first-overall pick in the MLB Draft. The next step before his official signing.
Holliday is getting a record deal for a high school player, slightly more than the $8.185 million bonus that outfielder Druw Jones received from the Diamondbacks as the second-overall selection, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
The first selection is slotted at $8,842,200. The Orioles are holding $16,924,000 in their bonus pool.
The left-handed hitting Holliday 18, set a national record with 89 hits in 41 games at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma, passing J.T. Realmuto, while batting .685 with 29 doubles, six triples, 17 home runs, 79 RBIs, 74 runs scored, a .749 on-base percentage and a 1.392 slugging percentage.
Holliday was the No. 2 overall draft prospect by MLB.com and No. 3 by Baseball America. The four-year starter batted .500 (62-for-124) with 16 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 57 RBIs, 54 runs scored and 19 stolen bases in 37 games as a junior and was named to USA Baseball’s 18U National Team in 2021.
Selecting pitcher Jared Beck in the 13th round on the final day of the MLB Draft wasn’t a reach for the Orioles. And that’s just one of the many references to his height that will accompany his journey through the minors if he signs a professional contract.
Beck must be used to it. There’s no hiding at 7 feet tall.
The Orioles chose 12 pitchers. Only one is left-handed. And only one can clean out the gutters without a ladder.
The Saint Leo University baseball website includes a note on Beck transferring from Illinois State and also spending time at Heartland Community College and Eastern Iowa Community College. A long road traveled to the Division II University near Tampa.
Yes, long. Can’t escape it.
The MLB Draft has concluded with the Orioles taking 20 college players and two high school players.
The final count is 11 right-handers, one left-hander, two catchers, four infielders and four outfielders.
“As I mentioned yesterday, we really liked our options as far as the pitching, especially on Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft,” said Orioles director of draft operations Brad Ciolek. “Our scouting and analyst team did a fantastic job did a fantastic job of identifying guys and having unique traits, as far as the arsenal that we’re looking for. Really excited about the crop that we got today and yesterday, and really looking forward to getting them down to Sarasota and working with our player development staff.”
The streak of consecutive college players, following Oklahoma prep shortstop Jackson Holliday at first overall, ended at 11 today with 11th-round prep pitcher Zachary Showalter.
Twenty-two players were selected over three days, including 10 this afternoon with rounds 11-20. These players can sign for up to $125,000 without counting against the bonus pool.
Today feels like an actual break in the 2022 baseball season.
The MLB Draft is over, the All-Star Game was played last night and there’s only Trey Mancini’s inevitable – I’m calling it, anyway – ESPY tonight for Best Comeback Athlete.
WNBA player Diamond DeShields, the daughter of former Orioles infielder Delino DeShields, had a tumor removed from her spine in December 2019 that threatened to leave her paralyzed, and she later suffered tremors and spasms that led to months of rehabilitation. She didn’t share her ordeal until two months ago. In any other year, I’d say she was the runaway favorite.
The Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson has returned from a torn ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals and torn Achilles leading into the 2020-21 season. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during his rookie season and played in this year’s Super Bowl.
Impressive comebacks, but I can’t place them ahead of Mancini’s colon cancer and DeShields’ spinal tumor. Fear of death or paralysis is hard to beat, as it were.
Jorge López’s first All-Star Game experience was brief. Took him longer to warm up than to pitch. But it was perfection.
López faced two batters in the bottom of the seventh inning and retired them on two ground balls.
Total number of pitches: Three.
One blink and you risked missing it.
Replacing former Orioles Rule 5 pick Nestor Cortes Jr., López made Kyle Schwarber ground to shortstop Corey Seager on a first-pitch, 98 mph sinker.
Reasons why the 2022 version of the Orioles bears little or no resemblance to models of the recent past have been articulated inside the clubhouse and during manager Brandon Hyde’s media sessions. The confidence, the unity, and most of all, the improved pitching.
Another example played out in the 11th inning of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Rays, on a field with fake grass and real complications for the Orioles, who had lost 10 straight under the dome.
Rougned Odor, the automatic runner, broke late for third base as Jorge Mateo missed on a bunt attempt, and he was thrown out. An absolute back-breaker on previous teams during the rebuild. A game they certainly would have lost.
Mateo tripled into left-center field, the bunt no longer in play. Cedric Mullins drew a seven-pitch walk and stole second base. Ryan Mountcastle fell behind 1-2 with two outs, fouled off a curveball to stay alive and punched a 95 mph inside fastball into right field for a two-run single.
Not your same rebuild Orioles.
The Orioles began the second day of the draft and selected Oklahoma State pitcher Nolan McLean. He becomes the highest pitcher selected by the club under Mike Elias. The previous highest had been in the fifth rounds in 2020 with Carter Baumler and 2021 with Carlos Tavera.
McLean, who also was a position player as an infielder for Oklahoma State, went 2-1 with a 4.97 ERA and five saves out of the bullpen. In 25 1/3 innings he allowed 20 hits with 13 walks, 39 strikeouts and a .206 batting average against. In 64 games as a hitter he batted .285/.397/.595 with 16 doubles, 19 homers and 47 RBIs.
He is a right-handed hitter and thrower and was a draft-eligible sophomore. MLB.com rated him No. 115 in this draft class.
The Orioles are making selections today through round 10, and they have eight picks over the eight rounds through the 10th. The slot amount for the third-rounder at No. 81 is $793,600 of a total O’s draft pool of $16.924 million. The slot amount for their No. 1 pick is $8,842,200, and it is $2,313,900 for their second selection, No. 33 overall.
In Round 4: The O’s drafted University of Texas catcher Silas Ardoin, a redshirt sophomore. In 69 games for the Longhorns he batted .271/.391/.513 with 20 doubles, a triple, 12 homers and 50 RBIs. He walked 39 times and fanned 54.
TAMPA, Fla. - A few takeaways from the first night of the MLB Draft:
Jackson Holliday’s father, former major league outfielder Matt Holliday, knew about the selection 30 seconds ahead of the announcement because he received a call from Scott Boras.
I didn’t make the immediate connection. Boras used to represent Matt, and he negotiated his client’s seven-year, $120 million deal with the Cardinals back in 2010.
Of course, Boras would rep Jackson.
From the moment that the Orioles drafted Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman one/one rather than prep shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in 2019, they were destined to have their careers tracked side by side. It won’t be the same with Holliday and Druw Jones, who went second to the Diamondbacks, because they weren’t universally seen as the top two prospects in the class. But there will still be comparisons as they embark on their professional careers.
The Orioles had five players on their board through the final weeks leading to tonight’s MLB Draft. They stuck to it, deliberated with scouts and front office personnel in a series of meetings, had a Zoom call with manager Brandon Hyde to bring him into the loop and settled on Oklahoma prep shortstop Jackson Holliday.
Holliday committed to Oklahoma State, but he’s ready to turn professional. Like his father, former major league outfielder and seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday.
The left-handed hitting Jackson, who’s 18 and listed at 6-feet-1 and 175 pounds, set a national record with 89 hits in 41 games at Stillwater High School, passing J.T. Realmuto, while batting .685 with 29 doubles, six triples, 17 home runs, 79 RBIs, 74 runs scored, a .749 on-base percentage and a 1.392 slugging percentage.
He has a knack for putting the barrel on the ball, as noted just about everywhere.
It's no wonder that Holliday was named Oklahoma's prep player of the year.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – This isn’t how the Orioles planned to enter the All-Star break, a .500 team that just lost another series at Tropicana Field.
The record should satisfy an organization without a winning season since 2016, and that’s picking first tonight in the MLB Draft. But the 2022 Orioles aren’t wired that way.
They wanted more. And unlike past years, they expected it.
Randy Arozarena hit a two-run homer off Jordan Lyles in the first inning, Brett Phillips bolted out of his slump with a three-run shot in the third, and the Orioles couldn’t complete their rally in a 7-5 loss to the Rays.
The Orioles are 46-46 as they scatter for a few days, players rushing to get home or back to Baltimore. They’ll regroup and host the first-place Yankees next weekend.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles reliever Félix Bautista might not be available to pitch until after the All-Star break after injuring his right hand yesterday in a freakish accident prior to batting practice.
Bautista said he was using a rubber exercise band to loosen his muscles, part of his usual pregame routine, and a hook detached from the fence and struck his hand.
“The band pretty much snapped,” Bautista said via interpreter Brandon Quinones.
Bautista didn’t know whether he’d be ready for today’s game that closes out the unofficial first half of the season.
“I’m going to go through some drills and some testing today and try to see how that feels,” he said. “But in the meantime, I’m going to do everything I can to get ready for after the All-Star break and be ready to go.”
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – So here we are, the final game before the All-Star break. The Orioles already have 46 wins, the same amount they reached last season in their 140th game on Sept. 10. One fewer than their entire 2018 total.
They can do no worse than .500 in the unofficial first half.
Adley Rutschman is catching today. His pinch-hit home run yesterday was the sixth for the Orioles in the last 27 years that tied a game in the eighth inning or later.
It was the third on the road, joining Luis Sardinas on April 18, 2018 in Detroit and Rafael Palmeiro on Sept. 22, 2004 in Boston.
Trey Mancini was the last Orioles rookie to hit a pinch-hit home run, on June 7, 2017 in Pittsburgh.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles are playing their final game of the first half this afternoon, entering the All-Star break two games above or at .500, depending on the result. A chance to win another series. A chance to remind everyone that these aren’t the same Orioles, though that much already should be clear.
Players will bolt from the clubhouse to catch their own flights. The charter back to Baltimore is going to echo.
At least four Orioles can drive from St. Petersburg to their Florida homes, including outfielder Austin Hays and reliever Joey Krehbiel. The team is expected to open the ballpark Thursday for workouts. Knock off any rust.
The relaxation period this week will be delayed for the front office and scouts. The MLB Draft begins tonight with the first and second rounds, and the Competitive Balance A and B rounds.
The Orioles hold the first overall pick, along with the 33rd, 42nd and 67th. It’s going to be a late night.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Dean Kremer headed to the visiting bullpen at Tropicana Field today, the exact spot where he suffered a strained oblique while warming in the season’s third game. He was supposed to pitch in relief and work in a piggyback role early in the year, but the injury destroyed plans formulated back in camp.
“That was a tough day,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We changed course there with that injury.”
Kremer was healed, stretched out and put into the rotation. His first career appearance in St. Petersburg finally arrived this afternoon. Beginning with his warmup tosses in the ‘pen, his role adjusted since back in April.
Second baseman Rougned Odor brought the lineup card to home plate, the task removed from bullpen catcher Ben Carhart after a 10-game losing streak ended last night. The Orioles vowed to begin a new one. If they could just get some cooperation from an opponent that always torments them beneath the dome.
It finally happened today in the late innings. Just as the Orioles appeared to be tumbling below .500 again. Look for Odor at home plate before Sunday’s game, card in hand again. Look for Adley Rutschman in the lineup after a partial rest day that turned into much more.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles clubhouse was livelier this afternoon, the televisions tuned to baseball and golf, and players joking and interacting with each other.
Last night’s 5-4 loss, which ended a 10-game winning streak, created silence and left the Orioles visibly frustrated.
“We’ve been playing so well,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Just disappointing that we lose a close game like that. We feel like it’s a game we should have won.”
Stranding eight runners in the first six innings hinted at disaster.
“We had our opportunities early in the game to add on a lead.” Hyde said. “When you let teams like this hang on - we’ve seen it in the past with these guys - it’s very, very difficult.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles will attempt to start a new winning streak this afternoon with Dean Kremer making his last start before the All-Star break.
Kremer has a 2.15 ERA and 1.248 WHIP in seven appearances since returning from the oblique injury he sustained in the visiting bullpen at Tropicana Field in the season’s third game. He’s surrendered only two home runs in 37 2/3 innings.
Kremer hasn’t allowed a run in four of his last five starts. He shut out the Rays over six innings on June 17 in Baltimore.
Today is Kremer’s first appearance in a game in St. Petersburg.
Ramón Urías is starting at second base today. He hit two home runs last night, giving him three in his last three games, and is batting .387/.441/.677 (12-for-31) with 11 RBIs since being reinstated from the injured list.
