Baltimore Orioles: Spring News, Notes, And Bombs

The Baltimore Orioles are now 2-2 this spring, but there have been a number of positive takeaways.

The magical spring training run didn’t last very long for the Baltimore Orioles, losers of their last two games after kicking off their spring slate with two straight wins. Luckily, the win/loss record in February and March is meaningless and a few key pieces to the Orioles’ roster are off to solid starts on the field, most notably Yusniel Diaz, the top prospect in the system.

Baltimore hasn’t appeared on TV since their first game against the Minnesota Twins, so we have had to rely heavily on reports from beat writers. Today’s game against the Boston Red Sox is another radio only broadcast, but we do get the opportunity to catch the O’s on Thursday afternoon, which will feature the spring debut for potential Opening Day starter Dylan Bundy.

Now that we are a few days into game action, let’s take a look at those early surprises and highlight a few important notes from camp.

Three big early positives for the Baltimore Orioles.

Yusniel Diaz. This is the perfect time to overreact to practice games and I’m going to do it here. Diaz is the type of prospect that has to grow on me. I wasn’t a super fan at the time of the trade, but that was probably more so because of my frustrations towards the organization at refusing to try very hard with Manny Machado.

Through four games, Diaz is 4-10 with a beautiful home run which I have placed below for you to observe, again. The hands, the swing, the swag- it’s all there. See you in Camden Yards later this summer.

Let’s lump the rest of the outfield into this second big positive takeaway. Cedric Mullins is doing what a leadoff hitter needs to do. In his first at-bat of the spring, he drew a walk, stole second, advanced on a bad throw (even if it was a good throw he was safe), and scored a run. Perfect! He has played in just two games but is 2-5 with a double, a walk, a stolen base, and no strikeouts.

Mullins is a grinder who appears to have brought his small-school mentality with him to the big leagues. Give me this type of athlete any day of the week. Fellow young prospect Austin Hays has also been impressive, by all accounts. We haven’t been able to see him live, but the beat staff has had high praise, commenting on how healthy he looks on his ankle and how he has started to send the ball to the opposite field. Teams quickly figured Hays out at both the major and minor league level, hopefully, Hays is figuring out his counterattack.

The final big takeaway- the fringe pitchers on the roster. Yefry Ramirez has given up one run on two hits across four innings. Mike Wright has given up five hits in four innings but has yet to surrender a run and Josh Rogers has given up two hits in his three innings.

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All three are in competition for a rotation spot and for Wright, this is his final chance to stick with the Orioles. I left him off my projected 25-man roster but I have a soft spot for him and every time he flashes his potential, I get sucked back in. For now, he’s pitching well and taking advantage of his final opportunity. We will see for how long this continues.

In other notes, Hunter Harvey came out of his first outing healthy and touching 98 mph. Branden Kline struck out the side in his one inning of work and Drew Jackson has shown up on defense, possibly making for a tough decision in a few weeks when the O’s have to decide if they keep two Rule 5 middle infielders on the roster.

Oh yeah, there was also this….

Take this as you will. Davis is already striking out a lot, but it is nice to see that swing return for this moonshot.

What has impressed you so far this spring? Let us know, Orioles fans.