Baltimore Orioles: Credit To Cedric Mullins For Strong Finish In 2019

The 2019 season was one to forget for Baltimore Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins. Can he turn his strong end to the season into a positive 2020 campaign?

Cedric Mullins entered the 2019 season with enormous expectations as many looked to the 24-year-old, switch-hitting outfielder to take the reigns from Adam Jones and become the new everyday center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles.

Some fans bought into the hype and expected big things out of the speedy rookie. Some never seemed to buy into Mullins or his abilities to become a major league regular. He provided one of the few polarizing storylines as this year’s spring training approached.

I hesitantly bought in and was excited to see what he could do after hitting .289 with a .346 OBP, 49 extra-base hits, and 21 stolen bases between Double-A and Triple-A last season.

On the surface, his spring training numbers weren’t good. A .151 average and .262 OBP aren’t inspiring for someone with the expectations Mullins had on him, but a slightly deeper look showed some potential for a positive turnaround once the regular season commenced.

In 17 spring games, Mullins recorded six extra-base hits (three home runs), was 4-4 in stolen bases, and walked seven times while striking out just seven times. Unfortunately, the high ISO and walk rate didn’t translate into the regular season as Mullins hit .094 in 24 games, including a .181 OBP.

Things didn’t improve after being sent to Triple-A Norfolk on April 22nd. Appearing in 66 games, Mullins hit just .205 with 15 extra-base hits and a wRC+ of 46. That’s 2018 Chris Davis level of wRC+, for comparison.

On July 11th, Mullins was sent down again to finish the season with Double-A Bowie. Well before this point, it was clear that 2019 was a wash for the former small-school prospect. The production at the plate was non-existent and his body language at the plate screamed through my iPad every night as he looked defeated before seeing his first pitch. It was far cry from the jovial Cedric Mullins many fans came to adore in 2018.

But things started to slowly turn around once he joined Bowie. Overall, Mullins slashed .271/.341/.402 with 16 extra-base hits, a near 10% walk rate, 20 stolen bases, a low 13.7% strikeout rate, and a 118 wRC+. Just as we have seen with the major league Orioles this year, Mullins refused to give up.

In 29 August games, Mullins hit .284 with six doubles, four home runs, a 16/11 K/BB ratio, and 10 stolen bases to play a major part in propelling Bowie from a basement dweller in the Eastern League to the EL Championship Series against the Trenton Thunder.

During Bowie’s playoff stretch (eight games), Mullins hit .353 (12-34) with two home runs, five RBI, five walks, and 10 runs scored. He also swiped five bags. It wasn’t the same Cedric Mullins we had seen for much of this season. End of season Mullins seemed to be finding his confidence again and getting back to playing fun baseball. Now the question becomes, can he keep it going?

Orioles general manager Mike Elias was quoted in a Roch Kubatoko piece on MASN.com with some encouraging words about Mullins and his 2020 season.

“We do think that he might benefit from making some mechanical changes and some very focused mechanical work. He’s got a real good approach. He’s got a lot of ability. He’s still really young and he’s still a heck of a center fielder, so we’re going to put together a program for him in the offseason to work on his swing.”

Mullins has a challenging road ahead if he wants to return to the major league lineup next season. Anthony Santander had a fantastic 2019 and will surely be in a corner outfield spot on Opening Day 2020. DJ Stewart will be looking for regular playing time after injuries limited his major league playing time this year. Dwight Smith Jr. will also find himself in the mix.

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Austin Hays will be given every opportunity to claim the starting center field job and should we assume that Trey Mancini sees a lot of time in the outfield next year? What about Ryan Mountcastle? The International League MVP played a lot of left field over the final few weeks of the Norfolk Tides season and should find himself in the big leagues early in 2020.

Mullins is far from the prospect that Mountcastle is and the rest of his competition has already shown stretches of positive play in the majors this season. He’s going to have to prove a lot in spring training, but if he responds well to his offseason plan the Orioles are going to put him through, he could make the outfield competition job a fun storyline to watch next February/March.

Credit to Mullins for turning things around late in the season and let’s hope he carries that success into spring training and beyond next year.

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