Former Orioles All-Star looks primed for a bounce back in 2026

Cedric Mullins was a fan favorite in Baltimore. He provided hope during some of the Orioles' worst seasons in franchise history. He gave the fans electric moments both at the plate and in centerfield.  Before the 2025 season, the Orioles under Mike Elias had not extended any of their players, and with Mullins entering his final year under contract, fans were hopeful that he might be the first player to get the elusive extension from the Orioles, but it was not to be.

Unfortunately for Mullins and his many fans in Baltimore, his productivity steadily declined as he approached free agency. The Orioles front office is very value-driven, and centerfielders on the wrong side of 30 who get a lot of their value from speed and defense are not good bets. It was always going to be an uphill battle for Mullins to get a second contract from the Orioles. Early in the 2025 season, when Mullins was playing very well, he was asked about potentially extending with the Orioles, and he revealed that the club had shown zero interest in discussing an extension.

The Orioles' season was going in the tank, which only accelerated the split between Mullins and the Orioles, and he was traded at the deadline. Post-tradeline Mullins was terrible for the Mets; his name is going to be cursed by New Yorkers for a generation. The struggles in New York made it seem like the Orioles were wise to move on from their star centerfielder.

Cedric Mullins is trying to reinvent himself in Tampa Bay

Now with the Rays, Mullins is looking to prove that reports of his demise were somewhat exaggerated. So far in spring training, he's off to a good start, slashing .304/.414/.565 in 10 spring training games so far. Under the hood, his exit velocities are not great just yet, but with the size of the sample we're working with, all it would take is one or two hard-hit balls, and he'd be back at his norms.

Mullins has never been someone who hit the ball especially hard; it's no coincidence that his best power season came in the 2019 juiced-ball season. As he gets older and his bat speed eventually decreases even further, he needs to find a hitting profile that allows him to provide enough value at the plate to stay in the lineup.

There are two big discrepancies between Mullins's performance this spring training and the past few seasons. The first one is his whiff%, which is down from the mid twenties to 18%. This spring training, Mullins has emphasized putting the bat on the ball, which has allowed him to strike out less, walk more, and put more balls in play.

The other change is that he's dramatically increased his pull% to 57%, which would be the highest in baseball if he kept it up. Pulling the ball is a great way to get more power than what your bat speed would typically allow.

If Mullins can make up for his decline in some areas by becoming a more contact-oriented hitter who sneaks more balls over the fence than he should by pulling the ball at an elevated rate, that could allow him to lengthen his career as an impact big leaguer, especially if he can figure out why defensive metrics were so low on him last year.

One interesting thing to think about is that the Rays are most likely going to try to flip Mullins at the deadline to a contender in need of a centerfielder. If Colton Cowser's 2025 struggles follow him into 2026 and Enrigue Bradfield continues to struggle at Triple-A, could the Orioles reunite with Mullins?