Wednesday Bird Droppings: An important rubber match

Good morning, Birdland!

As unrealistic as it may have seemed a month ago, the Orioles have a shot to win the AL East this year if things bounce the right way. That starts with beating the Rays when you have the opportunity, and although it wasn’t the most convincing performance, they got the job done on Tuesday night.

We saw Grayson Rodriguez work with imperfect stuff to cobble together a solid outing against the best offense in baseball. That is as educational as it gets for a rookie just a month into his big league career.

The lineup was able to get some traffic on the bases against Zach Eflin, who has been tremendous to start the season. That included a two-run bomb from Adley Rutschman, who entered the game scuffling a little bit. Gunnar Henderson added a triple and a run as he looks to push his batting average above the Mendoza line at some point soon. And the entire lineup struck out just four times. Eflin alone was averaging more than a strikeout an inning coming into the game.

Yennier Cano continues to amaze. The way in which Brandon Hyde currently deploys him is perfect. He is not the closer. He’s the “we really need an out right now” guy. So far, that is working perfectly.

It looks like the Rays are doing the opener thing tonight as Jalen Beeks is on the mound. His longest outing of the season is three innings, and he typically only goes one or two. Dean Kremer is back on the bump looking to replicate what he did in Atlanta over the weekend. He may need to be even better here.

Links

O’s minor league report: 8 prospects move up in Baseball America’s latest top 100 list | The Baltimore Sun
Colton Cowser is starting to look like a guy that will be in the Orioles everyday lineup by the second half of the summer. That would be great as it allows Anthony Santander to DH most days and have three competent fielders on the grass at all times.

Leftovers for breakfast | Roch Kubatko
The quotes from Mike Elias on Henderson are interesting. I tend to agree that, offensively, it’s close for him. Defensively, the advanced metrics say he stinks. Although his arm is kind of amazing, and he should see his range-related numbers jump up as he gets comfortable.

Orioles putting organizational depth on display in strong start to 2023 season | The Baltimore Sun
It is neat to see the O’s jump players between Norfolk and Baltimore so frequently and feel like the team is still quite good regardless. Of course, it’s mostly been on the fringes of the roster, so we shall see how replacing someone like Ramón Urías for some time works out.

A decade later, we redraft the 2013 MLB Draft | MLB.com
This is the draft where the O’s took Hunter Harvey, Mike Yastrzemski, Trey Mancini, and Jonah Heim. Not bad to get so many big leaguers in one class, but the Orioles did not exactly maximize that talent for themselves.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Kam Mickolio turns 39. A somewhat forgotten piece of the Adam Jones/Erik Bedard trade, Mickolio pitched out of the Orioles bullpen for parts of three seasons from 2008-10

This day in O’s history

1960 - Orioles catcher Joe Ginsberg ties the big league record with three passes balls in one inning. He has trouble handling Hoyt Wilhelm’s knuckleball.

1972 - Dave McNally throws his fourth shutout of the year, beating the Rangers 1-0.

2012 - The Orioles become the first AL team to lead off a game with three straight home runs. Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy, and Nick Markakis all leave the yard against Rangers starter Colby Lewis.