Hyde shows appreciation for ‘good enough to play’ mindset

Before partaking in batting practice last week at Camden Yards, Orioles outfielder Austin Hays sat down on the tarp near the cage. He alternated crossing his legs over each other and under his torso amid a series of stretches.

It’s part of a routine the 25-year-old has adopted from Baltimore’s training and performance staff in hopes of avoiding a return to the injured list, having already spent time on it twice with a strain in each hamstring. But while he’s back to being a regular part of manager Brandon Hyde’s lineup, he stops short of saying he’s back to 100% healthy.

“I mean, I feel like I can go out and play great defense,” Hays said. “I have no effect hitting, throwing. There’s a little bit there when I run, but I’d say I’m definitely good enough to be on the field and provide for my team out there.”

That mindset is held by not only Hays, but also fellow outfielder Anthony Santander, who missed a month with a sprained left ankle and is still battling its effects. Hyde has described both Hays and Santander as “trying their best” even as the lingering injuries clearly slow them on the field.

Hyde praised rookie Ryan Mountcastle earlier this season when he played with a bruised left hand after a series of hit-by-pitches thinned Baltimore’s lineup. He believes such efforts will be vital when the Orioles’ rebuild transitions to winning in the majors.

“You want to create the environment where guys try to play through things and guys want to play,” Hyde said. “I don’t want anybody ever to play hurt, and I’m trying to give guys their best opportunity to have success, and sometimes you’ve got to play through some bumps and bruises.

“Winning teams have guys, a roster full of them that want to be in the lineup and try to push the play. I really appreciate those guys coming into my office almost on a daily basis and saying, ‘Hey, I want to play today.’ That’s important.”

Two of Baltimore’s most productive batters during Hyde’s managerial tenure, neither Hays nor Santander has matched that success this year. Santander has hit the ball hard of late, but since his eight-game hitting streak straight off the IL, he’s batting .193 in 25 games. A Gold Glove finalist in right field a year ago, Santander rates negatively in outs above average and defensive runs saved at that spot this season, with his ankle preventing him from making plays he likely would have a year ago.

Even with a game-tying double in the Orioles’ only win this week, Hays is batting .185 in 16 games since his returning from his second IL stint, though he’s on a five-game hitting streak. He’s also been visibly slower getting down the firstbase line; his average home-to-first time is 4.45 seconds, according to MLB’s Statcast data, compared with 4.29 seconds in 2020. He was the 18th fastest player for his age a year ago and ranks 36th this season. He’s grounded into three double plays in 195 plate appearances this year,

compared with one in 209 plate appearances the previous two seasons.

Those ongoing ailments are among the primary reasons the Orioles recalled rookie outfielder Ryan McKenna on Sunday. He’ll also help to provide cover for All-Star candidate Cedric Mullins, who has played center field nearly every day even as the men beside him have consistently shuffled.

“We felt it was important to get some healthy bodies in here,” Hyde said. “It gives us a little bit of flexibility there to where now I am not forcing somebody out there that we feel like needs a day off.”

Neither Hays nor Santander want them. Hays in particular has been plagued by injuries in his career. After skyrocketing to the majors, he missed most of 2018 after undergoing ankle surgery. He started 2019 on the IL after a left thumb injury on a headfirst slide during spring training. A pitch taken in the back that broke ribs cost him time in 2020. Hyde has dismissed the notion that Hays is “injury prone,” noting how early he is in his career. Hays made the same point, describing most of his injuries before the hamstring strains as “freakish things that can’t really be avoided.”

To shake that stigma, he has to stay on the field. Like Hyde, Hays believes the “good enough to play” mentality he and Santander are showing this season will prove beneficial to the Orioles down the line.

“It’s going to be huge for us,” Hays said. “We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries this year. I just don’t think we’ve had very many opportunities to have our best team on the field, all of our best players at the same time, but I think we’re getting really close to that now.

“I think the team’s gonna look a lot different when all of our guys are out there and we’re healthy and we can be what this team can be.”

What’s to come?

The Orioles complete their two-week stretch devoted to the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros with three games in Houston before getting their first day off since June 10.

They’ll then visit the Los Angeles Angels for the first time since a July 2019 series that featured utilityman Stevie Wilkerson recording the first save by a position player in major league history. Given that he was optioned amid Sunday’s roster shuffle and such lengthy extra-inning games have been reduced with runners automatically beginning additional frames at second, that feat seems unlikely to be repeated this week.

What was good?

You can’t spell Cole Sulser without “closer,” and although that’s no longer the role he occupies in Hyde’s bullpen, Sulser has recorded the save in perhaps two of the Orioles’ biggest wins this year: the streak-snappers.

His first save of the season came in the June 1 victory that ended Baltimore’s 14-game losing streak — tied for the second longest in franchise history. Then, Friday night, he took the mound for the 10th inning looking to finish the Orioles’ 20-game losing streak as visitors. After a walk that put the potential winning run on base, Sulser got American League Most Valuable Player favorite Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground into a double play before a strikeout led to a playoff-level party in the Orioles’ clubhouse.

In Sulser’s other two outings this week, he recorded three strikeouts in an inning Monday and entered a no-out, bases-loaded situation Tuesday and allowed only one inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly. His ERA is down to 2.30.

What wasn’t?

Dean Kremer arrived in the majors last September and quickly pitched as someone who belonged there. But the rookie right-hander has lacked consistency this year and seemingly had his confidence shaken, describing his struggles in Thursday’s start — in which he got one out, issued five walks and allowed a grand slam — as more mental than physical.

He’ll now get what Hyde described as an “extended” stay in Triple-A Norfolk in hopes that one of the first-arriving pieces from the Orioles’ rebuilding efforts can turn it around.

On the farm

The Orioles brought up a pair of infielders from Norfolk on Sunday in Ramón Urías and Domingo Leyba. Neither of them, notably, is Jahmai Jones, Baltimore’s return from the Angels for right-hander Alex Cobb.

Jones had a quiet week at the plate with three hits in 19 at-bats, but since rejoining the Tides after an IL stint for an oblique injury, he’s batting .310 with a .919 OPS. But rather than have him be part of the infield mixup, the Orioles elected to have him continue to get regular work at second base in Norfolk. He was an outfielder until adopting the position in 2018, and Sunday marked only his 22nd career game at Triple-A.

Considering Baltimore’s defensive struggles this year and the precedent set last year when they kept Mountcastle at the alternate training site to continue to groom his outfield defense, it’s not a surprise that Jones is experiencing the same delayed arrival despite fans’ calls for him.