Schoop replicating sweet sound, hopes to sustain success

SARASOTA, FLA. – Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop, the team’s lone All-Star from last season, isn’t showing signs of a letdown in spring training as he hit his fourth home run of the Grapefruit League season.

By both the eye test and the sounds he’s hearing, manager Buck Showalter believes Schoop is ready to replicate his 2017 — or better it.

“Jon’s never satisfied,” Showalter said after the Orioles’ sixth straight win, a 7-4 beating of the New York Yankees. “He’s never come in here with any airs of entitlement because of what went on last year. That’s why people really are drawn to himandhis personality. Jon is very humble, and all of a sudden you’ve got to remind yourself the guy drove in 100 runs last year.”

With the two-run home run in the second inning, Schoop has homered in his past two games and had four multi-hit games in his past seven to help him to a .406/.472/.844 batting line in 32 spring at-bats.

That Schoop, Manny Machado (.471 with three home runs) and a host of other Orioles regulars are swinging the bat well this spring seemstobeapositivefor ateamthat’s entering the season with so many questions. But Showalter was focused Wednesday on the sound that carried over the din of the sellout crowd at Ed Smith Stadium for Schoop’s blast into the left-field grill deck.

“As pretty a sound as you hear is that click it makes whenhe catches a ball,” Showalter said. “It’s got a little different sound to it. It’s not a crack, it’s a click.” What does it mean? “It means the ball’s going to go where you can’t catch it. A crack sometimes, too, unless it’s a cracked bat. I’ve seen guys with kind of a thud, but his ball, whenhesquaresthat ball upto left-center field, left field, it has a different sound. People talk about it.” Spring training Today, 1:05 p.m. Castro a bit wild but developing length: As Miguel Castro’s audition for a spot in the Orioles starting rotation moves toward its final few acts, more attention will be paid to how well the lanky 23-year-old right-hander sustains his arsenal as his pitch count escalates.

The Orioles believe Castro and his three-pitch mix can make the transition from multi-inning reliever into a starting role.

Making his second Grapefruit League start of the season — he made his spring debut in a “B” game — Castro reached the 69-pitch plateau, tying the most he’s thrown in his major league career, in the win against the Yankees.

Muchmorewillbemadefromhisupcomingoutings, but on Wednesday, Castro allowed four runs — three in the second inning — in a 32⁄ inning stint. Most of the damage was of his own doing. He walked three batters in the second inning, including twostraight to start the framethat eventually scored.