Area stars excited for ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ at U-19 world championship
As Orioles enjoy best stretch, top trade candidates performing well ahead of Wednesday’s deadline
EANAHEIM, Calif. — Even as the Orioles enjoy their best baseball of the season, winning seven of their past 11 games and narrowly missing their first sweep of the season Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels, manager Brandon Hyde is more than aware of how quickly things can change with Wednesday’s trade deadline.
Many of the guiding forces in the Orioles’ recent success are among their top candidates to be moved. They still hold one of the major’s weakest records at 35-70, so the roster they have when ending their nine-game road trip Tuesday could be massively different from the one Hyde can use when they start a 10-game homestand Thursday.
lizabeth Hillman said she jumped through the roof when she got the word. Maddie Jenner called it the biggest honor she’s had as an athlete. Emma Schettig was pleasantly surprised.
One by one, the three Baltimore-area lacrosse standouts got a phone call from United States under-19 women’s lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller in June with big news: Each are among the 18 players selected to represent the country in the World Lacrosse championship, set to run Thursday through Aug. 10 in Peterborough, Ontario.
The U.S. plays its first game Thursday against Australia.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, something you always dream about as a kid,” said Hillman, a Bel Air graduate and rising sophomore midfielder at North Carolina. “For me, personally, I never really truly grasped I was on the team until the final roster came out and then I was like ‘Wow, this is amazing.’ ”
For Hillman, Jenner, a McDonogh grad and rising sophomore draw control specialist/attacker at Duke, and Schettig, a recent McDonogh grad set to play midfield at Maryland, the coveted roster spots were earned after a year-long process that started with more than 100 players in
“I think we’ll handle it fine,” Hyde said Sunday. “For me, it’s not a secret that things might happen. I think we’re all prepared for something to happen. We’ve all been around enough. We all understand it’s a part of the game, and whoever’s in the clubhouse after the deadline, we’re gonna give the same attention to.”
Hyde knows the club he’s managing might lose some of its top performers, many of whom have been enjoying their best stretches of the season as the Orioles do the same. The injured Mark Trumbo is the team’s only pending free agent after trading Andrew Cashner to the Boston Red Sox, but that doesn’t mean others are forbidden from being moved.
Under team control through 2020
Middle infielder Jonathan Villar
Villar struggled in the Orioles’ series loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, going hitless in 15 at-bats with seven strikeouts. He turned it around in Anaheim with multi-hit games in each leg of the four-game set. In the series, Villar went 10-for-18 with five steals in as many tries and two home runs, the first of those being a game-winning, two-run shot in the 16th inning of Thursday’s marathon.
Under team control through 2021
Closer Mychal Givens: Despite allowing runs in his past three outings, Givens has a 3.00 ERA in his past 16 appearances, striking out 27 in 18 innings in that span. Because of the lack of other experienced options in the Orioles bullpen, he’s been overused at times, but from May 31 to July 21, he had a 1.84 ERA in 13 appearances while limiting opponents to a .140 batting average.
Right-handed starter Dylan Bundy: Any possibility of Bundy being traded seemed eradicated when he allowed seven runs in one inning July 12 and was thereafter placed on the injured list with knee tendinitis. But he allowed four runs in his first 11 innings off the IL before Albert Pujols spoiled his second start with a game-tying home run in Sunday’s sixth inning. Bundy has two more years of control after this year, so an offseason deal might be more likely.
Under team control through 2022
Outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini: Since ending an 0-for-24 skid July 16, Mancini has homered seven times in his past 11 games, with two multi-homer outputs and his first career streak of three consecutive games with a home run. He’s driven in 13 runners in those 10 games.
Infielder Hanser Alberto: Alberto leads the majors with a .404 batting average against left-handed pitching. Going from changing organizations four times this offseason to a fixture in Hyde’s lineup, Alberto is among the American League’s top hitters overall at .313, a mark boosted by hitting .458 (11-for-24) this week.
Under team control through 2023
Catcher Pedro Severino: Severino beDesignated hitter/infielder Renato Núñez: Núñez leads the Orioles with 25 home runs. Nine have come in his past 23 games, a span in which he has slugged .698 with half of his hits going for extra bases. He’s also been playing in the field more often of late after primarily serving as the Orioles’ designated hitter before this road trip.
What’s to come?
Fresh off their first sweep of the season, the Orioles complete their road trip west with two games against Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres. The Orioles lost both matchups with the Padres at Camden Yards in June, though the Orioles are playing significantly better than they were then and the Padres are playing worse. A deadline day off precedes a return to Camden Yards to start a