Alberto is heartbeat of team’s hot start
2nd baseman smiling and hitting for Orioles
There’s no need to play mainstream music during breaks of empty-stadium baseball games, so as Hanser Alberto waited through a pitching change ahead of his go-ahead double in another Orioles win Sunday, the stadium operators played a song he loves.
They played “Apoyate en mi,” a Christian rap-piano ballad released over a decade ago by Dominican singer Isabelle Valdez. Alberto sang every word, chorus and verse, as he waited for his opportunity.
The song offers encouragement through rough times and strength to those who need to look beyond themselves for it. The title in English? Lean on me. The Orioles lean on Alberto plenty, and for more than just moments like Sunday when he drove in Cedric Mullins to help the Orioles to a 5-1 win.
In a baseball season that seemingly can end at any moment because of the coronavirus pandemic and with the expectation that no team would be worse than the Orioles this year, things have been largely bright so far in Baltimore this summer because of the effervescent Alberto.
He has not stopped hitting, or grinning, all summer.
“He’s the kind of guy that’s always got a smile on his face,” said veteran pitcher Tommy Milone, a new teammate. “He can make other guys smile, and he just hits the ball all over the ballpark — so I understand why he smiles a lot. He’s an incredible ballplayer, an incredible human being. He’s a lot of fun to be around.”
Added third baseman Renato Núñez: “Amazing, man. He’s an amazing guy. I think I’ve learned a lot this past year and this year from him. I always ask him howhe does it, how he prepares to work, how he has so much fun. The thing is, he’s a nice teammate. He’s an amazing guy, and I’m happy that I’m playing with him.”
Alberto’s debut season with the Orioles was mostly defined by the fact that he bounced around
ALBERTO ,
through an offseason and spring of waiver claims and transactions before returning to the Orioles, and hit his way into an everyday role by batting .305 overall and a leaguebest .398 against left-handers.
He’s continued hitting at an even higher clip this year, batting .429 with a 1.145 OPS and two home runs for the 5-3 Orioles while ensuring that he sparks the team in other ways as well. Manager Brandon Hyde didn’t hesitate while citing Alberto and catcher Pedro Severino as the two most vocal players when the team needs energy.
Alberto, though, is more than just a mascot. He’s an avatar for how this Orioles team was made, and what it’s made of. His path to the Orioles and what he’s done with his chance here is, in Hyde’s mind, one of the defining characteristics of his team’s competitive nature — even if that spirit he’s cultivated only began to yield wins in the past week or so.
“There’s not a better feeling to going out and having guys that truly care about playing the game hard, care about your teammates,” Hyde said.
“We have some great stories. We have so many guys designated for assignment. If you look around the field this series, Yankees series. Look at the Yankees. Look at us, how many guys we have on the field who have been DFAed, traded, released, and getting an opportunity and hanging right in there. I’m really proud of our guys for all that. I think that they’re tough. It’s not easy to move organizations, be told that we don’t want you anymore, and they continue to compete. These guys are doing that.”
What’s next?
Nothing new — just a bunch of games against the Miami Marlins that may or may not happen. Last week, it was because of professional sports’ first major COVID-19 outbreak. This time, it coincides with the remnants of a hurricane hitting Baltimore come Tuesday, with coronavirus concerns still mixed in.
The teams learned Monday that they’d be playing single games Tuesday and Thursday at 7:35 p.m. and a doubleheader Wednesday at 5:05 p.m. The Orioles will host the first two games and the Marlins will host the second two.
After that, the Orioles have another road trip, albeit one that might be simpler to manage than Boston and Miami. They have three games at the Washington Nationals beginning Friday, and the early 6:05 p.m. starts could allow the Orioles to commute
instead of bringing a hotel into the equation.
What was good?
For once, plenty. But when asked what he thought the difference was between these remade Orioles and the ones from a year ago, Hyde said he believed it was the starting pitching getting them deeper into games to set up more bullpen success.
“Our starting pitching, for the most part, has given us a chance and at least is getting to the middle part of the game,” Hyde said. “That was something that was, I think, a question mark because we didn’t know with quick summer camp, 21⁄ three-week summer camp, how our starters were going to do and how long we could go with them, and how sharp they would be.
“We’ve had some really, really good starts, and our bullpen guys have come in the game and filled up the strike zone. That’s been the key for us, and that’s something that we really struggled with last year — high-pitch innings, inherited runners scoring, things like that. We’ve done a pretty good job so far this year of our guys coming in and throwing strikes.”
In the three-game sweep against the Rays, the Orioles ran a lot of experience out onto the mound with Alex Cobb, Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone. They were
No one can see what’s happening at the Orioles’ secondary camp in Bowie, where top prospects and major league depth alike are working out on a daily basis in controlled but development-minded settings.
With Grayson Rodriguez added last week, there’s a rotation’s worth of prospects who would be getting plenty of attention at their respective affiliates were this a normal minor league season. Dean Kremer, Keegan Akin and Michael Baumann are effectively re-creating their Triple-A experience there, but add Rodriguez and DL Hall to the mix and the Orioles’ minor league coaching staff has a pitcher with a legitimate claim to be part of the team’s rotation of the future to work with every single day.
That is happening alongside the likes of Chandler Shepherd and Cesar Valdez staying stretched out and ready to provide cover at the major league level, with relievers like Branden Kline, Eric Hanhold and Cody Carroll biding their time the way they would be at Triple-A Norfolk as well.