‘Same guy every day’

Reflecting on his managerial tenure, Hyde has no regrets about the job he’s done beyond the occasional in-game decision that he believes any first-time manager would like a mulligan on. He’s still haunted by his choice in May 2019 to intentionally walk eventual Most Valuable Player José Abreu to create a left-on-right matchup for Yonder Alonso, who promptly hit a walk-off single for the Chicago White Sox.

That loss is one of the Orioles’ 263 in 400 games under Hyde entering this week’s series against the New York Yankees. In his fourth year with Baltimore, he has one of the five worst winning percentages of any manager in major league history.

But executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias, who personally selected Hyde to lead the Orioles through what was expected to be a handful of difficult seasons, has long been clear he’s judging Hyde on more than wins and losses. The rosters he’s provided him, after all, have had apparent flaws.

Of the nearly 120 players to pitch an inning or take an at-bat for Baltimore under Hyde, almost half joined the organization on waivers or minor league contracts, castoffs who other teams didn’t want on their major league rosters. Even those who didn’t arrive in those circumstances have had little to no major league experience.

That makes the unexpected victories all the more worth celebrating. A series win last week against the Yankees. A sweep of the Washington Nationals, their regional rival, last summer that forced them to sell at the trade deadline. A surprising start to the shortened 2020 season that had Baltimore in playoff contention into the final weeks of the year.

“These guys have nothing to lose,” Hyde said. “We’re the underdog every single night, and we have been for three years. If you watch the ticker, we are the underdog every single night.

“For me, when we have won series, when we have swept teams with three games that we should not have won according to everybody else, for me, that makes me proud.”

More than perhaps any other aspect of his managerial tenure, Hyde has taken pride in his and his coaches’ ability to make players feel comfortable. They’re doing so in circumstances that could be anything but for young major leaguers, with nightly expectations that the team they’re playing for will lose and pressure on them to change that.

The Orioles have undoubtedly had noncompetitive stretches under Hyde; last year, they became the first team since 1935 to have multiple losing streaks of at least 14 games. But an upbeat energy remained even during the latter, which stretched 19 contests. Players grew out or shaved their facial hair to change team mojo. Mancini, who shaved everything but his mustache, went around with other players burning sage before what proved to be a streak-ending victory.

“I think our clubhouse culture could not be better in the situation we’re in, since the day I got here,” Hyde said. “I don’t think anybody that’s walked in our clubhouse feels like they’re walking into a team that hasn’t won many games.”

Left-handed reliever Paul Fry, the Orioles’ longest-tenured pitcher, described the state of the Orioles’ clubhouse as “modern,” with a focus on ensuring young players feel as if they’re part of the team. Players traced that mindset to Hyde, who believes he’s handled the struggles of the past few seasons “as well as I possibly could.” He prides himself on his consistency.

“He’s the same guy every day,” Mancini said. “He manages to win every single game, no matter if we’ve won several games in a row or lost several games in a row. Last year, we had a couple of those streaks where it was tough for us, but you would never know just by seeing him when you walk in that day that it was weighing on him.

“We’ve had to rebuild the organization, as we all know, and I think he’s done a really, really great job under the circumstances.”