Bautista solid in first appearance
Holliday among prospects getting reassigned to minors
BRADENTON, Fla. — It was at last Mountain time in Florida.
Orioles closer Félix Bautista made his first appearance of the spring as Baltimore’s starter in Tuesday’s exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitching a perfect opening inning with two strikeouts as his fastball reached 99 mph.
Bautista had a slower buildup to games after his outstanding rookie season ended in early October after he suffered a sprained left knee. Having also experienced arm fatigue late in the year, he was put on a shoulder-strengthening program in the offseason, as well.
Despite his late debut, Bautista said he believes Tuesday’s appearance puts him on track to be available for the Orioles’ March 30 opening day matchup with the Boston Red Sox.
“The possibility is definitely there,” Bautista said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones.
Bautista threw 15 pitches, the first three resulting in a strikeout of Oneil Cruz with two whiffs on his splitter. He froze Ji-Man Choi with a full-count fastball to end his outing, averaging 97.9 mph on the 10 fastballs he threw.
“Nice to see Félix back out there,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “The fastball velocity was there, the good splits. It was his first time out there, but it looked like he’s been out there for a while, so that was a real positive for today.”
His velocity, though still impressive, was understandably beneath last year’s averages. Unlike the handful of bullpen sessions and two live batting practice sessions Bautista threw leading into Tuesday, his focus was to “throw strikes and do my job,” he said. He believed he achieved that.
“I felt really good,” he said. “I feel like I did a good job of attacking the zone. My secondary pitches were working really well, so I feel really good with how it went.”
Bautista’s last start in an official game also came in Florida, his first stateside outing in what was in 2018 known as the Gulf Coast League. He pitched in the low levels of the Orioles’ system until skyrocketing to Triple-A in 2021. He spent all of 2022 in the majors, becoming Baltimore’s closer after the team traded All-Star Jorge López.
Hyde said having Bautista start rather than pitch in relief was to give him a clear time for his outing and allow for him to have a set warmup period.
“He won’t be an opener opening day,” Hyde joked. “This isn’t a precursor for anything we’re gonna do in the season.”
Holliday, other top infielders among latest cuts
The Orioles made four more cuts to their spring training roster Tuesday, with three of their top infield prospects among them.
Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, was reassigned to minor league camp, ending his time as an official member of the Orioles’ spring training roster with a .385 batting average and .991 OPS while making quite the impression as a 19-year-old in big league camp.
Having spent recent days in concussion protocol after being hit in the head with a ground ball during drills, Joey Ortiz was optioned, while Connor Norby was reassigned. Both infielders excelled with Double-A Bowie last year to end the year in Triple-A. Ortiz had an OPS over 1.000 from July on, while Norby led all Baltimore minor leaguers with 29 home runs.
Right-hander Kyle Dowdy, signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, was also reassigned, leaving the Orioles’ camp roster at 51.
Minor league spring training games begin Wednesday, with games at Twin Lakes Park through March 31.
Tall pitcher, short outing
The Orioles followed one of their 6-foot-8 pitchers with the other.
After Bautista started, right-hander Tyler Wells came in behind him for his third outing in his bid to return to the Orioles’ rotation. A long third inning, featuring a couple of ground balls that sneaked through the infield, pushed up Wells’ pitch count long before his scheduled four innings and left his ERA this spring at 11.57.
But the results don’t reflect how Wells feels about his spring.
“I don’t feel like I’m far off from where I need or really want to be to be very dominant,” Wells said. “I think the fastball’s been great. Changeup’s still kind of coming along as far as locations go. Curveball’s come a long way. Slider’s come a long way. I think that everything is there, and I think everything is showing itself. Now, it’s just trying to put the pieces together, and that’s always the hard part in spring training.”
Wells struck out three of his first four batters before five straight Pirates reached in the third inning, with four of them eventually scoring. After a groundout, Hyde pulled him from the game, using the spring training reentry rule to have Wells start the fourth, during which he allowed another run and exited after his 63rd pitch. Wells’ two walks in the start were his first of spring and “two too many,” he said.
Hyde described aspects of the outing as “unlucky.”
“I thought he was fine,” Hyde said. “The bottom line is he got his pitch count up, and we’re happy with that.”
The Orioles’ rotation is already beginning to take shape. Hyde has said the team will name its opening day starter soon after Wednesday’s day off. The team also shuffled its rotation out of that break; left-hander Cole Irvin, who had been pitching the day after right-hander Kyle Bradish, will pitch on Bradish’s turn Thursday, a move Hyde said was because “we’re trying to line some stuff up as we get closer here, and that’s all there is to that.”
‘Typical young-person spring’
When the Orioles last played at LECOM Field in Bradenton, infielder Gunnar Henderson made his spring debut after some minor right wrist soreness delayed his entry into exhibitions. He grounded a single up the middle in his first at-bat.
But Henderson has gone 1-for-20 since with nine strikeouts and three walks. Baseball’s top overall prospect and a favorite to be the American League Rookie of the Year, the 21-year-old seems assured a spot on the Orioles’ opening day roster after performing well in his first taste of the majors at the end of last season.
Hyde’s comments when asked about Henderson’s spring to this point reinforce that.
“A typical young-person spring, honestly,” Hyde said. “I just want him to relax and play. He’s such a good player. He’s going to be fine. I think he’s just having young-guy at-bats right now. He’s trying to get hits, and I’m not worried about it at all. I think he’s gonna be just fine. He just needs to relax and play a little bit.”