A steady rain didn’t dampen the spirits of several hundred Orioles fans who braved the elements for the first-ever “Winter Warm-Up” at Camden Yards Dec. 14.
Eutaw Street was decked out with Christmas decorations and a live band played carols in a tent-covered stage in the right-field flag court. Later, Orioles general manager Mike Elias, assistant GM Sig Mejdal and manager Brandon Hyde took questions under that from the “die-hard fans” who largely supported the direction of the rebuilding club.
“You guys are our core group of fans,” Elias said. “We build off your support and to come out here and brave this weather says so much to us. We know you guys understand what we’re doing right now as an organization and where we’re headed and we really appreciate you coming out.”
One of the main concerns among the fans was how the Orioles were going to be able to compete with the loss of several key players, namely second baseman Jonathan Villar and starting pitcher Dylan Bundy.
Elias assured the fans he would be looking both inside and outside the organization to fill the void.
“I think we’ll layer in more and more veterans, once we have a clearer idea of what our core team looks like,” he said.
One fan asked about the timeline for Ryan Mountcastle to reach the majors and whether he might be a viable option at second base. Elias seemed open to the idea, and the team expects Mountcastle to get opportunities to play first and third base, along with left field and right field throughout spring training.
“He’s a big guy and that necessitated moving to the corners of the diamond,” Elias said. “He can play different spots. We’re trying to figure out what’s going to be the best one for him. But the important thing is we still want him to be able to move around. Actually, second base is something that we’ve talked about. I don’t think any of us have had a personal look at it, but it’s something that we might try to mix in here and there.
“I don’t think any of us project him as an everyday second baseman defensively, but it might be something that he’s capable of doing.”
Other fans wondered how the recent success of the Washington Nationals might affect the Orioles fan base in the regional market. Elias is confident the Orioles will retain their support and even expand their reach as the club gets closer to competing on the same level as the Nats.
“I know that fans from both sides of the market will be supportive of the Orioles when we turn back to where we were a few years ago, a playoff-caliber, exciting team,” Elias said. “I think that the fact that the Nationals won the World Series, it’s good for baseball in the region, but more specifically, I look at it from the perspective of I remember where they were, and they built that organization the way we’re building the Orioles right now.
“Scouting, a very strong international focus, they were patient, they did a good job with some high draft picks, which we’re in the midst of right now, and it shows that that exact model can lead to where the Nats are.”
A couple of fans were interested in how the club continues to use analytics to improve the overall performance. Mejdal assured the fans the entire coaching staff is on board with trying to utilize the latest technology to the benefit of the club.
“The analytics get a lot of attention and that’s undoubtedly a change that’s taking place in baseball,” Mejdal said. “But what also has happened recently is the skills in the coaches, and that’s perhaps a little less sexy. That doesn’t get much attention.
“But the coaches we have are ready to take advantage of whatever analytics, whatever technology, whatever best practices from other fields they can borrow and develop our players at hopefully a better rate than anybody in our division.”
Elias, Mejdal and Hyde were fully empathetic to the fans and how they want the Orioles to get back into playoff contention. But this process is going to take time.
The patience will pay off in the long run, they said.
“We fully get it that it’s hard to watch at times,” Hyde said. “It’s frustrating in the chairs that we’re sitting in right now, also. But we understand the process it’s going to take, how long it’s going to take, and we just want everybody to just buy in to what’s going on because I think there’s a lot of positive things going on.”
Photo Credit: Todd Karpovich/PressBox