Gunnar Henderson bought his uniform soiled Tuesday, an indication that “means you did something,” he mentioned. Baseball’s prime prospect had been ready a bit to do something.
In the Orioles’ highway spring coaching sport towards the Pittsburgh Pirates, Henderson grew to become Baltimore’s final common to look in a Grapefruit League exhibition after lacking the primary three video games as some wrist soreness healed. Manager Brandon Hyde famous Henderson “would have been able to play, no problem,” however the crew didn’t need to unnecessarily push him for spring coaching video games.
“Just a little bit of taking too many swings at the beginning,” Henderson mentioned. “Coming from the offseason, I took a good amount of swings, but getting down here in the heat and then your body wearing down a little bit and then just keep swinging a lot, that just kind of wore it down a little bit and got it a little sore. Wasn’t really worth [it to] keep doing that and then go into the season not healthy. Got over it now, and I’m ready to roll.”
He backed that up along with his play. In his first spring at-bat, he grounded a single up the center. To finish the underside of the third, he ranged to his left for a diving cease at third base.
Henderson figures to be the Orioles’ common third baseman this season and also will see time at shortstop. On Tuesday, Joey Ortiz manned shortstop with Jordan Westburg at second, an infield association of prime prospects the Orioles have deployed within the minors and will characteristic within the majors sooner or later this season. Westburg had two hits, each put in play at greater than 101 mph.
Baltimore’s clubhouse options lots of the group’s prime prospects, with Henderson topping these lists.
“We’re all really fierce competitors, but we all love each other and we want to see the best out of each and every person here,” Henderson mentioned. “We all try to do whatever we can to help, and that’s ultimately going to win us a championship one day.”
Henderson wasn’t the one constructive harm information for the Orioles on Tuesday. Outfielder Anthony Santander is anticipated to be in Wednesday’s lineup after leaving Monday’s sport after taking a pitch off his left kneecap.
“I’m OK, guys,” he mentioned as reporters approached his locker Tuesday morning.
Bradish has all of it working
When Kyle Bradish made a robust impression final spring by pitching nicely in highway video games towards the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, he confronted lineups stacked with these groups’ main league regulars.
That wasn’t the case Tuesday, however Bradish’s dominance was nonetheless an early assertion in his push to win a spot in Baltimore’s rotation. He retired all six Pirates he confronted, recording two strikeouts along with his slider, getting two groundballs on his sinker and leaving the outing happy along with his curveball, as nicely. His four-seam fastball reached 96.3 mph.
“Anytime you go out there and you have five weapons that are working, it makes pitching easier, but it is still early,” Bradish mentioned. “There’s still stuff to work on, so not gonna look too much into this, but it’s nice to have some success early.”
Bradish added the sinker late final season amid a robust near the season, posting a 3.28 ERA in 13 begins after a stint on the injured listing for a shoulder harm. He honed the pitch this offseason at Push Performance Gym in Arizona, additionally working so as to add some sweep again to his slider after he observed its break shortened up late final 12 months.
His second-half success in 2022 places him within the higher half of the Orioles’ 12 rotation candidates this spring. He mentioned his method this spring is similar because the final one, when, regardless of pitching nicely, he was optioned to Triple-A forward of an April debut.
“I had a long shot of making the team out of camp, but my mindset was coming in and trying to make a name for myself and put it into the coaches’ hands,” Bradish mentioned. “I didn’t want to do anything to mess that up, and then kind of same thing this year. I’m gonna do what I do, and then it’s up to them.”
Tuesday’s sport additionally marked the primary this spring wherein a number of rotation candidates appeared. Mike Baumann allowed a run in two innings. Hyde mentioned the Orioles will get artistic with backfield work because the spring goes on, their starters get stretched out and the crew gained’t be capable of use two in a single sport.
Ump no present
The prime of the ninth inning ended with the Orioles shedding, however that didn’t imply the sport was over.
Baltimore had yet one more pitcher it needed to present work, so the groups agreed to play the underside of the ninth. But the umpiring crew was not on board, Hyde mentioned, leading to them leaving the sphere and right-hander Ofreidy Gómez pitching with out umpires. The scoreboard confirmed the Pirates’ emblem, and the pitch clock was off. Catcher Maverick Handley was answerable for calling balls and strikes, at one level crediting himself for framing a borderline pitch.
“A little backfield action,” Hyde mentioned. “… We were told by the league that we could clear it by the umpires and pitch the bottom half of the ninth inning, and I guess [crew chief] Chad Fairchild felt that we couldn’t.”
Gómez labored a scoreless inning to shut out the Orioles’ 7-4 loss.
Grapefruit League
Blue Jays at Orioles
Wednesday, 1:05 p.m.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com