As a lot as this weekend marked a reunion for Trey Mancini, the identical utilized for Orioles govt vp and normal supervisor Mike Elias. The former prime assistant within the Houston Astros’ entrance workplace caught up with a number of acquainted faces and former coworkers all through the collection at Minute Maid Park.
It additionally provided a chance to check the place the Orioles’ rebuilding course of stands relative to the one Elias was part of in Houston. Since being employed and promising to construct an “elite talent pipeline” after the 2018 season, Elias has pointed to the Astros’ successes as a framework for the Orioles’ challenge.
Houston, after all, gained the World Series in 2017 to spark 5 straight runs to the American League Championship Series, holding the AL’s finest report this season. The Orioles, looking for their first playoff look and successful season since 2016, are 1 1/2 video games out of a wild-card spot.
The budding similarities between what occurred in Houston and what would possibly in Baltimore confirmed themselves this weekend, when Elias’ former workforce took on his present one with the latter in rivalry for the primary time. The Orioles took two of three from them, with every of Baltimore’s starters working into the seventh inning. Steps stay earlier than the Orioles’ rebuild is said successful in the identical method as Houston’s, however the group’s upward pattern can’t be denied.
“We’re not there yet,” Elias acknowledged earlier than the collection. “Obviously, the Astros franchise has gone very deep within the playoffs, gained a championship, most likely have a couple of extra forward of them, and we’re nowhere close to these heights but.
“But I expect the Orioles to be a playoff team, hopefully this year, and then in contention every year going forward.”
After buying and selling Mancini, the Orioles’ longest-tenured participant, to Houston earlier this month, Elias justified the transfer by noting that Baltimore had “a shot at a wild card right now. But it is not a probability that we’re going to win a wild card.” He has since repeatedly said he believes within the Orioles’ probabilities of reaching the postseason. They have gone 16-9 because the deal on Aug. 1, having additionally moved All-Star nearer Jorge López a day later whereas making no vital additions on the deadline.
The subsequent day, Elias declared it was ”liftoff from right here” for the franchise, a phrasing that maybe offers a nod to his time in Houston. The Astros equally loved a breakout season as their rebuild started to repay; as Elias, who oversaw their novice drafts, ready to make a pair of top-five draft picks in 2015, the workforce was marching towards its first playoff berth of his tenure. Both of these draft picks, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, have develop into All-Stars, with every contributing to Houston’s victory in Sunday’s collection finale.
That 2015 workforce obtained a lift from a participant drafted first total three years earlier in shortstop Carlos Correa, mirroring the impression catcher Adley Rutschman has had in Baltimore after going No. 1 in 2019. The Astros have continued to have success this 12 months after shedding Correa in free company this offseason.
This previous week, the Seattle Mariners locked up outfielder Julio Rodríguez — Rutschman’s prime competitor for AL Rookie of the Year — for the subsequent a number of seasons. Houston has signed extensions with a handful of its core participant, together with Bregman, Yordan Álvarez and Jose Altuve. Elias has mentioned Baltimore’s payroll will improve this winter, and it will be logical for that to incorporate not less than an effort to return to agreements with present gamers. Their star catcher needs to be atop the checklist ought to the Orioles go that route.
That Rutschman is the one of Elias’ prized prospects who’ve totally established themselves within the majors this 12 months speaks to what may come. Kyle Bradish, acquired in a December 2019 commerce, pitched eight shutout innings Friday in Houston, a day after Kyle Stowers, taken later within the 2019 draft, hit a game-tying dwelling run with two strikes and two outs within the ninth inning in opposition to the Chicago White Sox. Four of Baltimore’s prime six prospects are in Triple-A, and a few are candidates to assist in the season’s closing stretch.
Elias laid out the rebuilds’ similarities as “the commitment to bringing young talent into the organization, to doing things smartly, to coaching them up, to pulling in players from all angles.” This weekend confirmed that the Astros and Orioles would possibly quickly share main league success.
“This is a team that now going forward, starting with this offseason, we’re going to be in the mode of trying to put together a playoff team every single year,” Elias mentioned.
What’s to return?
The Orioles’ highway journey continues Tuesday with a collection in opposition to the Cleveland Guardians, who lead the AL Central however would in any other case be proper round within the wild-card standings. The Guardians took two of three video games of their June go to to Baltimore. The Orioles are 44-27 since.
They then host the AL-worst Oakland Athletics of their first full collection of September, starting a 10-game homestand that additionally consists of the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox.
What was good?
The Orioles’ pitching success this season has largely been constructed round their starters working deep sufficient and conserving the sport shut sufficient for supervisor Brandon Hyde to get the highest arms in his bullpen and allow them to deal with the load. That dynamic shifted barely, with Baltimore’s rotation having its finest run of deep outings in years.
No Orioles starter went shorter than 5 2/3 innings this week. In 5 of six video games, a starter labored not less than six frames and thrice somebody went seven. In the primary two video games of the Houston collection, Bradish and Dean Kremer turned the primary Orioles 26 years previous or youthful with back-to-back outings of not less than 7 2/3 innings since Daniel Cabrera and Erik Bedard in 2005.
“It’s like one guy goes out, and then it’s a competition for the next guy to continue to keep the line moving and prove that they can do just as good or better,” mentioned Austin Voth, who allowed one hit over six innings Sunday. “For the starters right now, I feel like we’re all in a good position. We’re all pitching well, and it’s just fun to watch.”
What wasn’t?
The Orioles went 4-2 this week, doing so with little offensive manufacturing from their infield.
Ryan Mountcastle, Ramón Urías, Rougned Odor, Jorge Mateo and Terrin Vavra collectively slashed .133/.191/.229 — a .420 OPS — with Mountcastle’s .512 OPS the best of any of them. The group struck out in 32 of its 89 plate appearances (36%) whereas strolling six occasions. Mountcastle and Mateo had 19 strikeouts with one stroll between them.
On the farm
Elias used every of his second picks in his first three Orioles drafts on an infielder. The first of these was Gunnar Henderson, who has developed into the highest prospect in baseball. Jordan Westburg was taken in 2020, arriving at Triple-A with Henderson as one among Baltimore’s prime prospects.
Given the breakout he’s having fun with at Double-A Bowie, 2021 second-rounder Connor Norby is nicely on his method to conserving the pattern going. With every week during which he hit three dwelling runs and slugged .792, the 22-year-old second baseman raised his OPS in Double-A to .916, practically 200 factors above his mark with High-A Aberdeen earlier this season.
ORIOLES@GUARDIANS
Tuesday, 6:10 p.m
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com