Whenever Ryan Mountcastle’s coronary heart fee went up, he started to really feel light-headed, dizzy and nauseated. The emotions elevated every time the primary baseman stepped within the batter’s field for the Orioles. Hitting, already a troublesome process, felt inconceivable.
Having missed a month after experiencing vertigo, Mountcastle rejoined the Orioles on Sunday for the ultimate sport earlier than the All-Star break, activated off the injured record with left-hander Bruce Zimmermann optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Mountcastle, 26, final performed for Baltimore on June 8, however he believes he was already coping with signs then. In his ultimate two video games, each in Milwaukee, Mountcastle went hitless in eight at-bats with 5 strikeouts.
“After the last game, I was like, ‘I think there’s something wrong,’” he stated Sunday within the guests’ clubhouse at Minneapolis’ Target Field. “This feels like the longest I’ve ever gone without playing, and it wasn’t fun at all. Just happy to be back and to feel like a normal human again.”
Mountcastle remained on the Orioles’ roster for the following three video games however didn’t seem in a sport earlier than touchdown on the IL. He stated he had no historical past of vertigo earlier than this expertise, and he’s “praying” he received’t face it once more.
“I felt like the ball was a pea size, and it was just blowing by me for a couple games there,” he stated, “and I was like, ‘This doesn’t feel right.’”
To deal with the signs, he took remedy and did epley maneuvers, a sequence of head actions designed to alleviate signs of vertigo. Mountcastle spent per week on the injured record earlier than becoming a member of Triple-A Norfolk for a rehabilitation project, acknowledging he “still felt a little weird” throughout his first week with the Tides, by which he went 0-for-14 with three walks and 6 strikeouts. But he started to have a way of normalcy “a week or so ago,” and it confirmed in his play. Mountcastle recorded hits in seven of his ultimate eight rehab video games, batting .300 with a house run and a .717 OPS, although he nonetheless struck out in additional than 1 / 4 of his plate appearances.
During Mountcastle’s rehab, Orioles supervisor Brandon Hyde was regularly coy about his potential return. Before Saturday’s sport, Hyde echoed his earlier feedback, saying the group was taking a “day-to-day” strategy with Mountcastle. Sunday, he acknowledged the uncertainty of Mountcastle’s state of affairs made it troublesome to forecast.
“I felt terrible for him,” Hyde stated. “The whole team did, and I thought our guys did a great job of kind of rallying around him and giving him some space and some time that he needed. He was down in Norfolk for a while and trying to get back into the swing of things a little bit. I know he’s been feeling better here as of late, and he feels great today.”
The Orioles activated Mountcastle on the penultimate day of his 20-day rehab project, although he was out of the lineup for Sunday’s sequence finale in opposition to the Minnesota Twins. At the time he went on the IL, Mountcastle led the Orioles with 11 house runs. But he had slumped even earlier than his struggles in Milwaukee, batting .180/.241/.310 in his earlier 27 video games. In his ultimate 65 plate appearances earlier than happening the IL, Mountcastle struck out 20 occasions, batting .158 with one house run and a .459 OPS.
In his absence, Ryan O’Hearn secured the Orioles’ first base place. Since adjusting his hand place and posture in late May, O’Hearn is batting .327 and slugging .551, with the left-handed hitter sometimes serving as Baltimore’s cleanup hitter in opposition to right-handed starters however sitting in opposition to lefties.
Before happening the IL, Mountcastle, a right-hander hitter, posted a 1.017 OPS off lefties, in contrast with a .539 mark off right-handers, suggesting the potential for a platoon state of affairs. Asked what Mountcastle’s return means for O’Hearn, Hyde replied, “Not much.”
“Ryan [O’Hearn] has been swinging the bat extremely well,” Hyde stated. “He’s made a start against almost every right-handed starter so far, and Ryan’s swung the bat outstanding here the last month, month and a half. Done a great job. So adding Mounty just gives us another player, another good player, a guy that’s hit some homers, done some things in this league. But yeah, a good problem to have, a bunch of good players. But O’Hearn keeps doing what he’s doing, I’m not going to take him out.”
Hyde has stated lately he has 13 place gamers he needs to offer at-bats, and with Mountcastle changing Zimmermann, a Baltimore-area native who had been offering size out of the bullpen, Hyde has 14 for now.
“It was definitely frustrating, and obviously, I want to be on the team,” Mountcastle stated. “We’re playing really well and wanted to contribute. It just is what it is. I’m just happy to be back now.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com