Buck Britton finally gets major league call, McDermott confident in quick return from lat injury

SARASOTA, Fla. – Zack Britton reports to Orioles spring training in two days to serve as a guest instructor. His older brother is excited to see him again. They have lots to talk about beyond their families.

Buck Britton spent the last three seasons as Triple-A Norfolk manager before the Orioles promoted him this winter to major league coach. He began coaching in 2017 with Single-A Delmarva, managed the Shorebirds for one year and held the job for three with Double-A Bowie.

The call to the majors never arrived while playing from 2008-16 after the Orioles drafted him in the 35^th round. Zack, meanwhile, went from third-round pick and failed starter to two-time All-Star closer who converted all 47 save chances in 2016.

“He was super fired up for me,” Buck said this morning.

“It will be cool. We got to spend some time on the field together in Triple-A when we were playing, but he was a little more serious back then. He’s unemployed, by the way. I’m the guy who’s still hanging on here. But it will be fun. I’ll get to tell stories, probably lie a little bit about them, but in my favor. I just want to see him hit a fungo because I don’t know if he can handle that.”

The Orioles decided to replace major league coach José Hernández and turned to Britton, whose contract with Norfolk had expired.

“I feel like I’m still kind of young but it’s 17 years in the minor leagues as a player and a coach,” said Britton, who turns 39 in May. “An opportunity came up and obviously you’re just hoping and praying that you’re the guy that’s going to get that opportunity, because we know how valuable these spots are. There’s guys who grind in the minor leagues a long time. I just feel super blessed that I’m here.”

Britton described his role as a Swiss Army knife, a do-all coach who’s available to everyone. A little bit of everything.

“The big jobs are going to be to help Manso (Tony Mansolio) with the infielders,” he said. “And I think the other part of this is to keep that connection to the minor leagues, make sure the communication back and forth is happening and just kind of rely on the relationships that I’ve established on both sides – whether it be staff in the minor leagues and maybe these players that now are in the big leagues that, the majority of them I’ve had at some point in the minor leagues.”

News of the promotion finally put Britton on the opposite side of the experience. He’s usually the one informing the players, setting up a camera to capture the moment and embracing them. He didn’t get the video treatment from the Orioles.

“No camera, right? I’m always the guy,” he said.

“It was awesome. It’s kind of crazy because I was there when Zack got the call home and say he was going to the big leagues. I think it’s a little different as a player. But these jobs are so valuable, it’s not easy to get them. And I’m going to cherish every moment of this. Just really thankful that (Brandon) Hyde and (Mike Elias) and everybody thought that I would be a guy to help push this team forward.”

Being on Hyde’s staff also allows Britton to spend more time with players who passed through Norfolk as top prospects.

“It’s awesome,” Britton said. “To see these guys' growth through the game and to be the guy who was telling them they were gonna fulfill their childhood dream of going to the big leagues, and now being able to see them perform on this stage, I think that’s going to be special.

“A lot of this I don’t think has hit me yet. When we get on that plane leaving here, I think that’s when it will kind of rattle me a little bit. But I’m excited to get around these guys as a group. I’ve kind of had them two at a time, and to see these guys play together is gonna be exciting.”

The ultimate goal for Britton, of course, is to manage in the majors. He won a Triple-A championship with Norfolk.

“I think there’s a lot of people who would like that,” he said. “Right now I’m trying to survive the first week as long as Hyde will have me. I think once you get here and you start to experience what the big leagues is like, some of that will kind of dictate itself. Yeah, down the road. I’m always looking to learn and be better, and wherever that takes me, man, this opportunity to start this journey and hopefully we can ride it out as long as we can.”

Britton actually had early aspirations to work for the CIA but got drafted and said he felt that he owed it to the guys on his team to give it a shot. Doors opened for him.

“I love the game, I love being around it, I love the comradery," he said. "And so I was very blessed again as soon as I was done playing to jump right into it, and things have kind of gone where they’ve gone.”

Why the CIA?

“I don’t know,” he said. “My verbal assault is my best thing, so I feel like I could change characters quite often.”

* Chayce McDermott downplayed his lat/teres injury this morning and said it’s unlikely to keep him idle for long.

McDermott sustained the injury shortly before reporting to camp.

“Noticed it about a week and a half ago,” he said today. “It was never painful, just a little bit of tightness and just wanted to be cautious with it when we got here. Went and got an MRI and found a minor strain. So I don’t think it should be too long before I’m back.

“This is the first time. Just one of those things, as you go in your career it’s probably going to happen eventually. It just happened a week before I came down here. Probably not great timing but it is what it is. I feel good now already.”

The Orioles expect McDermott to begin a throwing progression within 10-14 days. He’d like to pick up where he left over this winter, when he concentrated on making his mechanics repeatable and throwing more strikes. He averages 5.3 walks per nine innings in four minor league seasons.

“I was in a great position in my opinion,” he said. “Command’s gotten a lot better.”

Though he’s held back in camp, McDermott said he was playing catch in Sarasota despite being “technically hurt.”

“It never really bothered me,” he said. “It was more of a precautionary thing. Don’t want to make it worse and miss three months in the middle of the season.”

McDermott believes that he has enough runway to be ready for Opening Day, whether with the Orioles or Norfolk.

“I’m not 100 percent sure what the exact timeline looks like. We’re still trying to figure it out,” he said. “But yeah, the way I feel right now, I feel like we’re in a good position. I’ll do what the team wants me to do. So I’ll be in that position.”

Baseball America ranks McDermott as the No. 5 prospect in the system, and MLB Pipeline’s last 2024 rankings placed him fourth.

* Dean Kremer threw his first bullpen session this morning, with Adley Rutschman setting the target. Andrew Kittredge threw to Gary Sánchez in the same group.

Brandon Young, the Orioles’ No. 20 prospect per Baseball America and No. 18 in MLB Pipeline’s last 2024 rankings, threw to No. 13 overall prospect Samuel Basallo. Elias described Young last summer as “on the radar” and now the right-hander is on the 40-man roster.