Hyde: “People are excited to watch us play"

The impact of home Opening Day in Baltimore and the renewed enthusiasm for the club really hit catcher Adley Rutschman as he was driving. Passengers in the car next to him wore his No. 35 jersey and began waving to him.

“Got me excited,” he said. “I’m ready to go today. I think everyone’s excited.”

Rutschman paused, turned in a circle and soaked up the atmosphere after moving behind the plate for the first time in his major league debut. What he’s feeling today is similar.

“It’s a new experience and everyone’s told me such great things about Opening Day’s here, just the atmosphere, so I’m really excited,” he said.

“I feel like everyone kind of has similar advice as far as, just enjoying it, making sure you take it in, and you’ll appreciate what you have.”

The club already went through an Opening Day ceremony in Boston, but nothing matches the orange carpet at Camden Yards and having a full house. And there’s a higher level of anticipation for the season after the Orioles were surprise wild card contenders in 2022.  

“People are excited to watch us play, and that’s exciting for our players and coaches and everybody in the clubhouse,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We’re coming off a year last year where we exceeded expectations by a lot and we have a lot of talent in our clubhouse. Our guys are super excited to play in front of their home fans.

“Just walking around a little bit last night and yesterday, there’s a lot more people who come up to you in a positive way about your club. That’s really nice, honestly. You want your fan base to feel good about their team and you want people to be excited and want to watch your club, and I think it’s uplifting for the city, too, when we’re fun to watch and people are following us and like our players. That’s really important.”

Hyde isn’t worried about dealing with whatever pressure comes with more favorable predictions for the club. How it’s viewed through a more flattering lens.

He isn’t going to run it any differently.

“I’m not changing,” he said. “We’ve handled everything the same way every single day. It’s still a long way to go and there’s a lot of things that can happen the next almost six months. We’re super processed based. It’s a day-to-day thing. Never going to change that.

“We’re more talented, but we also play in a really, really tough division. Everybody in the American League has gotten better and we’re very aware of that. I don’t want our guys to think about last year or think about raising expectations for themselves except trying to go win every single night. And that’s always been the M.O.”

The Orioles haven’t opened at Camden Yards since hiring Hyde in December 2018. The pandemic in 2020 and the lockout in 2021 forced adjustments to the schedule that put them on the road for the first game.

“I would love to have a home opener here where it’s the first game of the year. That would be a lot of fun,” Hyde said.

Dean Kremer opposes Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt this afternoon. Hyde said he wants to see Kremer be a little more aggressive in the strike zone than his first start at Fenway Park.

“I thought he was trying to pitch a little too much instead of just on the attack,” Hyde said. “And these guys here, just like Boston, you can’t pitch behind in the count. You’ve got to be able to work ahead, throw strike one, and not live off the corners. You’ve got to be able to throw the ball in the strike zone. I hope Dean learned from that last start and do what he did in the second half last year, which was really throw all pitches for strikes and be on the attack from the first pitch of the at-bat.”

The Orioles haven’t confirmed a starter beyond left-hander Cole Irvin on Saturday. Tyler Wells is lined up for Sunday, with Kyle Gibson opening the series against Oakland on Monday and Grayson Rodriguez pitching on Tuesday. Everything beyond Irvin is speculation at this point.

Another stellar showing by Rodriguez, who retired 13 of the last 15 Rangers on Monday while shutting them out in the second through fifth innings, could really complicate the rotation plans, and in a good way.

Kyle Bradish is expected to be ready when he’s eligible to come off the 15-day injured list on April 19, while the club is playing the Nationals in D.C.

“We hope that all these guys throw well,” Hyde said. “We’re not going to go through this season with five starters. Things are going to happen, fluke things like happened to Kyle, where he takes a line drive off the foot. Injuries are going to happen in this game and we play for six months, so we’re going to need more than six starters more than likely. If we don’t, that would be unbelievable.

“You’ve got to have talent in this league and you’ve got to have depth, and so, we have a lot more talent and a lot more depth than we’ve had in the past, and that’s a great thing. So, we’ll see. I’m not sure what’s going to happen here in the next couple weeks. Kyle threw the ball extremely well in spring, was throwing great that night. Had great stuff up until he got hit on the foot. He’ll be back in there when he comes off the IL, but we’ll see where we go from there.”

Catcher James McCann, on the injured list with a strained oblique begins his injury rehab assignment tonight at High-A Aberdeen. Reliever Mychal Givens (left knee inflammation) will have a bullpen session on Saturday.

For the Yankees
DJ LeMahieu 3B
Aaron Judge CF
Anthony Rizzo 1B
Giancarlo Stanton DH
Gleyber Torres 2B
Oswaldo Cabrera LF
Jose Trevino C
Franchy Cordero RF
Anthony Volpe SS

Clarke Schmidt RHP