Joey Rickard, Mark Trumbo and more from Buck Showalter

Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard walked into the clubhouse this morning having no idea whether he'd be in the opening day lineup and where he'd bat if manager Buck Showalter included him.

It wasn't until later that he found out he would start in left field at bat ninth against the Twins.

The realization is slowly sinking in for Rickard that he's made the club, that he's in the majors and starting on opening day. That his professional life has undergone a significant change.

"It's hard to get ready for what I'm going to feel today as far as the fans and all that atmosphere, but as far as the stadium and the field, I feel like I'm pretty comfortable with the clubhouse," he said. "The way things went yesterday, I'm pretty confident."

Rickard will have his own little cheering section after leaving tickets for 10 people. Not that he's going to be short-changed when fans stand and applaud each player during introductions.

"About half of my family is here for the first couple of games and then my other half will be here for the back half of the homestand," he said. "It's very exciting for everybody. It's crazy."

Teammates have tried to prepare him for the opening day festivities, the best advice reserved for the jog down the orange carpet. Nobody wants the kid to face plant.

"Guys told me to pick up my feet," he said, smiling.

Veteran Mark Trumbo is the cleanup hitter today, quite an honor considering the number of viable candidates. Showalter wrote out three different lineups before settling on this one.

"I guess it is kind of cool, but I know on any given day I might be in a different spot," Trumbo said. "I guess he felt like that's the best way to go today and I'm completely thrilled to be in there. And hopefully I can give Chris (Davis) some protection and do some damage."

The bullpen includes Dylan Bundy, who allowed five earned runs in 12 1/3 innings this spring and got better as the Orioles neared the completion of their exhibition schedule. He didn't look like a pitcher who would have to be stashed because he was out of options.

"The worst thing that could have happened for us this spring is he was healthy and couldn't get anybody out. That didn't happen," Showalter said. That was very quietly one of the better things that happened in Sarasota. Now we'll go to another part of the process for Dylan.

"I'm hoping next year this is all behind him, he's been healthy and he's in our rotation. That's what we're hoping. Of course, maybe he becomes like Zach (Britton) and we're like, 'Geez, do we want to move him around?' I don't know We will find out.

"I know he's excited in his own way. It's kind of funny that he's kind of under the radar here when you look at the background. I think he's kind of prospering in that environment, too. But if you just went by spring training and didn't know he was out of options and this and that and where he had been, he would have made your club. That's one of the better performances that we had from start to finish in Sarasota. We'll see if it continues."

Tyler Wilson also made the club and is available in relief for at least the first two games. Showalter must decide on a fifth starter on April 10.

It was only two years ago that Wilson started against the Orioles in an exhibition game in Norfolk after the team broke camp.

"Initially, it was because we knew he wouldn't hit anybody, to be honest with you. He wouldn't hit anybody and he'd work fast, which meant we could move on to Baltimore. Full disclosure here," Showalter said.

"If you look back, and you've all heard me pontificate on this before, he's just one of those guys who's overachieved in other people's minds. He figures things out. You see him give up a couple runs and all of a sudden he steps back to the back of the mound and he figures out a way to keep his team engaged. He's a very easy guy to trust. He's athletic, he's probably one of our best-conditioned guys, he fields his position and holds runners, he understands scouting reports, understands who he is and who he isn't, and he never quits fighting. He's not going to back off the competition. He's not going to get that 'wow' factor when he sees a certain guy in the batter's box. He looks at it as an opportunity to do the same thing he's been doing since the 10th grade at every stop.

"He's done nothing but be a winning pitcher everywhere he's gone. That's how you force somebody's hand is to say, 'Let's see if he can do it at the next level.' There isn't another level. There's not another one to go to. There's not a 5A, 6A."