New to O's organization, five Bowie Baysox get a look at Camden Yards

A handful of members of the Double-A Bowie Baysox are at Camden Yards today. They are the five Baysox players that the Orioles acquired in the trades for Manny Machado and Zach Britton: pitchers Dillon Tate, Zach Pop and Dean Kremer, infielder Rylan Bannon and outfielder Yusniel Díaz.

They are here with other members of the Baysox staff, including manager Gary Kendall, pitching coach Kennie Steenstra and hitting coach Keith Bodie. The Baysox got rained out yesterday and today in Harrisburg and have doubleheaders scheduled there for the next two days.

Tate is the newest member of the Bowie roster. The 24-year-old right-hander was acquired Tuesday from the Yankees for Britton along with pitchers Cody Carroll and Josh Rogers, who are with Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles are Tate's third organization and this is the second time he's been involved in a trade since Texas selected him with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 draft. This year for the Yankees' Double-A Trenton team, he is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA and .218 average against with 25 walks and 75 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings. He recently made the Eastern League All-Star team.

He was asked about being dealt from the Yankees to the Orioles.

"It was bittersweet," said Tate. "Unfortunate to see some of my relationships with my teammates and the coaching staff come to an end. But it's a positive opportunity that I have here and I'm excited to get this going."

Tate throws a fastball that has touched 97 and 98 mph along with a changeup that he calls his best secondary pitch and a hard slider. He is getting close to the majors, but no longer concerned about his ETA to the bigs.

"To be honest, before I used to kind of give it a timetable of when I thought I could get up here and contribute to the big league club," he said. "But now I don't really think about that anymore and I just go one step at a time. When it happens, it happens."

Tate was ranked by Baseball America as New York's No. 15 prospect at the end of the 2016 and No. 10 at the end of 2017. He was just rated No. 6 in BA's mid-year re-ranking of the Yankees top 10.

This is the second time he was the centerpiece of a trade. On Aug. 1, 2016, he was part of a package of players dealt from Texas to New York as the Rangers acquired Carlos Beltrán.

"I feel like I'm a little bit more equipped for it (a trade) the second time through," Tate said. "But still there are some things that are a little different my second time going through this. I definitely have matured a little bit my second time going through this process, so thankful for that."

Tate is expected to make his O's organizational debut when he starts Sunday for Bowie in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Harrisburg.

The Cuban-born Díaz got his first look at Camden Yards today. While he is just 2-for-20 so far for the Baysox, he was the key player in the haul the Orioles got for Machado. With Double-A Tulsa in the Dodgers organization, the 21-year-old Díaz was batting .314/.428/.477 and has been ranked No. 47 in Baseball America's mid-season listing of the top 100 prospects.

Today, Díaz and his Baysox teammates got to meet O's skipper Buck Showalter.

"It's been very interesting. I love the ballpark so far. Also meeting Buck. I find him very honest and funny, as well. I really like the environment so far," Díaz said through interpreter Ramón Alarcón.

It was just 12 days ago when Diaz was one of the top players in the All-Star Futures Game at Nationals Park. He homered twice for the World Team.

"For me, that the most exciting game of my professional career so far," he said. "I really enjoyed being part of that game and the thing that I really like the most is my family was there supporting me. So I was able to do something really good for them.'

Pop, a hard-throwing right-handed reliever, struggled in his first Bowie outing when he gave up three runs. Then he threw two scoreless innings on Tuesday with three strikeouts, touching 96 and 97 mph.

Today, he enjoyed the getting to see the ballpark. Maybe there will be a day in the future he's here to play for the Orioles.

"It's been pretty special to come here and see a big league locker room," said Pop. "Meet some of the guys and meet Buck. Amazing man. Very personable. Getting to come out here and see the facility, it kind of gives you a little bit extra fire to to get up here and do well I'd say."