Not an award winner this time, but some appreciation for Brandon Hyde

The Orioles Adley Rutschman did not win the AL Rookie of the Year award. That was expected. Manager Brandon Hyde did not win the Manager of the Year award, which went to Cleveland's Terry Francona.

That was probably a bit less expected but certainly Francona was the favorite heading into last night. To have five of the 30 votes not place Hyde among the top three is a bit unexpected.

But Hyde was a reasonably close second losing out to Francona in points by 112-79. Francona got 17 first-place votes and Hyde got nine. 

So, he fell short last night. But for me, I think there are many reasons that Hyde has been and will continue to be the right manager for the Orioles. And ranking high among them in my opinion is his ability to work well with and get a lot of out of young players.

That fits so well with a rebuilding organization. Hyde seems to have an ability to get close with his players yet maintain a management relationship. He is open and honest with them, telling them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

He’s been pretty transparent with those of us in the media too and is open to telling us when he is unhappy with his team without throwing anyone under the bus or pointing the finger at anyone. His player development background has served him well in Baltimore.

During an interview on MLB Network yesterday morning, O’s right-hander Tyler Wells was asked about Hyde.

“He puts a lot of care into the thought of the game and into his players,” said Wells. “He cares about our environment each and every day and they do a good job of communicating with us and talking to us about how our lives are going but on the baseball side of things he provides a lot of wisdom.

“Us being such a young team, I think that provides a lot of benefit for the young guys that come in. They feel really comfortable about playing for him and we know we can always go to him if we have any questions or any issues.”

Hyde’s background in player development has served him well with the Orioles. He was Director of Player Development for the Chicago Cubs and managed on the farm for the Miami Marlins. He knows his way around young and talented prospects.

The Orioles Director of Player Development, Matt Blood, told me yesterday that Hyde has been outstanding with his O's minor league staff and has been a real positive for the club's player development efforts.

“Hyder is very inclusive of our staff with his staff,” said Blood. “Especially during spring training, he is very good about inviting younger minor league coaches into their (coaches) room or to their practices. He also is very open during the season to visits from staff. We are fortunate that we have affiliates close by and on off days our staff will come to Camden Yards, and he is very open to that.

“He promotes the rest of the major league staff to communicate very well with our minor league coordinators and staff, so we have continuity throughout the org. I am very appreciative of the relationship that he and I have and the open dialogue that we have about all thing's development. It’s very important to us that we are on the same page and are able to provide or develop players that are game-ready when they get to the major leagues. That takes a lot of collaboration between the major league group and the minor league group."