Pregame notes on Henderson's debut, Povich's Sunday whiff rate and more

SARASOTA, Fla. – After missing the team’s first 10 games – and their 9-1 start – Gunnar Henderson will make his spring training debut today as the Orioles host a Minnesota Twins split squad at 1:05 p.m. He's playing shortstop and batting third.

Henderson has been rehabbing a sore left oblique, an issue that came up late in his winter workouts at home while long-tossing. The Orioles have been careful to nurse that along, and now the 2023 American League Rookie of the Year is ready to take the field.

“He’s doing great,” manager Brandon Hyde said this morning. “(Has) taken some live at-bats a couple of days ago and had kind of a normal workday yesterday and is cleared and ready to go.”

Hyde is not worried about Henderson feeling any pressure to produce or exceed his ’23 stats.

“Gunnar is so driven that sometimes you have to slow him down a little bit. He has got incredible makeup, unbelievable worker and plays the game as hard as anybody. You know you want him to enjoy it a little bit, but he is so easy to coach and so fun to watch play.”

The O’s will use right-hander Albert Suárez as their starting pitcher for the game tomorrow on the road against Philadelphia. Corbin Burnes will stay behind and pitch on the back fields.

Suárez, a 34-year-old Venezuelan, has big league experience in 2016 and 2017 with San Francisco, going 3-8 with a 4.51 ERA in 115 2/3 innings.. The Orioles signed him as a minor league free agent last Sept. 15. He has pitched mostly in foreign leagues since 2019 and last season was 4-7 with a 3.92 ERA over 173 2/3 innings in the Korea Baseball Organization.

“He’s throwing the ball extremely well in camp,” Hyde said of Suárez. “Kind of a cool story. Just taking a look at him. Maybe stretch him out a little bit to be a rotation-depth type of guy. Like everybody else, we are kind of evaluating and seeing what we have. But we’ve been impressed with him so far.”

Julio Teheran, who pitched a scoreless inning Saturday in his O's debut, is now listed to start Wednesday night against Pittsburgh at Ed Smith Stadium. 

During their 9-1 start the O’s have flashed a bunch of positives and the glove work has been solid.

“We are really catching the ball. That needs to be a staple for us and it has been the last couple of years, how well we’ve played defensively,” said Hyde. “Throwing strikes and playing defense. That needs to be a trademark for us. So far this camp we have played great defensively.”

Povich’s Sunday outing: O’s minor league lefty Cade Povich had an outing Sunday that didn’t jump out at anyone in the box score, allowing a run in two innings, but his swing-and-miss stuff was on point.

The O’s No. 9 prospect by Baseball America and No. 10 by MLBPipeline.com, Povich got 10 misses on 23 swings by Pirates hitters for a 43 percent whiff rate.

He pitched the seventh and eighth and got four whiffs on eight swings against his four-seam fastball, which averaged his usual 93 mph, and three on six swings off his cutter.

"I think overall it just tells me my stuff is playing really well and to trust what I’m throwing and throw it in the zone," Povich said. "My in-zone strike percentage was way up yesterday. That just tells me my stuff is playing really well and I can throw it in the zone and not have to be perfect in placing it.

“I think yesterday I was able to spin everything really well. My fastball was getting a lot of carry behind it. And then I think just mixing in the cutter and changeup a lot (was important)."

Between Double-A and Triple-A last year he was 8-10 with a 5.04 ERA. The lefty has always been a strikeout pitcher, recording a 13.1 K rate last season at Double-A, a 10.5 rate at Triple-A and a career K rate on the farm of 12.14.

“It’s big, confidence-wise, and also tells me I’m hiding the ball really well,” Povich said of his whiff-heavy outing in Bradenton.

Added Hyde: “He’s got a really good curveball and has really good stuff. You know, it’s a sneaky fastball at 93. I think he’s going to get bigger and stronger also. But I love his delivery and I think the curveball is going to be a swing-and-miss pitch."

For the Twins

Edouard Julien 2B
Royce Lewis DH
Brooks Lee SS
Matt Wallner LF
Austin Martin CF
Emmanuel Rodriguez RF
Niko Goodrum 1B
Jair Camargo C
Michael Helman 3B

Cole Sands RHP