Young lineup's growing maturity on full display in opener

Just one spot in the O’s Opening Day lineup felt “different.” Batting fifth and playing right field for Baltimore, No. 9, Tyler O’Neill.

Anthony Santander, who had manned the corner outfield for the O’s for parts of the last eight seasons, trotted onto the Rogers Centre grass in Toronto blue. He hit third for Toronto and went 0-for-4 with a couple of runners stranded on base. 

All O’Neill did in his team debut was hit a home run in his sixth consecutive Opening Day, extending his own MLB record. That was part of his 3-for-3 day, plus two walks. Ho hum. 

So much has been made of the changes on the other side of the ball for Baltimore. The Orioles’ rotation was the hot topic of conversation all offseason long. 

After one year in an O’s uniform, Corbin Burnes is out in Arizona. Enter a full season of Zach Eflin, and free agents Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson. 

If the regular season opener was any indication, they won’t all need elite ERA’s to win a lot of baseball games. Eflin started the year with a quality start for good measure, though. 

Baltimore’s Opening Day lineup scored a dozen runs. 

Santander’s 44 long balls and 102 runs batted in more than likely won’t be replicated by just one player. A healthy O’Neill is a more than adequate replacement after mashing 31 home runs with an .847 OPS last season, and he’s already off to a good start. 

We didn’t see Gary Sánchez in Game 1 of 162, but his offensive numbers project to be an improvement from James McCann’s 2024. 

But more significantly, offseason moves aside, the O’s returning lineup has one more year of development and cohesion. The core is going to bring this team to its highest heights, and it should be an even stronger unit than a season ago. 

It was on full display to kick off the season. 

“I just thought we took great at-bats all the way through the game,” Brandon Hyde told reporters in Toronto. “When we got pitches to hit, we put great swings on them.”

Colton Cowser, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday and Ryan Mountcastle all reached base in yesterday’s 12-2 win. 

Let’s start with the leadoff hitter, Cowser. When I spoke with the outfielder down in Sarasota, he said that many of his changes this offseason were approach based. With a full season’s worth of big league information to work with, Cowser was able to hone in on how pitchers were attacking him. 

Much of that attack strategy involved offspeed pitches, which Cowser hit just .171 against. More specifically, the changeup, which the Milkman whiffed on 43% of the time. Time for a counterpunch. 

While Cowser may not have made many mechanical changes, Holliday sure did. We saw those changes on display at the end of last season, and they paid dividends to begin 2025. A quick toe tap helped the 20-year-old take a 97 mph fastball back up the middle for a single, and should help him to be on-time throughout the year. 

Staying on the left side of the diamond, Westy put together an All-Star campaign in his first season as a starter. That season was unfortunately cut to just 107 games, as an injury took away most of his August and September. Off to a hot start with a solo home run and reaching base three times in Game 1, let’s shoot for 150 games. A full season of Westburg is a game changer. 

Rounding out the infield, Mounty continued his dominance of Toronto with another base knock yesterday. Entering the game, he had a .962 OPS against the Blue Jays in his career. He’ll be even better outside of Rogers Centre, too, with the adjusted left field wall at Camden Yards. The first baseman has been the victim of more home runs lost at the ballpark than any other player, and you can expect those long ball numbers to improve. 

And how about that dude behind the plate? Are we thinking that the spring training hype was justified yet? Rutschman, batting from the left side of the plate, hit two monstrous home runs. Each were home runs in every single ballpark in the game at 415 and 436 feet respectively. They were each over 105 mph off the bat, too. 

And the vets still managed to steal the show. Cedric Mullins and Tyler O’Neill were a combined six-for-eight and three home runs. That’s exactly how you supplement a young core. 

Gunnar Henderson isn’t even in this lineup yet either. 

Of course, the O’s won’t average 12 runs and six long balls per game. And no, not every outing from an Orioles starting pitcher will be a quality one.  

“It’s one of 162,” Hyde said. “But we showed how good of an offense we can be.”

This O’s young position player core just keeps getting better. They’re a year older, wiser, and hungrier. 

And they create one of the most dangerous lineups in the game.