Flores on Mountcastle's defense and Núñez at third base

With the exception of the 37 minor league players released last week, the Orioles haven't done much with their personnel since returning home from spring training.

The sport is on hold and the camp roster is on ice.

Infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle, pitcher David Hess, infielder Ramón Urías and outfielder Cedric Mullins were the last players cut, and those moves became official back on March 19. Five days after I boarded a flight out of Tampa.

Mountcastle received most of his work in left field prior to the shutdown. He also played first base, but the Orioles seem more inclined to keep auditioning him in the outfield.

Moving back and forth allowed Mountcastle to work with new first base coach/outfield instructor Anthony Sanders and third base coach/infield instructor José Flores.

"Coming into spring, we had a pretty good idea that he was going to get a lot of work in left field and then share defensive duties at first every now and then," Flores said last week. "For the most part, he worked with Anthony in the outfield, but then the times that I had him with me, you could tell that during the offseason, he actually busted his behind working there.

"Ryan is a kid that pretty much offensively, he may not have a lot to prove in the minor leagues, but defensively he may. His bat plays really well in any lineup. So with that being said, some of the things that we targeted at first base, being a new position for him because he only had a couple games in the minors at first base, were holding runners at first, the proper footwork. The ball's going to come at you a little bit faster and you're going to be able to move every time there's a runner at first base. Cuts and relays are a little bit different.

"Being able to get to the bag and play first base as far as possible with right-handed hitters was another things that we actually work on. And you're going to be involved in pretty much every play on a ball that's on the ground in the infield, so we wanted him to feel as comfortable as possible on each one of those aspects. And I think he was starting to feel pretty comfortable there toward the end of spring training before he got sent out and he knew the things that he needed to do defensively as far as his pregame routine and everything to stay sharp on both ends, so hopefully he continues to do that.

"I think he's got a lot of potential at both first and left field."

The expected cancellation of the minor league season leaves Mountcastle in limbo. Perhaps he's part of the taxi squad and able to make his major league debut later in the summer if baseball is played.

Mountcastle appeared in 10 exhibition games and went 8-for-34 with three doubles, a home run and nine strikeouts. He didn't draw a walk.

The Orioles are moving Mountcastle off third base. Meanwhile, they kept working with Renato Núñez to improve his footwork and throwing accuracy, hoping that he'd provide an option at the position rather than be used only as the designated hitter and occasionally at first base.

"Coming into spring training and knowing last season that he did not get a lot of playing time at third base, I had a lot of conversations with Hyder (Brandon Hyde) and Mike (Elias) regarding the possibility of Noonie getting a lot more playing time at third base," Flores said.

"We know his bat plays well in the big leagues and with him in the lineup, it's a little bit more dangerous than without him. So we targeted a lot of reaction work because for some reason, he did not get a lot of playing time last year at third and it seemed like he had lost a step going to either side. I wanted to make sure that when he got back out there that his reaction times were good, his first-step quickness was solid. We actually did a lot of reaction work during spring training and it seemed like he was doing a great job.

"As far as his throwing, he was starting to feel very, very comfortable on his throws, even throws on the run. And I think we have to give him more credit because I know during the offseason, the conversations that we had, he was told to work on those things, so it was a lot easier for us to continue to work and maybe add things here and there to make him a little bit better. And it was a lot easier for us to get him going this spring."

The season needs to get going or Núñez won't be playing anywhere.

"It's really not up to us, but I'm pretty sure that Major League Baseball is going to do the best thing for each one of us," Flores said. "Are we going to be at risk? Yes, we're going to be at risk. Everybody knows that. But I think the safety measures that MLB is going to take for each and every one of us to feel a little bit safer, it's going to make things easier for us.

"Hopefully the agreement comes sooner than later. I know that there's a lot of pressure right on both ends to work something out. I don't have any sides. I just want baseball to start in a safely manner as soon as possible. I look forward to an agreement coming sooner than later, but I'm just going to leave it up to MLB to decide when it's time to say yes."