Early notes on Day 7 of Orioles spring training

SARASOTA, Fla. – Gary Sánchez’s experience catching Japanese pitchers won’t necessarily give him regular starts on days that Tomoyuki Sugano is on the mound.

Maybe it evolves that way.

Sánchez was behind the plate yesterday for Sugano’s bullpen session, and he’s caught Masahiro Tanaka with the Yankees and Yu Darvish with the Padres.

“Post-bullpen, Gary and I sat on the mound and kind of talked about his experience with Tanaka and some of the other guys that he’s caught,” said pitching coach Drew French. “The versatility that they have and what their preferences are and how they talk about themselves, and I definitely think there are some parallels from his prior years in the game with what Tomo features.”

So what about becoming Sugano’s personal backstop?

Hyde typically avoids that type of arrangement. James McCann was paired with Corbin Burnes quite a bit early last season, but Adley Rutschman started 17 of the ace’s 32 outings.

“He’s gonna throw to both guys in camp,” Hyde said of Sugano. “We’re not gonna be specific on who catches Sugano, at least as of right now. Both guys are gonna catch him, just like every other starter.”

Sugano’s fastball was clocked at 88-91 mph yesterday but the Orioles know there’s a little more in the tank if he needs it. Most impressive was his pinpoint control that’s enabled him to average only 0.9 walks per nine innings last year with the Yomiuri Giants.

“I was talking to Gary afterward a little bit and I watched from behind,” Hyde said, “Just the command of his fastball, the movement on his split-finger. Just the command of all his pitches. But the breaking ball, it just looked like he knew what he was doing.

“The fastball command, if he missed, he missed by only a couple inches. So pretty impressive in your first side.”

* Hyde will wait one more day to announce Saturday’s starter against the Pirates in the team’s first exhibition game.

“Tomorrow, it’s gonna be big headlines,” Hyde quipped.

* Tyler O’Neill put on a power show in batting practice on the stadium field. One ball hopped over the concession stand in left field.

O’Neill already got noticed for his muscular build, which creates the occasional quip.

Has Hyde witnessed any of O'Neill's lifting sessions?

“I have not, but I think he does a pretty good job of that,” Hyde said. "He's obviously really strong and he likes to wear tight shirts. It's noticeable."

* Hyde wants to see his club run more this season and try to bunt for hits.

The Orioles were tied with the Athletics for 18^th in the majors last season with 98 steals, and they won’t have Jorge Mateo on Opening Day because he’s recovering from elbow surgery.

“A lot of it is personnel driven, as well,” Hyde said.

An emphasis in camp involves having Colton Cowser and Jackson Holliday become more comfortable on the bases and working on their jumps and aggression.

“I think as a young player you don’t want to make a mistake, and so playing on the conservative side is more natural and more normal, especially when you’re playing close games, trying to win every game,” Hyde said. “It’s harder on a good team that’s trying to get to the postseason than it is with our teams ’19, ’20, ’21, where we could run just to be aggressive. But when the game matters a little bit more and it’s later in the game especially, young guys sometimes get a little cautious.

“We’re trying to work a lot this spring training trying to free those guys up a little bit.”

* Coby Mayo worked out at first base on one of the back fields while many of the starters performed infield drills on the stadium field.

"He's just a young player who's continuing to grow defensively," Hyde said. "He's gonna get a lot of reps at third base, maybe a little bit at first, also. I'm gonna try to play him as much as I possibly can."

* Creed Willems was in camp yesterday to catch some of the bullpen sessions, but he headed back to the minor league side. The Orioles will summon the occasional catcher to assist.