Hyde on Rutschman: "We’re watching a young player that’s going to be really special"

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde knew that he wanted Gunnar Henderson’s major league debut to come at third base, and he intended to rest shortstop Jorge Mateo last night. However, he didn’t plan ahead for tonight’s start at second base. It just unfolded this way, with Hyde having more desirable options that in past years.

“I didn’t know the Oakland rotation until a couple days ago, so then it kind of fell into place from that standpoint,” Hyde said today. “Like we talked about when he got here, I’m going to be moving him around. He’s playing great.”

Henderson is facing a left-hander tonight in rookie JP Sears, which lowered him to eighth in the order but didn’t exclude him. The Athletics are starting right-handers Adam Oller and Adrián Martínez in the last two games of the series.

“I think it’s just going to be a day-to-day thing,” Hyde said. “We’re trying to win every game we can the rest of the way. I’m just going to be matching up the best way I can.”

Hyde takes the same approach with center fielder Cedric Mullins, who’s batting .201/.266/.289 against left-handers this season and is on the bench tonight.

“I go into the day before trying to match up the best way we possibly can,” Hyde said. “We have a lot of options right now. I haven’t had this many guys on the bench that I would want to play. That’s what good teams have. They have depth. And it’s nice to have depth.

“It’s nice to have really good players on your bench, being able to put them in in maybe the biggest spot in the game.”

DL Hall is available in the bullpen tonight, ready to make his first relief appearance in the majors.

Is Hyde comfortable with using Hall in a high-leverage situation?

“How many low-leverage spots have we had?” he replied.

“He’s going to get thrown in there. The way we play, honestly, and the type of games that we play, I don’t really see another way unless there is some low-leverage spot where I could get his feet wet out of the bullpen. But I want to see him pitch and I want him to experience this. We’ll see.”

The arms at Hyde’s disposal are the finest that he’s managed.

“Just the talent level and stuff with the guys on the pitching staff,” he said. “You saw (Félix) Bautista and (Cionel) Pérez the last two nights, and that’s absolutely elite stuff. Our rotation, (Kyle) Bradish starts the game and it’s 96. For me, he didn’t really have his good command, gives up a chopper for a single. It’s just tough to hit because his stuff is so good. The way Dean (Kremer) has been throwing, also. He’s got great stuff.

“We’re so much more athletic and we are so much more versatile, and we have speed, and we care about defense. And that’s been a lot of fun is how much more athletic we are.”

The training wheels have come off the rookies. The wild card race won’t allow a deliberate pace.

“While we’re in the position we are right now, yeah,” Hyde said. “We’re going to try to put together the best lineup on a nightly basis, understanding also that we still have a long stretch ahead of us. Guys need days off. Mateo needs a day off yesterday, Ced needs a day off tonight. Maybe he doesn’t think he needs it, but I’m going to give him one, just because of the stretch we have coming up. You’re juggling all those types of things.

“We have a doubleheader Monday. Day game Sunday, doubleheader Monday. You want to stay healthy, you want to have your guys ready to go throughout the whole month and not risk anything. But you do want to put the best lineup out there possible.”

Players would rather stay in the lineup, but they see the bigger picture. There hasn’t been much push back.

“I think our guys are just trying to win,” Hyde said. “We’ve put our egos aside in the clubhouse, and those guys have been great, ultimate teammates. You saw we hit the homers yesterday, the first guy out there was Mateo. That just shows you how much these guys are pulling for each other. And a lot of these guys have never been in this position before. I think Roogie (Odor) and (Robinson) Chirinos, and that’s it. They have total buy-in to the club, that we’re going to match up as well as we possibly can, and they’re not going to let the ego get in the way.

“It’s a lot of fun to have really tough lineup decisions, because of the talent level that we have right now.”

Catcher Adley Rutschman is on the bench tonight, but he’ll return Saturday. Also a breather for the rookie.

“We’re watching a young player that’s going to be really special,” Hyde said. “Like I told him in the kitchen today, it’s not just normal that you catch back-to-back shutouts against a first-place club on the road. I think he kind of thinks that this … because he’s won so much in his life and he’s had so much success. It’s not easy to do. Just from the defensive side, how he’s handling our pitching staff, the preparation he has going in, the in-game adjustments he makes, everything is off the charts. And then the at-bats are so competitive. The lack of chase. He hasn’t even, for me, tapped into the kind of … He’s going to be a really good hitter just because he understands the strike zone, and when he starts piling up at-bats, it’s going to be pretty scary how good he’s going to be.”

Hyde isn’t ready to reveal his other starter for Monday’s makeup doubleheader against the Blue Jays. Safe to say it won’t be a left-hander against that lineup, and it probably won’t be a bullpen game.

If the Orioles dip into Triple-A Norfolk’s staff for a 27^th man, Mike Baumann would be working on regular rest after striking out 13 batters in six innings on Wednesday and allowing just an unearned run. He’s on the 40-man roster.

For the Athletics
Tony Kemp LF
Sean Murphy C
Seth Brown RF
Shea Langeliers DH
Vimael Machín 3B
Dermis Garcia 1B
Jonah Bride 2B
Nick Allen SS
Cal Stevenson CF

JP Sears LHP