Hyde on Mountcastle, Martin, Sisco, Conine and more

SARASOTA, Fla. - Ryan Mountcastle was grouped again with the outfielders on the stadium field as the Orioles held their second full-squad workout at the Ed Smith Stadium complex.

There are no plans to try him at second base, according to manager Brandon Hyde, but he'll also get plenty of reps at the infield corners.

"We definitely want to expose him in the outfield," Hyde said. "I just want him to be comfortable out there. He's going to play some outfield during games, so we want to give him a long look. Obviously, we love his offensive potential and now it's finding a comfortable place for him to play defensively.

Mountcastle-Trots-White-sidebar.jpg"Did the outfield stuff the last couple days. He'll do some more first base stuff today. Even though when he does do outfield stuff, he's going to get some one-on-one stuff, some first base, corner stuff extra. So we're just moving him around."

The infielders keep moving around the diamond.

Dilson Herrera took ground balls at first base on the Camden Yards replica field. Richard Ureña and Ramón Uriás and played third base and José Rondón was moved to second.

Stevie Wilkerson, Renato Núñez and Rio Ruiz took turns at third base on the Earl Weaver Little Field. Núñez also worked at first base.

Richie Martin and Hanser Alberto fielded grounders at second base and Pat Valaika joined José Iglesias at shortstop.

Hyde said Martin won't play third base. The Orioles are keeping him in the middle infield.

Martin only played shortstop for the Orioles in his Rule 5 season, but having Iglesias on the roster is pushing him to second base.

"We're going to move Richie around to both spots in the middle," Hyde said. "Adding Iglesias, Iggy's primary position is shortstop. He's always been a shortstop, so to help out Richie and increase his value, we're going to play him in both spots."

Chance Sisco is making some adjustments to his swing in the cage as part of his batting practice sessions.

"There are swing adjustments there, something I saw a couple days ago that we're really happy with," Hyde said. "I know he's in a good place mentally with his swing and there are a lot of things that he's working on and it sounds like he's making big progress."

Hunter Harvey joined Trey Mancini on the field for a light workout and they should be full-go on Wednesday.

Jeff Conine is in uniform as a guest instructor for one week, an invitation that came after he met with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias last September in Baltimore.

Hyde and Conine go back to their Marlins days and forged a solid relationship.

"When I was a minor league coach he'd be in big league camp, and then when I was with the big league staff there I'd see him in big league camp and he'd be around us a lot during the season," Hyde said. "He'd be in uniform for almost all of the home games out there doing BP. He'd hit a fungo. A lot of fungos to Wes Helms. They were funny together.

"Niner brings so much experience, he's played multiple positions, he's played on World Series teams, he's played in different organizations. He's had such a wonderful career and he just brings a ton of experience. A tough player, a player that everybody respected around the league.

"I saw him talking to the outfielders a little bit, which was awesome to see."

Davis-Ripped-Spring.jpgChris Davis arrived in camp heavier from offseason workouts that added bulk.




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