Hyde on second base, Santander, opening day and more

How the Orioles handle second base in the early portion of the season is a fluid situation that begins this afternoon with Rio Ruiz making his first career start at the position in the regular season.

A two-game audition late in camp has led to more opportunities.

The length to be determined.

Ruiz is the Orioles' third different opening day starter in a row at second base after Jonathan Schoop's run of five consecutive assignments. Jonathan Villar started in 2019 and Hanser Alberto last season.

Today marks Ruiz's third opening day start in a row, the others at third base. He's played two innings at second in the majors.

Former Gold Glove winner Yolmer Sánchez was released after signing over the winter, creating a vacancy at second base that also will be influenced by matchups and desired pairings in the lineup.

"I think we're going to see how it goes," manager Brandon Hyde said today in his Zoom call.

"He hasn't had a whole lot of time at second base. He played there quite a bit this past week, got a couple games in, a lot of work on the back field, a lot of work with Manso (Tony Mansolino) getting to know second base. But the bottom line is to try to get (Maikel) Franco, Ruiz, both their bats in the lineup on the same day, especially against someone like (Nathan) Eovaldi, who I'd like to have left-handers in there against him.

"Where we are right now, I think it's going to be a decision on a daily basis. He's going to play a lot and today he's at second base, so we'll see how it goes the rest of the way."

Anthony Santander is in right field after sitting out the last six exhibition games with mild discomfort in his side. The weather is cold in Boston, but he's playing today.

"Santander feels great," Hyde said. "I think if there were regular season games the last couple days of spring training he would have been in there. We just back-fielded him and had him take a bunch of at-bats and kept it in a controlled environment for him, just because he was a little bit sore and we wanted to make sure that he was ready to go for opening day. So, he feels great and he's in there, obviously."

Taxi squads expand to five players this season and the Orioles brought infielder Richie Martin, catcher Austin Wynns, outfielder Ryan McKenna and pitchers Isaac Mattson and Travis Lakins Sr. to Boston for the six-game road trip that includes a stop in New York.

Reliever Shawn Armstrong, who's on the paternity list after the birth of his son Wednesday, is expected to rejoin the team in New York.

Hyde is experiencing his third opening day as manager. The protocols have changed, but not the emotions.

They're still churning.

A limited number of fans in the seats, Trey Mancini's return to baseball, Ryan Mountcastle playing in front of his first major league crowd, two Rule 5 selections on the roster. So much anticipation.

"I think it's just different because of what we went through last year," he said. "We had a nice trial run in spring training with fans back in the ballpark, and that was a great feeling to feel the energy again with our fans and hearing a buzz in the crowd instead of hearing each other in the dugout or hearing the other dugout.

"Opening day is a special day. I've been fortunate to do this for a while now. It never gets old. The butterflies are always there. Then there's always unique, special moments. Trey Mancini coming back from what he has gone through for the past year. I'm sure it's going to be an emotional day for him. We have a lot of players here that are experiencing their first opening day, so it's a moment that they'll never forget. It's just an awesome day."