Jimenez on last season and looking ahead to 2015

The Orioles announced that today's FanFest event has attracted more than 16,000 fans. The record is 18,000 in 2013.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter confirmed today that left-hander Mark Hendrickson will receive an invitation to major league camp.

Hendrickson threw at the minicamp earlier this month.

Ubaldo Jimenez already is set to report with the pitchers and catchers. He's hoping that a mechanical adjustment in September will bring better results after going 6-9 with a 4.81 ERA and 1.516 WHIP in 25 games, including 22 starts, and losing his spot in the rotation.

Not a good early return on the Orioles' four-year, $50 million investment.

"We were working on me trying to stay close, trying not to open up," he said. "It was a couple things, but I think I got it down. At the end of the season, especially the last couple starts, I know I walked a couple guys, but I felt really good mechanic-wise. I was able to throw more strikes, I was able to throw more fastballs. I've been working on that right now, too.

"My mechanics aren't mechanics that you're going to see every day. It takes a little bit more time, it takes a little bit more hard work to get it going and keep repeating it. The last two or three years, I've been dealing with injuries, talking about leg-wise. Last year, I had the ankle problem. That's making it a little bit more difficult to get it going."

Jimenez views the upcoming season as a fresh start.

"I can't wait," he said. "Whatever happened in 2014 is the past. There's nothing I can do with it right now, so I can just look forward right now trying to do everything possible in spring training to get myself ready the best I can for the season and be there for the team.

"It was hard last year. Coming to a new team and signing a contract like, not to do what everybody's expecting you to do is hard. It's hard not to be there for the team. But regardless of what happened, I fought a lot and I think I was trying a way to survive and be there for the team. Do whatever I can do the best. We got really far. I didn't help a lot, but I did whatever I could with whatever I had.

"Since I started playing baseball I always put it in my mind to forget about the past. There's nothing you can do with it and that's something that's been helping me out in my career. This is not the first time that I've struggled and I find a way to get back on track and it's because of that. I find a way to forget about what happened and I get back on track. I find a way to get the job done."

The Orioles have six starters for five spots in the rotation, but Jimenez isn't sweating the math.

"This is going to be like my 13th spring training, counting like six in the minor leagues, so I'm going to have the same goal as before, and that's getting myself ready for the season," he said. "That's the only thing I have to worry about, just getting ready for the season. It doesn't matter what people are expecting or people are saying. For me, there's only one worry and that's getting ready for the season."