Karns, Harvey highlight first day of full-squad workouts

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles turned in their busiest day of spring training with early meetings and lingering physicals followed by stretching and the first full-squad workout of camp.

Players were spread over every field at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. Live batting practice was held in the stadium and on fields 2-4.

"We're getting guys going, getting ready for games," said manager Brandon Hyde. "I think some days you start on the first day, sometimes you start on the second day, but the way the schedule kind of laid out this year, live BPs on the first day was where we were at.

"They're such important days for the pitcher, for the hitter, the hitter's timing, but you're ready for those days to be over after a few days of them and ready to start games. Yeah, happy with how it went, for sure."

The workout didn't begin until Hyde held a closed-door meeting, his first as a major league manager. Being competitive was part of the theme, a message delivered in various forms since his hiring in December.

"Definitely was brought up. There's no doubt," he said. "I think I touched a lot of areas, standards that I believe in and expectations in camp, expectations for the season. I felt like they took the message well.

"I think guys were ready to get out on the field. When you are a competitor and you're trying to win a big league job, that's what it's all about. So I think they've been really respectful and responded well to it so far."

Nathan Karns and David Hess threw two rounds of batting practice, but Hunter Harvey was held to only one. Reliever Cody Carroll, part of their group, also threw one round as a short reliever and was bringing some serious heat

Anthony Santander, DJ Stewart and Steve Wilkerson batted against the foursome. Cael Brockmeyer caught Karns and Harvey. Martin Cervenka caught Hess and Carroll.

Each turn lasted about six minutes. Minor league pitching coordinator Chris Holt stood behind the mound.

Andrew Cashner, Dylan Bundy, Luis Ortiz, Dillon Tate, Gabriel Ynoa and Jimmy Yacabonis also threw two rounds of batting practice,

Karns hadn't faced hitters since last spring training, his 2018 season spent on the disabled list with an elbow injury.

"I just ran out of time or else I would have had an opportunity to get back into games," he said. "Last year I was throwing 'pens, like, the whole year, unfortunately."

Asked whether he was pleased with today's session, Karns put a comedic spin on his reply.

"Yeah, definitely," he said, "and I think the hitters are, too. I didn't hit them, so that was the best thing.

"It was nice to kind of get the first one out there, compete, try to work on locating. A little bit of sequence and just see how it plays off against the hitters, and I'm pretty happy with how everything was able to be accomplished out there. And the next step is back out there in, I think, three more days."

Karns used all of his pitches while going first in the group and returning to the mound after Hess' turn.

"The whole arsenal - fastball, two-seam, changeup, curveball," he said. "I'm pretty much trying to work on the heater, changeup, right now. Kind of dump in the curveball and everything in there, but I really want to command the heater and changeup. Really be able to pull the string when I need to be able to locate the heater. Step one right now."

Karns has appeared in only nine games since 2017 due to thoracic outlet surgery and the elbow issue, setbacks that he must clear from his mind when getting back on the mound.

"Unfortunately, I've been through the ringer a couple of times," said Karns, an early favorite to serve as the fourth starter in the rotation. "Right now, I feel comfortable with what I'm able to do out there and I feel like I'm on pace to be where I need to be, so I'll just take it one day at a time and go out there and do my job and I should be in a good place at the end of camp."

Harvey hadn't faced hitters since early June with Double-A Bowie, injuries to his shoulder and elbow/forearm area truncating another season. He was slated to throw two rounds of BP today, but the Orioles didn't want to push him so early in camp.

"It was kind of just up in the air," he said. "They wanted to see how it went, and they thought just take it a little slow the first time out and then next time we'll probably do two.

"I felt great. My body feels good, my arm feels good. I feel a little rusty, but it's good to get back out there."

Hyde downplayed the significance of Harvey throwing for only six minutes.

"We're going to be as careful and we're going to try to do things right for Hunter Harvey," he said. "We want him to break camp healthy, and that's the No. 1 goal. I think we're all aware of where he's been the last few years and the challenges he's faced, and we're just here to be supportive and try to get him to finish spring training healthy and ready to have a great season."

Harvey will pitch in exhibition games when the Orioles "feel like he's ready," Hyde said.

"Whenever that is, I'm not really sure yet. But he had a six-minute deal today and he's going to go back out in a couple days and do it again, maybe get pushed a little bit, but we're going to be really careful with him. Just want him to finish spring training in a great place physically and mentally."

Harvey threw his fastball, curveball and split.

"Just the normal stuff," he said, "trying to get the groove of everything again."

With so many setbacks over the years, Harvey no longer can rank the importance of the spring camps. He's been limited to 22 starts since the 2014 season.

"It's been something every year," Harvey said, "so I feel like I've been through about every spring training and it's really about trying to get through the full year."

* The Orioles also were busy today back in Baltimore, hiring Michael Weis as a new data analyst for assistant general manager Sig Mejdal. Weis has a master's degree in business analytics and an undergraduate in math. He possesses four years of experience as a data analyst in predictive analytics in multiple fields.

More analytics hires are coming later this month.

* Hyde expects infielder Alcides Escobar to arrive in Sarasota tonight and be on the field Tuesday morning.

* Mark Trumbo, coming off knee surgery in September, probably won't play in the first exhibition game Saturday against the Twins in Sarasota. He took live batting practice today on the stadium field.

"Mark's really, really important for us and I'm not going to push him in any way," Hyde said. "He looks great out here and I'm really happy with how ... and I know he's happy with how he feels after last year."

* Hyde would prefer to have a left-hander in his rotation.

"I think ideally, yes, you'd love to have a mix in the rotation," he said, "but where we're at right now, I'm not sure how it's going to line up. But to compete against teams and have teams see both sides, I think that would be what you'd want in an ideal situation."

* It's too soon for Hyde to know whether he's carrying 12 or 13 pitchers on opening day and a normal or short bench. In the National League, he was accustomed to having teams break camp with an extra reliever.

"That's something that I'm going to be working out the next month and figure out how our roster fits, like everything else," he said. "That's something to consider - seven in the 'pen, eight in the 'pen, an extra bench guy."