Kendall on Mullins, Hays stacks up, Gausman faces New York

BOWIE, Md. - When the Eastern League playoffs begin tonight as Double-A Bowie hosts Altoona in a best of five series, Baysox manager Gary Kendall is confident he can count on outfielder Cedric Mullins.

The young man was the talk of Orioles spring training camp in March as he kept getting called over from minor league camp and kept impressing manager Buck Showalter. He even hit an opposite field homer off Boston closer Craig Kimbrel.

The Orioles skipped Mullins, who played last year for Single-A Delmarva, past Single-A Frederick right to Bowie to start this year. Then he got off to a fast start. He hit .367 in 14 games in April until he was slowed by a hamstring injury that sent him to the DL twice.

The 22-year-old Mullins played in 76 games this season and hit .265/.319/.460 with 19 doubles, a triple, 13 homers and 37 RBIs. But he has hit just .162 since Aug. 1 with 28 strikeouts over 117 at-bats.

"His at-bats have been good," Kendall said. "It doesn't reflect on the hard-hit balls he hit. He barreled up four or five balls in our last series that got caught. Sometimes, and we have talked to Cedric about it, but sometimes he has chased pitches out of the strikezone. There are times when he has gotten himself out and Butch (Davis, Bowie hitting coach) has talked to him about pitch selection and making the pitchers make a pitch. Especially when you are ahead in the count.

"But overall he has had a good season. He has done some nice things and it is just a matter of some tough luck. He has been such a big plus for us in the outfield with some of the plays he has made out there. He has made plays on defense that have turned games around."

After a rainout last night, Mullins and the Baysox host Altoona tonight to start the series. Bowie will host the first two games the next two nights. Single-A Frederick was also rained out at home last night against Lynchburg. The Keys will host the first two games of that series the next two nights.

Hays stacks up: O's outfield prospect Austin Hays, now with the Orioles, is one of five finalists for the Baseball America minor league Player of the Year award. Hays clearly is worthy of inclusion in a group that includes outfielder Ronald Acuna from Atlanta, Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette and third baseman Vlad Guerrero and pitcher Jon Duplantier of Arizona.

Hays has hit 32 homers, 11 more than any of the other position players and his slugging percentage leads the group. But Hays is the oldest of the four position players, which could work against him when the winner is announced Friday.

Comparing the four position players
Hays: .329/.364/.593, 32 homers, age 22.2
Acuna: .325/.373/.522, 21 homers, age 19.7
Bichette: .362/.423/.565, 14 homers, age 19.5
Guerrero: .323/.425/.485, 13 homers, age 18.5

Like Hays, the other players here excelled at two levels this year and Acuna performed well at three levels plus added 44 stolen bases. Bichette leads the group of four in weighted runs created plus at 181 followed by Guerrero at 163, Hays at 161 and Acuna at 153.

In using weight runs created plus, Hays compares favorably to some past Baseball America Player of the Year winners that were college draft picks. They all won the award at around age 22, Hays' current age. Kris Bryant of the Cubs won in 2014 with a wRC+ of 190. The Orioles' Matt Wieters was the winner in 2008 at 172. Alex Gordon of Kansas City won in 2006 at 166 and Wil Myers, then with the Royals won in 2012 at 154. So Hays with a wRC+ of 161 is keeping good company.

Gausman faces New York: After a walk-off win followed by yesterday's rainout, the Orioles and Yankees conclude their three-game series today at Camden Yards.

Right-hander Kevin Gausman (10-9, 4.79) will try to pitch the Orioles to the series win. He has thrown back-to-back scoreless starts. In those games he pitched 13 2/3 allowing nine hits with four walks and 13 strikeouts.

Over his past nine starts, Gausman has seven quality starts, allowing two runs or fewer seven times. In that run, he is 5-2 with a 2.03 ERA.