Martin: "I'm excited, obviously, to be here"

Richie Martin played five games on his injury rehab assignment and was redirected to New York. Never assuming that the Orioles wanted him back at Triple-A Norfolk. Just grateful for another chance in the majors.

He's still waiting for his first start since Sept. 29, 2019 in Boston, happily settling last night for an entrance in the sixth inning as shortstop Ramón Urías' replacement. Martin had back-to-back two-hit games to conclude his Rule 5 season, including a double and home run. He was 11-for-29 (.379) with two doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs in the final month.

Rather than report to Norfolk this week, Martin is taking ground balls and batting practice at Yankee Stadium and occupying a spot on a four-man bench. He'll check the lineup again Wednesday after bouncing out last night in his lone at-bat.

"I was taking everything day-by-day," Martin said on his media Zoom call. "I'm excited, obviously, to be here, I'm glad to be back with the team and it feels good to be back and I'm just going to take it day-by-day."

That seems to be the wise approach for a player who has unexpectedly had his career derailed on multiple fluky occasions.

The broken bone in his right wrist last summer after diving back into first base on a pickoff throw, making contact with first baseman Chris Davis as the ball sailed into right field.

The broken hamate bone that Martin thinks happened in winter ball and may have been aggravated in workouts.

The fractured bone in his right wrist in May while he chased a fly ball in center field with the Norfolk Tides and crashed into the fence.

"It was very frustrating, but it is what it is at that point," Martin said. "It was kind of a freak accident and it wasn't as planned, but a lot of times things don't always go as planned, so it was a learning experience. I was able to still continue to grow during those two to three months, and at the end of the day I'm here now and I'm ready to go."

However manager Brandon Hyde uses him.

"Right now he's a utility player for us," Hyde said. "We're in August and our guys are going to get days off. Richie's going to play in the infield, probably primarily in the middle, and we'll go from there. ... Right now we're playing Ramón and Pat (Valaika) for the most part and they've been doing a really nice job up the middle. Richie's going to fit in and use him as a guy to give these guys a day off. Or play well, play him more. We'll see."

The Orioles were trying to prepare Martin for a possible utility role in 2020 prior to his first injury. Or let him play shortstop every day with Norfolk and still be an option at second base.

Martin said he hasn't been told about the team's plans for him.

"I'm going to continue to take balls at short and second and wherever they need me, that's where I'm going to be available," he said. "At this point it's just taking it day-by-day and wherever I'm penciled in the lineup, that's where I've got to go play."

The Orioles already have Cedric Mullins in center field and can substitute Austin Hays and Ryan McKenna. Martin can focus on the middle infield.

Not that he's worried about a possible rematch with a center field fence.

"No, I love center," he said. "Shortstop is my position, but I'll play center. Like I said, a freak accident in Norfolk, just unfortunate. Perfect placement where the ball was and where my hand hit the wall on the pole. It was unfortunate, but if they need me in center, I'm going to go play center."