Nolan Reimold on Buck Showalter's comments about him and more

On Thursday night, in his second game since rejoining the Orioles, outfielder Nolan Reimold played a key role in the Orioles' 6-5 win over Boston. He homered and made several nice plays in the field.

After that game manager Buck Showalter made these comments about Reimold:

"I was thinking tonight watching Nolan, this is a guy who basically broke his neck diving in the stands for his team, his family, his city, whatever," Showalter said. "Going after some of the balls tonight, it just reminds me what the separator is of these guys at this level. Kind of put yourself in his shoes. That's pretty impressive. I remember the first time I saw him run a ball down over in Sarasota in that corner, kind of slaps you back. Pretty impressive. He played really well tonight defensively on both sides of the field."

Reimold said Showalter's comments were passed on to him.

"It was relayed to me and I appreciate that a lot," he said this morning. "He has said it before, he is really proud of how the organization handled my (injury) situation. And I am too. That is why when I left I wanted to come back here so bad.

"I don't know if I should say it, but I went against my agent's advice and even my family's advice. I went with my gut and came back here. Glad I made it back up here, and hopefully things continue going well the rest of the year."

The Cleveland Indians were another team talking with Reimold over the winter but he signed a minor league contract with the Orioles on Feb. 3, and on Tuesday, made it back to the major leagues. In four games since then, he is 4-for-14 with a triple, two homers, three RBIs and a 1.232 OPS.

While some close to him thought it was time a for a fresh start over the winter, Reimold made the final call, and it was to re-sign with the team that drafted him in the second round out of Bowling Green in 2005.

"It means a lot. I'm not going to be run out there too much more without producing," Reimold said. "It feels really good to play well and contribute to wins. Winning cures everything.

"I've been here almost all of my career. This is my baseball home."