Orioles loving the wins and trying to ignore possible losses within the clubhouse

CHICAGO – Outfielder Austin Hays received his surprise promotion to the majors on Sept. 5, 2017 and was in the Orioles’ lineup two nights later. He remembers the pennant race, how they were above .500 and trying to make the playoffs in back-to-back years.

There was excitement in the clubhouse, with a 71-68 record keeping them in contention. And then they lost six in a row, nine of 10 and 12 of 14.

The crash into last place was loud and violent. The final record of 75-87 causing players to book flights home rather than riding the charter to their next games.

A teardown was looming. Even uglier than the collapse that proceeded it.

Hays hasn’t known winning with the Orioles. Hasn’t been able to recognize it. They lost a team-record 115 games in 2018, leading to massive changes in the front office and manager’s office, and on the coaching staff and roster.

The rebuild brought last-place finishes in 2019 and 2021. They avoided it by one game during the truncated 2020 season. They’ve twice earned the first-overall selection in the draft.

Being at .500 yesterday obviously was going to excite Hays. The mark isn’t the ultimate goal, but it’s a beauty in July.

“It’s crazy,” he said, before the Orioles won again last night. “I think when I got called up in 2017, we were like a half-game out of the wild card race, and it’s been a long time since we’ve been back there. It’s a great feeling, and our pitching staff is continuing to give us a chance night in and night out.”

The confidence keeps building, and the Orioles will need it as they follow another off-day with a three-game series against the Rays at Tropicana Field that concludes the first half.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Hays said. “Every day we show up to the field, we feel like we’re going to win the game and we should win the game. That’s a feeling we haven’t had here the last few years. That alone just breeds confidence with every guy in the locker room, knowing that when you show up, you have a chance to win every game.”

Reliever Keegan Akin was a second-round pick in 2016 who reached the majors in 2020. He’s seen a lot, not much of it good.

“We’ve been through a lot, we’ve taken our lumps since I’ve been in this organization,” he said. “When I first got drafted, they were competing. That was when Jonesy (Adam Jones) and (Manny) Machado and all those guys were here. But it’s been fun to kind of see us grow, and grow together. Coming from the bottom all the way up to the top, a lot of homegrown guys. So, it’s exciting to see that. And the pieces that come from other organizations join in and give us their best effort and compete, as well. It’s been fun.

“Obviously, everyone in here is a little happier and smiley and stuff like that. But I feel like that just comes with winning. We’re young, we’ve got a lot of guys trying to tip-toe around and figure their way out in the big leagues. You’re going to have struggles, especially when that happens, so just trying to battle through that and get to the positive side of things. And I think you’re seeing a lot of guys starting to come through, a lot of us maturing.”

Outfielder Cedric Mullins was drafted a year before Akin and arrived in the majors in August 2018. In his first game, the Orioles lost to the Red Sox 19-12 and dropped to 35-81. He doubled twice, singled, drove in two runs and scored three from the bottom of the order.

Mullins eventually would rise to the top of it. The team stayed down.

Getting to .500 this week and moving beyond it “means a lot,” he said. “It’s awesome to have a core group of guys who are still around to be here for this moment, and we have some guys who are just coming up who are making a difference, and guys from other organizations, as well. So, it’s awesome to be a part of everything coming together.

“The energy is definitely way up. I’d say the morale is just better in general. We’ve had some tough years and it’s hard to keep energy and morale and confidence and all those things up during those times, but even earlier in the season we showed signs of being really good, and we just kind of kept at it day to day. Just working to keep it going from there.”

With the joy of winning comes the knowledge that baseball remains a business and the Orioles aren’t going to be big-time buyers at the trade deadline. They aren’t expected to stand pat. They will move their chips for the right offer, refusing to deviate from the plan no matter where they are in the wild card standings.

“It’s obviously on our minds,” Akin said. “I’m sure something is going to happen. We’re not aware of what or who or when, but I think that time’s coming and I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we have to.”

Mullins said he hasn’t thought about it.

“Not once,” he said.

“I think that’s just credit to us going out there every day and playing. We’re just having fun, enjoying the game.”

“To be honest, it’s not something that we’ve really talked about at all, had conversations about,” Hays said. “We are playing really good baseball right now and we’ve built a really good chemistry in the clubhouse together between the older guys, the Latin players, the American guys. Everybody’s just meshing really well with one another.

“We just hope that we can keep those relationships and keep these players in the clubhouse, but at the end of the day, we’re players and we don’t work in the front office, so that’s not our job to try to guess what’s going to happen or who’s going to be here. We just enjoy every day with one another and right now we’re going through a good stretch and just try to enjoy it for as long as we can.”

The roster could change, but Brandon Hyde remains in charge, and players want to win for him as much as anyone or anything.

They never wanted the losses to reflect on his abilities as a manager and a leader.

“It’s huge,” said Trey Mancini, who is expected to be traded by the deadline. “We all love him. I’ve always been very outspoken the whole time that I think he should be here for the long haul. I really do. I always thought he was the right guy for this job, for the rebuild and for playoff teams here. I think he’s the guy, as this year has shown since things are going well.

“He’s always the same guy. You’d never be able to tell from seeing Hyder when you talk to him how we’re doing. He doesn’t ride that wave or rollercoaster too much, and I think that’s such a good quality to have in a manager. And he gets the best out of us, for sure. I love playing for him and I’m very fortunate to have been playing for him for a few years now.”