Peterson hopes moving around keeps him in one place

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles will play their second exhibition game later today, giving manager Brandon Hyde more opportunities to show off the versatility of his roster and do a little more experimenting.

Stevie Wilkerson hasn't played first base in the majors? Run him out there in the Grapefruit League opener against the Twins.

Wilkerson came off the bag to glove Renato Núñez's throw from across the diamond and slap the tag on Ronald Torreyes. But he also couldn't make the clean pickup on a grounder, the play scored a hit.

Ryan Mountcastle hadn't played first base as a professional? He replaced Wilkerson and made a backhanded stop and throw to start a 3-6-1 double play.

Christopher Bostick replaced Cedric Mullins in center field. He's only played second base and left field in the majors during the regular season, but he made 66 starts in center in the minors.

Hyde is beginning to sound like a broken record, but only because he's forced to keep spinning the turntable. Questions come at him about players at certain positions and he provides more reminders that he's going to keep moving them around and to not read too much into what's done on a particular day.

Rio Ruiz has worked out at first base in spring training, but he replaced Núñez at third yesterday. Jace Peterson started at second base before Jack Reinheimer replaced him.

Reinheimer made one start at second base last season with the Mets, but he's had 62 starts in the minors. He's also played shortstop, third base and left field.

Peterson has pretty much handled every spot during workouts. It's no exaggeration. The infield and the outfield. Have glove will travel.

"Not catching yet," he said, "so everything but that."

A player with Peterson's ability to move around gains value if the Orioles keep an extra pitcher and go with a short bench. Or even if they carry the standard four reserves. The more options given to a manger the better.

"I think from the information I've gathered, I'll be all over," Peterson said. "Playing all over, playing a lot, so I'm looking forward to it."

Peterson has come to the right place. Or returned to it.

The Orioles placed Peterson on outright waivers Nov. 1 and he chose free agency before agreeing to a minor league deal later that month.

"Once I was off the 40-man roster, I had some calls and for me. The spot that I'm at, it's a great opportunity for me to come back, compete and try to win a job out of camp," said Peterson, 28, who batted .195/.308/.325 in 93 games, played five positions and also pitched an inning.

"With the way free agency has been over the last couple of years, it's been really slow, so for me, I kind of wanted to sign with a team and enjoy the offseason with my family the rest of the time. So it was a good thing for me to sign early and just focus on coming to Baltimore and trying to win a job here."

The Orioles may not be able to beat teams on most nights - it's not included in the rebuild handbook - but they can provide more chances for players to win jobs.

"No doubt," Peterson said. "Baseball's a funny game and anything can happen. I think good things come from competition, so whenever you're competing and having fun and working hard every day, good things happen. This is a spot that I wanted to be in and I was excited to come here again and try to improve on what last year's team did."

If given the chance, he'll be doing it on the move.