Road trip shows how important Cedric Mullins is for the Orioles

This just in: Cedric Mullins is pretty important to the Orioles.

While his bat has not yet consistently heated up as he returned to the active roster to start the road trip last weekend in Seattle, he won a game against the Mariners with an incredible late-game performance. And that reminded us just how good he can be and just how big having him in the lineup is to this club.

A club that is looking to win the AL East for the first time since the 2014 season and has had to endure two long stretches with its center fielder on the injured list.

Mullins first went on the IL in late May with a right groin strain and returned June 24. But on July 19 he was back on the 10-day IL with a right adductor groin strain. He played four rehab games for Double-A Bowie, going 3-for-20 before rejoining the club as the road trip began in Seattle.

"We're excited to have him back," manager Brandon Hyde said then. "He feels good and joined us on the trip last night. He's had a couple of stints on the IL and we are hoping to he can stay healthy for us the rest of the year. He's a big part of our club and makes a huge impact for us offensively and defensively." 

Through Friday’s win at Oakland, Mulins is batting .253/.334/.448/.782 producing an OPS+ of 117. That is not yet quite as good as his 30-30 season in 2021 when his OPS+ was 137 and he finished ninth in the Most Valuable Player voting.

Mullins has started just 57 percent of the team’s games to date. And while they held their own without him, the Orioles are playing .643 ball this year in Mullins’ starts (45-25) and .577 ball (30-22) when he does not start.

“I’m very ready (to return),” Mullins said in Seattle when he was re-activated. “During the rehab assignment was watching the guys do their thing out there. Just seeing a lot of guys have some fun and I’m ready to get back in it.

Injuries are never fun to deal with, but this time around my confidence when it came to running when I started back up was a lot smoother than the first time. So I felt like in terms of the recovery, what we did this time has definitely been beneficial to keep me around.”

One area where Mullins has been stellar this year is batting with runners in scoring position. He is hitting .357/.447/.657/1.104 this season with RISP.

That is the sixth-best batting average in the AL in those spots and his OPS ranks fourth-best in the AL.

During his amazing 2021 season, Mullins averaged one RBI every 10.2 at-bats. This year he is averaging one every 5.3 at-bats.

Have we mentioned all his great catches on defense? Yes, he impacts the game for the Orioles at the plate, on defense and on the bases. He is a solid veteran now and it just has to be comforting to the team – from the clubhouse to the dugout – that he is back again healthy for the Orioles.

Another win in extras on the road trip: The Orioles scored five runs in the tenth Saturday night to beat Oakland 7-2. They have won this series and can sweep it later today.

The Orioles are now 76-47 for the year and 3-0 in extra innings on the road trip. The Birds have clinched a winning road trip at 5-3 and are now 22-12 in the second half and 40-24 on the road.

Farm sweep: After the Orioles' four full-season affiliates went 4-0 Friday night they did it again last night. And coupled with three wins in the Dominican Summer League and one in the Florida Complex League, O's farm clubs on Saturday went 7-0.

Triple-A Norfolk won for just the third time in 12 games, 9-2 over Memphis as Connor Norby hit a three-run homer. Double-A Bowie beat Altoona 6-5 in 10 innings as John Rhodes hit a three-run homer. High-A Aberdeen beat Wilmington 4-3 on Trendon Craig's single in the tenth and Aberdeen has won back-to-back days on walkoff wins. Low Single-A Delmarva beat Salem 10-2 as top draft pick Enrique Bradfield Jr. went 2-for-3 and is batting .333 with an OPS of .954.