Showalter talks about playing time for Reimold

Orioles manager Buck Showalter talked today about the recent lack of playing time for outfielder Nolan Reimold. He did not play in the series with Cincinnati and had just eight at-bats during the recent nine-game road trip. "It's been a challenge. We keep hoping that Luke (Scott) can get it going and we went through a period where there were a lot of left-handed pitchers, so it was pretty easy (to play him). We are going through the opposite now," Showalter said. "On my list of things that kind of bug me, that's one of them. He's worked hard at it. I think he understands he wasn't exactly tearing it up statistically at Triple-A, but he was doing well towards the end of that callup. "We thought we were catching him on the upswing and he did some good things here initially. It's tough to maintain that, but you don't really know. I talk to people about when he first came up, how good he looked. I keep that in the back of my mind." Reimold is batting .261 in 20 games with three homers, eight RBIs and an OPS of .853. Since he went 4-for-4 with two homers on May 26 against Kansas City, he has just five hits in his past 35 at-bats. "Things have a way of changing, not only year-to-year for Nolan, but sometime from week-to-week," Showalter said. "Especially with some things that may change potentially the structure of your team as you go forward in July." I assume that last quote was a reference to the trade deadline. If another player got moved, it could open up more at bats for Reimold. The Orioles recently sent Ryan Adams back to Triple-A so he could get at-bats. Showalter doesn't see a similar situation right now involving Reimold. "I think it's two different things," said Showalter. "Ryan had never been here and you want (him) to get some exposure and get an idea of what's going on. Nolan kind of gets the jump in the level of play. I don't think it's as much a factor. I like having Nolan on the team."