FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jorge Mateo is in.
One of the biggest questions throughout spring training was whether the speedster would again break spring training with the Orioles after struggling mightily at the plate for most of last season.
He will, manager Brandon Hyde said Thursday, because of his defensive versatility, which Mateo has worked on this spring, and elite speed as one of the fastest players in the major leagues.
“He’s going to make the team,” Hyde said. “He offers us flexibility, and that’s why we’ve played him a lot in the outfield in spring training, he’s done a lot of outfield stuff in spring training, just to help with our versatility. … Mateo is kind of the wild card in that he can play the outfield.”
Hyde wouldn’t reveal the rest of his roster one day after joking that Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson had also, obviously, made the team. But it’s not hard to work out how this impacts the machinations of the Orioles’ opening day roster.
With Mateo on the team, that makes 20-year-old infield prospect Jackson Holliday’s path to making the club more narrow. Assuming Ramón Urías is also making the team, no unforeseen injuries and no trades by the front office, Holliday likely only breaks camp in the majors if the Orioles decide to go with seven infielders and four traditional outfielders. That format is possible given Mateo’s ability to play the outfield on top of having a fourth outfielder, potentially prospect Colton Cowser, who can play all three spots and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, who can play the corners. Mateo has played all three outfield spots this spring in addition to second base and his natural position of shortstop as he works to become a super utility player.
However, if the Orioles decide they need five traditional outfielders, that would likely result in Holliday, the consensus top prospect in baseball, beginning the season in Triple-A, and allow Kyle Stowers, Heston Kjerstad or Ryan McKenna to make the club alongside Cowser. Holliday has performed well this year — Hyde said earlier this week that he looks like a big leaguer — but so have most of the players competing for roster spots. Cowser has been one of the best MLB hitters this spring, and Stowers has smacked a team-best seven homers.
Hyde said the club has a lot of “tough decisions” to make in the coming days ahead of formally setting the roster next week before opening day next Thursday. They just won’t involve Mateo.
Orioles rotation set
Hyde also announced the order of the club’s starting rotation to begin the season.
As expected, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez will follow ace Corbin Burnes as the Orioles’ No. 2 starter with Kyle Bradish set to begin the season on the injured list. Rodriguez will start March 30 at Camden Yards against the Los Angeles Angels. Rodriguez struggled in the first half last year, but after returning from Triple-A, he was one of the American League’s best starting pitchers.
“He’s shown that for a couple-month period that he can do it, that he can shut down good offenses and make really good starts for us,” Hyde said. “I want to believe going into this year that gave him some confidence and he learned from some rough outings but also his good outings that he can pitch up here and he can pitch well. I do have confidence that he’s going to get off to a good start for us, I think that’s important.”
Tyler Wells, Dean Kremer and Cole Irvin will round out the rotation. Wells, the club’s best starter in the first half last season, will take the ball March 31 against the Angels. Kremer, who started and struggled in his playoff start last year after a solid campaign, will be Baltimore’s No. 4 starter, toeing the rubber April 1 at Oriole Park versus the Kansas City Royals. Irvin, who split 2023 between Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles’ rotation and their bullpen, will be the fifth starter and pitch April 2 against the Royals.
Hyde said the rotation order is based on several factors, including setting up favorable matchups early in the season. Having Wells as the No. 3 starter over Kremer is a bit of a surprise, but Hyde said the 6-foot-8 right-hander has earned it.
“[Wells] is throwing the ball great,” Hyde said. “For me, he was one of our best, if not the best, starter in the first half last year. He’s throwing the ball like that right now. We want him starting in Game 3.”
With three days off in the first two weeks of the season, the Orioles could’ve gone with a four-man rotation and had Irvin as a long reliever in the bullpen. But Hyde said it will be too early in the season for such rotation maximization and extra rest days early could be useful.