Strangest fact of O's 2021 ST

[wildcard]

Hyde loves versatility.  1B  Mancini is coming off missing a year.    When many fans think of who will back up Mancini at first the answer its Mountcastle. Especially with Hays, Mullins, Santander in the outfield and Diaz to be promoted this season.   So here is the strange fact given that situation.    Orioles.com says Mountcastle did not play one inning at 1B during all of ST.

What?  And what does that mean for the season?   Mancini, Franco, Ruiz?  No Mountcastle?  Just asking.

[Philip]

It means the Powers are REALLY REALLY HOPING that Mountcastle will be a serviceable left fielder.

 

And God Help us...

[Aristotelian]

It means Mountcastle needs as much practice in LF as he can get. 

[Sports Guy]

Why is this strange?  His position is LF.

it’s also strange that Adley has no starts at SS!  

[Redskins Rick]

Not strange at all. Lots of COF can swing down and play 1B, 

 

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Not strange at all. Lots of COF can swing down and play 1B, 

 

You missed the point.  Sure some outfielders also play 1B.   The strange part is Mountcastle hasn't all spring.  Even though the outfield is crowded with more OFers to come. And last year the O's wanted him to play 1B.   To not even get a few games there in ST this year strikes me as strange.

 

[interloper]

15 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Why is this strange?  His position is LF.

it’s also strange that Adley has no starts at SS!  

And yet Mountcastle tallied 75 innings at 1B in 2020. And Hyde said he's an option to backup. So in a ST where he wanted to make sure Ruiz got a couple games at 2B just in case, I agree with wildcard that it's weird Mountcastle never got so much as an inning at 1B.

[SteveA]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

You missed the point.  Sure some outfielders also play 1B.   The strange part is Mountcastle hasn't all spring.  Even though the outfield is crowded with more OFers to come. And last year the O's wanted him to play 1B.   To not even get a few games there in ST this year strikes me as strange.

 

I think they wanted him to concentrate on LF because they want him to get as good as possible there.   When he's not in LF, he's DHing.

Everyone talks about 1B being "easy" because it is lower on the defensive spectrum than outfield.   Which is true.   But it still takes practice at the position to master footwork and such, as well as taking a lot of infield ground balls.   I like the fact that Mountcastle didn't spend any time doing that so he could concentrate on becoming as good an outfielder as possible.   Every hour spent working on first base would have been an hour not working on left field.

I think the primary backups at 1B for Mancini will be Ruiz/Franco (whoever isn't at 3rd) and Valaika.   And all three of them did play some 1B during camp, I believe.   And Davis as soon as he is healthy and off the IL.

[Sports Guy]

12 minutes ago, interloper said:

And yet Mountcastle tallied 75 innings at 1B in 2020. And Hyde said he's an option to backup. So in a ST where he wanted to make sure Ruiz got a couple games at 2B just in case, I agree with wildcard that it's weird Mountcastle never got so much as an inning at 1B.

1) it’s not weird that they wanted a guy to play the position he is going to play.  He’s not a natural LFer, so giving him as much time as possible out there makes a ton of sense.
 

2) We have no idea how many grounders he has taken or if he has played first in B games. (I guarantee you that he has taken a lot of grounders over there)

3) He knows how to play first, he doesn’t have to appear in ST games to show that.

[interloper]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

1) it’s not weird that they wanted a guy to play the position he is going to play.  He’s not a natural LFer, so giving him as much time as possible out there makes a ton of sense.
 

2) We have no idea how many grounders he has taken or if he has played first in B games. (I guarantee you that he has taken a lot of grounders over there)

3) He knows how to play first, he doesn’t have to appear in ST games to show that.

These are much more sound arguments than "but Adley didn't play SS", which is like saying "but Mountcastle didn't play catcher". 

[MurphDogg]

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

44 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

It means Mountcastle needs as much practice in LF as he can get. 

 

 

[Philip]

23 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

 

 

That’s a Really sweet commercial! Is that a real song or was it just written for the commercial?

It does not, however, make me want to run to Pizza Hut. Sorry about that

[Sports Guy]

36 minutes ago, interloper said:

These are much more sound arguments than "but Adley didn't play SS", which is like saying "but Mountcastle didn't play catcher". 

Obviously sarcasm is a class you didn’t take.

[Yossarian]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

That’s a Really sweet commercial! Is that a real song or was it just written for the commercial?

It does not, however, make me want to run to Pizza Hut. Sorry about that

Neither does actually having eaten a Pizza Hut pizza.