3 Up, 3 Down – April 5, 2021

Welcome to ‘3 Up, 3 Down’, the weekly column breaking down the three hottest and three coldest Orioles players based on their performance during the previous week. It has proven to be an interesting exercise and good opportunity to highlight the highs and lows of a long baseball season. This first article is following the season opening series in Boston against the Red Sox.

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3 Up

John Means – 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 0.14 WHIP

Means finally was able to making his opening day start that he was scheduled for in 2020 but had to miss due to a dead arm period late in summer camp and he certainly made the most of it. The only baserunner he allowed was the leadoff hitter of the game, Kike Hernandez, who singled. After that he was lights out, pitching like a real ace and not just the best the Orioles can run out there during their rebuild. It was arguably the best performance of his major league career and continued the trend that he finished last season on, giving up only one run or less in five consecutive starts now. The velocity was a couple notches down from the 94-95 mph it had jumped to last year but he was able to control it at 91-93 really well and his patented change-up from his breakout year in 2019 looked like it was completely back. His next start will be against a powerful Yankee lineup in New York with that short porch in right field so it will be interesting to see how he looks on Wednesday night.

Cedric Mullins – .692/.714/.923 (1.637), 4 R, 3 doubles, 13 AB

Mullins was a feel good story in 2020 as he was able to bounce back from a dreadful 2019 where he came into the season as the starting center fielder and ended the season at AA Bowie. He looked like he had carved out a role as a fourth outfielder/pinch runner/defensive replacement. 2021 might end up being a feel great story if he keeps looking the way he did over the weekend. He gave up switch hitting coming into spring training this year as his numbers were much better when he hit left handed. You would think that would take some time to get accustomed to hitting left handed pitchers from the left side but he looks like he has been doing it his entire life. The highlight of the entire weekend full of highlights for Orioles fans might well have been Mullins going five for five on Sunday with a walk and three doubles. Fourth outfielder is starting to feel like a worst case scenario now and he could very easily grab that starting center field role back and force Austin Hays into a corner outfield spot which just improves the outfield defense overall.

Pedro Severino – .500/.500/.625 (1.125), 2 R, 1 double, 8 AB

Severino wasn’t perfect in the two games he played – he had a passed ball and struck out three times but he also continued a trend of starting the season hot with two hits a piece in the first two games of the season. He is a guy who ended up on this list a few times early on in the 2020 season and then flipped to the less desirable portion over the last month. The Orioles would love to see him performing well early as it would give them another tradeable piece during the rebuild and free up a spot for their top prospect and key piece of the next contending O’s team in Adley Rutschman. MLB Pipeline recently projected him to make his debut in July and being able to trade one of the two established catchers currently on the roster (Severino and Chance Sisco) would go a long way into making that happen.

3 Down

Austin Hays – .200/.200/.300 (.500), 1 R, 1 double, 2 RBI, 10 AB

I feel bad picking anyone to be on the ‘3 down’ section following a three game sweep of the Red Sox in which we outscored them 18-5 but it must be done! Unfortunately for Austin Hays he was the easiest choice. He did have a bases loaded double that drove in two runs as a highlight but he also completely whiffed on a fly ball in left field that he lost in the sun. Most importantly he was removed from Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury after diving into second base. If there is one criticism that has limited Hays’ upside over the past few years it has been his ability to stay healthy and on the field. You never want to be compared to Nolan Reimold in that regard. It doesn’t seem like a severe injury but definitely something you want to be cautious with and it could lead to a stint on the injured list especially with a short bench due to having 14 pitchers on the roster. After such a great spring it would be a shame to lose him so early in the season for any amount of time.

Freddy Galvis – .167/.286/.250 (.536), 2 R, 1 double, 1 RBI, 12 AB

Not a lot to say about Galvis and he would’ve probably avoided this designation in a longer week when at least one pitcher would’ve had a poor outing. He bats in the bottom third of the lineup and plays a steady shortstop, he drew a couple of walks, and hit a double. If he would’ve had one other hit fall in his line over an extremely small sample size would be perfectly acceptable. I know Orioles fans were spoiled by Jose Iglesias in 2020 (and even more so seeing all the defensive highlights with the Angels already this year) but I get the feeling they will be happy with what Galvis provides by the time his stint with the O’s is over, whether that is at the end of the season or around the trade deadline.

Rio Ruiz – .167/.286/.167 (.452), 2 R, 12 AB

If you would’ve told me a week ago that I’d be singing the praises of Rio Ruiz’ defense at second base I would ask you if I was talking about the season I started on OOTP 22. Orioles fans were surprised to see Ruiz starting at second base on opening day but he made three excellent plays and by the end of the weekend series it seemed clear that he can at least be passable there and then slide over to third base to replace new addition Maikel Franco late in games. The problem wasn’t the position he was playing but the fact that he was batting fifth in all three games. He has never proven to be an effective hitter at the plate and that continued to start the season. He was the only Oriole batter without a hit after the first two games until he had a couple of singles on Sunday. With a sneaky well rounded lineup he should be batting eighth or ninth if he keeps getting starts at second base as the season goes on.