The 2023 Baltimore Orioles roster contains a wide variety of players, ranging from veterans in their 30s like Aaron Hicks and James McCann to thrilling youngsters like Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez.
In the middle of those two groups are players who debuted as Orioles, but did so earlier than 2022’s pleasant surprise or 2023’s division title. They’re not wise veterans or thrilling rookies and are instead survivors of the rebuild. While there are several players who fit this description, I want to focus on the team’s starting outfield: Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander.
These players are linked in multiple ways and I’ll start with the length of their tenure in this organization: all three of them debuted prior to the Mike Elias/Brandon Hyde era.
Hays and Santander debuted in 2017, where they shared the field with core members of the 2012-2016 teams like Manny Machado, JJ Hardy and Darren O’Day. In fact, Santander’s first game was the same night Machado hit a walk-off grand slam against the Los Angeles Angels.
Meanwhile, Mullins debuting in September 2018 meant he didn’t overlap with Machado and O’Day, but he still played with Adam Jones and was managed by Buck Showalter.
Cedric Mullins on Adam Jones telling him to take the field first: "It kinda felt like a 'pass the torch' situation."
WATCH Mullins talk about his three-hit MLB debut! pic.twitter.com/DNMfPImpYq
— Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) August 11, 2018
The experience of Hays, Mullins and Santander makes them a bridge between two eras of winning Orioles baseball. They connect Adam Jones to Adley Rutschman, Manny Machado to Gunnar Henderson and Zack Britton to Felix Bautista.
The outfield trio are worth recognizing not only for how long they’ve been Orioles but because of the obstacles that were in their way to becoming consistent major leaguers.
Mullins began his professional career as a 13th round pick out of college, being taken with the 403rd overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Dan Duquette front office. While Mullins was able to overcome where he was drafted by debuting in 2018, a new obstacle emerged during his 2019 season: he couldn’t hit.
He had a .337 OPS in 74 plate appearances to begin 2019, earning him a demotion to AAA Norfolk. His struggles continued from there and he ended the season all the way back at AA Bowie.
Meanwhile, Santander was considered surplus to needs by his original organization and got left unprotected in the 2016 Rule 5 draft after putting together an .862 OPS in AA as a 21-year-old.
In fact, he was the 18th and final player taken in the Major League phase of that year’s draft. Seventeen prospects were picked ahead of Santander and it’s safe to say none of the players made an impact with the team that picked them quite like Santander’s production in Baltimore.
As for Hays, his problem was always injuries. There was never much question about his talent, but missing time in 2020 and 2021 while on the injured list was a concerning development for him.
All three of these players overcame their obstacles and are now division champions.
This outfield trio is also special because their production is finally contributing to a winning team instead of a tanking team.
In 2021, Cedric Mullins became the first player in baseball history to put together a 30/30 season on a team with a winning percentage below .350. In fact, he had the fifth-highest bWAR of any position player on a team that failed to win 35 percent of its games.
While Austin Hays didn’t quite manage a 30/30 season in 2021, he was a still solid regular who saw his production go to waste thanks to dreadful hitters like Pat Valaika and Maikel Franco and shoddy pitchers like Matt Harvey and Adam Plutko.
Meanwhile, Santander’s first season of regular playing time came in 2019, where he found himself with underwhelming teammates like Keon Broxton and Aaron Brooks.
After years of Rio Ruiz at third and Pedro Severino at catcher, the outfield trio now gets to be part of a playoff roster that has Henderson at third and Rutschman behind the plate.
The final thing that makes these players notable is they might not spend much longer in Baltimore. Their aforementioned debuts in 2017 and 2018 means they’re getting very close to free agency. Santander is currently a free agent after the 2024 season, while Hays and Mullins will be available for the rest of the league following the 2025 season.
The Orioles are yet to extend anyone in the Elias era and it’s hard to know how much that is from the front office being frugal and how much of that is from ownership pinching pennies. Either way, the lack of extensions thus far doesn’t seem like good news that any of these players will stay in Baltimore any further than 2024 or 2025.
The presence of outfield prospects like Heston Kjerstad, Colton Cowser and Enrique Bradfield Jr. further seems to signal that we’ll be saying goodbye to these players once they reach the service time needed for free agency.
Perhaps letting all of them leave would work out, but it’d still be a bummer from a fan perspective to see some of the longest tenured Orioles not get the chance to spend more time winning games in Baltimore. Keeping them also wouldn’t just be a sentimental decision when the only position players with more bWAR than them this year were Henderson and Rutschman.
Hays, Mullins and Santander all debuted during the decline of the Showalter/Duquette era, suffered through the tanking part of the Hyde/Elias era and have now made it to the other side as division champions. Everyone who contributed to this team is worthy of recognition and celebration, but these three especially deserve it.
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).