Cedric Mullins’ standout first month feels like the one true bright spot of this Orioles season so far.

It’s also, quite possibly, among the few recent examples we can point to that backs up the notion that many are grasping for: Things have to get better for the Orioles, somehow.

Mullins’ 2024 ended well, and if we think back to this time last year, it started pretty well, too. He had an .833 OPS through 21 games. In between, Mullins was in a funk unlike anything he’s seen in years.

By June 8, his OPS troughed at .522. In his last 120 plate appearances before that date, he was hitting .124 with a .352 OPS. His wRC+, a measure of run creation which calibrates 100 as league-average, was 0. He was 100% worse than the league average in that span. But he kept grinding, doing early work to find balance and strength in his lower half to help him put together his best swings every night, and then proceeded to take off.

From that low point onward, Mullins hit .273 with an .825 OPS, ending the season with a wRC+ of 105 and all but erasing the impact of his swoon on his final line. He’s been even better than that since. Entering Monday, he had a .967 OPS and 185 wRC+. Those are eighth-best and fifth-best among all qualified major leaguers, respectively. It’s been a joy to watch on a team with a paucity of joyful things.

That wasn’t the case as Mullins was struggling, of course. He had all the time he needed to get right because the Orioles were among best teams in baseball, and no fewer than six Orioles were hitting well. Gunnar Henderson was an MVP candidate, while Adley Rutschman, Anthony Santander and Jordan Westburg were putting together All-Star-worthy first halves. Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle were mashing as well.

They need that core, minus the departed Santander and the already-effective O’Hearn, to join Mullins in the producer categories quickly. But let’s be clear: It’s not my job to tell anyone in the clubhouse to watch Mullins or take notes on how his plate appearances are going. It is for others, including Brandon Hyde (who has said as much).

The way the Orioles’ roster is structured, they’re going to need to have a bunch of their young stars turn things around rather than relying on some kind of filling of a leadership vacuum, if there is one.

All I’m saying is that it’s possible for stretches like these to be aberrations in a long season, and there’s a long season ahead of the Orioles. Just ask Mullins. At this point last season, Mullins was about to embark on six weeks of truly dispiriting baseball before spending the entire second half near his best. I bet a bunch of his teammates, given how their seasons have started, would sign up for a similar turnaround.

Ballpark Chatter

“Pretty much, yeah. We had three guys hurt today. We’re not playing the best baseball right now, and we’re walking too many guys on the mound. It’s been rough.”

– Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, when asked whether the Orioles were in one of the more difficult stretches of his managerial tenure

When you put it that way, he has a point. I think it’s been important that Hyde and the rest of the Orioles have been addressing what they’re going through head-on and not acting like things are OK. Because let’s be honest, they’re not. That’s not to say that they’re going to be bad forever, but this feels like it’s a low point and I’m glad they’re talking about it as such.

🚀 On the farm

Pitching development is fickle and complicated, as we have discussed here, and the Orioles are in the thick of an interesting stretch in the minors. Pitchers like Braxton Bragg and Levi Wells are taking big leaps, but as 21-year-old Michael Forret left Tuesday’s game with lower back discomfort, the losses on the mound continue to mount. If he misses any time, he’ll join fellow Top 30 prospects Patrick Reilly (elbow), Luis De León (elbow, per FanGraphs), and Zach Fruit (lat strain) on the injured list. At Triple-A, Justin Armbruester had shoulder surgery. The Orioles prefer a volume approach to accumulating prospect talent on the mound. This is why.

#️⃣ By the numbers

1.571

I know there’s not a lot that can be inferred from looking at the outcomes of 16 Triple-A plate appearances against lefties, but Coby Mayo’s OPS against lefties of 1.571 is worth noting. He has two homers, a double and a triple in 16 such plate appearances. The time may be coming when the Orioles do feel it’s worth it for Mayo to only be up a couple times a week, if it’s able to provide a spark to the lineup against lefties. He’s not seeing the kind of lefties down in Norfolk he’ll see in the majors, but the righties the Orioles are putting in the lineup aren’t exactly seeing the major league lefties well, either.

📰 Further reading

🏟️ The empty stadium game: Old pal and new Banner voice Childs Walker looked back on the Orioles’ empty stadium game from 10 years ago. I’ll certainly never forget it and have one tidbit to share. The attendance is always announced in the press box, and the PR official who had that responsibility dreaded it that day because he knew people would chuckle and that there was nothing funny about the circumstances. He was right on both counts. I suppose they could have just skipped it, but you know, tradition.

🤫 Pitching with confidence: Andy was smart to jump on one of the handful of things trending upward for this team: Félix Bautista. He looks like he’s getting back to himself and pitching with confidence, and that’s going to pay off as this season goes on.