BRADENTON, Fla. — The fit should be natural, considering he’s played there almost all his life. But Orioles manager Brandon Hyde admits there’s a little concern about messing with Jackson Holliday’s defense — to move him back to shortstop after having the 21-year-old focus so wholly on second base for the last year.

They’re both middle infield positions, so the base instructions remain. The angles and the footwork are mirrored, however, and for a young player digesting a whole host of instructions, simplifying at least one aspect of the game can be desirable.

There may be a need for Holliday to remember his roots. With shortstop Gunnar Henderson’s status still unclear for opening day after suffering a strain of the intercostal muscles between his ribs, Holliday found himself at shortstop Monday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates, just in case Baltimore must find a stopgap solution to replace Henderson.

It’s not ideal for Hyde or the Orioles, considering all that has gone into making Holliday a strong second baseman. But it’s a contingency plan.

“I am a little bit [concerned], because we were feeling really good with where he is at second base,” Hyde said. “But shortstop is his natural position. It’s more about getting him refamiliarized. I’m going to move him around to both spots. He’s going to play a majority second base, but we need to get him some looks at shortstop also.”

Holliday isn’t alone in receiving those looks. Jordan Westburg played shortstop in college at Mississippi State, and while he has primarily played second base and third base since, he filled in at shortstop once last year. Jorge Mateo, who’s recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, is unlikely to be ready for opening day but is back to full team activities.

And there are two nonroster invitees receiving attention: Liván Soto and Luis Vázquez. Hyde has raved about the defensive abilities of both, and they’ve handled the bat well this spring too.

“We’re keeping our options open there in case Gunnar — even if Gunnar does break [camp], is he going to be able to play the first five games without an off day? And four on turf?” Hyde said. “We’re looking at everything right now.”

With that in mind, Holliday saw his first start at shortstop this spring and showed a bit of rust. He scooped a routine ground ball but his throw across the diamond sailed wide left and pulled Ryan O’Hearn off the bag for an error.

That’s why Holliday is playing shortstop in a spring training game — should he be forced into action in place of Henderson, he’ll need to get those out of his system now.

“It’s one thing to practice it, but to play it in a game, reading the ball off the bat, the angle it comes in on, it’s obviously very different,” Holliday said. “But I should make that play every single time. Still, hopefully I don’t have to learn to play both. Hopefully Gunnar gets healthy real quick and I can just stick over at second until they need me. But if that is the case, I’m up for the challenge.”

Félix Bautista’s velocity rebound and new pitch

The best part of Félix Bautista’s day was when the radar gun showed his fastball hit 98.5 mph. The rest? It’s spring training, so it doesn’t matter except that he walked off the mound healthy.

The Orioles closer pitched in his third spring training game since returning from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, and his velocity looked like the old Bautista. The result didn’t, with the Pirates tagging him for two runs off a single, double and triple.

“Every outing, I continue to get better and better,” Bautista said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I’m feeling better. My arm’s feeling well.”

Bautista also dropped an interesting nugget of information: He added a cutter to his pitch mix this offseason, joining a fastball, splitter and slider. Bautista said he threw two cutters, although Statcast didn’t recognize the offering out of his hand.

One of Bautista’s sliders left his hand at 91.5 mph, so presumably that was one of the two cutters.

Hyde maintains that Bautista’s opening day status is to be determined. The Orioles would like Bautista to throw in six or seven games first. But ask Bautista, and he remains confident he’ll be there in Toronto in three weeks.

Another Basallo blast

Samuel Basallo, the ebullient 20-year-old catching prospect, did it again. He throttled a pitch way, way gone.

Basallo crushed a three-run homer that left his bat at 111.3 mph and traveled 403 feet, per Statcast. The eye test said it went farther as it passed the boardwalk beyond the right-center fence at LECOM Park and headed for a green-roofed training center.

“I’ve seen that many times, but that was extremely far,” Holliday said. “I don’t know if they have the metrics, but I guarantee you they’re not right.”

When he was told Statcast’s measurement, Holliday balked.

“I’m not buying that,” he said. “No chance.”

It’s the second time this spring Basallo has demolished a baseball in such a fashion. He now holds a .765 slugging percentage as he continually impresses.