They aren’t the old heads of the rebuild, such as Cedric Mullins, whose major league time predates the 2019 season when Mike Elias, Brandon Hyde and Co. arrived. And they aren’t Elias’ literal chosen sons, the Adley Rutschmans and Gunnar Hendersons of the world, whom the Orioles used their high picks on to stock the organization with its next generation of stars.

Instead, they’re the middle children of this rebuild: Dean Kremer, Ryan Mountcastle, Keegan Akin, Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo, among others. They are some combination of overlooked and undervalued, but they’re reliable and now experienced contributors to a team that has perennial playoff aspirations.

And they bring not only valuable talent but a trait that perhaps has allowed them to stick around as so many others who debuted around the turn of the decade have moved on: dependability.

“The staff knows what they’re going to get with us,” Kremer said. “And it’s a sense of comfort.”

For each, it was a process to get to this point. Kremer debuted in the shortened 2020 season, struggled through most of 2021 but has become a consistent piece of the rotation from the 2022 season on. Akin debuted in that 2020 season as well but ended up in the bullpen at the start of 2023, and he’s steadily grown into a solid middle reliever.

Mountcastle had to overcome a slow start in 2021, his first full season, but has been an above-average offensive performer despite the punishing left-field dimensions the team imposed on him the last three seasons. Urías and Mateo came to the Orioles as waiver claims in 2020 and have been valuable infielders off the bench and in the starting lineup over the team’s turnaround.

“The staff knows what they’re going to get with us. And it’s a sense of comfort.”

Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer

The trio of players who shared the Bowie outfield in 2017 and 2018 — Mullins, Austin Hays and Anthony Santander — are considered the elder statesmen of the rebuild, and rightfully so. Though Mountcastle was on that Baysox team as well and shared minor league clubhouses with all of them, his delayed debut put him in a different group.

“We fought through those times and it was not the most fun, but we made the most of it and became really good friends along the way and started bringing that camaraderie into the clubhouse,” Mountcastle said. “I feel like this group is pretty tight-knit, and I feel like we helped out with that.”

Mountcastle, who turned 28 last month, has been a bridge between generations in the clubhouse for years. But the need for such a bridge is diminishing. The team is getting younger, at least on the position-player side, as Elias’ draftees have graduated through the minors and broken out in the majors. Mountcastle, who has been worth 1.8 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, then 1.4 and 1.5 over the last three seasons, has provided that value for far less than it would cost on the free-agent market.

Same goes for Kremer, the type of pitcher the Orioles’ own free-agent moves dictate is worth eight figures a year but has been paid far less for his services. As the team is starting to dole out more money to veteran players and give deserved arbitration raises to its younger players, it’s going to come to rely more and more on the stability this middle group provides.

There have been myriad examples of that on the infield with Urías and Mateo. The two have helped the Orioles overcome countless headwinds, from Henderson’s slow start in 2023 to Jackson Holliday’s poor production in the first half of 2024. When they were missing down the stretch in 2024, the team felt their absence — and the Orioles are going to lean on both again should Henderson miss meaningful time to open the season.

The upside for this Orioles team might be provided by the younger generation of stars. The floor may be higher because of the free-agent signings they made. In between, as they’ve been through it all, the middle children of the rebuild will provide exactly what’s expected of them once again.