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Cedric Mullins hasn’t been the player he was in 2021. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t remain one of the Orioles’ most important pieces.
Back in the leadoff spot Tuesday after sitting out Monday against a left-handed starting pitcher, Mullins got the Orioles going against Toronto Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah with a solo home run after Baltimore managed only one hit the first two times through the order. Rookie sensation Adley Rutschman went back-to-back to even the game, with the Orioles scoring twice more an inning later to move within half a game of an American League wild-card spot.
The home run was Mullins’ 11th of the year, with a stolen base earlier in the game making him the first Oriole with consecutive 25-steal campaigns since Brian Roberts in 2008-09. A year ago, Mullins became Baltimore’s first player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season, earning All-Star, Silver Slugger and Most Valuable Oriole recognition while finishing in the top 10 of American League MVP voting.
He did that batting .291/.360/.518, with a quiet September dampening an otherwise standout season. After Tuesday’s showing, he’s batting .263/.320/.400 in 2022, an OPS more than 150 points below last year’s mark.
Mullins described his season overall as “solid,” which its current lined boosted thanks to an August in which he’s hit .314 with an .894 OPS. Tuesday’s solo shot marked his third home run since July, already tied for his most in a month.
“No way around it, the ups and downs, kind of how a typical season goes,” Mullins said. “Ride the highs as long as you can, and when the lows come, you just try to minimize them.”
Conversely, Mullins’ 2021 was basically a season-long high, manager Brandon Hyde said.
“Last year, he kind of just got on a roll and didn’t stop until I probably overplayed him in September,” Hyde said. “We were going for the 30-30, and he was playing through some some hamstring stuff at that time, also. But he just never, like, hit any adversity last year. He’s having more of a normal player season this year where there’s some scuffles, guys are pitching him differently, he’s having to adjust to the league.”
Early in the year, he was being worked inside more against left-handed pitchers, who Hyde has started to sit him against, though he said Monday he’s not worried about Mullins’ performance in those left-on-left matchups. Mullins has either been on the bench or dropped from the leadoff spot in five of Baltimore’s past seven matchups against lefties, off whom he’s hitting .208 with a .568 OPS in his second season since abandoning switch-hitting, with marks of .277 and .788 in 2021. When he has the platoon advantage this season, Mullins has posted a .293 average with an OPS of .813.
“It’s my second year hitting left-on-left, so there’s adjustments to be made, but I’ve always considered myself someone to make those adjustments, whether that’s within the season or following the year after,” Mullins said. “It’s just a matter of continuing to study left-handers and continue to work on my approach, and I feel like I’m gonna have success in the future.”
Even as Mullins has tried to get his offensive game back to 2021 levels, his defense has remained remarkable. He ranks in the top 10% of outfielders in Statcast’s Outs Above Average. An arm that FanGraphs’ metrics had as the second worst among outfielders in 2021 rates positively in 2022.
“He’s a phenomenal player, phenomenal person, great guy in the clubhouse and just a guy you want on your team,” Rutschman said. “You can’t really say enough good things about him.”
The total package is a player who among Orioles trails only Rutschman in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement
“I just think he’s having one of those years,” Hyde said. “I think he’s going to make adjustments. It’s going to be better for him long term. He’s going to understand not every year is going to be an easy, great year. It’s going to take time. It’s gonna take work. I give Ced a ton of credit. He is hanging in there. He puts an amazing amount of work in. He still plays Gold Glove defense every day, every time out there, no matter what the bat’s doing. It’s Gold Glove defense in center field, and that’s huge.”
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