SARASOTA, Fla. During Thursday’s game against the Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium, Jackson Holliday showed off his speed by lining a pitch into the right-field corner and reaching third base without sliding for his first spring triple.
He had no chance of catching the guy in front of him.
Enrique Bradfield Jr., last year’s first-round draft pick with 80-grade speed, came in as a pinch runner for Tyler Nevin and scored on the play. Holliday was on fire, but he couldn’t catch up to his teammate.
Holliday chuckled about it later while waiting to speak with the reporters outside the baseball operations office. When asked if he felt he could pass Bradfield, baseball’s top prospect shook his head, dismissing the ridiculous notion that anyone could beat the Vanderbilt blur. As a sophomore, this guy stole 46 bases in 46 attempts. You have got to be kidding.
Jorge Mateo wouldn’t mind attempting it.
Everyone in the clubhouse agrees that Mateo is the team’s quickest player. But then comes Bradfield, who is not a spring invitee but has appeared as an extra in games.
Of course, there is only one way to resolve the situation. Some kind of match race. Perhaps a 40-yard dash with wagering options.
Mateo would likely lose, according to one player. Win it and do what he’s supposed to, such as hit a position player in a blowout, or lose and face continuous mockery and ridicule.
Another participant agreed that a race would be enjoyable “until someone pulls a hamstring.” Now there’s a buzzkill.
A third veteran, when apprised of the tragic scenario, imagined manager Brandon Hyde’s reaction.
“Whose idea was it? Step into my office!”
Some Orioles haven’t seen Bradfield play because they left the stadium early, washed, and dressed. Mateo, on the other hand, is getting to know him well.
“He has tremendous speed, and I think it’s really incredible,” Mateo stated through interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Obviously, he’s still young, and he has to learn how to run the bases and do all those sorts of things, but he’s really fast.”
So, who would win the race?
“I don’t know,” Mateo said, his face expressionless. “We’d have to try to see.”
A deadly sprinter.
That leaves one last question, of course. Will Mateo be willing to find out?
“For sure,” he said in English. “Why not?”
So there’s the whole hamstring problem. But it’s an intriguing idea that teammates appear to support.
On another topic of similar importance in the big picture of baseball but still enjoyable, players are unsure what will replace the homer hose as this year’s dugout celebration.
It’s not entirely official that the hose is history, but that’s the presumption based on previous revisions. The championship belt is tucked away, and the hose is revealed. The water is functional—it leads to the splash zone, after all—but it’s so 2023.
One player stated, “We’ll probably switch.” Another person mentioned that the hose was “organic,” meaning it just happened and was so perfect that he has no idea how to match or top it. Or how it will actually happen.
Another gamer speculated, “I would assume it’s going to be something new.”
“But,” he went on to say, “if they break out the hose, I’ll drink from it.”
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