BALTIMORE—There’s a quirky and charming quality about Oriole fans. Despite attendance being down this season and criticism leveled at executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, they’re actually exceedingly loyal.
Take Cedric Mullins, who undoubtedly will play his next game for a team other than the Orioles.
Four years ago for a team that lost 110 games, Mullins was the shining star. He was the first Oriole to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season, and he started the All-Star Game in center field.
Since then, he’s never approached 30 home runs, and his batting average hasn’t come close to the .291 he hit that year. Nor has he ever neared the .878 OPS he had in 2021, either.
That doesn’t seem to bother Oriole fans, who are enamored of the wonderful catches he makes in center field.
In the last six games, Mullins has made three exceptional grabs, two home run robberies, jumping to snare balls headed over the center-field fence and one sprawling dive in left-center field to take an extra-base hit away.
Mullins has made so many great plays over the years. My favorite came in Seattle in August 2023 when he jumped high to take a home run away from the Mariners’ Ty France. A few minutes later, he hit a home run in a pulsating Oriole win.
Oriole pitchers have become used to Mullins’ spectacular plays. On Wednesday, it was reliever Grant Wolfram, in only his ninth major league game, who threw his arms up in relief as he watched Mullins’ grab of Toronto’s Ali Sánchez’s would-be home run.
This year, Mullins is batting .229, and his .738 OPS is his highest since 2021. In his last seven games, he’s hitting .435, and he’s played wonderful outfield defense.
Oriole fans think his outfield play is great. They’re mesmerized by his terrific catches and they’re willing to forgive him for his weak throwing arm.
Entering Wednesday’s game, Mullins’ defensive WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is a career-worst -1.2, and it will be interesting to see not only with which team he lands, but what his role will be.
As a careerlong centerfielder, Mullins could experience a position or role change with another team. They may view him as a fourth outfielder or a corner outfielder because of his arm.
Mullins had a career-high nine assists in 2022, and his assists have fallen steadily since then. He had four in 2023, two last season, and none yet in 2025.
Perhaps you can blame injuries, groin/adductor strains or hamstring woes for his weakness at the plate, but he still hits the ball out of the park. Mullins has 15 home runs, and he’s still able to steal bases.
Mullins had 32 steals in 2024, and this year he’s 14-for-18.
Part of the fans’ attraction is that Mullins has played only with the Orioles. He was selected in the 13th round of the 2015 draft, the only player from that round to have a substantial big league career.
Mullins replaced another fan favorite, Adam Jones, in center field, and he’s the only Oriole remaining from the 2018 team that lost 115 games.
He played on teams that lost more than 100 games three times, and in 2019 performed so poorly he was demoted twice, once to Norfolk, and then to Bowie.
In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Mullins fought his way back to the big leagues, played well, and then abandoned switch-hitting. The led to the 30-30 season, and eventually to two well-deserved postseason appearances.
Before the 2022 season, Mullins revealed he fought against Crohn’s Disease, which was diagnosed in 2020, the same time his teammate Trey Mancini found out he had colon cancer.
Mullins acknowledged that he didn’t want to take attention away from Mancini’s courageous fight.
On Wednesday, Mullins’ great performance was reminiscent of Mancini’s last home game as an Oriole in 2022 when he hit an inside-the-park home run to help beat Tampa Bay.
Sadly for Oriole fans, Mullins likely final game was a 9-8 loss to Toronto. Throughout the game, he was greeted with rounds of applause, and the overheated crowd came alive when he made that sixth-inning catch.
Oriole fans will remember him fondly, and forget that he struggled at the plate in recent years. I can’t wait to watch his welcome-back highlight video.
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