SARASOTA, Fla. – The at-bats and innings are going away. Boxes will arrive in front of lockers to ship belongings to Baltimore or other destinations. Meetings that shape the Opening Day roster will continue.

The days are dwindling but the work that remains is stacked high.

As the team prepares today for split-squad games against the Braves in Sarasota and Tigers in Lakeland, the latter being one of the worst trips of the spring that’s avoidable because of the home action, here are some more thoughts, questions and curiosities:

* Will Ryan Mountcastle return to the lineup?

Mountcastle went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and run-scoring grounder Tuesday against the Rays in Sarasota, but he hasn’t played in the last four games.

BRADENTON, Fla. – The third inning today began to bring out the better spring side of Grayson Rodriguez.

Rodriguez retired the Pirates in order, getting the first two outs on four pitches. Jack Suwinski battled through 11 before flying out. Thirteen of those 15 pitches were strikes.

Making his fourth exhibition start, Rodriguez ventured into the fifth inning in his longest outing. He was removed after a one-out double by Alika Williams.

The Orioles stretched Rodriguez to 76 pitches (51 strikes), 14 more than his previous start against the Tigers. He was charged with two runs and four hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts.

Before today, Rodriguez had totaled 7 1/3 innings and allowed three runs and 10 hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The first of two off-days has arrived on the Orioles’ spring training schedule. Golf outings, fishing excursions, time with family, the choice to sleep late.

And that’s just the media.

The Orioles have played 13 games and won 11, a nice little statistic that means very little.

TT Bowens broke a 2-2 tie Sunday with a three-run, ninth-inning homer in Bradenton. Kade Strowd registered the save as the sixth reliever used behind starter Grayson Rodriguez, who was pulled after two-plus innings and 49 pitches.

Cade Povich tossed two scoreless innings to earn the victory.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles break camp in less than three weeks, proving again that spring training moves just as fast as the offseason.

Are we any closer to figuring out the 26-man roster? Not really. The club hasn’t made a particular move that serves as a spoiler.

We know that Sam Hilliard fell out of the outfield competition quickly, returning to the Rockies on a waiver claim. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias gave us more to think about by signing pitcher Julio Teheran and second baseman Kolten Wong to minor league contracts.

It’s an absolute possibility that the Orioles bring both players to Baltimore, Teheran perhaps in long relief and Wong as this year’s version of Adam Frazier – at least to begin the season. Frazier lasted through all of it rather than serve as a placeholder.

Jackson Holliday says, “Hold my non-alcoholic beverage.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Kyle Stowers wasn’t sitting on a changeup yesterday. The very idea made him laugh.

But he got the barrel on it yesterday, pulling the ball to right field for his first spring home run in the Orioles’ 2-1 split-squad win over the Braves in North Port.

Stowers won his latest left-on-left battle, this time against Atlanta’s Dylan Lee. He’s been churning out line drives against them in live batting practice, on the main stadium and Camden Yards replica fields.

He’s also downplaying the importance of it.

“Righties or lefties, just got to put together good at-bats,” he said this morning. “I think I had two good ones yesterday. Righty or lefty, you guys know how I feel. I feel confident against them. But just got to stack good at-bats throughout the whole spring.”

SARASOTA – Kyle Stowers got married in November. He’s back to full health after a shoulder injury and fractured nose messed with his 2023 season. He’s surrounded by friends inside the Orioles spring clubhouse.

Life is good.

To make it better, he’d need to again break camp with the team. But it’s hard to kill his positive vibe.

Stowers went 2-for-30 with the Orioles but posted a .364 on-base percentage and .511 slugging percentage with 17 home runs in 68 games with the Norfolk Tides and won a Triple-A championship. He went 5-for-7 with a home run on a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League and 9-for-18 with a double and three home runs with High-A Aberdeen.

The shoulder injury cost the 26-year-old Stowers two months of Norfolk’s season. He was down again after a fastball crashed into his face in an Aug. 29 game against Worcester.

The major league side of Kyle Stowers’ 2023 season can’t be spun positively.

Breaks camp with the team, is optioned after appearing in only three games and getting one start, is brought back April 30 and optioned again May 15, and doesn’t return.

Receives only 33 plate appearances total over 14 games and goes 2-for-30 with 12 strikeouts.

Can’t shine that season. But the Orioles’ confidence in Stowers hasn’t dulled.

A comment floated to executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias at the Winter Meetings that Stowers had “a lost season” was returned with the following observation:

The Orioles are expected to break camp again next spring with 13 pitchers and 13 position players. The same even split on their 26-man roster.

Six of them made their first Opening Day rosters – starter Kyle Bradish, catcher Adley Rutschman, infielders Gunnar Henderson and Terrin Vavra, outfielder Kyle Stowers and reliever Logan Gillaspie. Gillaspie is the only one who’s out of the organization, with the Red Sox claiming him off waivers Sept. 4 and the Padres selecting him Nov. 15.

Bradish finished fourth in Cy Young voting in the American League after starting Game 1 of the Division Series. He’s the staff ace.

Rutschman was an All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner who placed ninth in Most Valuable Player balloting.

Henderson finished eighth, was voted Rookie of the Year and also won a Silver Slugger. And he’s only going to get better.

Two days past Thanksgiving is too early to begin worrying whether the leftovers are edible. To check for discoloring, change in texture, hints that a trip to the emergency room is in your future.

It isn’t too late to keep looking back on the 2023 Orioles season.

Among the surprises and oddities, I’ve already mentioned how Austin Voth wasn’t impactful, Dillon Tate wasn’t able to pitch, Mike Baumann wasn’t big only in size, Yennier Cano was an All-Star, Danny Coulombe was cool under pressure, Adam Frazier had a power surge and outage, Ryan O’Hearn hit in the middle of the order, Cedric Mullins posted curious splits, and Joey Krehbiel wasn’t around much.

Here are three more:

Logan Gillaspie made the Opening Day roster.

Recaps of the 2023 season should include mention of two Orioles who fell off the major league landscape.

Outfielder Kyle Stowers and infielder Terrin Vavra broke camp with the team. Made the Opening Day roster. Figured to be key contributors as extras coming off the bench.

Stowers was assumed to be lined up for extensive at-bats based on his prospect status and a designated hitter spot that unclogged. Put him in the outfield, use him at DH to keep his bat in the lineup.

Well, Stowers had two stints with the club, went 2-for-30 with 12 strikeouts and hasn’t played for them since May 14. He was batting .243/.370/.493 in 46 games with Triple-A Norfolk before last night, with six doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, 33 RBIs, 29 walks and 46 strikeouts in 189 plate appearances.

Right shoulder inflammation forced Stowers on the injured list May 23 and he didn’t begin an injury rehab assignment until June 29 in the Florida Complex League. He played four games with High-A Aberdeen and returned to Norfolk July 14.

Cedric Mullins’ status as one of the longest tenured players on the Orioles roster brings a responsibility that he embraces. Counseling the young prospects who could learn from his own experiences. Good and bad.

Mullins wrapped his arms around Kyle Stowers’ situation while they were at the spring training complex in Sarasota.

Stowers was trying to return from a shoulder injury, the inflammation and recovery period keeping him out of games with Triple-A Norfolk for more than a month. Mullins was immersed in a running progression after straining his right groin.

They had more in common than health.

Stowers broke camp with the Orioles, was optioned April 9 after four at-bats, returned to the club and was sent down again May 15 after a four-strikeout game against the Pirates. He was 2-for-30 with 12 strikeouts.

While Triple-A Norfolk moves past its first-half title in the International League and keeps posting prospect-studded lineups, outfielder Kyle Stowers is in Sarasota rehabbing an injury to his right shoulder.

The Orioles optioned Stowers for a second time on May 15, after he was hitless in his last 21 at-bats. He’s 2-for-30 in 14 games, with three walks and 12 strikeouts.

Stowers’ last game with Norfolk was May 21. He hasn’t played in more than a month after being shut down with inflammation in his shoulder.

The second stop with the Tides lasted five games, with Stowers going 3-for-18. Work done with hitting coach Brink Ambler was put on hold, for much longer than the seven-day IL period.

“Part of it was he was just trying to get back to what he has done really well. Controlling the strike zone, making sure he’s able to take care of fastballs, things like that,” Ambler said.

The Orioles might get spoiled with all of these off-days. Two since finishing their homestand on Wednesday.

They left San Francisco yesterday and continue their rare-visit tour with a stop in Milwaukee.

The Brewers swept the Orioles in a three-game set at Miller Park in July 2017, and if you remember that Jayson Aquino started in the series finale, my level of concern for you has grown to the size of Félix Bautista.

More concerning, perhaps, is that Seth Smith led off for the Orioles in the first two games.

This team was in contention going into September?

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde doesn’t know how long outfielder Kyle Stowers will stay down in the minors after the club optioned him following yesterday’s game. Could be more than a quick reset. What’s important is making sure that a different version of Stowers returns.

“Just like to see him get his confidence back a little bit, get some regular at-bats,” Hyde said today during his media session. “He was swinging the bat so well before he came up here. Just want to see him get the confidence going again.”

Stowers struck out four times yesterday against the Pirates, raising his total to 12, and was 2-for-30 before his second demotion.

“Talking to him after the game yesterday, felt it was important for him to get consistent at-bats,” Hyde said. “That’s a tough adjustment up here. It’s very normal to have player struggles or scuffles, but we really believe in him as a hitter and what he’s going to be like. Just want to see him go play.”

Hyde and executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias met with Stowers yesterday and explained the reasons behind the move.

The Orioles have optioned outfielder Kyle Stowers for the second time this season.

They announced the latest move this morning, though Stowers was informed after yesterday’s 4-0 loss to the Pirates at Camden Yards.

Reliever Logan Gillaspie is joining the club from Triple-A Norfolk, where Stowers is headed after striking out four times yesterday to raise his season total to 12.

Stowers accounted for four of the team’s 17 strikeouts. He’s 2-for-30 in 14 games, with three walks and one run scored.

The Orioles broke camp with Stowers and sent him down April 9 while reinstating backup catcher James McCann from the injured list. Stowers barely had played, going hitless in four at-bats.

Former Orioles starter Scott Erickson stood at his locker after a poor outing and offered a simple explanation to reporters for what happened to him, why the opposition kept getting on base. One sentence that said plenty about his pitching and his dour personality.

“I can make them hit it on the ground,” he said flatly, “but I can’t direct where it goes.”

Next question.

Kyle Gibson has a much better rapport with the media, but his luck this afternoon mirrored what Erickson experienced that day.

The seven Pirates hits were singles, with none of the launch angles registering above 14 degrees via Statcast data. A strikeout/wild pitch fueled a rally in the third that included ground balls from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Ji Hwan Bae that found holes on the right side of the infield and accounted for three runs.

Orioles infielder Ramón Urías is facing a new opponent.

The amount of time spent recovering from a left hamstring strain.

Urías said yesterday that his leg feels “much better.” He didn’t seem to be limping as he walked across the clubhouse to his locker.

The Orioles put Urías on the 10-day injured list Tuesday after he left the previous night’s game against the Rays in the ninth inning. He was running to first base on a single and felt the hamstring grab.

“It was just a little bit,” he said.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde made out tonight’s lineup assuming that right-hander Yonny Chirinos will get the bulk of the innings after left-hander Jalen Beeks, who’s serving as the opener.

Beeks has appeared in 13 games, 11 in relief, and totaled 16 innings.

Ryan O’Hearn is in the lineup as the left-handed designated hitter.

“With Beeks, not sure how long he’s going to go,” Hyde said, “but I expect him to go an inning or two, maybe three.”

Beeks hasn’t gone more than 1 1/3 innings in his last eight appearances.

KANSAS CITY – The Orioles had not been shut out yet this year and ranked fifth in the majors in runs per game at 5.45 coming into this outing. But their offense, which produced 11 runs last night, did not come through for the Orioles tonight.

O’s right-hander Kyle Gibson had been 4-0 this year and the Orioles were 5-1 in his 2023 starts. But he would need run support to win this one and didn’t get it.

Kansas City snapped a 10-game home losing streak, scoring single runs in the fourth and sixth and adding four in the seventh to beat the Orioles 6-0 in front of 10,362 at Kauffman Stadium. 

The time of game was one hour and 59 minutes. 

The Orioles will win a seventh consecutive series if they win the rubber match here on Thursday afternoon.

DETROIT – The Orioles played their 28^th game yesterday and completed the first full month of the season. The 17^th win on Saturday was a franchise record for April. They have 19 total.

A lot of season is left on the schedule. At last check, they still play 162.

Too early for analysis, predictions, trends and numbers consumption? Of course not. That can commence after Opening Day.

Gentlemen, start your search engines.

Here are just a few of the many: