This, that and the other

Becoming the first Orioles player with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season should be the most impressive achievement for Cedric Mullins in 2021, but discussions on his breakout year inevitably circle back to how he abandoned switch-hitting and experienced left-on-left success.

It blows away everyone who talks about it.

I've had scouts, in the middle of a chat, bring up what Mullins did against left-handed pitching and how unusual it was to make that decision. To choose one side of the plate and stick to it. To actually be good at it.

Mullins was 7-for-45 against left-handers in 2018 and 1-for-15 the following year, when he didn't return to the Orioles after an April demotion to the minors. He went 6-for-35 in 2020, vowed to bat exclusively from the left side and slashed .277/.337/.451 with nine home runs in 247 plate appearances against lefties.

When reliever Paul Fry recently talked about the impressive hitters in the top half of the lineup, he referenced Ryan Mountcastle as "Rookie if the Year" and added, "I mean, hopefully. I don't see why he won't win it."

Then came Mullins.

"Cedric doing what he does. I mean, holy cow. Hitting only left-handed," Fry said.

There it is again.

"I talked to him in spring training and he said he just did it on his own," Fry recalled. "I talked shop with him because our lockers were close together. Talked left-on-left matchups and stuff like that. So, it's really cool."

Mullins might have tired down the stretch, batting .209/.308/.451 in the last 28 days and going 3-for-32 in the last 10 games, but he produced one of the most impressive seasons in franchise history.

Mullins is the 12th player in the majors to record at least 30 home runs, 35 doubles, five triples and 30 steals in a season, and the first since Mookie Betts in 2018. He's the eighth to post the stat line while also drawing at least 50 walks, joining Betts (2018), Ryan Braun and Jacoby Ellsbury (2011), Grady Sizemore (2008), Carlos Beltrán (2004), Ellis Burks (1996) and Barry Bonds (1992).

His 49 hits in the first inning were the most for any player in an inning. The 22 extra-base hits in the first - 12 doubles, two triples and eight home runs - also led baseball, putting him one ahead of Shohei Ohtani. They tied for the second-most in Orioles history with Rafael Palmeiro in 1995 and trailed only Brady Anderson's 24 in 1996.

Mullins' eight leadoff home runs tied Kyle Schwarber for the most in the majors. He joined Tommy Davis in 1974 and Luis Aparicio in 1966 as the only players in club history with multiple five-hit games in the same season.

* The Orioles tied a team record this season by having a player hit multiple home runs in three consecutive games: Mullins on June 18, Mullins and Mountcastle on June 19 and Trey Mancini on June 20.

Cal Ripken Jr., Albert Belle and Brady Anderson did it July 24-27, 1999, names that you'd associate with the achievement. But the Elias Sports Bureau also notes that Doug DeCinces, Terry Crowley and DeCinces did it May 25-27, 1981.

Baseball-Reference.com lists Crowley first as a pinch-hitter, and that's how most baseball fans will remember him. The King of Swing coming off the bench and delivering a clutch hit.

Crowley played 15 years, accumulated 1,768 plate appearances and totaled 42 home runs - the bulk being 11 with the Orioles in 1972 and 12 in 1980.

The 1981 season provided Crowley with 166 plate appearances, and he hit four home runs, the first two against the Yankees on May 26 at Memorial Stadium. A solo and a three-run shot off Gene Nelson in back-to-back innings.

The other multi-homer game for Crowley came the previous summer, Sept. 24 against the Red Sox at Memorial Stadium. A two-run shot off Mike Torrez and three-run shot off Steve Renko.

* The Yankees announced this week that third base coach Phil Nevin won't return in 2022. Meanwhile, the Orioles have his son, Tyler Nevin, on the 40-man roster.

Nevin ended the season on the active roster and hit his first major league home run off the Blue Jays' Hyun Jin Ryu in the last game. The ball landed in the upper deck at Rogers Centre.

Nevin's 442-foot shot was the longest by an Oriole for his first career home run in the Statcast era, which began in 2015, and tied for the ninth-longest in the majors.

Keep that one in your back pocket for a future trivia night.

There's also how Nevin doubled in the opening game of a May 29 doubleheader in Chicago and became the sixth player in major league history to record his first career hit on his birthday.

Nevin led Triple-A Norfolk with 16 home runs, one more than Rylan Bannon, and 52 RBIs, but he slashed .227/.305/.392 in 111 games.

The Orioles acquired Nevin, infielder Terrin Vavra and outfielder Mishael Deson from the Rockies on Aug. 30, 2020 for reliever Mychal Givens. Vavra is the No. 13 prospect in the system, per MLBPipeline.com, and Nevin is 29th.

The Rockies traded Givens to the Reds on July 28, 2021. He's set to enter the free agent market.

* Yusniel Diaz hit a two-run homer, singled and walked yesterday for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League.

Nick Vespi earned the win the previous night with 1 2/3 scoreless and hitless innings. He struck out two batters.

Kyle Stowers, who went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in his first game, had a single, double, RBI, walk and run scored on Thursday. Diaz, playing center field and batting cleanup, had a double, RBI, three walks and run scored. Ramon Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with two runs scored.