30-30 man Mullins an easy pick for O's MVP

BALTIMORE -- Cedric Mullins’ sensational, historic breakout season now has some hardware. The Orioles announced Wednesday that Mullins is the recipient of the 2021 Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award, as voted by members of the local media.

It’s the first such distinction for Mullins, who on Friday achieved the first 30-homer, 30-stolen base season in Orioles history. Anthony Santander claimed the honor in 2020, and Trey Mancini in 2019. Mullins was the unanimous selection this year, with Mancini, John Means, Ryan Mountcastle, Santander and Ramón Urías also receiving votes.

Mullins was honored on the field at Oriole Park prior to Wednesday’s game against the Red Sox.

“The amount of confidence I have now compared to two years ago is significantly different,” Mullins said. “The group that I’m around, I have a lot of support, and they had faith in what I could accomplish this year. The preparation for the season gave me confidence going in, and it was just about doing it at that point.”

Mullins has emerged as a jewel of the Orioles’ rebuild, but he wasn’t even guaranteed a starting job when he reported to Spring Training in February after an offseason spent committing to his decision to jettison switch-hitting. He left camp as Baltimore’s everyday center fielder and has excelled ever since, hitting .297/.367/.531 with 36 doubles, 30 home runs, 89 runs, 30 steals and 309 total bases through 154 games. He was Baltimore’s lone All-Star in July.

Mullins enters the season’s final week as perhaps the sport’s premier leadoff hitter, ranking second in the American League in stolen bases and fourth in hits, total bases and Fangraphs' WAR (5.6). He also ranks as the Majors’ fourth-best defender in center per outs above average with 10, and he made perhaps the play of the year with his acrobatic home run robbery of the Yankees' Gary Sánchez on Sept. 15.

"For me, that’s the catch of the year,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “30-30 doesn’t come around very often, and Gold Glove defense doesn’t come around very often, either. When you’ve done something no other Oriole has done, it’s hard to do anything better.”

A few more distinctions: Mullins is the 12th player in MLB history to record at least 30 home runs, 35 doubles, five triples and 30 steals in a season, and the eighth to post that stat line while also drawing at least 50 walks. His eight leadoff homers are tied for the most in the Majors and second most in Orioles history. Mullins is the only player in the Majors this season to record multiple five-hit games. He also owns the season’s third-longest hit streak at 20 games, and he reached base safely in 11 straight appearances (recording a hit in nine straight) over June 4-6.

Mullins did this while more than holding his own against left-handed pitching, hitting .280 with an .800 OPS and 61 hits -- second most among left-handed hitters in MLB -- off southpaws while batting strictly left-handed for the first time since high school. Asked Wednesday if he has even surprised himself at times, Mullins said: “Of course.”

“The success I had against left-handed pitching, given that I hadn’t done it,” he said. “The goal was just to be competitive out on the field every day. That was the best decision for it, and it worked out really well.”

All told, it has been a complete, singular season -- and one few saw coming. Mullins was anointed the Orioles’ center fielder of the future as far back as 2018, when he replaced longtime cornerstone Adam Jones down the stretch. But he struggled so mightily the following season that he found himself back at Double-A Bowie, then spent the next year climbing back up the organizational ranks and, eventually, the Major League depth chart. These days, he profiles as one of the few slam-dunk long-term pieces on the Orioles' roster, someone to build around given he’s under club control through 2026.

“He’s just so steady in his routine, he’s so steady in his approach,” said hitting coach Don Long. “He’s a guy whose confidence doesn’t waver from game to game. He doesn’t make an out and run to the bench and check the iPad the next inning to see if the umpire made a bad call on him or what he did wrong. He just knows what he wants to accomplish with his at-bat and continues to do that game to game and at-bat to at-bat, so he’s done a great job for us.”

Said Hyde: “He’s got a ton of confidence. He really believes in himself. I think he puts more pressure on himself than he’s going to feel from the outside. How consistent he’s been this year without any drop-off shows you how confident he is and how consistently he can play. There are going to be higher expectations next year, no doubt. That comes along with the territory."