Hyde on Orioles’ failure in 2024 postseason: ‘We had higher expectations’

Thursday was Brandon Hyde’s 51^st birthday, and instead of preparing for a deciding Wild Card game with the Kansas City Royals, the Orioles’ manager was breaking down the season and looking ahead to 2025.

Appearing after executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, Hyde spoke for 23 minutes, far longer than his pregame briefings. He also wore a sports coat and sports shirt instead of his Orioles warmup outfit.

Here are questions and answers from Hyde’s session:

Do you think 2024 was a successful season?  “I mean, yes and no. For me, I think, successful to get into the playoffs.” Hyde said. “Successful from the … adversity that we faced in the second half and still got the No. 1 wild-card seed, host two home playoff games. So, that was a success. You’re always trying to get to — when you go to spring training, you want to try to win the division. You want to try to get to the playoffs. We got to the playoffs. Unsuccessful, that we didn’t — we had higher expectations than not winning a game in the playoffs this year. So, that’s disappointing.”

What do you think went wrong in the Wild Card games? “Well, I thought we pitched really well, played great defense. We lost 1-0, 2-1. So, got two good starts. [Corbin Burnes] was incredible Game 1, [Zach Eflin] did his job in going four really good innings for us and then in a must-win game we had to kind of piece it together from a bullpen-matchup standpoint. We only gave up one run the rest of the way. We just didn’t get the big hit, and you score one run in two games it’s kind of tough to win.”

How do you evaluate the Orioles’ offense this season? “First half, we were top of the league in most offensive categories and runs scored, OPS, generating runs,” Hyde said.

“In the second half, I think injuries, coupled with some guys having some disappointing second halves, going through some struggles, it was a lot more of a challenge to score runs and we relied on the homer, which when you’re facing really good pitching, that’s tough to do. So, I thought, going into this last week, I thought, kind of, our offense was back a little bit. I thought guys were starting to swing the bat a bit better.

“[Jordan] Westburg is a huge part of our offense. He’s back in the middle. [Ramón] Urías was swinging the bat so well, him coming back. [Ryan Mountcastle] is a huge threat and a good hitter and I thought we were taking really good at-bats on that [final road] trip, and I was hoping that would carry into — I felt like we were kind of back to what we were in the first half, and it just didn’t show up in the Wild Card.”

Why did the Orioles have difficulties with runners in scoring position?

“When you win, normally, you’re hitting well with runners in scoring position, and when you’re not, you’re not,” Hyde said.

“It’s a real broad answer. There’s so many things [that] come into play — experience, confidence, being able to stay on the baseball, being able to make the moment not too big, not be frustrated, not try to do too much, understand what the pitcher’s trying to do to you.”

Hyde pointed out that when he was coaching the Chicago Cubs, they had Ben Zobrist, a veteran who played several different positions.

“There was going to be an at-bat or two in the game where you knew Zo was going to take a great at-bat with runners in scoring position, and it changed our entire lineup.

“Those type of things, that’s just experience and confidence of being in there in that moment. And a lot of times with our guys, you try to slow the game down for them, but it’s tough in the batter’s box in front of 45,000 people when the game’s on the line or you;’re trying to get the big hit for your team. I think our guys are going to improve just from the experiences that they’ve had.”

Other playoff teams, the Royals, Brewers and Padres have had young players come through in big moments. Is there anything that can be done to help the Orioles’ younger players perform well in October?

“I don’t think so,” Hyde said. “I think our process is good, and we’re going to look at it. I think we’re going to evaluate a lot of things in the offseason. Mike and I are going to work closely on that. But we have a big belief in our young players.

“We’re really talented. We’ve shown, especially in the first half, we scored a ton of runs. We were, I think, averaging more than anybody in the league. In the second half, I think Westburg was a big part of that, honestly. Missing Westburg and Urias and Mounty, we struggled a little bit. There was some right-handed thump with guys who hit the ball to the opposite field, who are able to stay on sliders and use the right-center-field gap, that we missed for a while.”

Do you appreciate the support that Mike Elias has given you?

“I always do. I do on a nightly basis,” Hyde said.

“So whether things work out nightly or don’t work out, I’m the toughest on myself to be honest with you. Because I know the process I’ve gone through from the thinking standpoint. I dive in, I watch the game, I go through stuff, and self-reflect a little bit. So that’s the definite yes for that part of the answer.

“Second, yeah, because I love this organization. I love working with Mike. I love our players. It was heartbreaking last night to say goodbye to a lot of guys. I’m going to have a cup of coffee and relax for a little bit, and I’m looking forward to next year.”

How important has Anthony Santander been to the Orioles? “You take away 44 homers, that’s a big deal, especially how he stayed healthy all year too,” Hyde said.

“He did an amazing job of — he’s been battling, he’s had that ankle and some other things that, I’ve had to rest him quite a bit, or I tried to try to manage his playing time as much as I possibly could, because I wanted him in the lineup. He played right field a ton this year, and played it so well.

“So, I was really impressed with how he could post, how he prepared, played defense. And then hit 44 homers for us with 100 RBIs. That’s a heck of a year. So I’m really happy for Anthony. It’s somebody that we care deeply about, somebody that was in my first spring training in 2019 and saw him switch-hit right away. I had no idea who he was and it’s been a fun ride with him.”

Call for questions: After a pause for the postseason, mailbags will be back next week. I’ll answer at least one Orioles question most weekdays. Please email your questions to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com