Urías’ fine play at shortstop for Orioles hasn’t gone unnoticed; Hunter Harvey stays at Norfolk

One of the biggest surprises of the season for the Orioles has been the play of Ramón Urías at shortstop. Urías, who was claimed on waivers just before the start of spring training in February 2020,  has been the Orioles’ primary shortstop since Freddy Galvis suffered a right quadriceps injury in June.

Urías played well in Galvis’ absence, and the Orioles felt comfortable dealing him to the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 74 games, Urías is batting .272 with seven home runs and 36 RBIs with a .768 OPS, and he’s happy with his first extended opportunity in the major leagues.

“I feel great. This opportunity that I’ve been waiting for, I feel I’ve taken advantage of it,” Urías said. “I have to keep going, keep working the last month to make a good impression on the team.”

Urías has certainly made a good impression on manager Brandon Hyde.

“Just really solid,” Hyde said during the series in Toronto. “Solid defender. He started the [Tuesday] game at third, made a couple nice plays. I put him at short there late, ball goes to him, makes the play. Has been really solid defensively. I think he’s still learning the speed of the major league game a little bit, and he’s continuing to get better there.”

Urías is back at third base for Friday night’s game against the Yankees, and batting fifth.

When Galvis was injured, the Orioles had little choice but to make Urías, who had been at Triple-A Norfolk the long look at shortstop.

“I just took it as an opportunity here,” Urías said. “I wasn’t thinking taking the job from Galvis. I just wanted to have a job for me, take advantage of the opportunity, and thank God, I did.”

While the Orioles have several young talented infield prospects in the minors: Gunnar Henderson, Darell Hernaiz, Joey Ortiz and Jacob Westburg, none have played at Triple-A, and Westburg has only recently been promoted to Double-A Bowie.

Urías is hoping that he can be the Orioles’ shortstop in 2022.

“Well, why not?’ he said. “Every day, I come to the field to get better, to have a better opportunity every day. I’ve been working to have a job like that.”

The most surprising part of Urías’ emergence has been his offense.

“Offensively, he puts together good at-bats,” Hyde said. “He uses the whole field, he’s got some juice in the middle part of the field. His barrel stays in the strike zone a long time. It’s a simple swing, and he gives himself a chance.”

Urías isn’t surprised about his power.

“Of course, I feel like I’ve been doing good with my bat, too,” Urías said. “Obviously, the numbers are there, and I just want to keep working the last month and see what happens.”

With the Orioles losers of 24 of their last 27, Urías’ strong play has gone unnoticed.

“You always want to win,” Urías said. “It sucks when you’re losing as a team because you come here every day expecting to win. You do what you can do to help the team win. I’m trying to control what I can control. I expect to win every day.”

Waiting on Harvey: Hunter Harvey remains at Triple-A Norfolk following his fourth rehab appearance. On Wednesday night, Harvey allowed four runs on four hits while recording only two outs.

“He had a tough outing there, and as of right now, he’s going to continue to stay there, and we’ll reevaluate whether to bring him up or not,” Hyde said.

He’s on the 10-day injured list with a right lat strain.

“We were seeing how he was coming back after his outings and how he felt after,” Hyde said. “He felt fine after his last outing. Everybody feels that the right thing to do for him is not to throw him in a major league game right away and have another outing and continue to reevaluate and just continue to evaluate every time he throws.”

Minor Matters: Low-A Delmarva right-handed pitcher Jean Pinto was named the Low-A Pitcher of the Month for August. Pinto had a 1.35 ERA in five starts. …Florida Complex League League Mishael Deson was named the FCL Player of the Month. Deshon led the FCL with a .429 average and had a 14-game hitting streak.

Pinto was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in the trade for José Iglesias and Deson was one of three players the Orioles obtained from Colorado for Mychal Givens.