Minutes before his major league debut Friday, Ryan Mountcastle was the first player to trot out of the Orioles’ dugout at Camden Yards. He stopped suddenly, far from his destination of left field, when he realized none of his teammates had joined him, a quick prank beginning his career.
In some ways, the moment of levity mirrored Mountcastle’s standing on the Orioles major league roster. The spotlight is his for now, but he’s well aware there will soon be others coming behind him.
As he spent the season’s first month at the team’s alternate training site in Bowie, Mountcastle, a top-five prospect in the Orioles’ system, shared time there with nine of Baltimore’s other top 12 prospects, according to Baseball America.