After months of dealing with only rhetoric from the new Orioles braintrust of executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde, spring training provided the first glimpse of what the rebuilding philosophies of the franchise would look like in practice.
Everything from camp atmosphere to personal development to newly implemented analytics and roster management came into focus over six weeks in Sarasota, Fla., putting to the test what for three months was billed as the one true path toward the Orioles fielding a perennial contender after the bottom fell out in 2018.