Even with a half-season as the Orioles’ best starting pitcher already on his resume, rookie left-hander John Means hasn’t been able to rid himself from the notion that a trip to the manager’s office is “how you get sent down.”
He was, by his own admission, expecting to be among the first cuts from the major league roster in spring training. He was the last player to ultimately make the 2019 team, all of which made the words manager Brandon Hyde spoke to him Sunday that much more special.
“You’re an All-Star,” Hyde told Means, making him the first homegrown Orioles starter to make the All-Star team since newly-elected Hall of Famer Mike Mussina and the club’s only representative at the July 9 MLB All-Star Game in Cleveland.