After waiting five months for baseball season to commence, the day has finally arrived, and baseball fans everywhere are ecstatic. Monday April 3 marks the start of opening day for a number of teams which includes the Baltimore Orioles.
The Baltimore team has been attending Spring training in Sarasota, Florida for the past month and a half. During this time, players have been rotated throughout the team to see who plays best and which players will be a part of the starting lineup on Opening day.
When the Orioles take the field at Oriole’s Park at Camden Yards on Monday, against the Toronto Blue Jays, right handed-pitcher Kevin Gausman will be taking the mound. Announced about a week prior to Opening Day, Gausman stated that he is “very honored. I think it’s something special. There’s not many people who can say they started Opening Day, so I’m very happy.”
Gausman has had a great start to his season in spring training. On his last start, March 19, he had five scoreless innings while striking out eight batters, and lowering his spring ERA to 1.80.
Last year, Gausman started his season on the disabled list while teammate Chris Tillman was named the Opening Day starter for his third year in a row. While Tillman is a strong pitcher for the Orioles, this year he will begin his season on the disabled list after suffering an injury to his right shoulder.
Gausman is ready to lead his team on Opening Day. He believes that Opening Day will be the hardest that he has pitched since last season, but he’s ready. “That’s one of those things you’ve got to kind of feed off of it. It’s Opening Day. Sometimes in the regular season, you’ve got to calm yourself down. But Opening Day, throw all your cards on the table and here we go,” he said.”
Orioles Manager, Buck Showalter, says Gausman is “more of a complete pitcher, instead of a guy who just throws 97, 98 [mph]. He’s learned a lot of things about how to pitch when he’s not carrying his best stuff. He’s a trustworthy guy now.”
Opening Day versus the Toronto Blue Jays will begin at 3:05 p.m. at Camden Yards and will be broadcasted on MASN 2 and WJZ.
