What is Mountcastle’s future with the Orioles? | MAILBAG

Question: In 2021 and 2022, Ryan Mountcastle had 33 and 22 home runs. Why do you think his home run numbers have plummeted? What do you think Ryan’s future will be? From: Dominick Tibaldo

Answer: Dominick, in those years where Mountcastle combined to hit 55 home runs, he played in 144 and 145 games. In 2023, he played in 115 games and hit 18 home runs. In 2024, he hit 13 homers in 124 games. He’s only played in 82 games this year and has just five home runs.

I think Mountcastle’s production has been hurt by injuries and moving the left field wall at Camden Yards out and in.

It will be interesting to see if Mountcastle is with the Orioles in 2026, his final year under club control. They could trade him and allow Coby Mayo to be play first along with Samuel Basallo or hang on to him and play both him and Mayo at first base or at DH.

I don’t have a strong feeling yet because I’m not sure what Mountcastle’s trade value would be.

Question: Do the Orioles know how to bunt? I’m a lifelong fan, but the lack of simple fundamentals in certain situations has hurt them this year. Maybe five sacrifice bunts. .. maybe. From: Brad Kearney

Answer: Brad, you are correct. The Orioles are last in the major leagues with four sacrifice bunts, and they passed on another bunt situation in the ninth on Wednesday when they had runners on first and second with no outs and didn’t bunt Jackson Holliday, who struck out.

I think a major issue is that their core players, Holliday, Colton Cowser, Gunnar Henderson, and Jordan Westburg never had to bunt in high school, college or the minor leagues.

The thinking here is that next spring training you’ll see some of those players spend time learning how to bunt and while it’s no longer a popular strategy, it will be used more in 2026.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.