In a game of routines, Orioles relievers turn little things into fun moments

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Alex Hoppe was the new guy, and he didn’t want to ask too many questions. He looked at his fellow relievers and figured it was safest to follow them, using their example to blend in.

Little did he know, that meant literally following them, step by step, each twist and turn.

“I didn’t know what the rules were,” he said. “They turned left, I turned left, and when they turned right, I turned right.”

Hoppe, who arrived from the Seattle Mariners in an August trade, is talking about a uniquely Orioles bullpen experience that formed at the end of July. If you spend enough time at the ballpark, these quirks will start to stand out. And this is as quirky as it gets.

The Orioles’ relievers begin in the clubhouse. They circle up, making sure everyone is there, before heading out into the dugout and onto the field. To be sure, every team does that. Every group of relievers heads through the outfield to the bullpen prior to first pitch. The difference is most teams amble as a mass.

The Orioles snake through the outfield in a single-file line, following the least efficient path possible.

There is no name for this.

“Follow-the-leader, snake, I don’t know,” right-hander Andrew Kittredge said. “We don’t really call it anything. We just do it.”

It was Kittredge’s idea. He just randomly did it one day, and the rest of the relievers fell in line. They leave the dugout and twist and turn their way through the outfield. Kittredge, who is often in the lead but not always, randomly turns right. Then he veers left. The group behind him dutifully follows.

“You know Kitt, he likes to make people feel a bit awkward and stuff,” Hoppe said. “It’s part of him welcoming people in. Any way we can get a laugh, even if it’s at ourselves.”

Added left-hander Josh Walker: “Every game matters, and we’re all so locked in out there, but something like that takes some of the tension out of it, and we’re all loose and relaxed. It keeps the vibes up, I guess. But he’s funny. Kitt’s a riot.”

He didn’t mean to be, in this instance. Kittredge was just trying to break the monotony of routine. “We walk out there every day. I just wanted to do something different to lighten the mood.”

The life of a major league reliever is twofold. It can be a repetitious ride, full of routines and downtime. It can be a tension-filled thrill ride, forcing a pitcher to ramp up in a matter of a few throws to inherit an important situation in a tight game.

As such, it takes a unique personality to thrive. And it also takes random games and bits to keep the downtimes light. After snaking all the way to the bullpen, each reliever takes a personalized ball and prepares for a unique take on a game of bocce.

This has morphed over the year, too, from a player’s number on his ball to personalized tokens on his baseball. Ben Carhart, one of Baltimore’s bullpen catchers, took time to draw on many of those baseballs.

“Because I’m Kitt, he drew a kitty cat on there,” Kittredge said. “It’s pretty cool. He did a good job. Almost everyone has their own ball now.”

Right-hander Yennier Cano holds a healthy lead in the bocce competition. Once he throws his baseball and it lands closest to the target ball, another tally is added next to his name on the champion’s ball — which he keeps for the day, until there is a new winner.

Does any of this have to do with baseball? Yes and no. And that’s exactly the point.

“Any time you can do something as a group, whether it’s as simple as a two-minute game or the way you walk to the bullpen, I don’t know, it just kind of brings guys together,” Kittredge said. “I feel like we’ve got a pretty tight group out there. The game is long, and we’re kind of watching the first half of it, hopefully. For me, if I pay too close of attention to the game too early, I start getting nervous. So we just try to keep it light. We just kind of try to keep our mind off the game as long as possible.”