Jones, Wieters have full-circle moment at O's camp

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- From 2009-16, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters were Orioles teammates, playing a combined 2,071 games over that span. They were key players during a successful era for the franchise that featured three postseason appearances (2012, ‘14 and ‘16) and one American League East title (‘14).

However, there was one traditional baseball activity that Jones and Wieters never participated in together: A round of catch.

“I never played catch with him before a game because, why the hell would a catcher play catch? He’s catching in the bullpen,” Jones said.

This week, Jones and Wieters have both been at O’s camp as guest instructors. And prior to Wednesday afternoon’s workouts, they played catch together for the first time.

It was a fun moment for the friends and former Baltimore standouts, who are also enjoying the opportunity to be around the team as players prepare for the 2024 season.

“It’s just really cool and humbling for both of us to be a part of it -- and for them to ask us to be a part of it,” Jones said. “We didn’t just go in there and beg them for it; they reached out to us and asked us if we wanted to be a part of something special.”

Jones, who spent 11 of his 14 MLB seasons in Baltimore, was around the current crop of Orioles players a few times in 2023. The 38-year-old former center fielder made a visit to the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota last spring, served as a “guest splasher” in the Bird Bath section at Camden Yards last July and signed a ceremonial one-day contract to retire as an Oriole last September.

As for Wieters, his stint as a guest instructor served as a return to the franchise that selected him with the No. 5 overall pick in the first round of the 2007 MLB Draft. When the 37-year-old first walked into the spring clubhouse, he felt a familiar feeling.

“There’s just this feel of the young dynamic [from] when we first moved into this building [in 2010],” said Wieters, who played eight of his 12 big league seasons for the O’s. “Some different faces, different names, different backgrounds, but it still has that same kind of, ‘We’re a bunch of younger kids who want to prove something.’”

Wieters doesn’t watch a ton of baseball these days. He’s often busy chasing around his three sons, he said, although he still checks box scores and keeps tabs on players in the game.

Last year, the Orioles won their first AL East title since 2014, going 101-61 and reaching the postseason for the first time since the ‘16 campaign -- Wieters’ final season in Baltimore. It was the culmination of a rebuild that went into full swing when Mike Elias was hired as general manager in November 2018.

Even though Wieters hasn’t been tuned into every game, he’s been impressed by the O’s return to being among baseball’s top teams.

“When you’re in the AL East, you’re going to battle against teams that are just going to go out there and put together high payrolls and bring in talent,” Wieters said. “I think there’s a lot of pride to saying, ‘We’re going to grow and develop and do it together.’”

Jones and Wieters had a “full-circle” moment this week. They noticed their old lockers in the northeast corner of the clubhouse are now occupied by center fielder Cedric Mullins and catcher Adley Rutschman, the current starters at the positions once held by Jones and Wieters.

After spending a handful of days around the 63 players in Baltimore’s big league camp, Jones has high hopes for what the upcoming season could bring for the Orioles.

“These guys are hungry, they’re good, they’re talented, they’re athletic. Elias and what his regime has done is implement a different philosophy -- a winning philosophy, a winning culture -- from the Minor Leagues, from the bottom to the top,” Jones said. “The sky’s the limit for them.”