Expanded roster rule means crowded clubhouse, playing time challenges for Tides

In the middle of the home clubhouse at Harbor Park sits a freestanding locker that the Norfolk Tides’ front office staff had to lug out of an auxiliary locker room in the stadium’s bowels.

The clubhouse, though roomy by minor league standards, could no longer comfortably hold the team in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and new rules governing the size of rosters in the minors.

In short, for the Baltimore Orioles’ top affiliate, it’s crowded.

As of Friday, the Tides had 32 available active players and another nine who were inactive. Of the inactive players, who are either injured or on the club’s development list, several remain in town and in need of clubhouse space.

A new rule enacted before the 2021 season raised the roster size from 25 to as many as 33, with 26 active for a given game. The change presents two challenges for Norfolk’s field staff: finding sufficient at-bats and innings for the players, and finding them room to get dressed.

“The AB part of it, I think, has been OK,” said first-year manager Buck Britton. “We’ve been able to get guys in there a couple days a week.

“There’s guys that throw once a week. It’s a challenge, for sure.”

The Orioles provide Britton with a “player matrix” designed to, among other things, ensure that priority prospects get ample reps.

The Tides had 18 pitchers on Friday’s roster, with some of them pitching as tandems.

Britton’s juggling of the roster has been effective.

“I feel like Buck does a great job getting everybody in,” said Gunnar Henderson, one of seven infielders splitting time at four positions. “I feel like everybody’s got a pretty good amount of at-bats, so I think everybody’s pretty happy so far. I don’t think anybody’s had any complaints.’

Jordan Westburg, who has played every infield position but first base since his promotion from Double-A Bowie last month, said he enjoys the variety.

It has a secondary effect: When Westburg’s playing second base instead of shortstop, it frees up a spot for someone else.

“I embrace it,” Westburg, 23, said. “I want to be a versatile player. If that means playing second, short, third or whatever position that I end up playing during my career, so be it. I’m just going to embrace that.

“If it means I’m going to be in the lineup every single night, that’s only going to make me more valuable.”

The Orioles aren’t blind to Britton’s challenge. Just last week, the organization traded infielder Patrick Dorrian to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash considerations. The move is believed to be the result of the ample infield depth at the upper levels of the farm system.

This season’s crowded clubhouse is hardly unprecedented. In fact, it was worse in 2021.

Last season, because of social distancing conventions, players weren’t allowed to locker immediately adjacent to each other. That meant the Tides had to purchase a few dozen standalone lockers that had players getting dressed in a long hallway that leads to the home clubhouse.

The smaller quarters in the visiting clubhouse meant that some players on that side dressed in auxiliary locker rooms that were used when high school football games were played at the stadium years ago.

The extra real estate was something factored in by late Tides executive Dave Rosenfield, who guided the architecture firm HOK when it built Harbor Park in the early 1990s.

“Thirty years ago, this park was built in a manner that I think Rosey was cognizant of player spaces and didn’t cheap out on what the visiting team would have to deal with,” Tides GM Joe Gregory said.

“Luckily, when Rosey was designing this ballpark, he designed a lot of extra room.”

With social distancing no longer mandated, the players have been squeezed back into a space originally intended for a smaller roster.

“It is crazy,” left-hander DL Hall said. “This is the most guys I’ve ever seen on a team.

“It’s definitely different to see this many guys, but hey, the more the merrier as long as we’re winning.”

For the front office, the bloated roster means finding living quarters for more people and making sure everyone has a seat on the plane for road trips.

That, Gregory said, is nothing compared to last season.

“Rosters vary and fluctuate over the years,” he said. “I don’t know if this is the most we’ve had, but obviously, after going through 2021, if you can get through that, you can get through anything.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com