Wieters makes welcome deposit to home seats
Three-run shot in sixth marks first Camden Yards homer since May 1, 2014
BALTIMORE -- It had been a long time since Matt Wieters took a trot around the bases at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. More than a year, actually.
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But the catcher rectified that in Monday's 4-0 victory over the Phillies when he crushed a three-run homer off of Aaron Harang over the right-field scoreboard in the sixth inning. It was his first home run at Camden Yards since May 1, 2014, against Pittsburgh.
"I chased a pitch on 1-1, so I wanted to get something that was going to stay in the zone, and he threw a breaking ball that was probably a lot more of the zone than he wanted to throw," Wieters said.
Since returning from the disabled list on June 5 against Cleveland, Wieters has hit safely in six of his eight games, while carrying a .333/.310/.741 line with two homers, six runs scored and seven RBIs. The Orioles are also 6-1 in games that Wieters has started this season.
It's been a fairly seamless transition for the catcher after missing more than a year of Major League baseball. He received plenty of at-bats during extended spring training that allowed him to come back hitting the ball well, and he hasn't had to learn how to catch any new pitchers.
The Orioles are erring on the side of caution with Wieters, still only catching him every other day, but he said his arm continues to feel good.
"It's a major surgery [that was] done to it, so I'm going to have some different feelings than I had before the surgery," Wieters said. "It feels good. It feels strong. I feel confident I can make every throw. I think the big thing now is being able to get that recovery on the day in between, still."
Wieters said the team has no plan for when he will be an everyday catcher, but he's in no rush to make it happen.
"It's something to where it's better to be playing every other day than push it too hard and have to take some time off, so I just want to be able to be around as much as I can and play as much as I can to be able to help this team," Wieters said.