SARASOTA, Fla. -- Many of the 71 players in Orioles big league camp this spring arrived at the Ed Smith Stadium complex well ahead of the report dates (last Wednesday for pitchers and catchers and Monday for position players). So to manager Brandon Hyde, it felt like Spring Training had already been in full swing for quite some time.

But Tuesday brought the first full-squad workout, with pitchers continuing to throw bullpen sessions, infielders scooping grounders and live batting practice taking place, often all at the same time in various areas. Before any of that, Hyde gathered the team for his annual start-of-camp address at 9 a.m. ET.

“We talked a little bit about last year and how we played. Honestly, I just want us to build off of last year,” Hyde said. “We have a core group of guys that got a lot of confidence from last year. It's pretty much just building off of a season where nobody expected us to do anything. I just want our guys to be aware that we haven't done anything yet, either, and we have a long way to go. But what we did last year was we put ourselves on the map, and we expect it to keep going.”

Even if external expectations for Baltimore are again low -- including PECOTA and ZiPS projections and betting odds from sportsbooks -- the internal beliefs are much different. The O’s think they have a great chance to continue on an upward trajectory after their 83-win 2022 season, a feeling that Hyde has experienced around the complex already this spring.

“Guys are really excited,” Hyde said. “Really love the talent here. We have a great character group. Just walking around talking with guys this morning, they’re excited to get going.”

Hyde also acknowledged that time will be moving fast. The Orioles play their Grapefruit League opener against the Twins on Saturday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium, and in a little more than a month, they’ll be in Boston for Opening Day on March 30.

“You want to learn from the past, but you don’t want to dwell on it, good or bad,” outfielder Kyle Stowers said. “So I definitely think we want to take what we learned from last year and use it to help us this year.”

The new mix with the old
The most notable part of Tuesday’s full-squad workout occurred on the Ed Smith Stadium field in the late morning when a group of 11 players participated in live batting practice -- five pitchers and six hitters, featuring a mix of returners and offseason acquisitions.

Among the fresh faces in camp who took part were right-hander Kyle Gibson, left-hander Cole Irvin, catcher James McCann and infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier. The session also included: right-handers Dean Kremer, Austin Voth and Bryan Baker; catcher Adley Rutschman; and outfielders Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander. Hyde and general manager Mike Elias were among those watching from the seats behind home plate.

Santander brought a ton of energy, consistently offering words of support to his teammates. He was really impressed when Mullins took Irvin deep with a long home run to right field, letting out an audible yell.

Povich impressing early
One young pitcher impressing on the backfields early in camp has been left-hander Cade Povich, the Orioles’ No. 14 prospect per MLB Pipeline.

Povich has thrown live BP twice in the past four days. On Saturday, the 22-year-old faced Rutschman and Jorge Mateo, striking out Rutschman swinging on a breaking ball at one point. Povich faced Mateo again on Tuesday and struck him out swinging as well.

Povich came to Baltimore in the deal that sent Jorge López to Minnesota ahead of last year’s Trade Deadline in August.