‘Moneyball’ questioned first base’s challenges. Some Orioles are learning the position is ‘unlike any other.’

One of the most intriguing competitions at Orioles spring training is among the left-handed hitters vying to be Ryan Mountcastle’s backup first baseman.

The team compiled a group of these players with major league experience — including Ryan O’Hearn, Franchy Cordero, Josh Lester and Lewin Díaz — and invited them to spring training as nonroster invitees to compete for that spot.

But will that seat on the bench even exist come opening day Thursday in Boston?

The answer to that might depend on the club’s confidence in a separate group of players who could serve as insurance behind Mountcastle if the Orioles choose not to roster one of the left-handed hitting first basemen. Some of those players, such as utilityman Terrin Vavra and outfielder Anthony Santander, have spent time this spring learning how to play first base to give the team positional flexibility during the season.

“If we need them in a pinch to play first for whatever reason, we feel comfortable that they’re able to do it,” Hyde said about the group that also includes catchers Adley Rutschman and James McCann.

“Moneyball” — the film adaptation of the 2003 book by the same name about the Oakland Athletics and sabermetrics — famously questioned whether the position was difficult. The conversation between then-Athletics general manager Billy Beane and catcher Scott Hatteberg about converting to play first base is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie — with Beane, in trying to convince Hatteberg of the switch, saying it wasn’t hard to play the position.

Orioles infield coach Tony Mansolino, when asked if learning to play first base is, in fact, challenging, answered almost identically to how then-Athletics infield coach Ron Washington responded in the movie.

“It’s incredibly difficult,” Mansolino said about learning how to be an “impact” defender at the position.

“I don’t subscribe to the theory that anybody can go play over there. It takes a lot of work.”

While first base is considered an easier — and less valuable — position than catcher, shortstop and center field, that hardly means it’s simple for a new player to pick up.

“People think you can just stick a guy over at first base and be OK, and it’s not the case,” Hyde said. “There are a lot of things that go with it.”

One of the most likely choices to back up Mountcastle is Santander, the Orioles’ right fielder, whose only professional experience at the position is nine games in 2016 with the Cleveland Guardians’ High-A affiliate. He hasn’t played the position in a major league game since becoming an Oriole in 2017, although he practiced there during the second half of last season.

“Overall, I feel pretty good, just have to continue working hard to play there to give some rest to [Mountcastle] sometimes,” Santander said.

Santander said the hardest part of playing first base is the focus and attention to detail every play requires. First basemen are involved in far more batted balls than any other player on the field — an aspect that can make the position feel pressure-filled.

“I don’t feel afraid to play first base,” said Santander, who has played a few spring training games at the position. “I just stay positive and anticipate all the plays. That’s the key to playing that position — you have to be involved in every play.”

While it might be less likely that Vavra plays first base than Santander or one of the catchers, he still spent parts of his offseason and spring training practicing the position. Vavra’s experience is playing the up-the-middle positions, mostly second base but also shortstop and center field, but in camp he’s appeared in exhibitions at first, third and left field as well as practicing to catch in an emergency.

Vavra said playing first brings its “own challenges,” most notably the angle at which the ball comes off the bat compared to positions up the middle. One reason he thinks he’s been able to pick up the position — and why he believes others can, too — is that a significant part of succeeding there is mental.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily an easy position, but I think it’s something a lot of guys can handle,” said Vavra, who played two innings at first in an exhibition last week in his first appearance at the position. “Guys who have been playing for a long time, they know how things function on the field and how a first baseman gets involved in a lot of plays. There is some familiarity for guys that go over there.”

Every position has unique aspects — pitch framing for catchers, turning double plays for middle infielders, first steps for outfielders — but the list of little details that go into playing first base is long.

First basemen have to worry about holding runners, stretching to snag throws from infielders, picking errant throws in the dirt and footwork around the bag — the last of which, Mansolino said, is the hardest part about learning the position.

“It’s the bag work. It’s always the bag work,” he said. “You can get them to the point where they can catch routine ground balls — these are major league baseball players and major league defenders before they came over. But it’s all the little intricacies after that — feeling the bag under your feet, throws up the line, throws down the line.”

First base is also the only position on the field where the priority is to be at the bag rather than going after the ball. That creates challenging decisions, Vavra said, on grounders between the first and second basemen. If the first baseman goes too far, the pitcher is forced to cover the bag; don’t go far enough, though, and a ground ball that would otherwise be an out turns into a hit.

“It’s unlike any other position,” Vavra said.

Something that gives the Orioles’ coaches confidence about teaching the position is that the organization has successfully done it before. In 2019, the first season under the new regime and the rebuild, the Orioles converted Mountcastle, a former shortstop and third baseman, to play first. After grading as one of the worst first basemen by Statcast’s outs above average metric in 2021, Mountcastle ranked in the 79th percentile in 2022.

“It starts with Ryan Mountcastle, who we consider a plus defender at first base,” Mansolino said. “He’s turned himself, through his own hard work and his own willingness, into a really good major league first baseman. We feel incredibly comfortable with our everyday option at first base, and then the group that’s going to help out [Mountcastle] get some days off or days to DH and relax the body, we feel really good about that group as well.”

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