Boyce Cedric Mullins II (born October 1, 1994) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2018.

Professional career

Early career

Mullins attended Brookwood High School in

Snellville, Georgia Snellville is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States, east of Atlanta. The population was 18,242 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the estimated population was 20,077. It is a developed suburb of Atlanta and a part of the Atlanta metro ...

, and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Louisburg College Louisburg College is a private Methodist-affiliated two-year college in Louisburg, North Carolina. History Louisburg College has its roots in two schools: Franklin Male Academy, which was chartered in 1787, re-chartered in 1802 but held its fir ...

and Campbell University. He was drafted by the

in the 13th round of the

2015 Major League Baseball Draft The 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 8 through June 10, 2015, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2014 MLB season standings. As the Diamondbacks ...

. Mullins made his professional debut with the Low-A Aberdeen IronBirds in 2015, spending the whole season there, posting a .264 batting average with two home runs and 32 RBIs in 68 games. He played 2016 with the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds, batting .273 with 14 home runs, 55 RBIs, and 30 stolen bases in 124 games, and spent 2017 with the Double-A

Bowie Baysox The Bowie Baysox are a Minor League Baseball team located in Bowie, Maryland. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, and play in the Eastern League. Their home ballpark is Prince George's Stadium. History From 1989 to 1992, ...

, where he batted .265 with 13 home runs, 37 RBIs, and a .778 OPS in 76 games. He began 2018 with Bowie and was promoted to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides during the season.

2018

Mullins was promoted to the major leagues on August 10, 2018, and he made his major league debut that same night, collecting three hits, two RBI, drawing a walk and scoring three runs in a 19-12 loss to the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. He became the first Oriole in franchise history to collect three hits in his Major League debut and became only the fifth player in MLB history to score three or more runs and collect two or more extra-base hits in his debut, joining

Joey Gallo Joseph Nicholas Gallo (born November 19, 1993) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Do ...

J. P. Arencibia Jonathan Paul Arencibia (born January 5, 1986) is a Cuban-American former professional baseball catcher. He is currently serving as the bench coach for the Syracuse Mets. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Texas ...

, Craig Wilson and Hall of Famer Willie McCovey. Mullins finished the season with a .235 batting average and four home runs in 45 games played.

2019

Mullins began the 2019 season as the Orioles starting center fielder. After struggling to start the season, Mullins was demoted to Triple-A Norfolk on April 22. Mullins continued to struggle in Norfolk and was demoted to Double-A Bowie on July 10, though Orioles manager

Brandon Hyde Brandon Michael Hyde (born October 3, 1973) is an American professional baseball manager for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hyde had previously served as the bench coach, director of player development, and first base coach ...

said the organization still felt "really highly about Cedric and his ability." He would play in Double-A for the remainder of the season. Mullins ended his season hitting .094 in 64 at bats for Baltimore.

2020

Despite his lost season in 2019, Mullins was able to play his way onto Baltimore's opening day roster in 2020 with a strong camp. In 2020 for the Orioles, Mullins hit for .271/.315/.407 with 3 home runs, 12 RBI, and 7 stolen bases. He disclosed on February 2, 2022 that he was diagnosed with

Crohn’s disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension, ...

, and had 10 to 15 centimeters of

intestine The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans ...

removed in November 2020 after playing the entire campaign with chronic

abdominal pain Abdominal pain, also known as a stomach ache, is a symptom Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than ...

2021

In February 2021, the Orioles announced Mullins would give up switch-hitting and become a full-time left-handed hitter. Mullins first approached the Orioles with the idea in the spring of 2019 but the team opposed it. Before 2021, he had

slashed ''Slashed'' is a low budget independent horror film, financed and directed by Ash and written by Jed Shepherd.

.251/.305/.394 while batting left-handed and .147/.250/.189 from the right side. On April 26, 2021, Mullins had his first career multi-home run game, with two homers against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. From June 4 through June 6, Mullins collected 9 hits in as many at bats including 3 home runs. On July 4, Mullins was named an All-Star for the first time in his career. On July 12, he was chosen to be the starting center fielder in the 2021 All-Star Game, as a replacement for the injured

Mike Trout Michael Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). Trout is a ten-time MLB All-Star, three-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) ...

. On September 24, Mullins became the first Orioles player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season since the franchise moved from St. Louis. For the 2021 season, Mullins slashed .291/.360/.518 with thirty home runs, 59 RBIs, 37 doubles, and thirty stolen bases, and led all major league outfielders with 389 putouts. He was unanimously voted the winner of the 2021 Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award by members of the local media. Mullins finished ninth in the American League MVP balloting. On November 11, 2021, Mullins received his first

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. These voters cons ...

2022

On April 12, 2022, Mullins hit his first career grand slam off of

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

starting pitcher

Eric Lauer Eric Lance Lauer (born June 3, 1995) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for the Kent State Golden Flashes of Kent State University. Lauer made his MLB ...

. Mullins continued to perform well in his 2022 season, ending with a batting average of .258/.318/.721, 16 homeruns, 64 RBIs, and 34 stolen bases. On January 13, 2023, Mullins agreed to a one-year, $4.1 million contract with the Orioles for the 2023 season, avoiding salary arbitration.

International career

On August 21, 2022, Mullins announced that he would join the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

in the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), an international professional baseball tournament, is set to be the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It was originally set for 2021 (as per tradition to hold the event every four years), but wa ...

Personal life

Mullins is a fan of

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

, with Naruto serving as an inspiration for him in his childhood and professional career.

References

External links

Campbell Fight Camels bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullins, Cedric 1994 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople Aberdeen IronBirds players African-American baseball players American League All-Stars Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Greensboro, North Carolina Bowie Baysox players Campbell Fighting Camels baseball players Delmarva Shorebirds players Louisburg Hurricanes baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders Norfolk Tides players Silver Slugger Award winners 2023 World Baseball Classic players