TAMPA, FLA. — Even though their time with the major league club was brief, right-hander Parker Bridwell and left-hander Chris Lee both made a strong impression in their first big league camps.

Bridwell and Lee were optioned to Double-A Bowie before Friday's game against the New York Yankees. Once the season begins, they will join a strong Baysox rotation that will also include last year's Rule 5 draft pick, flame-throwing right-hander Jason Garcia, and could add top pitching prospect Hunter Harvey before long.

“It's exciting to have both of those guys in the rotation there in Bowie,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “It's a pretty good group there with Garcia and those two guys. I'd like to think that Harvey at some point might join them. … It's a good young group there. They presented themselves well.”

Because Bridwell and Lee were added to the organization's 40-man roster before this offseason's Rule 5 draft, they couldn't be optioned to the minors until this week.

Bridwell allowed four runs over 62/3 Grapefruit League innings over five appearances, including two scoreless one-inning relief outings. He allowed six hits, struck out three and walked four this spring.

“We knew Parker a little bit,” Showalter said. “We had him before in some minicamps. I think he made some strides this spring. I think it was good for him to see he could do this. There's not the major leagues and then another league to go to.”

The Orioles' ninth-round draft pick in 2010, Bridwell was coming off elbow stiffness that ended his 2015 season early. He retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced over his first two Grapefruit League outings.

Lee, who was acquired in a trade with the Houston Astros last year for cash, gave up seven runs (six earned) over 52/3 innings in six spring appearances. He allowed 11 hits, struck out two and walked none.

Take away a six-run outing in his second spring appearance and Lee allowed just one run on six hits over 51/3 innings this spring.

The Orioles have 45 players in big league camp, including 10 nonroster invitees.

Jones' preparation pays: Center fielder Adam Jones' solo home run Thursday against the Minnesota Twins, which came off reliever Ryan Pressly in the fourth inning of the Orioles' 4-1 win, was an example of the kind of reactionary thinking players spend all spring trying to hone in advance of the season.

After a steady diet of breaking pitches away, Jones got a high fastball and got all of it for another long home run at Ed Smith Stadium.

“It just comes with repetition,” said Jones, who is 7-for-14 with three homers in his past five games. “I've faced him before. I remember the at-bat like it was last night — it was last night, and he made some good pitches.

“Even that ball I hit was a ball, neck-high. I don't know how you get to that ball. It's not something that you want to go out and try to teach your kid to do. It's just reactions. It's good that my reaction was like that. It's not like I tried to do it the way it happened. I just reacted to the situation, and the ball was able to get out.”

Showalter said pitching to players the way Jones was approached is a common mistake, one that his All-Star center fielder made Pressly pay for.

“I tell our pitchers all the time,” Showalter said. “Do you want to get somebody out or embarrass them? If you try to embarrass them, sometimes you're going to fall right into a trap.”

Wieters begins hitting again: Orioles catcher Matt Wieters took swings off a pitching machine for the first time since his abrupt exit from last Saturday's Grapefruit League game after just one inning upon feeling stiffness in his surgically repaired right elbow.

It marked the first time Wieters attempted any sort of hitting activity since leaving the game. He began participating in catcher's blocking drills earlier this week, but he has yet to resume throwing and a timetable for his return to games is unclear.

Around the horn: Outfielder Xavier Avery was unavailable for Friday's game after complaining of hip flexor tightness before the game. “He felt it last night and at the end of the game, he didn't think much of it,” Showalter said. “It bothered him a little bit more tonight. He's here but unavailable.” … Left-hander Jeff Beliveau, who hasn't pitched this spring as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn labrum last year, is scheduled to receive his first game action Monday in a minor league game. Beliveau, who is set to pitch one relief inning at the Orioles minor league complex at Twin Lakes Park, is signed to a minor league deal. The club hopes he can join the Triple-A Norfolk bullpen by May.

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