In less than two years, Brandon Hyde has lived the pendulum that is being a Major League Baseball manager.

In 2023, the Orioles were projected to win 77 games. So when they broke through the glass ceiling and won 101, Hyde was lauded for seeing the Orioles’ rebuild through and voted the American League Manager of the Year.

A year and a half later, Hyde is in the opposite position. After consecutive playoff failures, the sale of the franchise and the team in the heart of its World Series window, the Orioles have much higher expectations. That’s why the ballclub’s poor start — a 12-18 opening month — has put Hyde under a microscope and, for some in the fan base, under fire.

Eight Orioles players — a group that includes team leaders, former top prospects, rebuild survivors, starters, backups and bullpen arms — said this week that Hyde remains popular among Orioles players and that the seventh-year skipper has not lost the clubhouse amid the sluggish start.

“We have skipper’s back,” slugger Ryan O’Hearn said when discussing Orioles hitters holding a team meeting Monday. “We have each other’s backs. We are a team. Teams go through bad times, bad stretches. It’s up to us to dig ourselves out of it.”

Cedric Mullins and Adley Rutschman both agreed with O’Hearn. They described the Orioles’ clubhouse as a “family” — and that includes Hyde.

“Absolutely,” Rutschman said when asked if Orioles players are still behind Hyde. “This is a team. The entire front office to the manager to the coaches to the trainers, we view this as a family, and that extends everywhere, for everyone.”

Veteran Ramón Urías said the club’s disappointing start shouldn’t fall solely at Hyde’s feet.

“If the blame is on anybody, it’s on us, the players,” Urías said. “We’re the ones who have to be better.”

Ramón Laureano has only been an Oriole for a few months after signing with the club this offseason. The platoon outfielder has spent time with four teams and played for six managers in his eight-year MLB career.

So what makes a good manager?

“A great communicator, the door open, things like that,” Laureano said.

Would Laureano describe Hyde that way?

“Yeah, 100%,” Laureano said. “It’s pretty much like a father figure, and that’s what it feels like in here. Everything you wish for a manager.”

Laureano proudly isn’t on social media. Someone runs his Instagram account, and he said that he hasn’t opened Twitter for five years. The 30-year-old was stunned to hear about the heat Hyde is receiving for the team’s underperformance.

“We don’t even feel — that’s hilarious. It’s pretty intense out there, huh? It’s like a Mexican novela,” Laureano said with a laugh. “It’s people’s opinions. I totally understand the fans, but the only opinion that matters is whatever’s going on here. At the end of the day, he’s a great manager.”

Laureano and veteran Ramón Urías began the season as bench players for the Orioles. The pair of Latin players said Hyde regularly communicates with them about their roles and tries to find ways to get them playing time.

“I respect that,” Laureano said.

Urías, who won a Gold Glove Award in 2022 but has received inconsistent playing time since, said he understands his role and the infield depth the Orioles have. “I know Hyder is just trying to win ballgames,” Urías said.

However, Urías is playing the best baseball of his career right now with an OPS over .770 since last May. That’s why Hyde pulled Urías into his office last week to chat.

“He told me he really appreciated the way that I go about things, never complaining about my playing time,” Urías said. “He just let it be known that he was thankful for me for being that kind of player.”

In July, Cade Povich had the worst start of his big league career. He allowed eight runs in one inning against the Oakland Athletics. The Orioles gave him another start, though, and Povich held his own against a New York Yankees team that led the majors in home runs that season.

Despite the step forward, Hyde told Povich after the game that he was being sent back to Triple-A. He explained the reasoning — the team needed another reliever ahead of the All-Star break — and encouraged the young left-hander, helping him have confidence when he returned later that season.

When Povich broke camp with the Orioles this spring, his meeting with Hyde was one of the more memorable moments of the 25-year-old’s nascent career.

“He was very happy for me. He really expressed how much I improved and grown mentally,” Povich remembered. “He really does a good job of making sure guys aren’t trying to overpressure themselves.”

Povich tries to avoid social media, but he’s aware of the criticism Hyde is receiving. Of course, that’s part of the job of being a big league manager. But Povich said the players aren’t “placing the blame on anyone.”

“I think all of us know this clubhouse and we’re going to stand by him just like he stands by us. He definitely has our backs,” Povich said. “I know it’s been tough, but I’m sure the narrative will be different in a few weeks or months and everything’s going the other way.”

Bryan Baker and Cionel Pérez, two members of Baltimore’s bullpen who’ve been with the Orioles since 2022, described Hyde as a manager who understands the challenges of being a relief pitcher — or, as Baker called it, the “reliever lifestyle.” Baker said relievers know when a manager views them as “irrelevant,” but that he’s never felt that way with Hyde, despite Baker’s ups and downs in recent years.

“It’s clear to me by how he checks up on people, makes sure they’re doing all right,” Baker said. “It’s always been a good experience for me. I’ve never had any problems with how he goes about it.”

While a manager’s job duties are wide-ranging, the aspect of the modern game he has most influence over is the bullpen. Each night, a skipper must know the status — health, rest, confidence — of all eight relievers and use that information to inform when to pull the starting pitcher and which bullpen arms to use against which hitters. As a result, any time a reliever blows a lead, it’s the manager who is ultimately blamed for putting him in.

“Regarding the fans, there’s a reason they’re fans,” Pérez said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “They’re not here with us. They’re not playing the games with us. They’re not in the clubhouse. They don’t know what it’s like.”

Pérez was claimed off waivers by the Orioles before the 2022 season, previously playing for Houston and Cincinnati. The left-hander struggled to begin the 2023 season — akin to how he pitched this April — and Hyde pulled Pérez into his office one day. For a pitcher who was optioned 15 times, traded and designated for assignment before arriving in Baltimore, a meeting with the skipper could mean anything. Instead, Hyde “reassured” Pérez, who went on to post a 2.35 ERA in the second half that season.

“‘Hey, we believe in you. We know what you can do,’” Pérez recalled Hyde saying. “That’s what I really like about him. He’s always willing to encourage us in that way.”

Of course, the backing from these players through April doesn’t automatically mean it will remain that way the rest of the season. Additionally, a manager’s primary responsibility is to win ballgames. If the next several months go the same way the first did, the clamoring about every lineup, every postgame quote, every bullpen decision will only get louder.

But, for now, these Orioles players reject the notion that Hyde has lost the clubhouse.

“It’s nonexistent,” Baker said. “From an outside perspective, if you blindly just looked at our expectations coming into this year and our record right now, maybe you can draw whatever conclusions you want. That doesn’t exist in this room.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer @baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.