Sarasota, Fla. — Orioles pitching coach Roger McDowell on Wednesday declared the club’s three-day pitching minicamp a success, and while the likelihood is there will be some veteran additions to the pitching staff when the team returns to Sarasota next month, McDowell isn’t letting himself be bothered by that.

“Here’s the thing,” McDowell said. “You know what my job description is? Take the pitchers that we have and get them better and compete in the American League East. That’s what we’ll do. Whoever we have, that’s what we’re going to have, and you know what? My job is to get them better and hopefully do well, not only in the American League East but throughout the course of a major league season. It’s a daily process, and I think we made a lot of progress with a lot of guys last year. Hopefully that process will continue with whoever we have.”

As it stands, the Orioles have just Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman returning to their starting rotation with just over a month before pitchers and catchers report. Some of the internal candidates to join them were at the minicamp this week, including Miguel Castro and Rule 5 draft pick Nestor Cortes Jr. Others, such as Mike Wright, Gabriel Ynoa and Alec Asher, are training on their own.

And those will be the pitchers McDowell occupies his time with going forward.

“We do have a number of guys who are going to get opportunities that may not have been presented to them if you have different people here,” McDowell said. “So, they’re going to get that opportunity, and I’m very much looking forward to working and starting the process, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, of getting better.”

That the Orioles haven’t added any free-agent pitching yet isn’t atypical for them, as they usually do most of their business in late January and February. But the fact that the free-agent market is moving at a glacial pace means business could drag further into spring training, and means the Orioles coaches have to prepare for the possibility that the pitchers they have will be the ones they take from Florida.

“I think every year is a little different because of the dynamics of how our industry works, and you have different numbers and different quality of guys who are free agents and people who come out,” manager Buck Showalter said earlier this week. “It looks like it’s going to play a lot slower, but then that can change in a week’s time. So, I don’t know. We will end up, right now I assume, with the 34 [pitchers] coming to camp and the people in the system and saying, ‘OK, what do we do today? If the season opened up today, what would we do?’

“Well, it doesn’t. We’ve got a lot of people that are pulling for us not to sign anybody, not to trade for anybody. I guarantee if you go talk to Mike Wright, who’s out [training] with [vice president of baseball operations] Brady [Anderson] right now, he’s hoping we don’t. There’s a lot of guys like that. And there’s some unknown there, but the industry doesn’t always cooperate with your time frame. Your time frame has to be adjusted.”

Rehabbing Álvarez embracing mound: Outfielder-turned-pitcher Dariel Álvarez was invited to the minicamp so the team could check in on his rehabilitation from Tommy John elbow reconstruction, a process the 29-year-old said is on track.

“I’ve been doing the rehabilitation, and it’s going pretty good so far,” Álvarez said through pitching instructor Ramón Martínez, who translated for him. “By the end of the month, I’ll be on flat mound.”

The Orioles haven’t gotten to see much of him as a pitcher, as Álvarez converted last March after he was cut from major league camp. He was set to go to Low-A Delmarva to pitch in relief with some days as the designated hitter in between, but the arm injury occurred early in the season.

“I never had any arm problems, but it happened,” he said. “It just happened.”

The Orioles outrighted him off the 40-man roster soon thereafter, but re-signed him to a minor league contract to rehab him. At the minicamp, he did a long-toss routine Monday and worked on his delivery on flat ground under the watch of McDowell and Showalter.

Showalter said he could tell Álvarez was “very upbeat,” and warned that while there were a lot of ifs involved in whether he could get back healthy and embrace being a pitcher, he could be on the major league radar before long.

That will require Álvarez to get back to the pitching mindset he carried as a two-way player in Cuba before the Orioles signed him. Many clubs thought higher of him as a pitcher than a hitter, but the Orioles let him play the outfield, and he was a career .293 hitter over four minor league seasons while getting major league stints in 2015 and 2016.

However, the club decided his future was on the mound, and after some convincing, Álvarez agreed.

“I was kind of surprised last year,” Álvarez said. “That was the reaction. I was a little bit in shock that I’d become a pitcher with the mindset of a hitter, but after a while, I got back and set my mind in a positive way. It’s my chance. I think I have a better chance to become a pitcher and get to the major leagues.”

McDowell on Harvey: Monday’s bullpen session was McDowell’s first look at 2013 first-round pick Hunter Harvey, who is entering the season fully healthy after missing most of the past three years with injuries. McDowell liked what he saw — and found it all familiar.

“You pull up pictures of his dad [former major league reliever Bryan Harvey], he looks just like him, especially from the face,” McDowell said. “But his body, he’s got the pitcher’s body. Hopefully he can stay healthy and we can stay on top of his health and he can get back to pitching and not worrying about it. I know Buck asked him the other day about being able to throw a baseball and not have a question every time of how does it feel?

“Getting over that hurdle, a lot of times it’s a mental hurdle for guys when they come back from injury. ‘When I get release or get extension, how’s it going to feel?’ I think it’s good that he was able to get down here. I know him and his dad have been doing some work. It was good to see him.”

Around the horn: Left-hander Richard Bleier threw a second bullpen session of minicamp Wednesday but was the only player to take the mound as the event wrapped up. ... McDowell said the team is comfortable giving reliever Mychal Givens more responsibility this season. ... McDowell and bullpen coach Alan Mills went over bunt coverages before the camp broke Wednesday. ... The Orioles announced that individual tickets for all 16 of the Orioles’ spring training games at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.

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