Baysox's Mullins stays red-hot at the plate

Through the first 14 games of the season, Cedric Mullins posted a 1.089 OPS and it looked like he was beginning a breakout campaign. Then the 22-year-old tweaked his left hamstring and hit the disabled list for more than a month. 
It hasn't thrown the Orioles' No. 17 prospect off his game. 

Gameday box score
Mullins collected four hits, including a home run, and extended his hitting streak to nine games in Double-A Bowie's 7-3 loss at Erie on Saturday.
"I was able to go to Florida and use the warm weather to my advantage, which helped to get my legs back under me," the North Carolina native said. "There's a lot of talent in extended spring training, so I was able to see a lot of live pitching down there to help me find a groove before I got back into things up here."

The 2015 13th-round pick wasted no time making an impact. Hitting in the leadoff spot, Mullins battled back from 0-2 against Tigers No. 3 prospectBeau Burrows before lifting a 3-2 fastball over the wall in right field.
"I'm the type of hitter who likes to see what the pitcher has to work with early in the game," the Campbell University product said. "He threw me a first-pitch fastball and followed it up with a curveball, and from that point it was a battle. I worked it to a 3-2 count and figured that there's no way he wanted to walk the first batter of the game, so I geared up for a fastball and I didn't miss my pitch.
"I just want to be able to set the tone for the game and give the rest of the guys the chance to see what the pitcher has so they won't be fooled early."
At 5-foot-8, Mullins may not seem like a prototypical power threat, but with eight homers in 30 games, opposing pitchers are showing considerable respect.
"It's a possibility that they underestimate me, but at the same time they have my numbers so they know I have the potential to put the ball out of the yard if I do put a good swing on it," Mullins said. "And that means I need to make the adjustment as well, because I may see a lot of off-speed early in the game because of that."
Mullins singled to center in the third and to left in the fifth. He recorded his first four-hit game since Opening Day by beating out a bunt in the ninth. 
"I was able to see everything well tonight," Mullins said. "I've been working with [Bowie hitting coach] Butch Davis on some small adjustments. We had a discussion about my approach at the plate in certain situations and about trying to slow the game down. And tonight, that showed up in the game and I did some damage."

Mullins is hitting .321/.359/.580 with 22 RBIs. If he had enough at-bats to qualify, his .939 OPS would be good for third in the Eastern League. 
"I'm just going to continue to go out there and play as hard as I can. I'm continuing to learn how to improve my game along the way, but if I keep on working hard, good things will come out of that," he added.
Zack Cox and Logan Watkins drove in two runs apiece for the SeaWolves, who scored four times in the eighth to snap a 3-3 tie.
Adam Brett Walker homered in his third straight game for Bowie.