Cedric Mullins

Boyce Cedric Mullins II (born October 1, 1994) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2018. He was an All-Star and won the Silver Slugger Award in 2021.

Early career
Mullins attended Brookwood High School in Snellville, Georgia. His first two years of college baseball were spent at Louisburg College where he had a perfect 4.0 grade point average and graduated Summa Cum Laude with an Associate of Arts in 2014. He was a one-year letterman in 2015 at Campbell University where he led the Fighting Camels in batting average (.340), runs scored (59), base hits (80), doubles (23) and triples (7). He was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 13th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft.

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, 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
The Orioles promoted Mullins 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. 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, J. P. Arencibia, 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 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, 2020, that he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and had 10 to 15 centimeters of intestine removed in November 2020 after playing the entire campaign with chronic abdominal pain.

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 .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. 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.

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.

2022
On April 12, 2022, Mullins hit his first career grand slam off of Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Eric Lauer. He ended the 2022 season with a batting average of .258/.318/.403, 16 home runs, 64 RBIs, and 34 stolen bases. On January 13, 2023, he agreed to a one-year, $4.1 million contract with the Orioles for the 2023 season, avoiding salary arbitration.

2023
Mullins was the seventh in Orioles history and second in two years following teammate Austin Hays to hit for the cycle in a 6–3 home victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 12, 2023. He joined Luis Arráez in achieving the feat during the 2023 season. He singled in the third inning, tripled in the fifth, doubled in the seventh and hit a two-out three-run homer to right field off Duane Underwood Jr. in the eighth. Coming off the bench in the sixth inning of his third match after being activated from the injured list, he robbed Ty France of a potential game-tying solo homer in the ninth and hit a one-out two-run shot off Trent Thornton in the tenth of a 5–3 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on August 13. He hit a one-out grand slam to right-center off Andre Pallante in a 11–5 home win over the St. Louis Cardinals on September 11. His one-out three-run homer to right off Ryan Pressly in the ninth erased a two-run deficit and resulted in an 8–7 away win over the Houston Astros on September 18.

International career
On August 21, 2022, Mullins announced that he would join the United States national baseball team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Personal life
Mullins is a fan of anime, with Naruto serving as an inspiration for him in his childhood and professional career.