SARASOTA, Fla. – The due date has arrived for Orioles pitchers and catchers. They’re required to report today unless they have visa issues.

There’s usually one in every crowd.

Not that the complex has been empty. Players arrive early, including the ones rehabbing from surgery. Physicals are taken and the back fields are occupied.

Tossing a baseball back and forth in the morning feeds the senses.

The media gains access early Thursday. It isn’t like those Fort Lauderdale days when beat writers and columnists stood inside the clubhouse and waited for someone to show up with their bags. They’d usually just phone the manager and say, “I’m here.”

They meant the state of Florida. Guys weren’t in a big hurry to check into the outdated and dilapidated facility.

Beyond some roster competitions this spring, and there don’t appear to be many, is the battle for the Opening Day start. This is assuming that a decision isn’t already made and spring performances could factor into it.

Exhibition stats don’t matter until they do.

Zach Eflin has made one Opening Day start and that’s one more than Grayson Rodriguez. It happened last year with the Rays. He possesses more of a track record and much more experience.

He also has a career .500 record at 62-62, but that isn’t important here.

Eflin logged nine starts with the Orioles after the deadline trade and posted a 2.60 ERA and 1.120 WHIP over 55 1/3 innings. He started Game 2 of the Wild Card series, following ace Corbin Burnes, who signed with the Diamondbacks. Rodriguez was inactive due to another lat/teres strain.

The Orioles drafted Rodriguez in the first round in 2018 because they envisioned him as a No. 1 starter. That was the mindset of the previous front office and shared by executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, who noted how the cupboard wasn’t bare when he arrived and cited Rodriguez and DL Hall as examples.

The higher ceiling is evident, but results also count. Rodriguez offers them in spurts. He had four quality starts in July and allowed two runs in five innings against the Padres before hitting the injured list again on the 31st.

Eflin has a career 3.32 ERA and 1.094 WHIP in 28 games in March/April, the lowest numbers for any month. He owns a 5.72 ERA and 1.511 WHIP in nine games (eight starts) against the Blue Jays, the opponent on March 27, and an 8.79 ERA and 1.884 WHIP in three starts at Rogers Centre, with 14 earned runs (15 total) and 24 hits in 14 1/3 innings.

Rodriguez has a career 3.68 ERA and 1.227 WHIP in five starts against the Jays and a 3.12 ERA and 0.981 WHIP in three starts in Toronto, with six earned runs (seven total) and 14 hits in 17 1/3 innings. He allowed one earned run and two total in 6 2/3 innings on June 3 last season in his only start at Rogers Centre.

Rodriguez’s final outing of the 2024 season came against the Jays on July 31 at Camden Yards and he allowed three earned runs with eight strikeouts in six frames.

I’ve marked Eflin as the favorite to receive that Opening Day start based on track record and experience, but I wouldn’t be floored by Rodriguez earning it.

What if 41-year-old Charlie Morton beats them to it?

I’d be a little closer to the floor.

Without any outsiders crashing camp, the rotation seems devoid of competition with Dean Kremer and Tomoyuki Sugano on the premises. Left-handers Trevor Rogers and Cade Povich will try to make it harder for the Orioles to commit.

Moving Albert Suárez to the bullpen brings the total to the maximum eight and probably eliminates any chance of a starter slipping into long relief.

“It’s possible,” Elias said on Jan. 31. “I think health is going to determine a lot in camp. But if you just count up all the guys we project to be healthy right now, it’s a pretty full bullpen. So probably won’t happen, but there’s a lot of unknowns coming up.”

The roster makes more sense if we find out Thursday that Jorge Mateo isn’t expected to be ready for Opening Day. Like I’ve said, he’s the wild card here. (Not to be confused with the Wild Card and its painful memories in October.) The Orioles can break with six infielders and Ramón Laureano as a fifth outfielder. Otherwise, what the heck is happening?

Coby Mayo and Dylan Carlson will fight to win jobs, knowing what they’re up against in the infield and outfield, respectively. Emmanuel Rivera will report as a non-roster player who really impressed last year in a 27-game audition, which didn’t keep him on the 40-man. It did, however, earn him a $1 million contract.

* The Orioles announced yesterday that they’re investing more than $21 million of team funds to construct a state-of-the-art player performance center at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. The work begins after spring training, and the facility should be operational in 2026.

The project includes hitting and pitching labs.

Sarasota County Government’s annual economic report from July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024 revealed that the Orioles generated more than $76 million in economic impact and produced more than 1,080 jobs in Florida, including an impact of more than $61 million and 1,030 jobs in Sarasota County.

* Rant of the Day: This is an oldie but a goodie.

Stop referring to spring training as “spring break” like it’s a vacation. Some media treat it that way. Most view it as a grind, with early wake-ups, tons of work and six weeks away from home and loved ones, though it’s done in the sunshine and with baseball.

I get that. I missed the snow yesterday.

Well, I wouldn’t say I’ve been missing it, Bob.

This is a job and they’re hard to find, so we’re lucky. But repeat after me, please: “Spring training.” The spring breakers are on the beach and in the bars. They don’t have farmers tans.

Also, get off my frozen lawn.