PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Ryan Flaherty was the starting shortstop Monday when the Baltimore Orioles began their spring training schedule against the Tampa Bay Rays. But don’t get the idea that the Portland native is going to supplant J.J. Hardy as the Orioles’ regular shortstop.

Flaherty got the start in a lineup that consisted of mostly minor leaguers in a split-squad game for the Orioles, whose big league regulars were in the lineup against Pittsburgh about 40 miles north in Sarasota. But Flaherty, who had two hits, including a triple, will be happy just to make the Orioles’ opening-day roster as a utility player after he was picked up in the Rule 5 draft from the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 2011 season.

“It’s definitely exciting. I’m excited for the opportunity,” said Flaherty, standing outside of the Orioles’ clubhouse prior to batting seventh against the Rays on a sun-splashed afternoon on the west coast of Florida. “The transition has been pretty smooth.”

Flaherty followed up his two-hit opener by going 1 for 3 on Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox.

A graduate of Deering High, Flaherty was drafted in the first round by the Cubs in 2008 out of Vanderbilt as the 41st overall pick. Last year he hit .305 with 14 homers and 66 RBI in 344 at-bats with Double-A Tennessee of the Southern League. He also spent time with Triple-A Iowa, hitting .237 with five homers and 22 RBI in 173 at-bats.

Flaherty couldn’t name any major differences between the Cubs and Orioles. “Baseball is baseball,” he said.

So what if he doesn’t make the Orioles’ opening-day roster and heads back to the Cubs?

“I’m not thinking about that right now,” he said before driving in two runs against the Rays in a 3-1 victory.

“Flaherty is what a Rule 5 draft pick is supposed to be,” Orioles Manager Buck Showalter told The Baltimore Sun. “I’ve had some Rule 5 guys who after three or four days, I know there’s no chance you can carry him. You’ve got a chance to carry this young man.”

The Orioles picked Flaherty up for $50,000 and he must stay on the major league roster all season or be offered back to the Cubs for half of that amount.

Flaherty got a call from Dan Duquette, the general manager of the Orioles, after he was selected at the winter meetings.

“I was really unfamilar with it. I didn’t know what to expect,” Flaherty said of the call from Duquette, the former Red Sox general manager in his first season with Baltimore.

“I think he has a chance to make the team,” Duquette said Tuesday. “He grew up around baseball. His father (Ed Flaherty) is the longtime coach at Southern Maine. He went to a very good program in Vanderbilt. He’s played several positions.”

Flaherty has played all over the field as a pro, and Showalter has said that versatility could be a factor in Flaherty’s bid to make the club. Flaherty said the only positions he hasn’t played in his pro career are pitcher, catcher and center field.

“He’s very versatile. He’s solid at every position. Any team would like that,” said Flaherty’s former Cubs minor league roommate, Brandon Guyer, now an outfielder with the Rays.

Another familiar face to Flaherty was just a few feet away in the Tampa Bay clubhouse when the Orioles began spring training.

Ryan Reid, a former high school teammate at Deering, is a non-roster pitcher in spring training with the Rays.

“I’m excited to get this opportunity,” said Reid, who added he retired Flaherty on a long fly ball when they faced each other for the first time last year in the Southern League.

One bonus is that after spending spring training in Arizona with the Cubs, Flaherty is in Florida for the first time. He might even get a chance to see his father, Ed, whose University of Southern Maine team will be in the Orlando area later this month.

“It’s nice to be on the East Coast,” he said.