Despite having among the best data within the American League, Brandon Hyde thinks the Orioles can play higher.
Baltimore’s sport Saturday in opposition to the Minnesota Twins might be its 81st — the precise halfway level of the season. Unlike his first 4 years as supervisor, the Orioles are well-above .500 by means of 81 video games at 48-32 and have spent a lot of the primary three months as one of many three finest groups within the main leagues.
The success, although, doesn’t imply the Orioles have been excellent, and Hyde is aware of with a remaining schedule that is among the sport’s hardest, that his membership will possible must get higher down the stretch to make the postseason.
“I’m really happy with how our team’s played so far this year, and I think that we have room to grow and room to get better,” Hyde mentioned. “We’ve had some really good stretches. I don’t think we’ve played our best baseball in June. If you look at our schedule, it doesn’t get any easier, and I think we have room to get better, honestly. But for the most part right now, sitting where we are record wise, we’ve had a lot of guys play well and we’ve won a lot of series this year, and I just want to see it continue.”
To commemorate the midway level of the 162-game marketing campaign, right here is one quantity that defines how each Orioles participant — those that have spent the vast majority of the 12 months within the majors — has carried out over the season’s first three months.
Starting pitchers
Kyle Bradish: 30.2% — To finish his 2022 marketing campaign, Bradish elevated his slider utilization to nice impact. The identical factor is occurring this season, because the second-year right-hander is throwing the pitch extra usually.The strikeouts have adopted, with seven-plus in three of his previous 4 begins. At 30.2%, his slider is his most-used providing, making him the one Orioles starter to have an offspeed pitch atop his distribution.
Kyle Gibson: 1.6 — The previous two begins for Gibson haven’t been fairly, and his total numbers (4.66 ERA, 1.376 WHIP) considerably replicate that. For a lot of the season, although, Gibson has been the pitcher the Orioles paid $10 million for, hoping he’d bounce again after a down 2022. His 1.6 wins above substitute on FanGraphs ranks first amongst Orioles starters.
Dean Kremer: 19 — Only two different pitchers within the majors have allowed extra residence runs than the 19 Kremer has. The right-hander surrendered two extra Friday for 9 in his previous 26 innings. Kremer’s had stretches of success this season, however his ERA on the halfway level is 5.04.
Grayson Rodriguez: 4.84 — To no shock, Rodriguez has dominated Triple-A hitting since being optioned in late May. His 2.51 ERA in 32 1/3 innings with Triple-A Norfolk is 4.84 runs higher than the 7.35 ERA he posted in 45 1/3 innings with Baltimore over the primary two months of the season.
Tyler Wells: 0.885 — Well, this one is clear, wasn’t it? Wells main all certified beginning pitchers in WHIP — at 0.885 by means of 92 2/3 innings — has been a speaking level for a lot of the season. While seeing 19 residence runs allowed on his stat line is jarring, his capacity to maintain runners off base is why he’s been Baltimore’s finest starter and a candidate to make the All-Star Game.
Relief pitchers
Keegan Akin: 3.87 — Akin, who was positioned on the 15-day injured listing Friday, has allowed 35 hits in 23 2/3 innings, however he’s surrendered simply seven walks and two residence runs. That mixture is why his 2.98 fielding unbiased pitching (FIP) — which measures what the pitcher has most management over (walks, strikeouts and residential runs) on an ERA-equivalent scale — is 3.87 runs higher than his 6.85 ERA.
Bryan Baker: 2.21 — Baker’s 11.7 strikeouts-per-nine-innings charge ranks third-best on the Orioles, however his 2.21 strikeout-to-walk ratio is tied for the third worst. Baker, who has had an inconsistent season, has walked 14.2% of the batters he’s confronted this season — probably the most of any pitcher on the workforce.
Mike Baumann: 35.3% — Baumann has emerged as a principally dependable reliever for Hyde, who has at instances deployed the hard-throwing righty in high-leverage conditions to optimistic outcomes. A key motive behind his success is his sharp curveball, which hitters have a .238 slugging proportion in opposition to with a 35.3% swing-and-miss charge.
Félix Bautista: 18.2 — This whole story may very well be devoted to statistical data that outline Bautista’s eye-popping strikeout numbers. But right here’s probably the most fundamental one, because it’s the one that might go down in historical past if the 6-foot-8 right-hander retains his tempo: Bautista is placing out 18.2 batters per 9 innings — a charge that’s nicely above the MLB file of 17.7 set by Aroldis Chapman in 2014.
Yennier Cano: -6.1 — What a half a season could make. Cano went from an unknown reliever with management points to one in every of baseball’s finest sinkerballs up to now few months. This quantity is why. The common batted ball off Cano is hit at negative-6.1 levels — in different phrases, a floor ball — which is the second-lowest common launch angle in opposition to certified pitchers and simply one in every of seven beneath 0 levels.
Danny Coulombe: 78.4% — Coulombe, a 33-year-old journeyman along with his six group, can be having fun with a breakout season. He ranks within the prime quartile in a number of key metrics, together with No. 1 in common exit velocity and hard-hit charge. His unconventional pitch combine is a major motive why Coulombe is having a profession 12 months, as 78.4% of his pitches have been breaking balls, because the left-hander throws a slider, sweeper and curveball.
Cionel Pérez: .317 — Over his first 108 1/3 profession innings earlier than this season, opposing batters had been hitting .227 off Pérez. This 12 months, they’re hitting .317 off him. The left-hander was one in every of Baltimore’s finest relievers in 2022, however he’s struggled for many of 2023 with a 4.60 ERA and 1.84 WHIP.
Austin Voth: 9 — Over his first 22 2/3 innings, Voth walked simply 5 batters. But he walked 9 in his subsequent 8 1/3 earlier than being positioned on the 15-day IL with elbow discomfort that he mentioned he’s handled “off and on” all 12 months. He mentioned Friday the elbow ache was most noticeable when he’d lose his command.
Catchers
James McCann: .497 — In his profession, McCann has a .758 OPS in opposition to left-handed pitchers, and 20 of his 28 begins this 12 months have come in opposition to lefty starters. However, McCann, who might quickly come off the IL, is struggling in opposition to southpaws this 12 months with a .497 OPS in 61 plate appearances.
Adley Rutschman: 52 — With 52 walks, Rutschman is on tempo to grow to be the primary Oriole with a 100-walk season since Albert Belle in 1999. His plate self-discipline and batting eye are vital causes Rutschman is among the finest hitting catchers within the sport, because the switch-hitter ranks within the prime 15% of certified batters in strikeout charge, stroll proportion, chase charge and whiff proportion, based on Baseball Savant.
Infielders
Adam Frazier: .955 — Frazier’s two-run, game-tying residence run Wednesday wasn’t a one-off clutch second. In 53 high-leverage plate appearances this 12 months, the eight-year veteran is hitting .333/.431/.524 — good for a .955 OPS.
Gunnar Henderson: 50.7% — No Oriole hits the ball laborious as usually as Henderson does. While he swings and misses extra usually than virtually another hitter on the workforce, when he makes contact, it’s rated a hard-hit ball by Statcast 50.7% of the time — almost 6 proportion factors higher than another Oriole.
Jorge Mateo: .155 — After a scorching scorching April, Mateo has cooled down severely the previous two months. In 142 at-bats since May 2, Mateo is hitting simply .155. His .618 OPS is the worst amongst Baltimore’s certified hitters.
Ryan Mountcastle: 41.4% — It’s laborious to guage Mountcastle’s season given he’s missed the previous three weeks with vertigo. His .529 anticipated slugging proportion is greater than 100 factors higher than his precise determine, suggesting he’s obtained poor batted-ball luck. On the opposite hand, his 41.4% chase charge is the Tenth-worst within the majors.
Ryan O’Hearn: 93.4 — No Oriole is hitting the ball tougher than O’Hearn. In his first season in Baltimore, O’Hearn has persistently hit the ball laborious with a median exit velocity of 93.4 mph. He doesn’t have sufficient plate appearances to be a professional hitter, however that determine would rank thirteenth within the majors if he did.
Ramón Urías: 101 — In his four-year profession, Urías has been a near-league common hitter — and that’s not totally different this 12 months. Entering Friday, Urías’ OPS+ — a normalized model of OPS through which 100 is league common — was 101 after he posted an OPS+ of 104 final season.
Terrin Vavra: .000 — Vavra has break up his season between Triple-A and the majors, and this quantity is a motive why. In 49 at-bats, Vavra’s remoted energy — the distinction between his batting common and slugging proportion — is .000. He went 12-for-49 with zero extra-base hits earlier than he was optioned to Triple-A in June.
Outfielders
Austin Hays: .316 — No AL hitter has a better batting common than Hays. After his two-hit night time Friday, Hays is hitting .316 throughout his first half that Hyde has repeatedly mentioned ought to earn the left fielder a bid to the All-Star Game.
Aaron Hicks: .369 — Hicks has solely been an Oriole for the previous month, however the worth he’s dropped at the workforce is described by this quantity. After posting a .524 OPS with the New York Yankees earlier than his launch, the 11-year veteran has an .893 OPS with the Orioles — a distinction of .369.
Ryan McKenna: 61 — Only six different place gamers have appeared in additional video games this season than McKenna. As Hyde’s go-to defensive substitute within the outfield, McKenna usually finds himself referred to as upon to play proper discipline late in video games. He has simply 28 extra plate appearances than video games performed.
Cedric Mullins: 1.245 — Before he was positioned on the IL in late May, Mullins was among the many Orioles’ RBI leaders regardless of principally batting within the leadoff spot. The motive for his excessive RBI whole is as a result of Mullins has been the Orioles’ finest hitter with runners in scoring place, getting into Friday with a 1.245 OPS throughout 63 plate appearances in these moments.
Anthony Santander: 12 — Throughout April, Santander managed an influence outage that triggered him to have one of many worst months of his profession. Between May and June, although, the switch-hitter discovered his energy, smashing 12 residence runs to convey his team-leading whole to 14.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com