Orioles: 3 Up, 3 Down September 7th

Every week that we have baseball this season, and enjoy every single one because it could disappear at any given moment, I will be taking note of the three hottest Orioles and the three coldest.

(You can discuss this on the BSL board here.)

3 Up

Keegan Akin – 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 9.2 IP, 6 BB, 14 K, 1.24 WHIP

It took a confluence of events to get Akin into the starting rotation but it finally happened last week. Wade LeBlanc went on the IL with an elbow injury and will miss the remainder of the season and then Tommy Milone was traded before the deadline on Monday. The Orioles 13^th best prospect (according to our ‘On the Verge’ podcast) made the most of his opportunities against two tough lineups this week and has cemented his spot in the rotation for the foreseeable future. On Tuesday in Buffalo against the Blue Jays he started very strong before fading out in the 4^th and 5^th innings. He struck out six over 4.1 innings and the two runs he gave up were on an error after he left the game. He improved on that Saturday, winning a pitching duel against Gerrit Cole, tossing 5.1 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. He has had great command of his mid-90’s fastball and has improved the control of a John Mean’s (2019 version) looking change-up. His breaking ball has been enough to keep hitters honest. The next thing we want to see is him build his pitch count up to work a little deeper into games.

Dean Kremer – 1-0, 1.50 ERA, 6 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 0.67 WHIP

The surprise call up of the year came on Sunday morning when we found out Kremer would be brought up from the alternate site in Bowie to start Sunday’s game against the Yankees. Of course Elias said he was “knocking on the door” in an interview not long ago but we didn’t find out Alex Cobb was going on the IL until after the game on Saturday. It was exciting to finally see a part of the return from the Manny Machado to the Dodgers trade make an impact at the major league level. Kremer led all of the minor leagues in strikeouts in 2018 and he was as advertised on Sunday afternoon. Outside of what appeared to be an adrenaline dump following an excellent first inning he was mixing his mid-90’s fastball, high 80’s cutter/slider, and looping curveball really well to the tune of seven strikeouts over six innings. In that second inning his fastball dipped to 91-92 (when it had topped out at 96) and he couldn’t find the plate to save his life. But he was able to battle and get out of a bases loaded situation only giving up one run. It would’ve been a scoreless inning had third baseman Rio Ruiz been able to cleanly grip the baseball before throwing to first base after stepping on third. While Keegan Akin is more of a back end of the rotation starter or decent relief prospect, Kremer has a higher upside of mid-rotation starter. It was such a fun weekend to win three consecutive games against the Yankees with mostly our young talent leading the way.

DJ Stewart – .444/.615/1.444 (2.060), 5 R, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 9 AB

Speaking of surprises… Stewart was called back up to the majors in the middle of the week with the cited reason being he had been swinging the bat really well in Bowie. He played in both games of the double header against the Yankees on Friday and continued his bizarre season of not getting a hit but walking three times. Anthony Santander’s breakout season has likely ended after he was placed on the Injured List with a strained oblique and a new opportunity opened up for Stewart in right field. It didn’t take long for him to usurp Santander’s powers as he broke his season long hitless streak by crushing homeruns in three consecutive at bats between Saturday and Sunday. In two games he raised his OPS from .385 to .989. With so many injuries (mostly minor) to the top of the opening day lineup it is great timing for Stewart to break out with the bat. I thought his last big shot to make an impression was at the start of the season but he has another opportunity here in the last month of the season.

3 Down

Asher Wojciechowski – 0-0, 5.40 ERA, 5 IP, 7 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 5 K, 1.60 WHIP

It was surprisingly tough to find three guys who tanked this past week. The above line for Wojo is actually not far off his season line (5.17 ERA, 1.44 WHIP) but it was also announced that he is being removed from the rotation. He will enter the bullpen as a swingman and can obviously fill in for a spot start if it is needed. I’m surprised they’re keeping Jorge Lopez in the rotation over him but they must figure they have a better idea of what kind of pitcher Wojo can be than Lopez. Wojo could be pretty good working out of the bullpen leaning on his above average slider to get through a lineup one time through the order. He’ll help bridge the gap between the increasingly young rotation and the surprisingly efficient back of the bullpen. He strikes almost a batter an inning out and has a nearly 3:1 K/BB ratio but has given up eight homeruns in only 31.1 innings. Maybe his fastball can tick up a bit pitching in relief to help in trying to limit the long ball.

Chance Sisco – .200/.294/.333 (.627), 2 doubles, 1 BB, 4 K, 15 AB

Sisco is such an interesting player to follow. Of course his defensive liabilities have been covered extensively but I do think he has made some small improvements in that regard. At the plate he always has good plate discipline and knows the strike zone well but also has a lot of swing and miss in his game leading to a high strikeout percentage. He has power but it seems to come in bursts. In the minor leagues he is a career .305 hitter over almost 2,000 at bats but it hasn’t translated to the majors yet. This season he is hitting .235 but his on base percentage is close to .400 and he has a solid ISO. If he could ever make enough contact to get close to his batting average in the minors he would be a great piece to have in a lineup especially as a guy who can play catcher, even if its not particularly well. He may be sacrificing average for power because he never had big power numbers in the minors but I hope he continues to develop into a player that can be a part of the next competitive Orioles team.

Renato Nunez – .136/.136/.545 (.682), 3 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 10 K, 22 AB

Strange week for the streaky Nunez. He only had three hits but they were all homeruns. He struck out 10 times and didn’t walk once. It was all or nothing. He also missed a couple games with a nagging hamstring injury. Perhaps that could have been… hamstringing his performance. Terrible dad jokes aside these kind of injuries are really frustrating because they tend not to be serious enough to require a trip to the injured list but they bother the player enough to effect their performance. Just look at Jose Iglesias. His lower leg injury has kept him mostly off of the field and in a DH role when he was signed to be a defensive first shortstop. Luckily he’s hitting around .400 on the season despite that but a guy like Nunez who is more reliant on his power might be better off going on the IL until he is at or near full strength. Monday is a day off so hopefully that is enough to let him rest his hamstring and come back strong in the second week of September.