Now that the 2023 Baltimore Orioles have completed April, it seems like a good time to analyze some strategic trends that have emerged under manager Brandon Hyde. Here’s a closer look at platoon bats, the batting order and the bullpen.
There are several platoon bats
Brandon Hyde’s lineups this year have featured four players whose playing time is largely dependent on the pitcher’s handedness: Ryan McKenna, James McCann, Ryan O’Hearn and Terrin Vavra.
You can probably guess that the right-handed McKenna and McCann have mainly faced left-handed pitching, while the left-handed O’Hearn and Vavra have ended up seeing plenty of righties on the mound.
McKenna and McCann have each seen over 70 percent of their plate appearances come against left-handed pitching, a much higher rate than other righty bats like Austin Hays or Jorge Mateo.
The decision to keep McKenna and McCann away from right-handed pitching currently makes sense when seeing their production against lefties: they both own an OPS above .800. McCann is also one of just three Orioles to hit multiple homers against a southpaw this year, with the other two being Ryan Mountcastle and Jorge Mateo. McKenna’s early usage as a platoon bat is also a major change from last year, where he saw a left-hander in 40.1 percent of his PAs.
Meanwhile, O’Hearn and Vavra have both seen right-handed pitching in over 90 percent of their PAs.
The disparity in production seeing almost exclusively righties also helps to explain why only one of these hitters is currently in the majors. O’Hearn has held his own against right-handed pitching with a .789 OPS, while Vavra’s OPS against righties is .561. That .561 OPS has included zero extra-base hits, which is never a great way to keep yourself in the majors.
Now that Kyle Stowers has returned to the major league roster, we’ll also have to see how much he’s hidden from left-handed pitchers going forward. Stowers saw a righty in 95.9 percent of his PAs last year and this year he’s seen a righty 90 percent of the time.
Cedric Mullins does not have a stable lineup spot vs lefties
Let’s stick with the theme of pitcher handedness by looking at Cedric Mullins. While Mullins isn’t being treated like a platoon bat, he’s still being used differently depending on that day’s starting pitcher.
Against right-handed pitching Mullins has exclusively batted leadoff this year, while left-handed pitching has been much of an inconsistent lineup spot. Mullins has spent time batting both leadoff and in the bottom third of the lineup against left-handed starters.
Mullins at the bottom of the lineup would make sense if he’s been struggling vs lefties this year, but that hasn’t been the case so far.
Mullins owns a .900 OPS after 44 PAs against left-handed pitching this year, a noticeably better figure than fellow lefties Gunnar Henderson (.424) and Adam Frazier (.656). In fact, his .900 OPS left-on-left ranks second among players with at least 40 left-on-left PAs. He’s been more productive against lefties this year than players like Kyle Tucker, Rafael Devers, Matt Olson and Juan Soto.
As long as Mullins is starting, his spot in the lineup isn’t that important. However, his early production against lefties this year certainly has looked like someone who should be your leadoff hitter no matter the starting pitcher.
Yennier Cano wasted no time getting high-leverage chances
It seems like conventional wisdom that if you promote a reliever from AAA, you’d want to ease him into the major league bullpen. Perhaps give him the fifth inning after an underwhelming start or the sixth inning in a game where you have a comfortable lead.
None of that happened with Yennier Cano.
Cano made his first MLB appearance of 2023 in quite the pickle: runners on second and first with one out and the Orioles holding a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning. He induced a double play to end the inning and his 2023 season was off and running.
Since then, Cano has continued to earn chances when the games are close in the late innings.
According to the leverage index from Baseball-Reference, only Felix Bautista has consistently pitched in important situations more often than Cano. Cano has never appeared before the seventh inning in his ten appearances this year, with half of his 12 innings coming during the eighth.
Cano’s sudden emergence also creates some intriguing decisions for the bullpen once Dillon Tate and Mychal Givens return. Cano has been impressive, but will he remain the main setup man over a pair of relievers with a track record longer than one month?
Of course, there’s also the possibility this swings in the other direction. Cano’s WHIP of 0.083 isn’t quite sustainable, but perhaps another month of outpitching Bautista could earn Cano the closer job.
Either way, it was quite noteworthy that Cano was immediately used in big spots and after ten appearances, it hasn’t backfired yet.
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).