Welcome to the second part of my series getting you caught up on the Orioles. Last week I answered some questions you might have about Adley Rutschman, so this week I’m going to try to get you up to speed on the rest of the roster. Let’s take a closer look at Rutschman’s teammates.
How are last year’s stars doing?
Even if you weren’t actively watching the 2021 Orioles, I’m going to make a reasonable assumption you knew four of the team’s major players: Trey Mancini, John Means, Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins.
Mancini heroically recovered from cancer to make the finals of Home Run Derby while playing in 147 games after missing all of 2020. Meanwhile, Means provided the team’s first solo no-hitter since 1969 and Mountcastle led all rookies in homers. Lastly, Mullins gave the Orioles their first ever 30-30 season and started the All-Star Game in centerfield.
So, let’s provide some updates on what they’ve been doing in 2022.
With his cancer scare fully behind him, Mancini has the second-best OPS on the team and is the only player with a batting average above .300. After a slow start in April with a .590 OPS, he enjoyed a much more successful May with a .910 OPS that included a very strong .363 average. There are certainly questions about his future with the team given his age and contract status, but for now, Mancini is a reliably productive part of this year’s lineup.
While Mancini has been healthy the whole year, the same is unfortunately not true for Means. The left-handed staff ace had to get Tommy John surgery after pitching in just two games this year and will be out for the rest of 2022.
As for Mountcastle and Mullins, they’re both struggling to find their power after each of them hit at least 30 homers last year.
After producing a .487 slugging percentage in 2021, Mountcastle is slugging .401 this season. In 2021, Mountcastle started crushing the ball in June after an underwhelming first two months, so we’ll need to hope that the warm weather once again leads to a boost in his production.
Mullins has seen a much steeper decline in his slugging percentage, going from .518 in 2021 to .365 in 2022. While the decrease in power is certainly a concern, his speed remains the same as ever. He’s 11-for-13 on stolen bases and is fifth in MLB for steals. It’s probably too early to declare his 30-30 season a complete fluke, but we can reasonably assume he won’t provide us with another 30-homer season this year.
The pitching is bad again, right?
Not really, no.
The Orioles as a team are 22nd in ERA with a 4.12 figure. That’s not especially inspiring, but it is a major improvement from 2021’s dead-last team ERA of 5.85. A key part of their success has been improved control, ranking 13th for BB/9 after being 23rd in 2021.
Much like the winning teams from the 2010s, this is a pitching staff with a stronger bullpen than rotation. They have the sixth-best bullpen ERA in the league and have done an excellent job keeping the ball in the park with a HR/9 in the top ten.
Two of the bullpen’s biggest success stories have come from turning failed starters into useful bullpen pieces: Jorge Lopez and Keegan Akin.
In 2021, Lopez started 25 times while having a very obvious issue with pitching in the fifth inning. He allowed an astronomical 14.79 ERA during the fifth, allowing hitters to produce a 1.256 OPS in 84 opposing plate appearances. Now, Lopez doesn’t need to worry about the fifth inning because he’s the closer. His ERA has fallen from 6.07 to 1.17 and his WHIP dropped from 1.627 to 1.071. He is yet to allow a homer in 23.1 innings of work and has allowed just one double and one triple.
While Lopez has found new life as the closer, Akin has been reinvigorated by becoming a long reliever. Akin has appeared in 13 games this year and in each of those games, he has lasted at least two innings. He has a WHIP under 1.000 and an ERA under 2.00 while being expected to last longer in games than any other regular member of the bullpen.
As for the rotation, former closer Tyler Wells is currently looking like the biggest bright spot. He ended May with six scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and had an ERA of 2.93 for the month. He’s also been truly excellent at avoiding walks, owning a BB/9 that puts him in the top ten among all starters with at least 40 innings this year.
It’s reasonable to assume that this team’s pitching staff will get worse as the year progresses, especially without Means. However, at least for now, the Orioles have a group of pitchers who aren’t embarrassing themselves and don’t have a team ERA that sits in the basement.
Besides Adley, who is new that I should know?
The most enjoyable new Oriole this year has to be Felix Bautista and it’s very easy to explain why: he throws the ball really hard.
Bautista has thrown a pitch at least 100 mph on 24 occasions this season and there are only ten pitchers who have done that more often than him.
His velocity has led to a very solid start to his rookie season with a 2.25 ERA and 10.4 K/9.
Another rookie pitcher worth highlighting is Kyle Bradish.
Bradish was ranked as the team’s #9 prospect in January by BSL’s prospects experts at On The Verge and has been in the MLB rotation since April 29. He’s had a bit of a rough start to his career with a 7.31 ERA, but he’s also shown flashes of brilliance, like his start against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 10. At Busch Stadium, he lasted seven innings and recorded 11 strikeouts while allowing two earned runs.
Bradish’s growing pains are common for a prospect and I’d wait for more than 28.1 innings to panic. Either way, it’s still much more exciting to watch someone who has a chance to be part of the future take the mound instead of a random veteran like Wade LeBlanc or Tommy Milone.
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).