Orioles: 3 Up, 3 Down September 28th

The Baltimore Orioles 2020 season has ended. Here we take note of the three hottest Orioles and the three coldest during this past last week of action.

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

3 Up

Alex Cobb – 1-0, 1.29 ERA, 7 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 1.14 WHIP

Cobb saved his best start of the season for last going seven strong innings against the AL East winning Tampa Bay Rays. He really had his splitter working against his former team inducing a lot of weak contact. This outing pushed his ERA down to a respectable 4.30 for the season and gave him enough innings to save a chunk of next year’s contract from being deferred. This shouldn’t have to be said but kudos to the Orioles for allowing him to earn that. Unfortunately more times than not teams would mess around with a guy’s playing time to help their bottom line financially. Cobb enters the offseason on the last year of his contract and could be an interesting trade chip either over the next several months or before the 2021 trade deadline. Outside of a cautionary IL stint due to a fever his body stayed healthy over an entire season for the first time as an Oriole. Obviously that was in a season that was around one third the length of a typical one but we’ll take it.

Austin Hays – .423/.429/.692 (1.121), 7 R, 1 double, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 26 AB

Austin Hays loves September. That’s what I get from watching him play the last two seasons. And to be fair to him, he might just love hitting because the last two Septembers are two out of the three months that he has played baseball at the major league level since 2017 when he first got a cup of coffee. August 2020 wasn’t good but he started the season by hitting into some bad luck and then was injured on a pitch that hit him in the ribs. He wasn’t hitting for much pop to begin this campaign but that has never been an issue in his professional career and he came off the injured list hitting the ball with much more authority. He is an aggressive player in every facet of the game which part of why he can play all three outfield positions and be a plus for the team on defense. His approach at the plate will never be DJ Stewart level but he should be fine as long as he continues to make good contact at a consistent level.

Ramon Urias – .400/.429/.650 (1.079), 3 R, 2 doubles, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 20 AB

This one is a little frustrating. Not because Urias came up at the end of the season and showed some success in a limited run. That is certainly a good thing on a team that lacks depth at the infield positions not named first base at the upper levels of their system. The problem is we carried the dead weight that was Andrew Velazquez on the roster almost all season as he hit an empty .159. He was fast and could play decent defense at multiple positions but couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag. It could be a similar story for Urias in the long run but he showed off a solid glove up the middle while also hitting an impressive opposite field homerun this week. Going into an offseason that will see a lot of change on the 40 man roster due to a bunch of intriguing minor leaguers/prospects needing to be added or else being eligible to be taken in the rule 5 draft this winter, Urias did his best to make a case to survive the roster churn.

3 Down

Dean Kremer – 0-1, 23.63 ERA, 2.2 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 2 K, 3.75 WHIP

It was all good for Kremer since making his major league debut a couple weeks ago even if in his last start or two he grinded out not having his best stuff. His last start of the 2020 season was almost the opposite. His first inning consisted of some bad luck with only one hard hit ball resulting in two runs. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to settle down after a bad start this time around and he was pulled before being able to get out of the third inning. The hits just kept falling in and not so much from bad luck after that first inning. His command was alluding him as evidenced by the three walks he allowed. He had a small cut under his finger nail that could’ve played a factor in that but he said after the game that it wasn’t bothering him. I’m still bullish on Kremer being a mid to bottom of the rotation starter. Young starters are going to have bumps and bruises unless they’re a top of the rotation guy. It would have been nice to see him get a few more starts this year but I think its safe to pencil him into the 2021 rotation to start the season.

Jorge Lopez – 0-1, 36.00, 2 IP, 9 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 5.00 WHIP

Lopez had been pitching pretty well out of the Orioles rotation since being acquired from the Kansas City Royals, even enough to get a fluff piece written about him in the Baltimore Sun talking about how the team thinks he could be a mainstay in their rotation. That should’ve been a sign that a bad start was coming. And in fact Lopez went out and laid an egg, getting lit up for nine hits over only two innings. He just didn’t have it Friday night against the Blue Jays. I don’t see the optimism when it comes to this guy. I know he was once a top prospect for the Brewers but sinkers are out of vogue in major league baseball and that is his most thrown pitch. All of his metrics on Baseball Savant are in dark blue except for fastball velocity. He will make some good pitches and then just leave a pitch center cut for a batter to hit hard. I have a hard time seeing Lopez make it to spring training still on the roster unless he makes it through waivers. Maybe the team really is high on him and foresees the changes need to be made for him to be successful. If that is the case I hope we get to see it come to fruition. I’m skeptical.

Pedro Severino – .071/.071/.071 (.143), 14 AB

I feel bad for picking on Severino the past few weeks but he has just been completely lost at the plate for the last month of the season. In September he batted .159 with a .438 OPS. Its not like he can lean on his defense to provide value. He has frequent mental lapses, more passed balls than you would like, and is in the bottom 15% in pitch framing. He does have a great arm with a solid pop time and has shown the ability to pick runners off. He enters this offseason arbitration eligible for the first time. We talked on the latest episode of ‘On the Verge’ about how he won’t be non-tendered but could be a trade candidate (less likely now after his September) even if it is before the next trade deadline to make room for Adley Rutschman’s debut (wishful thinking). Between him and Chance Sisco the Orioles had one of the best catching tandems in the league through August and I can only imagine one of the worst over the last month. But both should be back in the same role to start 2021.