On Wednesday night, the Baltimore Orioles reached the halfway point of their 60-game season, which makes this a perfect time to examine how this team’s players have performed compared to their prior seasons. Let’s specifically take a look at some Orioles pitchers and see what notable numbers are different from prior seasons. 

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

Tanner Scott is a ground ball machine: Tanner Scott has the lowest ERA and WHIP of his career. You’d think this would be a result of improved control from the erratic left-hander, but that’s not really the case. His BB/9 has dropped from 2019’s 6.5 to 5.4 this year, but that’s still less than ideal. He’s also not increasing his strikeouts, going from a 12.6 K/9 in 2019 to 10.8 in 2020. The key to Scott’s success through his 13 games and 11.2 innings is a massive increase in grounders. After posting a ground ball percentage of exactly 50.0 in 2019, that number has increased to 70.8 percent this year. There are 171 relievers who have pitched at least 10 innings this year and only three of them have been getting more grounders than Scott. The Statcast data also reflects this, with Scott allowing an average launch angle of 0.4 degrees, a major improvement from 2019’s 6.2 degrees. Of the 458 pitchers with at least 25 PA, Scott’s average launch angle ranks 16th. 

Miguel Castro is getting more strikeouts and fewer walks, but allowing more hard contact: For a pitcher, it’s almost always an encouraging sign when you’re boosting strike outs and reducing walks. Miguel Castro is striking out exactly one third of the hitters he’s faced this year, while allowing a walk to less than 10 percent of the batters he’s faced, for the first time since arriving in Baltimore. It’s easy to see how his strikeouts have gone up just from following @PitchingNinja on Twitter, where you can find the nastiest pitches from around baseball. Castro has made multiple appearances with his impressive movement, such as this incredible fastball.

When Castro isn’t getting swings and misses on his pitches, they’re being hit pretty hard. After a hard hit percentage of around 30 percent his first three years in Baltimore, that figure has rocketed up to 50 percent this year. After a 2019 average exit velocity of 87 MPH, that’s increased to 93 MPH this year. When batters are able to put the ball in the air against Castro, it’s much more likely to become a homer than in prior years. His homer to fly ball ratio has almost doubled from last year, going from 14.3 percent to 27.3 percent, meaning over a quarter of his fly balls are now becoming homers.  

Mychal Givens is having shorter relief appearances and it’s paying off: Last season, Mychal Givens pitched to at least six batters in 13 of his 58 appearances. This year, none of his 12 appearances have seen him face a sixth batter, with five of his appearances ending after the fifth batter. The reduced load for Givens has led to key improvements from his 2019 season: his WHIP, ERA, FIP, K/9 and HR/9 are all better this year. His 13.2 K/9 is a career high, while a WHIP of 1.000 is his best figure since 2015. Givens is perhaps the most interesting trade chip for the Orioles and his excellent 2020 could prove important to the rebuild in the players he brings back in a trade.

Tommy Milone has improved just about everything: After Opening Day, would you have believed Tommy Milone’s ERA would be sitting at 3.99? His Orioles debut at Fenway Park saw him allow four runs in three innings, good for an ERA of 12.00. Since then, he’s posted a 3.08 ERA in five starts, including facing the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals twice. Milone’s ERA is reflective of the greater success he’s had pitching this year: his 9.5 K/9 is the best of his career, as is his 24.0 strikeout percentage. Unsurprisingly, Milone’s increase in strikeouts has also caused batters to swing and miss more than last year, creating a 27.2 percent whiff rate after sitting at 22.9 percent in 2019. The development of Tommy Milone isn’t meaningful to the long term success of the Orioles but with Baltimore just 1.5 games out of making the playoffs entering Thursday night, Milone’s improvement could go a long way towards a surprising postseason appearance or at the very least, playing meaningful baseball in September.

Rose Katz
Rose Katz

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).

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