Here are my observations about the Orioles 16 games into the season.
1. Is Jorge Mateo going to complicate things in the Orioles’ middle infield?
While catcher Adley Rutschman is getting most of the hype — and don’t get me wrong, it is deserved — it is Jorge Mateo, not Rutschman, who has been the Orioles’ most productive position player thus far. With three home runs, eight steals, 12 RBIs and 13 runs scored, Mateo is really been playing at a superhuman level. In addition to those numbers, he is playing mostly sensational defense at shortstop, and his slash line is .372/.431/.651.
Almost every Birdland resident who follows the O’s closely has assumed that Gunnar Henderson, Joey Ortiz and Jordan Westburg would be next up at shortstop before Jackson Holliday eventually took over the position. But Mateo is just 27 years old. If somehow the light bulb has turned on and we see a more modest but still very productive version of this player, it’s really not a bad problem to have.
2. Cole Irvin was merely the lowest-hanging fruit when a desperate situation called for staff reinforcements.
Nobody is saying the Orioles don’t have a right to be more than a bit disappointed with lefty starter Cole Irvin. His numbers through his first three starts: 0-2 with a 10.66 ERA and 1.97 WHIP. Let’s be clear, this is not what the Orioles signed up for when they gave up a solid infield prospect in Darell Hernaiz. But it’s not like GM Mike Elias turned to manager Brandon Hyde, who then turned to pitching coach Chris Holt and the three shrugged their shoulders and said, “This guy is a bum and we made an horrific mistake and we have to just get rid of him.”
No, the Orioles rather quickly digested that lousy start against the Athletics on April 13 and let an unknowing Irvin address the media and talk about how he knew he needed to put in the work for his next start. The Orioles have not been getting many innings out of their starters save for Kyle Gibson. Consequently, they knew they needed a fresh arm in the ‘pen (Yennier Canó) and an emergency long man (Spenser Watkins) heading into their weekend series in Chicago. Canó gave the Orioles a couple of big outings and remains with the club. Watkins is back at Triple-A Norfolk with Keegan Akin activated from the paternity list.
3. The Orioles’ bench has been nonexistent to date.
Brandon Hyde is a firm believer in keeping everyone involved. In fact, it’s one of the things I really like about his style. Earl Weaver’s strongest trait as a manager was being a firm believer that if a player was on his roster, he had to have confidence in him or else the player simply shouldn’t be on the roster. Having said that, Mike Elias has to figure out a couple twists to the bench he has currently put together for Hyde.
Sure, we’re only 16 games in, but Terrin Vavra, Ryan McKenna, James McCann and Kyle Stowers (before he was optioned to Norfolk) have combined for eight hits, two doubles, three RBIs and six walks. Ryan O’Hearn came up last week against the A’s. While he hasn’t homered yet, he does have five RBIs to go with a .600 batting average and a 1.371 OPS. For a team with the No. 1 farm system in the game, this bench shouldn’t be heavy lifting to improve.
4. GM Mike Elias made a smart move in acquiring lefty Danny Coulombe just before the season.
Kudos to Orioles scouts for spotting a solid pickup in lefty reliever Danny Coulombe. He tossed nine innings for the Twins this spring and didn’t allow an earned run. So far in the early going, he has picked up where he left off. Coulombe has tossed 6.2 regular-season innings, allowing one earned run. He holds a 1.35 ERA of 1.35 and a 0.45 WHIP. Opponents are batting just .130 against him.
Meanwhile, the Twins just called up lefty Brent Headrick, who they’ll just now try to turn into a cog in their bullpen. Last year he pitched at the High-A and Double-A levels to mixed results — a 2.34 ERA at the High-A level across 65.1 innings and a 4.81 ERA at Double-A across 43 innings. To date in 2023, Headrick has an ERA of 6.00 in nine innings with Triple-A St. Paul. Meanwhile, the O’s have given Brandon Hyde someone he is quickly developing a good bit of trust in.
5. Grayson Rodriguez probably gets to stay in the bigs with the way he finished up against the White Sox.
It was a miserable day to pitch — windy, cold and wet — but that’s what Grayson Rodriguez had to deal with in Chicago on April 16. Rodriguez, after allowing two homers and four runs in the bottom of the first against the White Sox, looked to be a prime candidate to be sent back to the minors this week with Kyle Bradish due back. But he suddenly started looking like the No. 1 pitching prospect in the game. In his last four innings, Rodriguez allowed zero runs, three base hits (two infield hits) and one walk and struck out seven.
Sure, his overall line through his first two starts is not overly impressive: 14.1 innings, 11 earned runs, 16 hits, seven walks and two homers. That comes to a 6.91 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and a batting average against of .276. Those numbers kind of shout “not ready for prime time yet.” But perhaps the horrid first inning and miserable weather combined to take the pressure off Rodriguez’s broad shoulders. Whatever happened, he looked the part of a really good pitcher for four innings, and those four innings have probably given the Orioles a concrete enough reason to not send Rodriguez back to Norfolk. Instead, he’ll probably get a second home start against the Tigers this weekend.
Photo Credits: Kenya Allen/PressBox