O's Magic: Gunnar is GUNNING!
Quick Hits from Orioles sweep and offensive explosion over Minnesota!
Welcome back to another edition of ‘O’s Magic’, a Cool Sports Newsletter series made by a die hard Orioles fan. The Baltimore Orioles completed their sweep over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, improving to 12-6 thanks to an offensive explosion. Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins, Jordan Westburg; you name it. And oh yeah, who knew how good Albert Suarez was?! Here are the quick hits from perhaps Baltimore’s best series of the season!
Things That Were Intriguing
Gunnar is Gunning
I never mentioned it, but I was starting to get concerned about Gunnar Henderson. He was playing very inconsistently with a bad balance between his power and contact hitting. However, I think we now all know he’s more than back! Gunnar homered in all three games, totaling five RBI’s while going 7-13 for the series. Gunnar is hitting the ball with power, but also now for the season is batting just below .290. He’s 4th in the MLB in home runs and 11th in RBI’s. Now, he is swing-happy, striking out in every game of the series. However, if Henderson keeps this going, the MVP conversations may be headlined by the 22 year old!
Suarez or SOARez?
We got the shocking news on Tuesday afternoon that Tyler Wells had been designated to the 15-day IL, leaving a huge whole in Baltimore’s rotation for the very next day. So out of the many, not-ideal options for the Orioles, they decided to go with 34 year old AAA pitcher Albert Suarez. Suarez, who hadn’t pitched in Major League Baseball since 2017, came into the game with a 5.87 ERA with the Tides. In this game with the Orioles, he went 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, allowing just three base runners and no runs. He also allowed no walks, showing he was in command. This was because he threw strikes on 50 of his efficient 75 pitches. Now, you have to think he won’t do anything like this again. But for the mean time, I think Brandon Hyde will keep Suarez in the rotation and give him a chance to prove this wasn’t a fluke performance. Nonetheless, it helped Baltimore stay in control and get the sweep.
Orioles Offense
To begin the season, the O’s offense was average. However, they are turning into one of if not the best offense in Major League Baseball. The Orioles are leading the MLB in home runs by a large amount with 30 bombs. In fact, Baltimore is on pace for over 270 home runs, which would be a top ten mark in history! We mentioned Gunnar Henderson, but Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle are all batting above .300, and that doesn’t even include the two homers (one walk-off) in this series from Cedric Mullins and the four home runs from Anthony Santander. They have a full-lineup that can hit and produce at any moment.
In fact, along with their home run ranking the Orioles now rank top ten for the season in OPS (3rd), batting average (7th), Slugging (2nd) RBI’s (4th), runs (5th), hits (9th), triples (10th), XBH% (2nd) and strikeout rate (9th). This Orioles offense—which is yet to see high level production from their franchise player Adley Rutschman, All Star Austin Hays and No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday—is dangerous, and is looking like one MLB teams’ are going to have to fear for the remainder of the season!
Areas That Need Work
Santa Doesn’t Bring Hits For the Holliday’s!
We brought up Jackson Holliday’s early struggles after his first few games about a week ago. Didn’t think it would carry on. But oh it has! Holliday went hit-less in this series, and the undisputed best prospect in Major League Baseball is 1-25 with two total on-base appearances. He’s appeared on base on error’s and fielders choices, allowing him to score four runs. But Holliday is not making great contact and not elevating the baseball. I’m not panicking…but also am as a .077 OBP is not what I expected through 26 plate appearances from the league’s best prospect.
Starters Can’t Make It Long
This series we finally saw Baltimore’s pitching fatigue. In the previous series the Orioles starting pitchers were not making it far. It wasn’t until Grayson Rodriguez in game two of this series that the Orioles had a starter pitch more than five innings since the final game of their six game road trip…from Rodriguez. Grayson has been so important to this team with his ability to stay in the game for long periods of time. However, no other pitcher has really done that consistently. And it’s had an effect on the bullpen. Keegan Akin, Jacob Webb and other high quality pitchers Baltimore has in the pen aren’t going far into innings, as we saw in game three of this series where five relievers pitched for a combined 3 1/3 innings. The Orioles starters need to start to be more efficient with each time they step on the mound, or the bullpen will face the consequences.
Hit or Miss…Literally
The Orioles can hit for home runs and extra-base hits, but they need to do a better job at walking. This was one of their key offensive attributes last season, especially from guys like Adley Rutschman. However, the Orioles are now dead-last in the MLB in walks by a sizable margin with just 44. Part of this could be because the Orioles are hitting the ball more, meaning there are less opportunities for them to get on base in different ways. And the Orioles have found a way to have a decent strikeout rate in the process. So it’s not something to be totally concerned about. But when the Orioles do slow down when it comes to their home run rate, I’m afraid their increase in swing rate will come back to bite them, and their on base percentage will suffer because of it. The Orioles are literally hit or miss. Recently they’ve hit it. But when they get cold, I’m afraid they’re going to miss it really bad!
Nonetheless, what a series from Baltimore. The Orioles have won seven of nine and entered the legitimate World Series contention category. They need some more consistency from Jackson Holliday and need their starters to go longer into games so that the bullpen doesn’t suffer. However, this Orioles offense is booming, and it’s looking like another fun summer in Charm City!
Chase Coburn
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