A good year for O's rookies

[wildcard]

It has not been talked about much but overall the O's have a pretty impressive rookie class this year. Here is a run down:

1. Dylan Bundy: has cemented himself into the rotation in the 2nd half. He ranks at least 3rd in the rotation and some may rank him higher. His progress has been nothing short of amazing considering the small amount of innings he pitched in the minors.

2. Mychal Givens: Yes, this is Givens rookie year. He pitcher only 35 inning in 2015 between April-August which is the requirement. He has done well in short relief for the O's and has been a key reliever to nail down wins since Darren O'Day went down to injury.

3. Hung-Soo Kim: A different kind of rookie for sure but under the rules he is rookie qualified. His on-base percentage as been just what the O's were looking for when they signed him last winter. His defense is average as he catches what he get to. He has been a fine addition vs right-handed pitching this year.

4. Joey Rickard: He did so well early in the season that when he went out with a thumb injury he has been missed. That certainly says something about the rookie. He hits lefties well and plays all three outfield positions well enough for a backup. He was an up grade defensively in right field late in games.

5. Donnie Hart: Nothing like putting up zeros to get people's attention. He has replaced Matusz and seems to be able to hold on to that lefty spot in the pen. He will be a rookie again next year as he only spent 29 days between April-August in the majors. Well short of the 45 days allowed.

Tyler Wilson and Mike Wright both entered the season as rookies but neither really established himselves in the majors. I would think they would begin next year at AAA and ride the shuttle next year looking for opportunities to show they belong as major leaguers.

[canonfaz]

Nice write up. 2 of those 5 were not in the organization at all last year. It will be interesting to see what rookies Dan brings in next year too.

Hopefully one of Wright or Wilson can contribute next year. Wright has the stuff be be an average starter in the big leagues IMO. He seems to have mastered AAA, but sometimes people just can't make the transition to facing a big league lineup. Maybe they will begin the experiment of him coming out of the bullpen exclusively soon.

[Frobby]

I'm pretty ecstatic with Bundy, who has done more than I ever expected this year. Frankly, Givens hasn't been as good as I expected. His ERA, H/9 and BB/9 are all way up from last year. I had expected some regression, but not this much. No doubt he has had many good games, but he has been very erratic since mid-June. Kim and Rickard have been solid compared to my expectations, and Hart came out of nowhere to be solid out of the pen.

Wright and Wilson have disappointed me. I wasn't expecting great things from either one, but neither one established any consistency. In both cases, their command of their stuff is not consistent enough. Their walk rates are OK but they throw too many pitches in the fat part of the strike zone.

On balance, it's a decent overall showing. Long term, the solid showing from Bundy is more important than the weak showings of Wright and Wilson. I think Givens has it in him to be better than he has shown this year.

[Redskins Rick]

I'm pretty ecstatic with Bundy, who has done more than I ever expected this year. Frankly, Givens hasn't been as good as I expected. His ERA, H/9 and BB/9 are all way up from last year. I had expected some regression, but not this much. No doubt he has had many good games, but he has been very erratic since mid-June. Kim and Rickard have been solid compared to my expectations, and Hart came out of nowhere to be solid out of the pen.

Wright and Wilson have disappointed me. I wasn't expecting great things from either one, but neither one established any consistency. In both cases, their command of their stuff is not consistent enough. Their walk rates are OK but they throw too many pitches in the fat part of the strike zone.

On balance, it's a decent overall showing. Long term, the solid showing from Bundy is more important than the weak showings of Wright and Wilson. I think Givens has it in him to be better than he has shown this year.

I think what brothers me some about Wright and Wilson.

We let Davis and E-Rod go, because we had better pitchers higher on the food chain, and so far, that has not looked good about org evaluation.

[Frobby]

I think what brothers me some about Wright and Wilson.

We let Davis and E-Rod go, because we had better pitchers higher on the food chain, and so far, that has not looked good about org evaluation.

I don't think anyone was under the illusion that Wright or Wilson was a better prospect than EdRod, who had made several top 100 lists. That was simply the price that the Red Sox were able to extract for Miller. As to Davies, I'm not quite sure what Duquette thought. He certainly tried to defend the deal by saying that Wright and Wilson had some major league experience and Davies did not, and implied that he did not want to give up guys who were major league-ready. But I've never heard any indication that the Brewers would have wanted Wright or Wilson instead. To me, it was pretty obvious that Davies was the better prospect, based on his age and his steady progress through our system.

[Redskins Rick]

I don't think anyone was under the illusion that Wright or Wilson was a better prospect than EdRod, who had made several top 100 lists. That was simply the price that the Red Sox were able to extract for Miller. As to Davies, I'm not quite sure what Duquette thought. He certainly tried to defend the deal by saying that Wright and Wilson had some major league experience and Davies did not, and implied that he did not want to give up guys who were major league-ready. But I've never heard any indication that the Brewers would have wanted Wright or Wilson instead. To me, it was pretty obvious that Davies was the better prospect, based on his age and his steady progress through our system.

I can understand that.

Miller was a higher price, and we needed to keep him out of Detroit.

Parra turned out to be a big bust, thats for sure.

[jamalshw]

Overall, I like what Kim has done and would like to see him get a chance at playing full-time at least next year. Give him LF and see what he does against righties and lefties. As for Rickard, we saw the best of him in April and then not so much after. I think he's still a good 4th OF moving forward and that's a useful role for him to play at around league minimum next year.

Obviously, Bundy is the most important one here. That's huge.

When you think about Wilson and Wright, I guess it depends on expectations. I didn't have much for either as starting pitchers. I'd love to see is convert Wright into a relief arm and see if his stuff can get an extra little bump. Wilson, meanwhile, is more of a swing-guy at best for me. He's a useful guy to have to eat innings and fill-in for injuries from time-to-time, but that's it.

[wildcard]

I'm pretty ecstatic with Bundy, who has done more than I ever expected this year. Frankly, Givens hasn't been as good as I expected. His ERA, H/9 and BB/9 are all way up from last year. I had expected some regression, but not this much. No doubt he has had many good games, but he has been very erratic since mid-June. Kim and Rickard have been solid compared to my expectations, and Hart came out of nowhere to be solid out of the pen.

Wright and Wilson have disappointed me. I wasn't expecting great things from either one, but neither one established any consistency. In both cases, their command of their stuff is not consistent enough. Their walk rates are OK but they throw too many pitches in the fat part of the strike zone.

On balance, it's a decent overall showing. Long term, the solid showing from Bundy is more important than the weak showings of Wright and Wilson. I think Givens has it in him to be better than he has shown this year.

I think O'Day's injury made Buck pitch Givens in situations that he would not have seen if O'Day had been healthy.

[Redskins Rick]

I think O'Day's injury made Buck pitch Givens in situations that he would not have seen if O'Day had been healthy.

True, but Givens has some uneven splits that doesn't make too much sense, and even Buck has mentioned it.

[LookitsPuck]

I think O'Day's injury made Buck pitch Givens in situations that he would not have seen if O'Day had been healthy.

Agreed. But at the same time, you can't just keep running Givens out there in situations that make him fail.

I mean...this is pretty absurd:

Against righties: .160/.254/.258 - .512 OPS, 186 plate appearances

Against lefties: .390/.484/.597 - 1.081 OPS, 92 plate appearances

Essentially 50% of the time he faces a lefty, he gets on base. 40% of the time, they get a hit. 1/3 of the time that they get a hit, it's either a double or a homer.

Buck really needs to stop being pigheaded w/ Givens. These are extreme splits. So much so, that I think Buck really bungled that Wednesday game.

Guess who has the loss from that Tampa game?

Givens.

Guess who hit a double that scored the go ahead run?

Corey Dickerson.

Guess which side of the plate Corey bats from?

Left.

Buck really should be handling the bullpen better in terms of matchups. This isn't something new. Givens has had extreme splits against lefties all year. It hasn't gotten better.

A proper scenario could have been to pull a Matusz...when he faced a righty, he walked/pitched around them. When he faced lefties, he went right after them.

Givens should do the same in reverse. But it needs to come from above.

[Frobby]

Agreed. But at the same time, you can't just keep running Givens out there in situations that make him fail.

I mean...this is pretty absurd:

Against righties: .160/.254/.258 - .512 OPS, 186 plate appearances

Against lefties: .390/.484/.597 - 1.081 OPS, 92 plate appearances

Essentially 50% of the time he faces a lefty, he gets on base. 40% of the time, they get a hit. 1/3 of the time that they get a hit, it's either a double or a homer.

Buck really needs to stop being pigheaded w/ Givens. These are extreme splits. So much so, that I think Buck really bungled that Wednesday game.

The mystery is, why was Givens effective vs. lefties last year (.205/.273/.282)?

It kind of reminds me of O'Day, whose lefty splits have gone like this since 2012: .657, .922, .633, .627, .770. That .922 really sticks out like a sore thumb. I think Buck believes that Givens should be able to "defend himself" (as Buck likes to say) against lefties. But he hasn't been able to, for some reason.

[wildcard]

Agreed. But at the same time, you can't just keep running Givens out there in situations that make him fail.

The mystery is, why was Givens effective vs. lefties last year (.205/.273/.282)?

It kind of reminds me of O'Day, whose lefty splits have gone like this since 2012: .657, .922, .633, .627, .770. That .922 really sticks out like a sore thumb. I think Buck believes that Givens should be able to "defend himself" (as Buck likes to say) against lefties. But he hasn't been able to, for some reason.

Here is an article that explain some of what has been happening.

"Mychal Givens uses his changeup to combat struggles against lefties"

From the SUN.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-mychal-givens-uses-his-changeup-to-combat-struggles-against-lefties-20160726-story.html