Brett Cumberland 2021

[Tony-OH]

I'm a strange one to start this topic since I haven't been a big Cumberland guy since he was acquired in the Gausman trade. Now don't get me wrong, do I think Cumberland is a future every day catch in the big leagues, no I still don't, but I do think it's time to give him his shot in the big leagues.

Maybe it's the new bad ass "Dick Tidrow" esque mustache  he's sporting, and maybe it's because the Orioles catching this year has been downright awful, but maybe it's also because the more I watch him at Norfolk this year, the more I think he deserves a shot.

The 26-year old switch hitter is slashing .255/.420/.441/.861 with 5 HRs in 131 PAs. He's not going to set the work on fire at the plate, and can be fooled by offspeed pitches, but if you leave a hanger he'll mash hit and does not get cheated in his swings.

Defensively, he sets a decent target, blocks ok, and can throw just well enough to not be a turnstile out there. He does have a lot of glove movement during close pitches and doesn't seem to get many calls so his framing may not be very good, but neither is Pedro Severino.

While the Orioles may want to keep playing Severino in the 1 in a hundred chance he gets hot with the bat and someone offers a case well rubbed down baseballs for him, I'd rather see Cumberland be giving his shot and see if he's a future backup to Rutschman. Besides, we can see if his Rudy Stein like ability to get hit by pitches will translate to the majors.

Besides, his mustache's presence alone ups the Orioles cool factor.

If he shaves his mustache all opinions in this post become invalid..

 

[Frobby]

I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a shot.   He’s probably an offensive upgrade to Severino, whose defense keeps getting worse and worse.   

[Legend_Of_Joey]

I wouldn’t mind seeing what he can do I’ve never been a big fan of his, as he seemed/seems over rated to me. I wish they had kept Martin Cervenka.

Bring him up, send Severino to a team for a case of Bullfrog sunscreen and call it a day.

[MurphDogg]

8 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I wouldn’t mind seeing what he can do I’ve never been a big fan of his, as he seemed/seems over rated to me. I wish they had kept Martin Cervenka.

Bring him up, send Severino to a team for a case of Bullfrog sunscreen and call it a day.

Buying low on the Bullfrog with the new attention on sticky stuff in the hopes that things go back to normal and umpires will soon look the other way on the Bullfrog and rosin combo.

I like it.

[Matt Bennett]

I’m sure this has been discussed somewhere, but Brett Cumberland has been hit by 22 pitches this year. The next highest HBP total on the Tides is Tyler Nevin with 3. He’s been hit by 99 pitches in his minor league career and was hit by 41 in 111 games in 2017. So it’s a career trend. He must really crowd the plate. Wonder if he is still able to hit inside pitches. Very odd.