Bautista 2023

[Just Regular]

MLB.com crawl says he is Orioles first Reliever of the Month since Jim Johnson.

As hit or miss as his April was, I'm actually pretty surprised he rated that honor.

[Spy Fox]

1 hour ago, Just Regular said:

MLB.com crawl says he is Orioles first Reliever of the Month since Jim Johnson.

As hit or miss as his April was, I'm actually pretty surprised he rated that honor.

That’s wild if Britton got through his 2016 season without ever being named. 

[Il BuonO]

27 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

That’s wild if Britton got through his 2016 season without ever being named. 

Did he? I mean, maybe they didn’t have it? Seems unlikely though.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

38 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

That’s wild if Britton got through his 2016 season without ever being named. 

There appears to be an explanation for it. This newest reliever of the month award started in 2017 and prior to that there was an MLB reliever of the month award from 2005 to 2013. That explains why Jim Johnson won it and Britton didn't.

Major League Baseball Reliever of the Month Award

Quote

Major League Baseball (MLB) honors its best relief pitchers with a Reliever of the Month Award for one pitcher in the American League (AL) and one in the National League (NL) during each month of the regular season. These awards have been issued since 2017. From 2005 to 2013, MLB honored a single relief pitcher across both leagues with the Delivery Man of the Month Award during each month of the regular season.

 

[waroriole]

Looks like the velocity was mostly back today. He hit 101and was consistently 99. I don’t know why he kept avoiding the splitter until the last few batters. The FB, splitter is the combo that makes him so good. 

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Looks like the velocity was mostly back today. He hit 101and was consistently 99. I don’t know why he kept avoiding the splitter until the last few batters. The FB, splitter is the combo that makes him so good. 

Because his feel for the splitter is not there yet although he started throwing some good ones toward the end.    

[waroriole]

14 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Because his feel for the splitter is not there yet although he started throwing some good ones toward the end.    

The feel seemed there when he actually threw it. He just wasn’t throwing it until his back was up against the wall. 

[SilverRocket]

What do you all think about his slider? He used it 10% of the time last year with mediocre results, and this year it's down to 3%. I know a closer shouldn't get beaten on his third best pitch, and it's roughly an average slider, but he seems to have reasonable command of it. Should he be using it more on days where his splitter command isn't there, or should he just go with the splitter anyways and hope to eventually find it like he did today?

[RZNJ]

45 minutes ago, waroriole said:

The feel seemed there when he actually threw it. He just wasn’t throwing it until his back was up against the wall. 

Not so.  He yanked a few glove side and one of his first splitters was a 55 foot spiked.   He loves his splitter.  He was throwing it.

[Moose Milligan]

Here's hoping he can get the splitter back under command.  Looks like he was able to reel it in towards the end of the outing.

 

[RZNJ]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Here's hoping he can get the splitter back under command.  Looks like he was able to reel it in towards the end of the outing.

 

You know, he’s starting to make me nervous.  I’m not too worried but he didn’t have these control problems last year.

[Jagwar]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

You know, he’s starting to make me nervous.  I’m not too worried but he didn’t have these control problems last year.

My prediction. By end of June Cano will be closing games

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

My prediction. By end of June Cano will be closing games

I don’t think so.  Team dynamics.  Bautista still has it and Cano is actually more valuable doing what he’s been doing.

[Jagwar]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

I don’t think so.  Team dynamics.  Bautista still has it and Cano is actually more valuable doing what he’s been doing.

Bautista is not throwing strikes, and it wasn't just this game. He is either missing high or yanking it wide. He threw 32 pitches today, only 17 were strikes. 

It's May and he's the closer on a team with playoff aspirations. He needs to fix this and fast or he may be moved out of the role. Elias did it last year with Lopez who was actually pitching well. Why wouldn't he do it with a pitcher who struggles to throw strikes?

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

My prediction. By end of June Cano will be closing games

Honestly, I like him in the role he’s in, where he can come in with runners on base and clean up someone else’s mess and pitch more than one inning if needed.  In my opinion, that role is at least as important as the closer role.