Tyler Wells 2023

[Mooreisbetter27]

Think he deserves his own thread. 

He’s been our most consistent starter.

Great start today against the Giants.

He’s also an awesome interview. I love hearing him answer questions. 

[Gurgi]

Pretty good rule 5 pick.  Maybe in the long run better than Santander.....but that is yet to be proven.  

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Gurgi said:

Pretty good rule 5 pick.  Maybe in the long run better than Santander.....but that is yet to be proven.  

Good pick but they got real lucky.  He was their second pick that year.

They picked Mac Sceroler fifth and Wells went in the second round, 17th overall.

[Mooreisbetter27]

13 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Good pick but they got real lucky.  He was their second pick that year.

They picked Mac Sceroler fifth and Wells went in the second round, 17th overall.

Did Sceroler have TJ? Doesn’t look like he pitched last year at all.

edit: He had SLAP surgery. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Mooreisbetter27

[bobmc]

17 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Good pick but they got real lucky.  He was their second pick that year.

They picked Mac Sceroler fifth and Wells went in the second round, 17th overall.

TBF - in deference to Big Ben 

[Frobby]

21 hours ago, Mooreisbetter27 said:

Think he deserves his own thread. 

He’s been our most consistent starter.

Great start today against the Giants.

He’s also an awesome interview. I love hearing him answer questions. 

He has a thread, it just isn’t called Tyler Wells 2023.  

But I’ll play here, too.  The most interesting thing about Wells so far this year is the big increase in his strikeout rate, from 6.6 last year to 9.2 this year.  And I read something astounding today: Wells is the first Orioles starter since Erik Bedard to strike out at least 7 batters in 5 consecutive starts (which Bedard did in June 2007).  I believe the article may have said that Bedard and Wells were the only two O’s pitchers to have ever done it - is that possible?
 

[Royle]

27 minutes ago, Frobby said:

He has a thread, it just isn’t called Tyler Wells 2023.  

But I’ll play here, too.  The most interesting thing about Wells so far this year is the big increase in his strikeout rate, from 6.6 last year to 9.2 this year.  And I read something astounding today: Wells is the first Orioles starter since Erik Bedard to strike out at least 7 batters in 5 consecutive starts (which Bedard did in June 2007).  I believe the article may have said that Bedard and Wells were the only two O’s pitchers to have ever done it - is that possible?
 

Looks like that is correct.

Mussina just missed, with 8, 6, 11, 10 and 9 in 5 straight starts in 1997.  

McNally did it 5 times in 6 starts in 1968, going 7, 9, 2, 8, 6, 7.  Flanagan also had a stretch of 5 out of 6 in 1979, with 8, 2, 12, 10, 9, 7.

Don’t see anyone else who came close to this particular criteria.

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Royle

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Royle said:

Looks like that is correct.

Mussina just missed, with 8, 6, 11, 10 and 9 in 5 straight starts in 1997.  

McNally did it 5 times in 6 starts in 1968, going 7, 9, 2, 8, 6, 7.  Flanagan also had a stretch of 5 out of 6 in 1979, with 8, 2, 12, 10, 9, 7.

Don’t see anyone else who came close to this particular criteria.

Thanks.  It seemed like a pretty low bar to meet, especially in this day and age.   Just for laughs, I looked at Nolan Ryan’s 383 strikeout season.   He finished that year with 10 straight games of 7+ strikeouts.   But it’s not as common as I would have guessed.  Gerritt Cole and Dylan Cease never did it last year, for example.  

[Frobby]

Tyler Wells wasn’t at his sharpest today, but did a professional job of navigating through 6 innings allowing only 2 runs on 82 pitches.

It’s interesting to compare Wells’ 2022 and 2023 all star break numbers.

2022: 18 games, 85.1 IP, 3.38 ERA, 1.078 WHIP, 7.5 H/9, 1.1 HR/9, 6.2 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 4.74 IP/G, 15.8 P/IP, 66% strikes

2023: 18 games, 104.2 IP, 3.18 ERA, 0.927 WHIP, 6.3 H/9, 1.8 HR/9, 8.9 K/9 2.1 BB/9, 5.82 IP/G, 15.7 P/IP, 64% strikes

As we know, the O’s restricted Wells’ innings in the first half of 2022, explaining the big difference in IP/game.   It didn’t help much, as Wells developed arm issues in the second half anyway.  He’s already thrown more innings this year (104.2) than he did all last year (103.2).   It will be interesting to see what happens in the second half.

The other thing that’s interesting is that Wells drastically reduced his strikeouts last year from 2022, explaining that he was “pitching to contact” to keep his pitch counts down.  If so, it didn’t really have any effect   He threw 15.8 pitches per inning in the first half last year, compared to 15.7 this year.   Generally speaking, more contact leads to more hits and therefore more batters faced per inning, so any pitches saved by early contact generally washes out by facing more hitters.

On the other hand, perhaps “pitching to contact” explains Wells’ much lower HR rate last year (1.1) vs. this one (1.8).  Going for strikeouts often means pitching up in the zone more, and when mistakes are made up there, that’s when balls fly out.

Bottom line, Wells has shown he can be pretty successful either way he chooses to pitch.   Now the issue will be, how many innings can he throw in the second half, and will he be able to maintain his level of performance?  I hope so.  

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Frobby

[banks703]

I am not sure if I read it here or somewhere else but I could swear that I saw it reported that the O’s said he won’t be on an innings limit this year.
 

If he can cut down on the homers (great job he did today of not surrendering any) I think that would allow him to pitch deeper into games. If he can consistently pitch into the 7th inning, it would add to one of the bigger (if not the biggest) developments for the O’s this year. He’s been really consistent all year going at least five every start and not giving up more than six hits in any of them. 
 

I was watching the game but dozed off for part of it so I didn’t see why he was pulled after only 82 pitches. It looks like the Twins had the 7-9 hitters in the 7th. Was it just that they were up four runs and Hyde wanted to get Baker into the game or was Tyler gassed with the heat or something else?
 

 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, banks703 said:

I am not sure if I read it here or somewhere else but I could swear that I saw it reported that the O’s said he won’t be on an innings limit this year.
 

If he can cut down on the homers (great job he did today of not surrendering any) I think that would allow him to pitch deeper into games. If he can consistently pitch into the 7th inning, it would add to one of the bigger (if not the biggest) developments for the O’s this year. He’s been really consistent all year going at least five every start and not giving up more than six hits in any of them. 
 

I was watching the game but dozed off for part of it so I didn’t see why he was pulled after only 82 pitches. It looks like the Twins had the 7-9 hitters in the 7th. Was it just that they were up four runs and Hyde wanted to get Baker into the game or was Tyler gassed with the heat or something else?
 

 

I don't think the O's made a flat out statement of that sort.  That seems out of character.  Elias did say that no good evidence exists showing that inning caps lower injury risk.

[banks703]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think the O's made a flat out statement of that sort.  That seems out of character.  Elias did say that no good evidence exists showing that inning caps lower injury risk.

I mean.. .I guess 

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/starting-pitcher-tyler-wells-is-free-of-restrictions-and-thriving-for-the-orioles-PKKEH5AGWBBSTCKM6UCGXGLMMY/

 

 

 

[Flash- bd]

13 hours ago, banks703 said:

I was watching the game but dozed off for part of it so I didn’t see why he was pulled after only 82 pitches. It looks like the Twins had the 7-9 hitters in the 7th. Was it just that they were up four runs and Hyde wanted to get Baker into the game or was Tyler gassed with the heat or something else?

Yeah, I missed the game too and am also curious why he was pulled after 82 pitches. 

[Aristotelian]

2 hours ago, Flash- bd said:

Yeah, I missed the game too and am also curious why he was pulled after 82 pitches. 

He did labor in the 6th. Two hard hits and then a hard out to end the inning if I remember correctly. Four run lead and plenty of arms available?

[btdart20]