Brandon Young 2024

[Frobby]

Young pitched well last night, allowing 1 run in 5 IP, 5 hits, 1 walk, 4 K’s.  His ERA in the hitter-friendly International League is 3.55.  Elias recently mentioned Young as a possible call-up, and Young did nothing to hurt his chances last night.  

[CaptainRedbeard]

Coincidence that Young pitched on the same day as Rogers? Could be they lined them up so they can option/IL Rogers and Young can step into that rotation spot. 

[Just Regular]

Yuli Gurriel (and how great is it that a Cuban legend at age 40.2 is still grinding AAA in August 2024!) got him for a HR, but otherwise it was another very strong outing for Young this afternoon.

As the back of the Orioles staff has hit "Colin Selby" level, I sure hope he's in the mix for a Once Through The Order tryout these final 6 weeks.

Young's 26th birthday is tomorrow - happy early birthday, Brandon!

[Sports Guy]

49 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Yuli Gurriel (and how great is it that a Cuban legend at age 40.2 is still grinding AAA in August 2024!) got him for a HR, but otherwise it was another very strong outing for Young this afternoon.

As the back of the Orioles staff has hit "Colin Selby" level, I sure hope he's in the mix for a Once Through The Order tryout these final 6 weeks.

Young's 26th birthday is tomorrow - happy early birthday, Brandon!

I’d bet on Matt Bowman getting a chance sooner.

[Frobby]

3.38 ERA in AAA after today’s 5.2 IP, 1 ER performance.    

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

Would be nice to see this guy get a chance this year . Seems like he’s not a “stuff plays up in the bullpen”, but we could use all the productive pitchers we can get.  

Edited August 19 by Grt 2BA FL Gator

[sportsfan8703]

12 hours ago, Frobby said:

3.38 ERA in AAA after today’s 5.2 IP, 1 ER performance.    

We have SP options in Povich, McDermott, and Young. It’s just that we’ve had to tap into them a little sooner than we probably wanted to because of the injuries. 

[Rbiggs2525]

I wonder if Young will be the next call up when the 6 man rotation comes around. They could conceivably pitch him Friday or Saturday. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

Young is going to get added to the 40-man roster this offseason so there’s a decent chance he makes his MLB debut before the end of the year. I think the question will be whether they choose to call him up when they may still need to option him before the year is done, or wait until they think he can stick on the MLB roster the remainder of the season. He projects as pretty valuable optionable SP depth for the next few years, so they may not want to burn one of his options just in the final month or so. 

The strong start from Povich may also pump the brakes on Young jumping ahead of him.

There’s also a question of workload with Young coming off so many injuries. He could be a pretty interesting RP for the stretch run. 

[Just Regular]

1 hour ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

He projects as pretty valuable optionable SP depth for the next few years, so they may not want to burn one of his options just in the final month or so. 

I do feel kind of bad for UP-DOWN pitchers that might need 5 seasons to make it to Arb.

But it will be good for the 2028 Orioles if he's at last ready for an all year job and still at minimum wage because we have some guys to pay that season.

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

3 hours ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

Young is going to get added to the 40-man roster this offseason so there’s a decent chance he makes his MLB debut before the end of the year. I think the question will be whether they choose to call him up when they may still need to option him before the year is done, or wait until they think he can stick on the MLB roster the remainder of the season. He projects as pretty valuable optionable SP depth for the next few years, so they may not want to burn one of his options just in the final month or so. 

The strong start from Povich may also pump the brakes on Young jumping ahead of him.

There’s also a question of workload with Young coming off so many injuries. He could be a pretty interesting RP for the stretch run. 

Any idea how his stuff could play out of the pen? Does he have good control? Looks like his FB is 93-94, maybe that becomes 96ish

[Wavetrapper]

On 8/14/2024 at 8:03 AM, CaptainRedbeard said:

Coincidence that Young pitched on the same day as Rogers? Could be they lined them up so they can option/IL Rogers and Young can step into that rotation spot. 

I am hoping that happens this week but Elias is going to have to swallow his pride 

Also Kimbrel needs to be DFA’d this week too and replaced  by Irvin (not ideal but Kimbrel is washed)

Bring back Povich as September call up 

Playoffs are slipping away.  They need to do something different 

[CaptainRedbeard]

17 hours ago, Grt 2BA FL Gator said:

Any idea how his stuff could play out of the pen? Does he have good control? Looks like his FB is 93-94, maybe that becomes 96ish

After seeing Albert Suarez mysteriously throw less hard as a reliever than a SP, I don’t want to take anything for granted in a SP to RP conversion. 

That said, Young is averaging around 93 mph and topping out around 95 mph as a starter. If he can live more around his top velo range as a RP the fastball could definitely be a plus pitch, considering it also clearly has some funky qualities from his delivery that are making it really hard to handle for minor league hitters. 

Add in the change and I could easily see him being a very solid RP with 2 plus pitches. But same concern I have for him as a starter - I’m not sure he has a weapon for getting out righties, so he could even be a reverse platoon splits guy. Hard to know at this point.

Cano and Domínguez are much weaker against lefties so it wouldn’t hurt to have a righty who is more neutral. Kimbrel is pretty neutral over his career but he looks totally unreliable now. Webb and Smith are better equipped for lefties but I could see Young being better than both of them if his velo ticks up as a RP. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

Looks like Young has been a dramatic reverse splits guy this year: .545 OPS vs lefties, .751 OPS vs righties. Not surprising given the scouting reports that his changeup is his best pitch.

Seems that figuring out something better for righties will be the determining factor for how far he goes, whether that’s improving his current cutter/slider, or adding a sinker, or just better utilizing his four seamer / change / curve against righties. 

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

Looks like Young has been a dramatic reverse splits guy this year: .545 OPS vs lefties, .751 OPS vs righties. Not surprising given the scouting reports that his changeup is his best pitch.

Seems that figuring out something better for righties will be the determining factor for how far he goes, whether that’s improving his current cutter/slider, or adding a sinker, or just better utilizing his four seamer / change / curve against righties. 

I've been watching a lot of Orioles minor league right-handed pitchers throwing changeups to right-handed batters this year with some success. I'm wondering if going against the proverbial wisdom that right on right changeups don't work is being challenged by the Orioles or just if it's a development thing. 

Young's changeup is definitely a plus pitch and his curveball can be at times too. I wouldn't mind seeing him throw that change up right on rihght more often though to see if it works in the upper levels.