Baltimore is coming off a horrendous 2018, and it is going to be a long way back to being respectable again. The Orioles have some familiar faces on the roster still, like Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo. The averages won’t be pretty, but they will bring the power. Jonathan Villar is an interesting name in the front of the lineup, as he will look to bring some speed to a team that was bottom five in stolen bases last season. There won’t be a ton of platoon bats, but the Orioles should be looking to bring up some younger names to get more reps in the bigs. At the moment there is not a highly touted prospect waiting to join the team, so we are stuck with this bunch for the rest of the season. It won’t be pretty, and pitchers should have their way most nights against this ball club.
2019 Baltimore Orioles Pitching Analysis
It is hard to find a lot of positive things to say about the Baltimore Orioles these days, and the rotation is a big part of that. They had the worst team ERA of 2018, and were the only team with an ERA over five. They traded Kevin Gausman halfway through the season, and don’t have much to replacing him heading into 2019. The Orioles do not have young prospects ready to come up this season, and with no signings, they are looking at a very similar rotation to last season. It will be tough in this division to find any success, and also Camden Yards plays well for offense too. Dylan Bundy is expected to headline this rotation, and while he has strikeout stuff, he is prone to home runs, and it is hard for him to put together strong starts. Baltimore is going to give Bundy a longer leash, mainly because they don’t have many options outside of him. Alex Cobb will check in as the number two starter, and while he flashed some potential in a few starts, his overall 1.41 WHIP was not appealing when all was said and done.
Andrew Cashner and Yefrey Ramirez both had over a five ERA last season, and are projected for the same this season. David Hess also projects with over a five ERA. This says a lot about this rotation, and nobody is projected for under a 4.50 ERA. Bundy has the most strikeout potential, but Ramirez has some strikeout stuff and can be a strikeout per inning type pitcher. Baltimore is going to lose a lot of games, and there is not a lot of hope for this rotation to even be remotely average come the end of the season. Say Cobb puts together an average first half, he was on the market for a few teams last season, and would certainly be again this year. This is not a young rotation, so fans do not get to watch any developing arms this season. 2020 is likely when that will begin, but the farm system is not that appealing for a rebuilding team. This rotation is also all right-handed, and most of these names have glaring issues with left-handed bats. Camden Yards plays favorable to left-handed hitters, so they are already at a pretty big disadvantage.
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