The O’s get their young fireballer, Kevin Gausman, back for the first time in 2016 tonight. We all knew we needed big things out of him this year, but the pressure may be ratcheted up even more than we’d realized. Press play or scroll down for more.
Kevin Gausman is slated to make his 2016 debut at Tropicana Field on Monday night. We all knew coming into this season, that for the Orioles to make any true noise, Gausman would need to take that next step forward, and become a dependable top-of-the-rotation type starter. I’m not going to use the “A” word here, but we need “The Gas Man” to be very good – there’s no denying that.
As he gets set to toe the rubber for the first time as a 25-year-old though, things around him look even more dire then we may have realized a couple months ago. The Orioles are dead last in MLB in quality starts with three – every other team has at least five, and every other AL team has at least six. So far, Ubaldo Jimenez is the only O’s starter with an ERA under 4.00. Mike Wright, Vance Worley, and Tyler Wilson have turned in decent performances at times, but anything more than five innings feels like disaster waiting to happen…which, unfortunately, it usually has. Newcomer Yovani Gallardo racked up an ERA of 7.00, and is now on the 15-day DL with shoulder and bicep tendinitis.
In short, the Orioles rotation is a dumpster fire. There’s no getting around it. And that means that the pressure is really turned up on young Mr. Gausman to help stabilize things. Roch Kubatko informs us that the current Rays have a collective .308 average off him, so things won’t be easy right off the bat.
Fans are expecting a lot out of Kevin this year. The team needs a lot out of him – probably more than they’d like to publicly admit. But it’s time for the vast potential loaded in that right arm to express itself in full. The Orioles’ hopes for 2016 may very well depend on it.
