Greetings again, Birdland. We took last week off because the Birds had only played five games here in this June full of off days, so this will be a super-sized edition of Three Up, Three Down. We’ll look back at the last two weeks, a stretch during which the O’s went just 5-6, losing series to the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds, splitting one with the Tampa Bay Rays, and taking two of three from the Seattle Mariners. That came on the heels of an 8-4 start to the month, so the team is now 13-10 in June, with just tonight’s opener against the Minnesota Twins remaining.
Three Up
Austin Hays
Austin Hays‘ career year continues. Over the last two weeks, Hays leads the team with a 147 wRC+, batting .357/.413/.452 with four doubles and five RBI in 46 plate appearances. He’s third in the AL in hitting for the season at .314, and leads qualified Orioles with a 136 wRC+ in 293 PA in 2023.
Anthony Santander
Tony Taters kept right on mashing, with five homers over the past two weeks, to go along with a .271/.271/.604 line (136 wRC+). He leads the Birds in home runs (14) and RBI (47) this season. He’s made some fun defensive plays as well!
Kyle Bradish
Kyle Bradish made starts against the Rays and Mariners, both O’s wins. First, he held the potent Tampa offense to two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts over five innings on June 20, then five days later spun a gem against Seattle, going seven strong, allowing just two runs on two hits while striking out seven. He has a 3.54 ERA this month after his sparkling 2.76 in May.
Honorable Mentions
Danny Coulombe, Felix Bautista, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Ryan McKenna
Three Down
Adley Rutschman
Another slump for Adley Rutschman, as he’s hit just .179/.289/.282 (65 wRC+) over 45 plate appearances. He’s still at a very respectable 122 wRC+ for the season, but as you can see in his Statcast numbers above, he just isn’t hitting the ball hard, having fallen to the 34th percentile in average exit velocity. Might it be time to move him from that two hole until he heats up again?
Ramon Urias
Ramon Urias has hit the skids as well, batting .200/.242/.333 (54 wRC+) over 33 plate appearances. With a crowded infield now that Jordan Westburg has gotten the call (and is mashing), the Ramon Empire could be facing a fall.
Keegan Akin
Keegan Akin posted an 18.00 ERA over five innings pitched, including a horrible showing in Wednesday’s finale against the Reds, helping to waste a valiant Birds comeback by allowing four runs on three hits when called upon in extra innings. Against the Mariners on June 23, he gave up seven runs on six hits in two thirds of an inning, and facing the Rays on June 21 he gave up two runs on three hits in 1.2. Akin isn’t reliable, and usually comes in for mop-up duty, so Brandon Hyde gets a dunce cap for putting him in the other night as well.
