It was a nice little 5-3 homestand (with one rainout/postponement) for our Birds against the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, and Mariners over the past week-plus. Let’s see who was up and who was down during the team’s longest stretch of games at OPACY this season.
Three Up (Batters)
Gunnar Henderson
Remember those few series were Gunnar Henderson cooled off? Yeah, sorry opposing pitchers: that was a mirage. The Gunn Show is back on in full effect, as Henderson homered in all three games over the weekend against Seattle (leading off the game with dingers on Friday and Sunday), and had four total bombs on the homestand. In 35 PA, he hit .267/.371/.767 with four homers, six RBI, a double, a triple, five walks, and just four strikeouts, good for a 209 wRC+.
For the season, Henderson’s 2.8 fWAR trails only Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Kyle Tucker (all with 3.0) in MLB, and he’s played 2-4 fewer games than all of them.
Jordan Westburg
You probably thought the second slot here would go to Adley Rutschman, didn’t you? So did I! But while the backstop’s four homers matched Henderson (including the dramatic walk-off against Toronto Wednesday), and the 171 wRC+ was nothing to sneeze at, Jordan Westburg was even better. The guy some are calling the second coming of Nick Markakis hit .345/.412/.621 with one HR, three doubles, a triple, drove in six (to tie Gunnar & Adley for the team lead during the stretch), and walked four times while striking out six for a wRC+ of 188.
Westburg’s season line is now .295/.347/.526 with 7 HR and 29 RBI, good for a 149 wRC+.
Oh, he also made a few dazzling plays at third base.
Colton Cowser
After being named the AL Rookie of the Month for April, Colton Cowser was having a time of it, with just four hits in his first 10 games of the month. While he’s still searching for his first HR since April 22, the Moo Man looks to be breaking out of it. He had six hits in the final four games of the homestand, including three Sunday, two of them doubles, and drove in three. He also walked three times in Saturday’s loss, capping off a stretch of five straight games with at least one free pass. And, as the Statcast metrics show, he’s still hitting the ball very, very hard.
Pitchers adjusted to Cowser after his scorching start. It looks like he’s starting to adjust back. That’s great to see.
Plus, he makes plays like this:
Now we just need a reschedule of The Pasture.
Honorable Mentions
Adley Rutschman (171 wRC+), Jorge Mateo (111 wRC+), Austin Hays (3/9, 2 2B, 2 RBI)
Three Up (Pitchers)
Corbin Burnes
The Birds’ big name ace had been suffering from a lack of run support, but finally got some on Sunday to pick up his first victory since April 20. Corbin Burnes went six innings in each of his two starts on the homestand for 12.0 IP total, allowing 13 H, just two ER, walking three and striking out 13. After allowing homers in six of his first seven starts (but never more than one), Burnes has now gone three consecutive starts without allowing a long ball. His strikeout numbers had been unimpressive since his first outing against the Angels on Opening Day, but he matched that day’s total of 11 against Seattle yesterday.
While it wasn’t any fault of his (see, again: lack of run support), the O’s had lost four straight Burnes starts before yesterday, after winning his first five as an Oriole. Thanks to his steady consistency (so far in May: 24.1 IP, 22 H, 7 ER, 25 K, 7 BB, 2.59 ERA) and to picking up his first win in nearly a month, Burnes finds himself UP this week.
Craig Kimbrel
Much of Birdland was ready to be done with the Craig Kimbrel (Krumbel) experience after the veteran closer blew two straight saves and nearly another around the turn of the month. However, after getting some lower leverage work, Kimbrel appears to have righted the ship. During the homestand, he made four appearances, each exactly an inning, allowing just a single baserunner on a HBP. He struck out six, and didn’t walk a single batter.
While bullpen help should remain atop Mike Elias’ summer shopping list, it’s great to see Kimbrel find it again. The team will be better if he can get important outs reliably.
Grayson Rodriguez
Welcome back, Grayson Rodriguez! After missing a few starts with shoulder inflammation, Rodriguez returned to the rotation without making a rehab appearance, and shut down the Seattle Mariners in front of a national audience Saturday night. GrayRod struck out seven, walked three, and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, which Julio Rodriguez broke up with a 59 MPH dribbler.
Unfortunately, a bullpen implosion robbed Rodriguez of the win, but he still lowered his season ERA to 3.15. Other than the one poor start against Anaheim on April 23 where he gave up seven ER in 4.1, Rodriguez has allowed only seven ER TOTAL in his other six starts.
Three Down
Ryan Mountcastle
Ryan Mountcastle has hit his first rough patch of the season. In 29 PA, he hit just .172/.172/.310, with no walks and a 24.1 K%, good for a 75 wRC+. Mounty has just two homers this month and hasn’t walked a single time since April 24. While many of the young O’s are benefiting from a more aggressive approach, perhaps Mountcastle should go back to being more patient, as a natural free swinger. That seemed to be helping him earlier in the year, when he had walked 10 times in 21 games.
Cedric Mullins
Cedric Mullins found himself on the bench a few times and was 0-for-17 on the homestand before a bunt single Saturday. Perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel though, as he had not one, but two RBI singles in Sunday’s win.
Still, he was at a -13 wRC+ in 19 PA: firmly DOWN.
I heard Rob Long say this morning that he heard the O’s may be considering Jackson Holliday in centerfield. That was the first I’ve heard of that, but Long spends a lot of time around the team as a member of MASN. Something to monitor.
Yennier Cano
Yennier Cano was good at the start of the homestand, notching the save against Arizona on May 10 after Kimbrel’s temporary demotion, allowing just a leadoff double, then pitching around a walk for a scoreless ninth in the extra-inning victory May 11. However, he then allowed the game-tying HR to Toronto’s Daulton Varsho in the eighth inning of Monday’s loss, and was touched up again the other night against Seattle, when his outing went single, double, groundout. Cano has just two strikeouts in 5.1 IP this month, to go with five free passes.
As mentioned earlier: bullpen help, Mike. Please.
Dishonorable Mentions
Jacob Webb (16.2 BB/9)
Stats via FanGraphs & Baseball Savant
One Response
Nice Read as always…… AAAAAHHH