It’s been a few weeks since we checked in with a three up, three down, but those weeks were quite successful for our Baltimore Birds, as they’ve gone 10-4 in series against the Blue Jays, Rays, Braves, and Phillies during that time. That’s a more-than-respectable start to their brutal June schedule, one that Birdland has been warily eyeing since the schedule release last winter. Things don’t get any easier with trips to New York and Houston this week, followed by hosting Cleveland and Texas. But the O’s are proving that, much like Walter White, they are the ones who knock.
Let’s see who contributed to that 10-4, and who needs to step it up over the latter half of the month.
Three Up
Anthony Santander
Tony Taters! Another April of “let’s bench this guy for the kids,” another June of mashed taters flying all over OPACY. As May concluded, Anthony Santander was batting just .211/.291/.421 with nine home runs and a .712 OPS. Through 16 June games, his line is .295/.353/.721 with eight homers and 14 driven in, raising his season OPS to .800. He has a 191 wRC+ over the past two weeks, and is now at a very respectable 127 for the season. His two-homer game on Saturday basically single-handedly shut up the hordes of Philadelphia fans who invaded The Yard, and those eight taters are the most in MLB in June.
Austin Hays
While I hesitated a bit to include him here due to his relatively low number of at-bats (just 28 over the 14 games), Austin Hays has done enough with those ABs to merit mention, especially considering how he had been scuffling. He’s started seven games this month, and has at least one hit in six of those, while adding hits after entering late in two other instances. Hays’ June line is .414/.469/.759, and he has managed a 247 wRC+ over his last 28 PA spanning 14 games. He left the yard twice on June 3 in Toronto, and has added three doubles since then. He’s up to a 90 wRC+ for 2024. While a right-handed power bat could still be on Mike Elias’ deadline shopping list, this team is flat-out better when Austin Hays is a near-league average hitter.
Here’s to Hays remaining healthy and being fully over his early-season sickness-related struggles.
Keegan Akin
Continuing our theme of redemption arcs brings us to another much-maligned Oriole, this one out in the bullpen. Since allowing six ER over 2.2 IP in back-to-back appearances to close May, Keegan Akin has been better than you likely realize. Over 10.1 IP this month, he’s given up just eight hits and two ER, culminating with his masterpiece Friday night, when he threw three perfect innings with four strikeouts to keep the O’s in the game against Philly in what was ultimately their only loss of the series. Over 9.1 IP during the 10-4 stretch, Akin has 9.64 K/9, 1.93 BB/9, a 92.1 LOB%, a 1.93 ERA, and 3.04 FIP.
That’s all extremely valuable for a long man out of the bullpen. Yes, he gave up the game-tying home run to Matt Olson against Atlanta, and his struggles against lefties are frustrating (they hit 30 points higher and slug nearly 100 points higher against him). But when Brandon Hyde can count on him to do what he did on Friday, that gives this potent lineup the time they need to either claw back in games, or, hopefully extend their early leads to insurmountable levels.
Honorable Mentions
Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Yennier Cano, Craig Kimbrel, Albert Suarez, Cade Povich, Gunnar Henderson (170 wRC+), Ryan O’Hearn (164 wRC+), Ramon Urias (130 wRC+), Colton Cowser (126 wRC+), Adley Rutschman (119 wRC+)
Three Down
First off, a disclaimer: When you go 10-4 against that kind of competition, it’s likely that there aren’t too many “down” players. That’s the case this time around, and it’s a wonderful problem to have. We aren’t talking about any regulars having single-digit or negative wRC+ figures, or any pitchers getting absolutely shelled, as we have in DOWNs in the past. So we’ll cut these guys some slack while noting that all is quite rosy in Birdland at the moment.
Still, here are some players who didn’t quite help as much as their teammates recently.
Ryan Mountcastle
A trip to Toronto is always just what the doctor ordered for Ryan Mountcastle, and he of course homered twice and drove in five in a single game at Rogers Centre back on June 4. That was Mounty’s second multi-HR game of that road trip, but he’s left the yard just once since, while driving in only three. Over 58 PA over the last 14 games, he hit just .189/.259/.358, good for a 79 wRC+. His season OPS has fallen from .838 at the start of the month to .784, and he wore the Golden Sombrero on Sunday afternoon.
Someone is due for a rebound in the Bronx.
Kyle Stowers
This isn’t even performance-related, but opportunity-related. Kyle Stowers has found his chances to be few and far between recently, as he’s made just three starts this month. He made the most of his last, launching an Earl Weaver Special in Thursday afternoon’s loss to Atlanta, but overall has only 17 AB all month, with three hits and a 61 wRC+. While it would be nice to see him get more plate appearances, Brandon Hyde has his work cut out for him in that area, with so many of his regulars producing (see above).
Kyle Bradish
Again, not performance-related. Just…a bummer.
Dishonorable Mentions
None
