O’s Observations: The Bats Come Alive & Some Wins Pile Up, Imagine That!

It’s funny how fast things can turn around in baseball, isn’t it? Just a week ago, we were sitting here wondering how bad things could get after a really slow start to the season. Now we sit here, winners of five of our last six, above .500, in a tie atop the AL East, and with some real momentum brewing. This team is still nowhere near perfect, nor do we really understand them at all yet, but these wins matter right now, and when you are handed an easier schedule, you have to come through.

We still have a lot to get to this week, including some off-the-field stuff to talk about, so let’s not waste any more time.

Will the Orioles Ever be Fully Healthy again?

This is the big question for this week because I am starting to get really concerned about this issue. For the last two and a half years, the Orioles have been banged up, and it just gets more and more frustrating. Number one, you go into the season without Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg, who, in Westy’s case, I am not sure he ever lives up to his potential because he just can’t stay on the field.

Holliday is still in Triple-A, trying to recover from this weird Hamate injury. With how bad Francisco Lindor has looked trying to come back from the same injury, maybe it is better just to let him heal over the first month of the season. So we are already off to a bad start, and the injuries keep coming. There was the loss Zach Eflin to Tommy John Surgery just last week, and now it kept snowballing over the last few days. Coming into Saturday’s game, Adley Rutschman got scratched from the lineup and put on the IL because he apparently hurt his ankle on Friday night. Yet, he was apparently healthy enough to dress for Saturday’s game, fun. Tyler O’Neill had been out of the lineup for a couple of days due to an apparent illness, yet he was then placed on the Concussion IL because he was so dehydrated that he fainted and bumped his head; no, that is not a lie; that is the truth. Then Ryan Mountcastle laces a double and breaks his toe rounding first. Just incredible.

Now, there is some good news in all of this: according to Alby, Adley’s injury does not seem serious at all, and he could be back next week, which is nice. We will see Holliday eventually, but I’m not sure when. The others are just insane, but let’s be honest, we knew Eflin and O’Neill were injury risks, and Mounty wasn’t even a full-time starter anymore. Still, these injuries are just continuing to get in the way, man.

At least Adley isn’t long-term, but I don’t think we ever see what the 2026 Orioles could have looked like fully healthy.

Alonso Needs to Step Up:

This has also been a huge talking point, and yes, I do agree that Pete Alonso needs to step up. The Orioles could have swept the Giants and been on a six-game winning streak had Pete come through just once on Friday night. His bat speed is down  and he just hasn’t come through in the clutch.

With all these injury issues, we need the big three of Alonso, Taylor Ward, and Gunnar Henderson to step up big time. Gunnar and Ward have, but Pete has not. Now I don’t think this goes on for long, nor do I think this is the next Chris Davis contract. Pete stood up there like a man and gave some great answers to the media, and then he was finally clutch on Sunday. That needs to be the start of something.

Struggles of Young Guys Not Making Anything Easier

Maybe we wouldn’t need other players at the top of the lineup to do all the lifting if anyone from this young core, like Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo, Dylan Beavers, or I’ll even throw in Colton Cowser as well, could do anything (the last two games were huge steps in the right direction).

I feel bad putting Beavers on here since he is hitting decently right now, but he did go through a huge slump before this week. Basallo is another guy that I am willing to be patient with since he is so young, but Cowser and Mayo are starting to really concern me. We already talked about Cowser’s issues last week, but offensively, Mayo has been awful this year. If any of these guys stepped up, the O’s would have a very solid offense, because we saw a peak at what it could be in the last two games. The Orioles scored six runs on back-to-back days this weekend, and wouldn’t you know it, it was because the guys lower in the lineup and the young guys produced.

Groundbreaking stuff, truly, an offense scores more runs when it’s not one guy hitting home runs 24/7. I am willing to give a bit more grace to guys like Basallo and Beavers, but the others have got to step up.

Thank you David Stearns

I have been super negative, and I do apologize. I am happy they won a lot this week and are showing signs of breaking out on offense, so let’s change the vibes up.

Every day I wake up, and I thank the Mets GM David Stearns for gift-wrapping two of the nastiest relievers in baseball for us, basically for free. Last year, the Mets gave the O’s Anthony Nunez as part of a deal that sent a washed Cedric Mullins to New York. Nunez is such a filthy man. An elite fastball with multiple good enough breaking and off-speed pitches? Yeah, thank you, I’ll take that. Then, just days after they traded Nunez to the Orioles, the Mets DFA’d Rico Gracia, and a couple of days later, he was with the Orioles. Garcia has been spectacular, and he hasn’t given up a run yet.

These guys have completely remade the back end of the bullpen, adding another former Mets player, Ryan Helsley. So thank you, David Stearns, for taking one of the biggest question marks and making it a strength for the Orioles.

How real is Taveras?

This seems like a weird one to end on, but the Orioles might have done it again, ladies and gentlemen. They have been able to turn some really solid depth signings into huge impacts lately. From Ryan O’Hearn to Ramon Laureano, we have been able to get great value signs to step up when needed, and now Leody Taveras looks to be next in line. He looks solid enough defensively, and offensively he has been great as well. The reason I think this might be real is that his advanced metrics don’t show a player who is getting lucky. He is hitting the ball hard and launching it at optimal angles, with good whiff percentages as well. I am not saying he needs to be the center fielder for the foreseeable future, but I do think his numbers are good enough to suggest they did find a major leaguer in the dumpster bin.

I know this did come off as negative, but I do believe this team is not like 2025. This team feels different because they are grinding out some wins here. Even if the offense is struggling, they aren’t laying down and dying like last year. This week, at least, confirmed that this isn’t the 2025 Orioles.