Baltimore Orioles: Room to Improve in AL East Starting Pitching Rankings
By Nate Wardle
Baltimore Orioles starting pitching rotation underperformed this season with the exception of Chris Tillman in the first half and up-and-coming ace Kevin Gausman.
As Spring Training began for the Baltimore Orioles, I started my annual series of ranking each position in the AL East (Preseason rankings: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | LF | CF | RF | DH | SP).
With the 2016 season officially over, I have released my latest AL East rankings for the positions of catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, right field and designated hitter.
Our next stop is pitching in the AL East as we begin with the starting pitchers, then later, we will move to the relief pitchers.
Pitching is a bit of a different animal, as the statistics used will mainly analyze the team numbers. Sure, items like Rick Porcello winning the Cy Young, and exceptional seasons from several Toronto Blue Jays pitchers are going to matter. But this is more about the overall team starting pitching.
The list of pitchers will be in the order of most starts to fewest, including anyone who started ten games or more.
5. Baltimore Orioles – Kevin Gausman, Chris Tillman, Ubaldo Jimenez, Yovani Gallardo, Dylan Bundy, Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright, Wade Miley
Preseason prediction – 4th, Tillman, Gallardo, Gausman, Jimenez, Miguel Gonzalez, Wilson, Wright
Before the season started, I thought that Chris Tillman would be mediocre, which he was. In fact, if Tillman’s injury didn’t cause him to struggle in the second half of the season, he may have been in the Cy Young conversation.
In the end, he finished 16-6. Ubaldo Jimenez was consistently inconsistent until he stepped up in the second half while Tillman was ailing. I said that the Baltimore Orioles needed Kevin Gausman to be good, and he was, despite his 9-12 record, his ERA of 3.61 was superb. Especially down the stretch, where he was the pitcher the Baltimore Orioles and the entire league expected. Yovani Gallardo was injured to start, but even when healthy struggled to a 6-8 record with a 5.42 ERA.
Dylan Bundy was a welcome addition he started off very well in the rotation, before fading late. This possibly could be due to the number of innings pitched, but the Baltimore Orioles now know he is ready for the rotation in 2017. Tyler Wilson and Mike Wright were both terrible with ERAs over 5, and Wade Miley was pretty bad in his first few starts for the Baltimore Orioles but turned it around with several excellent outings before year end.
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Statistically, Baltimore finished with a record of 57-58 for their starters, which shows the strength of their bullpen. In fact, the Orioles were trailing in 27 games in which the team came back to tie the game or take the lead, helping to cut down the number of losses for the starting pitching. The team had a 43 percent quality start percentage, below the league average of 47 percent.
Also, the team’s innings pitched per game started was 5.5, also below the league average of 5.7. However, their runs allowed per game of 4.41 was below the league average of 4.47, which could be due to the bullpen.
Overall, it was not a great year for the Baltimore Orioles’ starting rotation, but it turned around in September, where they had one of the top staffs in the majors. If that carries over into 2017, especially with their bullpen, it will make the team a force to be reckoned with throughout the American League.