Say Hello to Patrick McCoy

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick McCoy is the newest member of the Baltimore Orioles. The left-handed reliever was claimed off of waivers from the Tigers earlier today. I know what you are thinking: “A Detroit reliever? He must be awful!”

However much I agree that Detroit’s bullpen may be arguably the worst bullpen in Major League Baseball, McCoy was one of the few bright spots of that bullpen in 2014.

Drafted by the Nationals in the tenth round of the 2007 MLB Draft, McCoy played in their Minor League system for seven years until he was signed by the Tigers in November of last year. In 2014, McCoy started out in Double-A ball and after he was promoted to Triple-A, the Tigers decided to bring him up to the Majors in June. McCoy then made his Major League debut on June 22nd.

In 14 games, he gave up six runs off of 21 hits in 14 complete innings with the team. He also walked 13 batters and struck out 11 as well. Although his walk-to-strikeout ratio is not good, it was much better in the Minors (walked 9 batters and struck out 34 over 45 innings in the Minors).

McCoy is much more efficient on the mound when facing left-handed batters. Right-handed batters went 16-37 (.432) when facing McCoy while left-handed batters were just 5-24 (.208) against him.

The addition of another left-handed arm to the bullpen will give manager Buck Showalter some added depth to an already impressive bullpen.

Also, McCoy will be able to learn from some talented Orioles relievers like Darren O’Day and Zach Britton; making him better over time.

Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, Dan Duquette said, “He’s a lefty reliever our scouts like and who’s effective versus left-handed hitters and has a good arm.”

There are currently seven open spots on Baltimore’s 40-man roster. This off-season will most certainly be an interesting one.