Baltimore Orioles: Dylan Bundy Set For Debut Against Philadelphia Phillies

The Baltimore Orioles are back on tv with Dylan Bundy ready to make his spring training debut.

We have Baltimore Orioles baseball back on TV today to help get you through the workday! Baltimore will hit the road take on the Philadelphia Phillies today, with coverage on MLB Network and MLB.TV. Taking the mound for the Orioles will be last year’s Opening Day starter, Dylan Bundy.

Bundy had a pretty unimpressive 2018 season. Making 31 starts and throwing 171 innings, Bundy finished with an 8-16 record, 5.45 ERA, and a 1.41 WHIP. He also surrendered an MLB-leading 41 home runs, seven more than James Shields who finished second in this category.

Underneath the 41 home runs and enormous ERA, there is still a Dylan Bundy capable of being an effective starting pitcher in a major league rotation. His Opening Day start against the Minnesota Twins was one of the most dominant Opening Day starts by an Orioles pitcher in the history of Camden Yards.

Bundy fanned seven hitters in that first start, sitting down 40 across his first five starts. By the end of the year, the former first-round pick posted a 24.5% strikeout rate, a career-high to go along with his career-low 7.2% walk rate.

Opposing hitters swung at pitches outside the zone 33.5% of the time against Bundy, the 12th-highest rate in the majors behind the likes of Patrick Corbin (38%), Jacob deGrom (37.9%), and Miles Mikolas (36.6%). When hitters did swing, they rarely made contact, connecting on just 56.8% of pitches, also good for the 12th-best mark in baseball, among qualified pitchers. Now if his fastball can regain its effectiveness, maybe the ball will stay in the yard more often when put into play.

With a slider that produced a 50% whiff rate in 2018 and a fastball with one of the higher spin rates in baseball, the new analytics team in Baltimore has a lot to work with when it comes to Bundy. If they can unlock the key, will he see his strikeout numbers rise even more? I wouldn’t be surprised.

A fresh start for the Baltimore Orioles pitcher.

Today marks just the first appearance for Bundy, so there is only so much we will be able to take away from this start. However, there a few things I’m anxious to see.

What does the fastball look like? Over the past three seasons, we have seen Bundy’s fastball velocity drop from an average of 94.4 mph to 92.2 mph to 91.6 mph. Opponents have also been hitting the pitch harder and harder, going from an average exit velocity of 87 mph in 2016 to 90.4 mph last season, well above league-average. Combine this with a noticeable drop in the number of swings and misses and you have a pitch that hitters slugged .566 against.

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He was successful in June of last year, limiting hitters to a .184 average and posting a 0.99 WHIP. One noticeable difference between June and the rest of his subpar season was his fastball location. While Bundy lived up in the zone for most of the season, that was’t the case in June as he was able to work the bottom half of the strike zone and produce a groundball rate nearly 10% higher than any other month.

Baltimore starters have pitched well this spring. Let’s hope that this trend continues with Dylan Bundy. A quick and efficient two innings with good fastball location and a few swings and misses will be a great start.

The Phillies will counter with 22-year-old RHP Adonis Medina. According to MLB Pipeline, Medina is the second-ranked prospect in the Phillies’ system and 77th overall in baseball. He fanned 123 hitters in 111 innings in the Florida State League last year.

Story will be updated with starting lineups and game notes as information is released.