Baltimore Orioles: David Hess Forced To Figure It Out In Norfolk

David Hess is on the move again for the Baltimore Orioles. This time, it’s back to Norfolk to try and figure things out.

David Hess has been a frequent topic of discussion this past week in Birdland. We highlighted his historic home run pace just a few days ago and then news broke of the Baltimore Orioles moving Hess from the starting rotation to the bullpen.

It didn’t take long for the Orioles to move Hess, yet again. After Sunday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox, the team announced that Hess would be traveling to Norfolk, Virginia instead of Oakland, California on Sunday night.

A corresponding roster move has not been announced as of Monday morning, but someone will be added to the active roster today to replace David Hess. There aren’t very many options of arms already on the 40-man roster for the Orioles to pull from.

Cody Carroll is still working his way back from injury, recently acquired Chandler Shepherd just started Sunday’s game for the Tides (6.2 IP, 0 ER), and Luis Ortiz was given yet another opportunity on Friday and pitched as well as he can (you can continue to cite his electric fastball and occasional beautiful slider, but he’s been a disaster all season).

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That leaves Evan Phillips (a frequent passenger on the Baltimore-Norfolk Shuttle) and Tanner Scott, unless the Orioles decide to make things a little more interesting and make a 40-man roster move. Tom Eshelman was effective in his first start in Norfolk ( 7 IP, 1 ER) and will very likely see some time at the major league level in the near future if he continues to produce. He tallied 11 groundball outs in debut with the organization

David Hess can still provide value for the Baltimore Orioles.

Across 13 starts (15 total appearances), Hess went 1-9 with a 7.36 ERA and 1.58 WHIP in 66 innings of action. He averaged just over seven strikeouts per game, however, his walk rate jumped to nearly 4 BB/9 IP (3.83) and his 2.73 HR/9 IP was on pace to break Jose Lima‘s record for highest home run rate in a season.

After his 6.1 no-hit innings in his first start of the season back on April 1 against the Toronto Blue Jays, Hess completed six innings just twice. He worked through at least five innings just five times.

Hess will likely return to the starting rotation for the Tides, but his return to the major leagues has to be in a bullpen role. With no options to slot into the starting rotation at the major league level, Hess was forced into duty this season, but if the Orioles think they have a major league contributor in David Hess, preparing him for a full-time bullpen role is the best move. We have already seen Hess ramp up his velocity in short stints and his slider has been effective at producing swings and misses as a starter.

Update: 

We’ll be sure to monitor Hess closely down in Norfolk. In the meantime, this story will be updated once a corresponding roster move is made by the team.