Baltimore Orioles: There’s No Need To Worry About John Means Bad July

Baltimore Orioles all-star John Means has had a sub-par July, but there’s no need for anyone to worry.

In what’s a lost season for the Baltimore Orioles perhaps the best thing to happen to the organization on the field this season has been the emergence of rookie pitcher John Means.

Means was named an all-star after a dominant first three months of his major league carer that saw him post an ERA of 2.50 with opposing batters hitting just .220 against him entering the all-star break.

In the month of July however, Means has finally hit a bit of a wall. After allowing just four earned runs and one home run in four June starts Means has had a much harder time in July.

In four starts this month, he has posted an ERA of 5.24 allowing 13 earned runs and six long balls. The struggles began on July 13th when Means gave up six earned runs and three long-balls to the Tampa Bay Rays. Though he’d bear down and hold the Boston Red Sox to two runs in six innings of work on July 19th, Means would have another lousy outing Wednesday against the Diamondbacks. He allowed three earned runs and lasted just 3.1 innings and took his sixth loss of the season.

With the recent rough match his ERA on the season has risen by over half a run (3.12) and in the month of July opposing hitters have batted .264 against Means.

Though of late Means has not pitched well, there is no reason for concern. The rookie has never been through a full major league season and is playing on a team where there’s little room for error as there isn’t much run support to go around.

Thus, there’s no need to worry about Means who has fully established himself as one of the best young arms in baseball and as the future centerpiece of the Baltimore Orioles starting rotation.

Means will most likely pitch next in San Diego on either Monday or Tuesday when the Orioles visit Manny Machado and the Padres to finish a four-game set that began at Camden Yards in June.