Orioles: Breaking Down Ryan Mountcastle’s Rebound

After a rough start to the season, Baltimore Orioles rookie Ryan Mountcastle has begun putting it together at the plate

Coming off of his torrid 2020 performance, the expectations for Baltimore Orioles rookie Ryan Mountcastle were arguably higher than any other player on the roster. Over 35 games in the truncated season, Mountcastle slashed .333/.386/.492 with a very strong 141 wRC+, launching 5 home runs and racking up 23 RBI a year ago.

Despite the hype surrounding him, through the few weeks of the 2021 season, Mountcastle looked lost at the plate. The 24-year-old struck out an alarming 32.9% of the time between Baltimore’s Opening Day win at Fenway Park and the team’s 19th game of the season against the Oakland Athletics 3 weeks later.

The problem ultimately came down to Mountcastle’s lack of contact, mainly on pitches outside of the strike zone. Over that 3-week span, Mountcastle led the team in swing rate outside of the zone and made contact on such swings only 47.8% of the time, which was dead last among qualified hitters on the Orioles’ roster.

However, since the final week of April, there has been a noticeable change in Mountcastle’s approach and his ability to make contact at the plate. Mountcastle’s total swing rate is down, no longer leading the team in swing rate on pitches outside of the zone, and his contact rate for pitches outside of the zone is up significantly, hitting the 55.8% mark over his last 13 games.

The change has done a big part in improving his results at the plate. Since the beginning of the Orioles’ three-game series against the New York Yankees on April 26th, Mountcastle is slashing .306/.314/.429 with 3 doubles, a home run, and 4 RBI. Baltimore has been able to tread water during their 13 games over that span, posting a 6-7 record, and Mountcastle’s rebound has played a serious role in that.