Ryan Mountcastle Closing in on Orioles’ Rookie HR Record

Ryan Mountcastle continued his efforts to set the Orioles’ rookie home run record on Tuesday

With a little more than a month left in the Major League Baseball regular season, the Baltimore Orioles‘ playoff chances have all but vanished. With that being the case, the team’s attention has fully shifted to pinpointing moments in the remaining schedule worth celebrating, which includes Ryan Mountcastle‘s pursuit of the franchise’s rookie home run record.

In the midst of the Orioles’ 14-8 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, the team’s 19th consecutive loss, Mountcastle launched a pair of solo home runs, bringing his season-long total to 23 home runs. Mountcastle’s first long ball of the night gave the O’s an early lead while his second ignited a run in the sixth inning, which allowed Baltimore to trim the L.A.’s lead by three runs.

Since moving to Baltimore in 1954, only three Orioles hitters have hit as many home runs as Mountcastle has during his rookie campaign. However, Mountcastle remains five home runs behind Cal Ripken Jr.‘s rookie home run record. Ripken swatted 28 home runs throughout his rookie campaign, a season in which he was awarded American League Rookie of the Year.

Throughout that 1982 season, Ripken slashed .264/.317/.475, whereas Mountcastle has slashed a comparable .264/.308/.495 to this point in the 2021 season. With identical batting averages and the superior slugging percentage coming up in favor of Mountcastle, it is well within the realm of possibility for Mountcastle to surpass Ripken’s rookie home run total and potentially record the first 30-HR rookie season in franchise history.

Entering play on Wednesday, Mountcastle has slugged a torrid .884 in the month of August, playing his best baseball of the season as of late. Paired with significant upticks in exit velocity, barrel rate, and sweet spot percentage from where each statistic stood during his stint with the big league club in 2020, Mountcastle is poised to do some serious damage in the final month of season.