Breaking down the Orioles Bullpen, Ranked Third in MLB
The Orioles have a shutdown bullpen this season.
It’s late July, and the Baltimore Orioles are Wild Card contenders. The turning point this season can be attributed to many things, but the real story here is the bullpen. The Baltimore Orioles have the 3rd ranked bullpen in Major League Baseball, based on ERA.
Taking a look at the bullpen, we can easily see that Jorge Lopez, a former 2011 2nd-round draft pick from Milwaukee, has been an essential part of the battery, where he is ranked 4th in the American League, and 9th in Major League Baseball in Saves. Further statistics show that Lopez’s opposing batting average is .174 and opponent’s XBA is .199. The XBA measures the likeliness that a batted ball would become a hit. This really shows the strength of the defense behind the pitcher. The Orioles rank 7th in double plays per game, defensively.
The majority of the setup work has fallen to Felix Bautista, who has posted numbers that are better than Jorge Lopez, and thus created a 1-2 punch in the 8th and 9th innings that has converted 22 of their 51 wins. Bautista has an opposing batting average of .161 and an XBA of .196.
Dillon Tate has an opposing batting average of .219, an XBA of .238, Joey Krehbiel with an opposing average of .195, an XBA of .221, Keegan Akin with an opposing batting average of .194, an XBA of .252, and Cionel Perez with an opposing batting average of .227, and an XBA of .249.
The MLB Average is .243 and .241.
The Orioles also rank 8th in MLB in saves (28), 6th in WHIP (1.18), 10th in HR (36), and 7th in Ks (389).
This can also be attributed to the defensive play of Adley Rutschman who has posted an ERA of 3.72 behind home plate, where the league average is 4.00.
The 7th, 8th, and 9th innings have been set with player selection, and have been considerably better with Adley behind the plate. The change can be measured in wins since May 21st, when Adley made his debut. Since then the Orioles are 30 – 25, and are currently 16 – 7 in the month of July.