The Amazing Case of Orioles CP Felix Bautista. Blow the Whistle.

The Orioles have found a gem in Felix Bautista, and he has found a walkup song.

It’s the 9th inning with the Orioles winning 2-1. What do they do?

Blow the whistle. Felix Comin’.

Anyone familiar with Baltimore folklore understands the significance of the whistle. On the show, “The Wire,” it is when Omar comes around the corner with his shotgun, wearing a bulletproof vest, and whistling “Farmer in the Dell.” It’s a lights-out moment in the show.

The show ran from 2002 to 2008. But the call, the whistle, is back in 2022, and it has a new meaning. It means Felix Comin’ and it’s over.

Felix Bautista was signed as an international free agent in 2012 by the Miami Marlins and was assigned to the Dominican Summer League. In 2014, he posted a 12.47 ERA in just 12.1 innings over 8 games and was released. Out of baseball in 2015, he signed with the Orioles in 2016 and bounced around the Rookie Ball levels, Dominican, and Gulf Leagues until 2019. In 2019 he turned a corner and worked his way up the ladder quickly in 2021, where he went from A+ to AAA.

Now at the major league level, Felix Bautista has been completely dominant in his role, and after understanding the statistics, remember, this is his first year in Major League Baseball.

On the year, Bautista is 4-3 with 9 Saves and a 1.62 ERA. He’s 9/10 in Save Opportunities since taking over for Jorge Lopez and leads all rookie pitchers with a 2.8 WAR.

How high is the 2.8 WAR? He is tied with closer Edwin Diaz, and ranks above Gerrit Cole, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and former Oriole, Kevin Gausman.

Diving deeper into the stats, his fastball has topped out at 101mph this season and has 8.4 inches of vertical drop, the league average is 1.3, and horizontal movement of 7.3 inch break, the league average is 1.4.. The progress continues as his 39.0 inches of vertical movement where the league average is 3.9, and 5.1 of horizontal movement as compared to the league average of .1.

His splitter has baffled batters as opponents have only hit .069 against him and have struck out 46 times on this pitch. Bautista has 76 strikeouts on the season.

In April, Bautista posted a 3.24 ERA, and by the end of May, after Adley Rutschman’s debut, he posted a 1.54 in May, 0.00 in June, 2.03 in July, and 1.46 to date in August. Thus, proving the compounding effect of Adley Rutschman behind the plate.

We’re watching something special here and expect this to stay for the next few seasons as the Orioles develop their roster into a true championship contender.