Orioles lose in top pitching prospects debut but leave with 2 reasons to be optimistic

The Baltimore Orioles threw Trey Gibson in the deep end of the pool to start his major league career. He made his debut on the road against the Yankees, the best team in the AL, and in the first inning had to face maybe the two best hitters in all of baseball this season. Not to mention the fact that the team was on a three-game losing streak and their bullpen was toast. So when Gibson gave up a first-inning homer to Ben Rice, it seemed like maybe it was too much too soon for the 23-year-old prospect, but Gibson buckled down and gritted through 4.2 innings of three-run ball and gave his team a chance to win, which is a lot more than anyone else in the Orioles rotation had been able to do against the Yankees this weekend.

Trey Gibson's signature death ball lived up to the hype

Gibson was pretty much as advertised. He threw five different pitches at least 15% of the time, living up to his reputation of having a wide arsenal, which is a bit unique for such a young pitcher. His slider or "death ball" was his best pitch, where he got half his whiffs on the day, as well as half his strikeouts. Also notable about the death ball was that it was his most thrown pitch, and it was the pitch that the Yankees struggled to put any mustard on. Always good when a prospect's signature pitch immediately works at the big league level.

The Orioles had a good plan to get hide Gibson's weakness

One of Gibson's weaknesses is the fact that he has an underwhelming fastball, so it was interesting to see him very intentionally mix up his fastball usage. The first time through the order, he threw 41 four-seamers and just three sinkers. The second time through the order, that ratio was flipped, and hitters saw 33 sinkers and just 11 four-seam fastballs. That's what Gibson will have to do to survive in the big leagues without having a fastball that moves exceptionally well.

Considering the fact that Gibson wasn't supposed to make his debut until much later in the season, the fact that he navigated such a high-power Yankees lineup and only allowed runs on a pair of homers to Judge and Rice is very impressive and bodes well for his ability to translate to the big leagues.  

It will be interesting to see how long Gibson sticks around on the big league roster. The Orioles do have 10 games in 10 days, so they could keep the six-man rotation going, but with how short so many of their starters' outings have gone, they may need the extra bullpen arm more than the extra starter. If that's the case, Gibson would most likely be the one sent down, but if Young and Povich continue to struggle, it's possible he could be back up very soon in a much more permanent role.

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