Orioles signing of Ryan Helsley will be a bust if he doesn’t solve this unfortunate flaw

Ryan Helsley got off to a hot start in the Baltimore Orioles' opening series against the Minnesota Twins. He flashed the triple-digit velocity he's famous for, he debuted his new splitter to great success, and he struck out batters with his nasty slider. After just two games, it looked like the Orioles were going to get the 2024 version of Helsley, who led the league in saves.

However, since then, Helsley's outings have been shaky, and the numbers are trending in a concerning direction.

The main issue has been Helsley's command. After not issuing a single walk in his two appearances against the Twins, Helsley has walked 4 batters in his last 2.1 innings pitched. This blight of walks has brought his season BB/9 up to 8.31 and his WHIP up to 2.08. These are not sustainable numbers for a backend closer.

Ryan Helsley must dial in his command as the Baltimore Orioles' closer

Losing the Pirates game because you gave up two doubles is understandable. Sometimes, even great pitchers get hit. But putting the two save opportunities in Chicago in jeopardy because you can't find the zone against one of the worst lineups in baseball is hard to watch. It doesn't matter how nasty a pitcher you are; once you've walked a runner into scoring position, all it takes is a weird error or a broken bat bloop, and you've blown the game.

Even if Helsley keeps up his K/9 of 14.54 and his whiff rate of 38.5%, he's not going to be effective if he's averaging one walk per appearance. That's playing with fire; even though Helsley is perfect on save opportunities this year, it's only a matter of time before these walks start to cost the Orioles games.

The one defense for Helsley's walks over his last few appearances has been the weather. In Chicago this week, the temperatures were near or below freezing. Lots of pitchers on both teams struggled with walks and complained about not being able to grip the baseball.

The Orioles are back in Baltimore for the next week, and the temperatures are going to be in the 70s and 80s, aka perfect baseball weather. If Helsley's command returns with the sunshine, then everyone can chalk up this bad week of walks to the Windy City and go back to enjoying Helsley light up the radar gun.