4 Orioles players who have been major disappointments this season

While many thought the Baltimore Orioles could be one of the more fun teams to watch in 2023 with all of the young talent they had coming up, few thought that they would become one of the best teams in baseball so quickly. However, that is exactly what has happened as they have best record in the American League and trail just the Braves for the best record in all of baseball.

Only time will tell if the Orioles can keep this up now that Felix Bautista is out with an elbow injury, but no one can take away just how stark the team's turnaround has been in 2023. However, for all of the things that have gone right for Baltimore this year, there have still been a few players that been disappointments in 2023 that are worth taking a look at.

Here are 4 Orioles players that have been major disappointments this season

Before anyone asks and/or panics, just because a guy has been subpar in 2023 does not mean they are irredeemable as baseball players. All of the guys on this list are talented and frankly, one of the reasons they could be considered disappointments is because of what the expectations of them were based on their talent. It wouldn't surprise anybody if they figured things out tomorrow and were good the rest of the season or if they had nice bounce back campaigns in 2024. This is strictly a look at 2023 and nothing more.

Let's take a look at the more disappointing Orioles players in 2023.

Grayson Rodriguez hasn't yet looked like the starter the Orioles hoped he would be

Grayson Rodriguez has been considered to be one of the better young pitchers in all of baseball for a couple years now. The Orioles' first round pick from the 2018 draft put up gaudy strikeout numbers throughout his time in the minor leagues and once Rodriguez had recovered from a lat injury he suffered in 2022, many thought he would be dominating in the big leagues sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, that isn't exactly how things have gone down in 2023. The Orioles did call up Rodriguez early this season and he has been fairly...meh. In 17 starts this season, Rodriguez has posted a 5.38 ERA and 4.63 FIP with a noticeable dip in his strikeout rate from his minor league days. For a guy that was expected to be a headliner in this rookie class, those are not the numbers you are looking for.

In fairness to Grayson, he has been pretty unlucky when it comes to his HR/FB rate as well as his BABIP against him so far in the big leagues. He has also averaged less than two earned runs per start over his last six starts which is more than fine. While it would be nice to see some improvement in his ability to finish guys off, Rodriguez should be fine in the long-term even if this season has been a bit of a bummer.

2023 has not gone to plan for Austin Voth and the Orioles

Looking at the Baltimore bullpen, it is hard to find areas of weakness in 2023 other than the aforementioned Bautista injury. In addition to Felix being an absolute stud this season, Yennier Cano and Danny Coulombe have been great as well with lots of contributions from elsewhere on the roster. However, one guy that has struggled to produce for a number of reasons in the relief corps has been Austin Voth.

In 23 appearances this season, Voth has posted a 4.94 ERA and 5.43 FIP thanks in large part to a BB/9 rate north of 4 and issues with the long ball. On top of that, Voth missed over two months of the 2023 season after experiencing discomfort in his throwing elbow. It is fairly telling that he hasn't pitched since being activated from the IL on 8/23, but if a guy like Voth is a team's worst reliever, then the team is still in a pretty good spot.