They key to Shane Baz's turn around is surprisingly simple

Shane Baz's first month and a half as a member of the Baltimore Orioles was rough. Between the prospect haul the Orioles gave up for him and the extension they gave him before he pitched an inning for them, the expectations were high. So when eight starts into his Orioles career, he was 1-4 with a 5.48 ERA; there wasn't a word to describe the situation other than disappointing. However, over the last two weeks, Baz has found his form and looked like the starting pitcher the Orioles acquired him to be.

In his last three starts, Baz is averaging 6.2 innings per start and has reached the seventh inning in two of those outings. During this stretch, he's put up an ERA of 2.25 and a FIP of 3.68. In his last outing, he set a new season high for strikeouts in a game with nine. What's been most impressive is that these outings have not come against inept offenses that you would expect to get dominated by even an adequate starter.

He's done it against the Washington Nationals, who have one of the best offenses in the league, and twice in back-to-back starts against the Rays, who have the best record in the AL. The Rays thing is even more impressive because, as Jim Palmer said before Baz's second start against the Rays, "the hardest thing you can do is face the same lineup in back-to-back starts." Also, you would think if there was ever a team that would be familiar with what Shane Baz wants to do on the mound, it would be his former team.

Shane Baz can command his best pitches now and it's making all the difference

The difference between the results in Baz's first eight starts compared to his last three is stark. So what changed? The biggest difference has been that Baz has found the command of his best pitches.

Baz wants to be a four-seam fastball and knuckle curve guy. He has other pitches that he'll mix in, but the four-seamer and the curveball are his best two offerings. The fastball comes in hot in the mid to high 90s with good IVB, and the curveball dives out of the zone to induce chase and swing and miss. When right, it's a good combo against lefties and righties.

Early in the season, Baz couldn't command those pitches, especially the four-seam fastball. You could see him at the beginning of each start struggling to throw his four-seam fastball for strikes and getting into jams early in the game because he was walking guys and then throwing fastballs down the middle. There were starts where he basically had to abandon the four seamer and lean heavily on his cutter, which he could command. Baz's cutter is a fine pitch to sprinkle in, but it is not good enough to lean on as a primary offering. This is why left-handed hitters, especially, were just destroying Baz to start the year.

Over his last three starts, Baz has been able to command his two best pitches; he's been able to lean on them heavily and get results. Over his last three starts, he's thrown either the four-seamer or the curveball on over 70% of his pitches. His in-zone rate for the fastball has steadily increased over this span, and so has the chase rate for the knuckle curve. The more those pitches work in harmony, the better Baz is going to perform.

It's also worth noting that he's begun using the two-seam fastball that he was reported to be working on in spring training. He brought it out in his first start, and it got clobbered, and then he shelved for a while, but now it's back, and it will be interesting to see how he uses it going forward. Having three fastballs is all the rage right now, and the two-seamer is the only one Baz is missing, so if that could become a bigger part of his arsenal, it could make him even better.

There's still a lot of season left, and Baz will experience ups and downs, but if he can continue to give the Orioles length the way he has the last few weeks and pitch to a very doable mid-3s ERA, he'll be well worth what the Orioles gave up to get him, and his extension will seem like a bargain.

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