This Orioles rookie is standing out in a big way, despite plethora of young talent on roster

The Baltimore Orioles have been playing almost exclusively in close games. So far this season, they've had only one single game where either they or their opponent won by more than four, their 2-8 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Other than that, it's been tightly contested matches coming down to the wire. With all these close games and high-leverage innings, it's been interesting to watch manager Craig Albernaz consistently turn to rookie reliever Anthony Nunez in the very highest of leverage moments.

This week, as the Orioles have been trying to claw their way back to .500, Nunez was deployed in the two highest leverage moments of his career so far and delivered both times.

On Monday, Nunez entered the game in the bottom of the 10th after the Orioles had failed to push across the ghost runner in the top of the inning. When the away team fails to score the ghost runner, the game feels basically over, and the pitcher coming into the game feels almost doomed to get tagged with the loss. That's not what happened to Nunez; with a little help from some bad base running, Nunez escaped the jam, stranding the winning run on second. The Orioles hung on to win, and Nunez got his first career win.

On Wednesday, the Orioles were without their star closer Ryan Helsley, and a save situation arose. Once again, the Orioles called Nunez's number, and he came through. Even when a Coby Mayo error forced him to face Bobby Witt Jr as the game-tying run, he overcame it and punched out one of the best hitters in baseball for his first career save.

Anthony Nunez has experienced a meteoric rise since joining the Orioles organization

This time last year, Nunez was a Brooklyn Cyclone, which is the Mets' High-A affiliate. The idea that he was just a year away from being a team's number one reliever would have seemed laughable at the time, but that's what's happened. As of today, Nunez is the Orioles' top reliever.  That's not something the team has come out and said. Look at the way the Orioles have used him over the course of the season. There is nobody they trust more than Nunez.

Nunez being this good and this trusted this early brings up some exciting questions. Could he be one of the best relievers in all of baseball? Could he be a starter? Could he end up having a case to be the Rookie of the Year?

The last one seems a little far-fetched, considering he'd be at a serious disadvantage being a reliever, but on his own team, Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers were seen as serious candidates for the award, and Nunez has outstripped them from a value perspective by quite a lot.

Catching up to Kevin McGonigle, who has already racked up 1.8 WAR (a good season WAR total for a reliever), might be too tall to ask. However, if Nunez can keep this up, he'll appear on ballots, and he'll come into next season as an established back-end of the bullpen force.

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