Baltimore Orioles Happy to Ride Ubaldo Jimenez's Hot Hand

In desperate need of starting pitching, the Baltimore Orioles signed Ubaldo Jimenez to a $50 million deal three years ago. His first half of this season was a dud, but since the All-Star break he’s led the team with a 2.84 ERA and has become the team’s most reliable pitcher in the fight for the playoffs. What happened to turn his stalling career around?

When you watch Ubaldo Jimenez pitch in a game, it’s easy to say to yourself, “Why doesn’t this guy lead the league in everything?” He’s got “all the right stuff”, but why has his career never taken off?

Well now, maybe it has. Or at least the Orioles hope it has. Because with Chris Tillman slipping a bit since returning from the DL and the rest of the staff struggling to put two good games together in a row, Jimenez has suddenly emerged as the go-to guy as the season draws to a close and the playoffs begin.

When you look at Jimenez and his overall record this season, you begin to see why the Orioles have reason to be a little gun-shy when heaping praise on Jimenez for his second half performance (8-12, 5.44 ERA, 1.56 WHIP). And his career record (108-106) is more of the same.

The Transformation of Ubaldo Jimenez

But there are two things that might have changed everything. The first has to do with that often elusive thing called confidence and the second occurred when, as Eduardo Encino recently reported in the Baltimore Sun, sometime in the month of August Jimenez “found” his sinker.

Where it was before then, no one is saying. Or more likely, no one knows where it was. Because that’s the way pitching is. It’s about “feeling” the ball in your hand. And when the ball feels right, you feel right. And sometimes, nothing feels right as we see here.

From Encino’s story, here’s Jimenez in his own words explaining one of his less than stellar starts: “When I get to the mound, I know I can compete and give my team a chance to compete on the scoreboard. In that game, I wasn’t. I couldn’t get out of the first inning. But whatever happens. I never look back. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s done. There’s nothing you can do about it. You have to get ready for the next one.” Clearly, his confidence level was shaky at best at this point.

More from Call to the Pen

And the fact remains that Jimenez barely escaped being released by the Orioles in July, and as ESPN reported, he was actually booed off the field following one of his less than impressive starts. So, something else had to have happened.

And it did happen in the name of Buck Showalter, who is perhaps the most underrated manager in baseball today. Showalter is not a quitter. He doesn’t quit on himself, his team, and certainly not his players.

And yet, he is not above delivering a stern message to a player when it’s called for. Because of that, you can imagine a scenario where Showalter tells his coaching staff, “Look, tell this guy his career is on the brink of disaster. And I don’t care what you do, but straighten him the freak out because I need him.”

And according to Jayson Stark, that’s exactly what they did by tweaking his delivery a bit causing his sinker to sink like it never has before. Simple as that, right?

The Orioles Desperately Need Him

Except we know it’s not. And regardless of whether or not the tear Ubaldo Jimenez is on this season continues into next year, the Orioles only need it to go on this year. Because if they are going to make some noise in the playoffs (if they get there), they’ll need to have Ubaldo Jimenez matching Chris Tillman start for start.

Next: Rain Could Wreak Havoc on Playoffs

And if that sinker doesn’t continue to sink, chances are good that the Orioles’ hopes for a run to the World Series will sink along with it.

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