Baltimore Orioles: Major Takeaways from the 2016 Season
After missing out on the postseason in 2015, the Baltimore Orioles made strides and snuck into the playoffs as a wild card this year. However, some questionable managing and an inconsistent offense forced them into an early exit.
2016 Record: 89-73, 4.0 GB in the AL East, Finished as the Second Wild Card
Not many expected the Baltimore Orioles to make the postseason at the start of the 2016 regular season, mostly due to their unreliable starting rotation. In the offseason, the O’s did manage to add a starter in Yovani Gallardo, but some of his peripheral stats dictated that he was due for some regression this season. Baltimore also penciled in the likes of Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, Mike Wright, Tyler Wilson and the ever inconsistent Ubaldo Jimenez. While there was some upside there with Gausman having another year of experience under this belt in combination with his ace caliber stuff. Still, baseball pundits were skeptical that this rotation would stay afloat through a long 162 game season at the very least.
Another big transgression that happened over the winter was that the team signed power hitting first baseman Chris Davis to the most expensive deal in franchise history. It was a negotiation that took longer than Davis expected, but eventually he signed for an expensive seven year, $161 million contract with no opt outs. This type of long-term commitment to a player that strikes out as much as the 30 year-old first baseman does was a head scratcher to some, but it did show that the Orioles believed that they could compete for a postseason spot in 2016.
Other notable offseason moves included the re-signing of Darren O’Day and the buy low deal to acquire another capable power hitter in Mark Trumbo, even though it wasn’t necessarily clear at the start of the season where he would play, especially with the team’s decision to sign designated hitter Pedro Alvarez as spring training was just getting going.
Overall, what started out as a questionable roster with notable holes became a team that jumped out to the AL East lead at the All Star break. However, the second half wasn’t so kind to the birds from Baltimore. Buck Showalter‘s squad was still able to sneak into the postseason over a couple of other capable teams in the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, which came was a surprise to the many people who doubted the club coming into the season.
Here are some of the major takeaways from what was a surprisingly successful 2016 season in Baltimore.
Zach Britton had one of the best seasons ever for a closer
Wow….that’s all I can see with the season that Orioles closer Zach Britton had in 2016. It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise being that the 28 year-old closer was coming off a very successful campaign last year in which he collected 36 saves, while finishing with a 1.92 ERA and a career-high 10.8 strikeout rate per nine innings. This is even more impressive when considering that the lefty is a sinkerball pitcher whose strength is in his ability to get weak contact.
This year did not even compare to what Britton this past season, though. The two-time all-star was a perfect 47/47 in save opportunities, but that wasn’t even the most impressive statistic that Britton put up. He finished with a ridiculous 0.54 ERA, in which he allowed four earned runs in 67 innings of work. Britton averaged over a strikeout per appearance while also posting a groundball rate of 80 percent, which was a career-high. His fly ball rate was an anemic 8.8 percent and he allowed close to five percent less her contact than in 2015, according to FanGraphs, which was still tremendous for any relief pitcher
Looking past the numbers, just watching Britton work was truly amazing. His sinker is probably the most unhittable pitch in the game of baseball. Yes it’s better than Andrew Miller‘s slider or Aroldis Chapman‘s faster. It even compares to the legendary Mariano Rivera cutter. Britton’s sinker sits at 97-98 mph and shoots downward when it arrives at the plate, so there is not much chance that a hitter can make solid contact. Either a batter will chase the sinker low because it’s tough to pick up that it will dip in the zone or the batter will top a weak ground ball to someone on the infield. Really the only way to get on base is if the ball is spiraled into the ground for an infield hit.
Britton proved himself to be the best relief pitcher in baseball and he should receive strong consideration for the AL Cy Young award even though the odds are stacked against him because of his lack of innings when comparing him to the best starting pitchers in the American League.
Mark Trumbo was one of the best additions of the offseason
Mark Trumbo has always been seen as a flawed player somewhat along the lines of Chris Davis. He’s a definite power threat that strikes out more than one would like and is a liability in the field. So when the Orioles acquired him in a trade from the Seattle Mariners early in the winter there was some question to what this meant for the O’s pursuit of Chris Davis.
Once Davis opted to return to Baltimore and Pedro Alvarez came into the picture from the Pirates, it was clear that Trumbo would try to be hidden in right field. While, the 30 year-old was by no means a good right fielder he did more than enough the bat to make it for it.
Camden Yards is notorious for producing the long ball, and with Trumbo coming from Safeco Field in Seattle it was expected that his home run numbers would increase, I don’t think many would predict that he would finish atop the entire MLB in home runs. The right fielder hit a career-high 47 bombs this season, which was a full 25 more than he hit in 2015. Trumbo also surprised by hitting for a high average out of the gate, and while his average did creep back into the .250’s like many expected, that’s still good enough with the type of pop he brought to the Orioles lineup.
Probably the biggest surprise in all of this was that the O’s only had to give away a backup catcher in Steve Clevenger. This is mostly due to the fact the Mariners were already set in the outfield and didn’t really have a spot to put Trumbo with his arbitration number spiking because he was in his final year before free agency. Nevertheless, this, outside of the Shelby Miller–Dansby Swanson deal, was probably the biggest fleecing of any move this past offseason.
While the pitching staff wasn’t good, there is now some promise for future
What was deemed as the true Achilles heel of the Orioles at the start of the season, the starting rotation was interesting to say the least in 2016. Chris Tillman and Yovani Gallardo were the only pitchers that really had a consistent track record of success in the league, but neither should be confused about being an ace, especially with the poor numbers Gallardo put up.
Miguel Gonzalez, who was the team’s one of the best starters during the Orioles ALCS run in 2014, was released at the start of the season. This left Baltimore relying on unproven guys in Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson, who far the most part, were not capable major league starting pitchers.
This leads us to Ubaldo Jimenez, perhaps the most frustrating pitcher in the entire major leagues. He doesn’t throw in the mid-high 90s like he did in Colorado, but he still uses that wacky delivery. His poor play forced him to the bullpen for most of the season, but something happened to the Orioles highly paid starting pitcher in the month of September. In his five starts in September, the 32 year-old right hander allowed only nine earned runs in 35 innings of work. This was a huge development for an Orioles team that needed innings from their starters to get into the postseason.
However, the most positive development came from development of the Orioles two talented young starters, Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy. Gausman was somewhat expected to take a step forward being that he already had some experience as a starting pitcher in the majors, and he really did come into his own, especially towards the end of the season. Gausman pitched great games against Boston and the New York Yankees that were crucial in keeping the O’s in the postseason picture. Overall, he finished the 2016 season with best numbers he’s ever had. The 25 year-old finished the season with an ERA of 3.61 and struck out close to one batter per inning, which isn’t a surprise given his dominant pitching arsenal.
Bundy on the other hand was stuffed into the bullpen because he needed to be on the 25 man roster. But as Buck started to see some growth in the former fourth overall pick, he gave him the opportunity to start during the middle parts of the season when the team was really needy for some quality innings. At times Bundy looked unhittable, using his poise and exceptional stuff attack hitters. Of course with this being Bundy’s first stint starting in the majors there were some hiccups with control and consistency, but overall, Bundy’s play was a positive development for the Orioles as he probably solidified a spot in the O’s starting rotation next year.
Ultimately, the offense doomed the O’s
While it’s clear that the Orioles’ lineup went on runs where you’d wonder how the team would ever be outscored, it was the club’s inconsistency that was the real killer late in the season.
Coming into the season it was clear that the Orioles were stacked with multiple power hitters that struggled to get on-base and would strike out more than Buck would probably want them to. Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Mark Trumbo, Pedro Alvarez, Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy have proven themselves to be capable bats in any major league lineup. However, all of these hitters are similar in that they can go on elongated slumps and that’s really what happened over the last month of the regular season.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Only two hitters posted an on-base percentage of .340 or more (Manny Machado and Hyun-soo Kim) and just from watching this team that number really shouldn’t surprise you. The team consistently swings at pitches out of the zone and is not getting deep into counts, which allows starters to work longer into the ballgame. This type of formula has been somewhat successful as overall the Orioles offense was in the top half of the league in runs scored.
It’s alright to have a few hitters that are a home run or bust type of player, but the problem is that Orioles have too many of these guys that Buck writes on the lineup card everyday. Slumps can be an absolute killer for any team and if you saw the Orioles play in the second half, it was easy to see that they were struggling to consistently score runs day in and day out.
Next: Tigers 2016 season review
What were your takeaways from the Orioles in 2016? Share your thoughts in the comments below.