Baltimore Orioles - The Covid-19 Years (2020-2029)

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2020

2023

101

Decade

110

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Titles:

Top Orioles Players of the Twenty Twenties

2023 - AL East Champs; Lost ALDS (Texas)

2024 - Lost WC to Kansas City

Pitchers:

Dean Kremer (6) - 26

BallPark:

Felix Bautista (7) - 20

Camden Yards

Corbin Burnes (3.4) - 14

Kyle Bradish (6) - 11

Team Name:

Kyle Gibson (0.9) - 11

Orioles

Grayson Rodriguez (2) - 10

Jordan Lyles (0.98) - 9

Owner:

Jorge Lopez (1.65) - 8

Peter Angelos (2020-23)

Tomoyuki Sugano (1) - 7

David Rubenstein (2024-25)

Trevor Rogers (5.5) - 6

Tyler Wells (3.69) - 6

General Managers:

Alex Cobb (1.13) - 6

Mike Elias

John Means (4.69) - 6

Keegan Akin (2.09) - 6

Managers:

Brandon Hyde (2020-2025)

Catchers:

Craig Albernaz (2025)

Adley Rutschman (14.64) - 33

Pedro Severino (1.9) - 5

No Hitters:

2021 John Means (Seattle)

First Basemen:

Ryan Mountcastle (7.56) - 30

Hall of Famers:

Ryan O'Hearn (5.2) - 18

None

Second Basemen:

Rookie of the Year:

Jordan Westburg (5.1) - 12

2023 - Gunnar Henderson

ShortStop:

MVP:

Gunnar Henderson (21.73) - 29

Jose Iglesias (1.15) - 5

Cy Young:

None

Third Base:

Ramon Urias (10.26) - 14

Notable Events:

Outfield:

2020 - The Orioles enter the decade on a downer having finished last in the

Cedric Mullins (15.38) - 53

Division three years running. The poor play would continue for the first two

Anthony Santander (9.73) - 32

years of the new decade, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel as

Jorge Mateo (4.73) - 17

None

Austin Hays (8.75) - 16

GM Mike Elias was amassing young talent through high draft picks and trades.

Trey Mancini (2.82) - 10

Colton Cowser (2.3) - 7

Trades / Moves of veteran players:

□ 2018 Deadline - 3B Manny Machado, 25, to the Dodgers for five prospects

Notable Events:

including RHP Dean Kremer, 23

□ 2018 Off Season - OF Adam Jones 32, to Arizona as a FA

2024 - The Orioles are sold to Baltimore billionaire David Rubenstein for

□ 2019 Deadline - RHP Andrew Cashner, 32, to Boston for two prospects

a relatively paltry sum of 1.7 billion. Rubenstein can't be any worse than

□ 2019 Off Season - 2B Jonathan Villar, 28, to Miami for a prospect

Angelos in the financial support department. And, if Rubenstein is willing to

□ 2019 Off Season -RHP Dylan Bundy, 26, to Anaheim for four prospects

open up the purse strings a bit, Baltimore is set to be a contender for years.

including RHP Kyle Bradish, 23

At the moment, the management team of GM Mike Elias and manager

□ 2019 Off Season - OF Trey Mancini is diagnosed with colon cancer

Brandon Hyde has been retained. That is a good thing as they have both

done a good job.

Draft Picks and Acquisitions:

□ 2013 C Chance Cisco, 18, 2nd round

2024 - Elias has done one of the masterful jobs in baseball annals of turning

□ 2015 1B Ryan Mountcastle, 18, 1st round

high draft picks into gold. It's a lot tougher than people think.

□ 2015 OF DJ Stewart 21, 1st round

Baltimore overachieved to 101-61 mark in '23 when the runs totals indicated

□ 2015 CF Cedrick Mullins, 20, 13th round

a 93-69 Mark. The difference was closer Felix Bautista. Unfortunately for

□ 2016 OF Austin Hays, 20, 3rd round

the Orioles, Bautista is out for '24 with TJ surgery which means that

□ 2016 OF Anthony Santander, 21, Rule 5 draft from Cleveland

advantage is gone. They are going to try to replace Bautista with 36 year old

□ 2016 Closer Felix Bautista, 21, signed as a minor league FA

Craig Kimbrel, but he's three years removed from being the lights out guy

□ 2017 LHP DL Hall, 18, 1st round

that Bautista was until Bautista went down with injury. Doesn't look like

□ 2017 RHP Mike Baumann. 21, 3rd round

there's a good candidate for closer in the organization at the moment if

□ 2018 RHP Grayson Rodriguez, 18, 1st round

Kimbrel doesn't get his mojo back. Maybe new owner Rubenstein will come

□ 2019 C Adley Rutschman, 21, 1st overall pick

to the rescue and open his pocketbook.

□ 2019 SS Gunnar Henderson, 18, 2nd round

In any event, Baltimore should continue to improve offensively as they've

□ 2019 SS Joey Ortiz, 19, 4th round

got a young club with lots of minor league talent waiting in the

□ 2020 OF Heston Kjerstad, 21, 2nd overall pick

wings as potential breakout contributors.

□ 2020 2B Jordan Westburg, 21, 1st round pick

Prime candidates for internal improvements offensively are top prospects:

□ 2020 3B Coby Mayo, 19, 4th round pick

C Adley Rutschman, 26; 1B Ryan Mountcastle, 27; SS Gunnar Henderson, 23,

□ 2021 OF Colton Cowser, 21, 5th overall pick

2B Jordan Westburg, 25; OF Colton Cowser, 24; and OF Heston Kjerstad, 25.

□ 2021 RHP Tyler Wells, 26, Rule 5 draft from Minnesota

The number one prospect in baseball, SS Jackson Holliday, 20, will probably

□ 2022 SS Jackson Holliday, 18, 1st overall pick

be ready to come up and make a splash during the season. He is the son

□ 2023 OF Enrique Bradfield, 19, 17th overall pick

of former Rockies slugger Matt Holliday.

□ 2024 OF Vance Honeycutt, 21, 22nd overall pick

The pitching end of the organization is not quite so robust with prospects.

Righty Grayson Rodriguez, 24, is the only pitcher that we see that should

□ Peter Angelos is the owner and after suffering heart problems in 2017, his

show a significant improvement from '23 where he was 7-4 4.35.

son John has been running the club. John has deferred the day to day

Burnes and Gibson should be somewhat of a wash.

operations to GM Mike Elias in 2019 and the O's have been in good hands.

And Kimbrel will most likely not be able to replicate Bautista's success.

Elias had helped orchestrate a similar rebuilding process in Houston prior to

coming to the Orioles where they dealt away all their valuable veterans

2024 - Look for Baltimore to be a better all around team altho' it will be hard

and then proceeded to build a competitive roster from scratch.

to beat last year's record without Bautista around.

□ Elias brought in Brandon Hyde as his manager. Again, so far, so good.

2025 - The Orioles regress surprisingly in '24. They drop ten wins back into

Hyde replaced fan favorite Buck Showalter.

second place. The young hitters didn't improve as was expected, but it was

he pitching that collapsed. Corbin Burnes was brought in as a free agent

2020 - Baltimore finishes fourth in the covid shortened season

or things would have been much worse. The Orioles lost lights out closer

Felix Bautista to injury and could not replace him. They tried legendary

2021 - The O's bottom out at 52-110, but there is a strong farm system in place

closer Craig Kimbrel, but his shelf life had been passed and all he did

was pour gas on the fires. The lack of a closer hurt the rest of the staff as

2022 - Baltimore makes a huge 31 game jump in the standings

well. Starter Dean Kremer got very mediocre. And starter Kyle Bradish

The difference was all in the pitching. The club scored a similar number of runs

got hurt. The Orioles let Burnes slip thru their fingers as they lost him

in '21 and '22, but the O's staff gave up 268 less runs in '22. It wasn't that the

to Arizona as a FA. Huge loss. Mitigating that loss somewhat will be the

22 staff was so good, it was that the '21 staff was so bad, yielding 956 runs.

signing of 35 year old Japanese righty Tomoyuki Sagano. The other huge

A lot of the staff returned from '21, but improved markedly in '22 from horrific to

loss during the offseason was OF Anthony Santander, 28, and his

decent. Jorge Lopez had the biggest turnaround going from 3-14 6.07 as a

forty four homers to Toronto. This one really hurts.

starter to 4-6 1.68 and 19 saves as a closer. Even tho' the Orioles were in the

thick of the race for a wild card spot, Elias dealt Lopez to the Twins for five

2025 Pitching (Losing Burnes hurts, Bautista return helps);

prospects at the trade deadline. It would have been an odd deal except that

□ RHP Grayson Rodriguez, 25, '18 draft 11th overall pick, 13-4 3.86

Elias knew that he had Felix Bautista waiting in the wings. Bautista, a late

□ RHP Zach Elfin, 31, '24 Trade from TB at trade deadline, 5-1 2.60

bloomer, added another 15 saves on a 2.19 ERA as a 27 year old rookie.

□ RHP Tomoyuki Sugano, 35, maybe he'll approximate Burnes' success

at age thrity five. Free agent signed from Japan after a stellar career there.

2023 - Baltimore's youngsters start to mature and the Orioles gain

□ RHP Charlie Morton, 41, '25 FA from Atlanta, 8-10 4.19

eighteen games in the standings to 101-61 and a Division Title.

□ RHP Dean Kremer, 29, '18 Trade from LA, 8-10 4.10

The O's lose in the first round in the playoffs to eventual World Series

□ RHP Kyle Bradish, 28, '20 Trade from LA, TJ Surgery

Champions Texas.

□ Closer Felix Bautista, 30, '16 FA from Miami, TJ Surgery

□ Solid Relievers: LHP Keegan Akin, RHP Yennier Cano, RHP Jacob Webb

2023 - Offense improved by 133 runs from '22 to '23. That's highly

significant almost a run a game. The lions share of the gain came

2025 Hitting (Didn't progress as hoped in '24):

from two youngsters: IF Gunnar Henderson, 22, who went 22 82 .255;

□ C Adley Rutschman, 27, '19 1st overall pick, 19 79 .250

and C Adley Rutschman, 25, who improved from 42 RBI to 80 RBI.

□ C Gary Sanchez, 31, '25 FA from Milwaukee, 11 37 .220

□ C Samuel Basallo, 20, '21 IFA

2023 - The pitching improved significantly, as well, as the O's went

□ 1B Ryan Mountcastle, 28,'15 1st round, 13 63 .271

from 7 runs given up more than the league average to 70 runs below

□ SS Jackson Holliday, 21,'22 1st overall pick, 5 23 .189

the league average. A gain of half a run a game.

□ SS Gunnar Henderson, 24,'19 2nd round, 37 92 .281 21SB

The players responsible for the improvement:

□ 3B Jordan Westburg, 26, '20 1st round pick, 18 63 .264

□ Kyle Gibson, 35, FA signed from the Phillies went 15-9

□ 3B Coby Mayo, 23, '20 4th round pick

□ Dean Kremer, 27, improved from 8-7 to 13-5

□ CF Cedrick Mullins, 30, '15 13th round, 18 54 .234 32SB

□ Kyle Bradish, 26, improved from 4-7 to 12-7

□ OF Colton Cowser, 25,'21 5th overall pick, 24 69 .242

□ Mike Bauman, 27, improved from 1-3 to 10-1

□ OF Heston Kjerstad, 26, '20 2nd overall pick, 4 14 .253

□ Felix Bautista, 28, improved from 15 saves to 33 saves

□ OF Tyler O'Neill, 30, '25 FA from Boston, 31 61 .241

□ Yennier Cano, 29, obtained in '22 in Lopez deal was 1-4 2.11 with 8 saves

□ OF Anthony Santander, 30,'16 Rule 5 draft from Cleveland, 44 102 .235

□ Cionel Perez, 27, fell from 7-1 1.40 to 4-2 3.54

Gone to Toronto in Free Agency leaving a huge hole in the Orioles lineup.

2024 - A big blow to the pitching staff as Kyle Gibson, 36, is signed away

as a free agent by the Cardinals

2024 - Baltimore offsets the loss of Gibson by acquring ace righthander

Corbin Burnes, 29, from Milwaukee for lefty DL Hall, 25, and IF Joey Ortiz, 25.