Do The Baltimore Orioles Have Any Weaknesses? | On The Record ft. Jake Rill

welcome back into another edition of on the record where we're previewing upcoming series for the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend they're taking on the 24 and2 Baltimore Orioles and here to discuss the Orioles with us today is Jake R Who covers the team for mlb.com out in Baltimore Jake uh thanks for hopping on today we really appreciate it yeah no problem Jesse thanks for having me on so Jake uh this Orioles team as I mentioned 24 and 12 one of the best records in all of baseball early in the season of course they had a a pretty darn good year last season as well the expectations were were pretty big coming into this year and it seems like they've really lived up to those expectations so far yeah they really have I mean they've played well in all facets of the game they've hit a lot of home runs they've pitched really well um I think they still felt like coming into this year maybe they were again being slighted a little bit just a lot of those projection systems somehow still did not have them finishing first or some even second AL East and you know they didn't luck into 101 wins last year they they were a really good team they have all this young Talent that's just continuing to get better as they continue to gain experience so I think again they felt maybe a little bit slighted coming into the season and you know they're coming out here and proving that they're a really good team again so far you mentioned the young talent that this Orioles team has I mean I look at adley Rutman first round pick in 2019 gunar Henderson was a second round pick that year Jordan Westberg they got early in the 2020 draft Colton Bower was a first round pick in 2021 uh what what kind of Secret Sauce do the do the Orioles have going on behind the scenes that allows them to just hit on it seems like almost all of their early picks here over the last few years yeah I don't know if there's a secret sauce I just know you know mikeias has done a really good job of rebuilding this whole system um very analytic driven um the front office Sigma doll has assisted GM is very into the analytics and they just do a good job of identifying guys and they also go through you know thorough interviews with these prospects they want guys who are High character guys who fit into their system and they identified a whole bunch just there with the group that you named and they they just all performed as you'd expect them to at this level looking through uh some of the numbers for those guys it is pretty wild uh gunar Henderson as a 156 WRC plus Colton cower 155 Jordan Westberg 138 uh rushman 135 Ryan o'n and Ryan Mount Castle both had really good Seasons as well as as well as some other guys as well uh does this feel like one of the one of the best offenses in in the league at this point I think it does um you know they lead the majors in home runs with 57 they second in the American League in runs they're just so deep too I mean of those home runs they have eight guys with five or more home runs so it's not just one guy um Gunner obviously Leading The Way with 11 I think he's going to be among the AL home run leaders when all said and done but just the depth and you know the platooning you mentioned oarn he's so good against right-handed pitching he doesn't face lefties they don't start him when they face lefties um but they have other guys who they can slot in it's just a really talented Core group and you know really strong hitters and you know it's a dangerous lineup to try to navigate for opposing pitchers gunar Henderson has had uh just such an outstanding start to his sophomore season uh somewhat unlike Corbin Carol Of course those guys have sort of been compared quite a bit here over the last couple years both sort of the consensus number one and number two prospects in baseball entering last year they of course were both unanimous Rookie of the Year winners Carol has struggled early on this season for the Diamondbacks but it looks like gunar Henderson has has gotten even better here in 2024 with an Ops just over 900 after an 814 Ops last season what do you think has allowed Gunner to sort of take that next step here in 2024 I think confidence is a big thing um he really kind of scuffled the first two months of last year and you know he just needed those reps and was able to face more big league pitching because I mean he got up at the end of 22 but only had a small sample size 25 30 games I think just getting in a good routine getting a lot lot more reps um I also think his power I mean his power is still developing he said it last year um he he had a 462 home run last June against Kansas City and you know he said I haven't even reached my man strength phase yet and now we are seeing he he does have that man strength now because he's hitting a lot more out um I think he's just so talented I mean five tool guy every aspect of the game his defense is incredible it's just so fun to watch him play on a nightly basis beyond the uh the Henderson Carol comparisons I guess the the Diamondbacks and Orioles have been two teams kind of compared at large here over the last few years of course both teams were very very poor in 2021 I believe both won 52 games uh they each kind of stormed back to relevance in 2022 they each made the playoffs in 2023 although granted the the Orioles won 17 more regular season games I guess the Dbacks sort of made up for that with what with what they were able to do in in the postseason but I know you have some experience of being around this Diamondbacks team as well having been based here in Arizona and doing some reporting for mlb.com out here as well how do you kind of compare and and contrast maybe the the Dbacks and Orioles and how they've gotten to to this point here over the last few years biggest similarity is like like you said both were really bad and being really bad they both got a lot of early draft picks so they were able to choose the most talented players in every class um I I think the Dbacks have done a better job on the pitching side you look at the Orioles farm system and it's just so many position players almost too many position players that's why they had to unload a couple of them to get a guy like Corbin Burns this past off season because a guy like Joey Ortiz was just never going to crack the middle infield here um you know they have a few good pitching prospects in the system Chase McDermot Kade Povich but those are also both guys they acquired in trades so they really have not targeted pitching in the early rounds of the draft I know the Dbacks are a little bit different on that front um you know both both are ways that can work you know both teams are having success now so clearly both both methods are successful um but I think the Orioles just lack a little bit on that pitching side and because of that they've had to deal from that position player depth on the farm system to to bolster their pitching staff do you think there could be more moves to come in that regard I mean I know hon kirad is is is on the big league roster now Jackson holiday got a taste of the majors didn't go things didn't go so well but he's certainly going to be a factor in the future it still kind of looks like they have too many position players at this point if if that if that's even possible yeah I think it'll be interesting to see once we get to like this off season you have some key guys coming up on free agency Anthony Santander after this year Austin Hayes and Cedric Mullen after next year if if they don't bring guys like that like that back then hon kirad will easily be able to slot in and actually get more playing time I still think they probably have too much infield especially in the middle infield a guy like Conor Norby I just don't it's tough to see what his path is because he's primarily a second baseman Jackson holiday is gonna block that or Jordan Westberg he plays Corner Outfield but all the other guys are outfielders and I I think they're going to need some pitching reinforcements down the stretch and I think they're going to be buyers at the trade deadline and if you're going to buy by pitching at the deadline you're just going to have to part with one of these two pro one or two of these prospects as tough as that is to do um so it would not surprise me if they do deal from that position player depth again to try and add some pitching one thing or one player that the Orioles have that the diamond Becks are familiar with is Craig Kimbrell of course the Dbacks saw Craig Kimbrell quite a bit in the NLCS last year did quite a bit of damage against him in the NLCS uh who sort of did not go very well for the Phil in that series it seems like based on the numbers that Kimbell has has struggled a little bit in the closing role with the Baltimore Orioles as well what have you seen from him here here in recent days well the thing is at the beginning of the year he was he was not struggling he had a z82 ra after 11 outings his V was down but he was Finding ways to still get hitters out it was it was really impressive kind of to watch that even though he wasn't lighting up the radar gun you know he was only hitting 94 but his knuckle curve was looking really sharp he looked really imp impressive then this past week week and a half or so it's been completely different um some of that's done with some upper back tightness he was dealing with during the Oakland Series in late April he had two really bad outings I think the back was contributing to that but over these past five outings four of them he's come in with a save opportunity and he's failed to convert all of those four he went one two three in the fifth which was still really good but those four outings have just not been sharp I mean La Wednesday night in Washington he retired the first two batters and then gives up a home run then a walk then another walk Brandon hey say he's going to stick with him he keeps citing the track record I mean this guy's probably a hollow of Famer you know top five in saves all time but obviously he's not what he was back in the Atlanta days he's not what he was in the Boston days he's probably not even what he was in the Chicago days a little bit so it is a concern I think and it's something they're gonna have to closely monitor but for now they're gonna hope that he can you know get healthy figure this out and be a key piece for the bullpen in the back and the rest of the way last last thing here for you that the Diamond Backs uh Escape Corbin Burns and Kyle bradish in this series which certainly feels like a feels like a good thing for them but looking at these pitching matchups the Orioles still have three pretty formidable starting pitchers at least based on the numbers we've got Brandon fought going against Cole Irvin on Friday we have John means going against Ryan Nelson on Saturday and then Dean Kramer against Zack Gallen in the finale on Sunday what can you tell us just about those three oral starters and kind of what stands out about each of them so these three guys went in the same exact order last weekend in Cincinnati and it did not go well for the Reds um Cole Irvin pitched six and a third scoreless on Friday he now has a career-long scoreless streak of 20 and two3 innings I think a lot of people kind of overlooked Cole Irvin just because he had that rough first year last year in Baltimore where he bounced between the rotation bounced between the bullpen got sent to Triple A even for a little bit but this year you know he's not worrying about the vo he during spring he was big into trying to throw harder now he's not not worried about that he's just focusing on getting out it's really working well um John means made a season debut last Saturday um he's only made Seven starts since the beginning of 2022 because that Tommy John surgery made four starts last September then had the flare up that kept him out of the postseason then his offseason program started a month late he was dealing with a left forearm strain he made six rehab starts because they really wanted him to build up Innings and kind of have his version of spring training then he throws seven scoreless against Cincinnati last Saturday I mean when he's at his best he has no hit caliber stuff because we saw it in 2021 when he threw the no hitter in Seattle even last year he took a no hit bid into the seventh or eighth in Cleveland last September um so when he's at his best his change Up's really tough to hit and he has no hit type stuff and then Dean Kramer last Sunday thre six scoreless Innings he's only allowed two runs over his last 13 Innings he he just has so many different ways to get guys out he has a six- pitch mix he's been mixing in a splitter with that this year um it's been really interesting to see just how he faces hitters how he what how he decides which pitch to use um it's really impressive just with the whole mix that he has so like like you said a win for the Dbacks to avoid Burns and bradish but they're also facing three guys who are all pitching really well right now and you know this rotation despite being banged up despite not having Grayson Rodriguez despite having guys who have been injured this has been one of the best rotations in the American League so far well certainly cly a big test for the Diamondbacks coming up this weekend against a very very good Baltimore orals team excited to to see how it all unfolds should be very interesting and uh Jake we uh once again really uh really appreciate your time today yep no problem thanks for having me