Wondering whether the Orioles bullpen can repeat its 2022 success? The story may be in the stuff.
Relief pitching is a volatile segment of the game, but the Orioles' success there was backed up in large part by the quality of pitches their relievers threw in 2022.
One of the main lines of questioning Orioles leadership and players faced at this weekend’s Birdland Caravan was whether the surprising bullpen could replicate its performance from a season ago.
It’s a fair question, considering how little track record of pitching at that level many of them had, and one that will probably go a long way to determining whether the Orioles are the playoff team they now aspire to be. All the answers were basically somewhere between “We think so” and “We hope so,” which is what one would expect.
But there’s also the reality that relief pitching is one of the most unpredictable things about the game. Predictive stats can give an idea of how often an event like a hit or a walk or strikeout might happen, but not necessarily when, so the circumstances of those events are.
One thing the Orioles have going for them is the different strengths of their relievers–Felix Bautista for the strikeout spots, Dillon Tate for the ground ball spots, Cionel Perez for the lefty pockets and so on. But the other, which might not necessarily be predictive but certainly speaks to reasons for bullishness on the Orioles’ bullpen, is the quality of stuff their core arms showcased last year.