Since Game 2 of the Wild Card series against the Royals on October 2, the Orioles have neither swung at or threw a pitch. Gunnar Henderson struck out on Lucas Erceg’s changeup and headed back to the dugout, head down. The visiting team celebrated in the clubhouse and on the pitch.
“Feel terrible,” Ryan O’Hearn said. “I feel horrible for our fans. I feel like we let them down. “Just sucks.”
What can the Orioles do next season to prove that they no longer feel the pain of losing?
Here are three additional ways:
Adley Rutschman being the best version of himself.
Not to heap too much blame on Rutschman, but his troubles at the bat in the second half were particularly disappointing.
Rutschman batted.276 with a.780 OPS before the break and finished with a.207 average and.585 OPS. Sixteen of his 19 home runs came in the first half. Rutschman was an All-Star, although he finished with a.250/.318/.391 line in 148 games, as opposed to.277/.374/.435 in 154 games in 2023. His walk total decreased from 92 to 58.
Perhaps the foul ball off his hand in June or the lower-back soreness in August were the reasons he was withdrawn from the lineup. Or he developed some negative habits at the plate, pressing harder with every out and loss, and couldn’t get back into rhythm.
Maybe it’s all of the above.
The Orioles need Rutschman to be more productive, which includes raising his.219 average and.631 OPS from the left side.
Get two good halves from Cedric Mullins.
Mullins blasted a game-tying homer off Seth Lugo in the fifth inning, scoring the Orioles’ final run. He was 0 for 12 in last year’s Division Series, but got three hits in the Wild Card.
You could see it coming.
Mullins is eligible for arbitration again, with MLBTradeRumors.com projecting an increase to $8.7 million. He may have been heading towards non-tender territory after hitting.136/.162/.182 in May and.214/.256/.373 in the first half, but he slashed.286/.368/.488 in September and.266/.374/.457 after the break. Five of his 18 home runs were hit during the last month of the regular season.
The majority of the offence went cold, but Mullins got hot. He began September with 12 hits in 30 at-bats and finished with seven hits in 14 and ten in 32. He also broke the 30-steal barrier for the third time in four seasons.
The final line was comparable to Mullins’ performance in 2023, when he appeared in only 116 games after being injured twice with right adductor/groin strains. He appeared in 147 games this season and batted.234/.305/.405, compared to.233/.305/.416 the prior year.
The team values Mullins’ defence more than the analytics indicate, and the importance of his speed and base-stealing increased with Jorge Mateo’s elbow injury. Assuming he returns next year, he has to improve his better half into a full season.
Jackson Holliday outgrows his growing pains.
Holliday will be the primary second baseman, with Jordan Westburg at third and Ramón Urías as backup options. However, he must first prove his worth in camp.
As you may recall, Holliday did not make the club out of spring training at the age of 20, which outraged fans and some media. His major league debut was not delayed for long, as he played his first game on April 10 at Boston.
The rest of the story has been told so many times that it doesn’t require fact checking. He went 2 for 34 with 18 strikeouts and was optioned before making it to May. After only ten games, he left, explaining that he needed to face more left-handed pitching and get more repetitions at second base.
Holliday launched his first home run onto Eutaw Street on July 31, following a fastball that fractured Jordan Westburg’s right hand. He batted.189/.255/.311 in 60 games, including three consecutive home runs from August 4-7. The last of his five was struck on August 10.
The conclusion to Holliday’s season was positive. He gave up the timing-mechanism leg lift and went 5-for-7 in his past four games, 7-for-18 in his last eight. Bringing him closer to the player who tore up the minors and was touted as baseball’s top prospect would be a major help to the lineup.
The Orioles will continue to improve on his defence and mechanics at second base and the mechanics at the plate that brought better results. He turns 21 in December. There’s a lot of time for Holliday to touch his high ceiling.
