Mike Wright seeking a spot in the rotation

Entering this season, Orioles right-hander Mike Wright has just 2.111 years of service time at the Major League level. Drafted in the third round of the 2011 Amateur Draft, two rounds after right-hander Dylan Bundy, he and Bundy are second only to Mychal Givens for longest tenured pitcher within the organization.

Givens was the team’s second round pick back in 2009 out of Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa, Florida. The second round class of 2009 also produced Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton, Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin and recently extender Rockies third baseman, Nolan Arenado.

The names mentioned in the previous paragraph will almost certainly be on an Opening Day roster, barring any injuries. But for 29-year-old Wright, he has some work to do to prove he is worth a spot in the back end of the Orioles starting rotation. Without any options remaining, Wright is operating under, make-it-or-break-it mode.

Over seven seasons in the minors, Wright has pitched in 132 games, making 125 starts. Having tossed 692 innings, he’s compiled a 47-33 record with a 3.73 ERA. Wright made his Major League debut in 2015 after a 3-0 start with Triple-A Norfolk. He pitched 30.2 innings for the Tides with an ERA of 2.68, before receiving his first call up to the big leagues.

In front of a crowd of 41,000-plus at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Wright pitched into the eighth inning without giving up a run and allowed just four hits to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. After throwing 90 pitches and leaving the game with a 1-0 lead, Wright’s Major League debut went down as a victory. He became the first pitcher to win his debut with a rookie catcher (Caleb Joseph), since former Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz did it with Matt Wieters on August 4, 2009.

Wright has spent parts of four seasons at the Major League level, appearing in 91 games for the Orioles. He’s started just over 26% of his appearances in the majors (24), but regardless of starting a game, entering it in the middle innings or finishing it out, his struggles have been well documented.

Working as a reliever, Wright has logged 113.2 relief innings. Last season, he ranked second on the team in relief innings pitched with 76.2 and set career-highs in total innings pitched (84.1), strikeouts (74), appearances 48) and wins (4). Through all of his appearances last season, 18 of them were for two innings or more and he had two appearances that lasted four innings or more. His career ERA as a reliever sits at 5.07 and his numbers as a starter in the big leagues aren’t much better than that. In fact, his ERA as a starter is more than a run-and-a-quarter worse.

In his debut season, he started nine games, tossing 41.2 innings throughout those starts. The next year, he followed it with 12 starts but then did not start in 2017. Last season for the Orioles, he appeared in three games, allowing eight earned runs in 11.2 innings. He finished the season with a 7.45 ERA as a starter, raising his overall starter ERA to 6.42.

Still, in front of an entirely new coaching staff and front-office regime, Mike Wright has a chance to make the team out of Spring Training. Manager Brandon Hyde told MASN’s Roch Kubatko about how he was looking forward to watching what Wright can bring to the team. “I’m excited to watch him pitch,” Hyde told Kubatko on February 26. “I think he would like to be stretched out and be considered as a starter, but we have a lot of guys who kind of fall into that category. We’re going to do what’s right for the club and for him and see where it all fits in in the end.”

“Obviously, we know what Mike’s done the last few years and we’re going to give him an opportunity to kind of stretch out a little bit and kind of see what we have and get him to work with our pitching guys.”

Those words from Hyde to Kubatko illustrate the chance that Wright is going to have to earn a spot on the 25-man roster, even if it’s not in the rotation.

He’s scheduled to make his third appearance this spring – second start – later today in Fort Myers against the Boston Red Sox. In his first two Grapefruit League appearances, he’s faced 16 hitters, allowing five hits over four innings, without any runs crossing the plate.