Who’s Hot, Who’s Not: April 15th-21st
It was a great week for the Orioles as they went 5-1, including a sweep of the Minnesota Twins at home before heading into Kansas City to steal two of three against an extremely competitive Royals team.
With a week as good as this one, it may be hard to imagine anyone on the team struggling… Well, think again. The bullpen certainly gave fans a bit of a scare this week. We also saw the same characters struggle offensively. Lucky for the O’s, there was plenty of offense to go around as they put up at least 4 runs in every game and scored more than 7 runs in half of the games this week. Let’s take a look at this week’s who’s hot and who’s not.
Batting
Who’s Hot: Jordan Westburg
Jordan Westburg continued his hot start to the season this week, with arguably his best week yet. Westy continues to dominate on 2 strike counts and in 2 out situations as he had 6 of his 8 RBIs this week come with 2 outs.
Westburg was able to launch two home runs this week, including the second of back-to-back home runs with, arguably, the Oriole’s hottest player this year Colton “Milk man” Cowser in the birds’ 5-0 victory over the Royals Sunday. This home run was accompanied by his first triple of the season. Westy is continuing to prove that he is a vital part of this Orioles team, and he can come up big when he gets the chance. Expect Westburg to keep this hot streak going into the next series against the Angels.
Weekly Stats: .478 Avg / 2 HR / 8 RBI / 1 BB / 5 K / 2 2B / 1 3B / 21 Total Bases / 1 SB
Who’s Not: Jackson Holliday
Jackson Holliday has continued to struggle since getting called up from Triple A Norfolk nearly 2 weeks ago. Social media will continue to pose the question of when, not if, will Holliday be sent back down to Triple A. I am here to reaffirm that there is no need to worry. Yes, he is struggling; there’s no denying that. But he is 20 years old and was brought up with such high expectations. We have seen other youngsters across the league struggle when first getting called up. Let’s not forget, Adley Rutschman did not get his first big league RBI until his 21st game… Holliday has him beat in that department!
In all honesty, Holliday has struggled by getting behind in counts early. It doesn’t help that a lot of the strike calls have in fact been out of the zone. But that doesn’t make up for him swinging at some bad pitches. If anything, we saw Holliday with some of his hardest exit velocities yet this week. The only thing is, they did not result in hits. Jackson finished the week without a hit, going 0/15. He did manage to get a couple of walks, but that simply is not enough for a prospect as highly rated as him. His performance going forward is clearly something to monitor, as a Triple A reset (Much like that of Grayson Rodrigues last year) is not out of the realm of possibility. However, there is no need to panic yet.
Weekly Stats: .000 Avg / 0 HR / 0 RBI / 2 BB / 7 K / 0 2B / 0 3B / 0 Total Bases / 0 SB
Pitching
Who’s Hot: Craig Kimbrel
Craig Kimbrel continues to prove why he is a future Hall of Fame closer. There were a lot of questions surrounding Kimbrel entering the season, the biggest of which being how he could replace someone like Felix Bautista. Although there is no replacing arguably the best closer in the game, Kimbrel has certainly proved he still has it at the age of 35.
Kimbrel recorded a win and 2 saves in his 3 appearances this week. He continued to impress by allowing 0 hits or runs and striking out 3. If Kimbrel can continue to produce at this level, it could be viewed as one of the better short-term additions in recent Orioles history.
Weekly Stats: 3 IP / 0 H / 0 BB / 0.00 ERA / 3 K / 1-0 / 2 Saves
Who’s Not: Keegan Akin
Keegan Akin is one of the many individuals who did not help the bullpen’s cause this week. It seems that recently whenever Akin takes the mound it is only for a batter or two… And as of late, it does not end well. Akin pitched 0.1 innings on Monday against the Twins, allowing 2 earned runs. He also made it through only 0.1 innings Friday against the Royals, but this time allowing 3 earned runs.
Akin was not pitching well in the first half of 2023, before a back injury caused him to miss the second half of the season. There were hopes that Akin would have a strong season given his solid performance in Spring Training. So far, he has a 4.66 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched on the year. A lot of that was caused by his poor performance this week. When Cionel Perez returns, it could be a case of who is struggling the most, to make room for him. Additionally, once John Means and Kyle Bradish eventually make their return, you have to imagine someone like Tyler Wells finds themselves in the bullpen. If that is the case, Akin could become a potential option to send down, given he has one minor league option available. He will look to bounce back as he will surely get some opportunities next week.
Weekly Stats: 1.2 IP / 6 H / 1 BB / 37.50 ERA / 3 K / 1 Hold
