Who’s Hot, Who’s Not: August 12th – August 18th
It was yet another average week for the Baltimore Orioles, a team with high aspirations and who have been regarded as one of the best teams in the league. Although the team as a whole has certainly bounced back from the tough stretch, they had a few weeks back, it is clear that they are still not playing their best baseball. Inconsistent hitting and poor pitching across the board are not a recipe for success. The O’s managed to split a 2 game series against the Washington Nationals, before splitting a 4 game series with division foes, the Boston Red Sox. It goes without saying, but .500 baseball will not win the AL East. If the Orioles hope to clinch the division, they will need some key pieces back from the IL and will need to find consistency on both sides of the ball.
Despite not having as good of a week as they had hoped, there was still room for optimism as we saw some bats that had been slumping heat back up again. Additionally, there were some key pieces who contributed nicely on the pitching staff, in what was otherwise a tough week for O’s pitching. Let’s take a look at this week’s who’s hot and who’s not:
Batting
Who’s Hot: Gunnar Henderson
Coming off a bit of a slump himself, super-star shortstop Gunnar Henderson has found his form again. After ending last week on a high note with a pair of 3 hit games, Gunnar was raking this year and began narrowing the home run gap between him and teammate Anthony Santander. Gunnar belted 4 home runs, including 4 in 5 games, while batting .250 and driving in 8 runs. Gunnar collected 18 total bases and walked 3 times as well, but did strike out 8 times, as he attempted to maintain his aggressiveness at the plate.
Gunnar starting to heat up again is just what the O’s needed. For an offense that has been subpar the past couple of months, Gunnar is someone that O’s fans should be able to consistently rely on, and he proved that this week. It is also worth noting that he has been playing extremely clean defense as well, after a tough stretch in which he was committing errors on a nightly basis. Gunnar will look to ignite this offense and keep things rolling into New York.
Weekly Stats: .250 Avg / 4 HR / 8 RBI / 3 BB / 8 K / 0 2B / 0 3B / 18 Total Bases / 0 SB
Who’s Not: Anthony Santander
It was a slow week for one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball the past couple of months, Anthony Santander. The slugger, who is currently third in the entire league in home runs, was only able to manage one homer this week, as he struggled to find his way on base altogether. Tony Taters batted just .158 this week with only a solo home run to his name. He did manage to walk 4 times, but he struck out 6 times and only collected 7 total bases, 4 of which came off that home run.
Santander is still one of the best hitters in the league and will surely find his form again, however, this week was a slump that Orioles fans have not seen out of him for quite a while. For an offense that has been as inconsistent and in an extended slump as the Orioles has been, they cannot afford for Santander to lose his hot bat. He will look to rebound next week and help propel the Orioles’ offense to a stronger week across the board.
Weekly Stats: .158 Avg / 1 HR / 1 RBI / 4 BB / 6 K / 1 2B / 0 3B / 7 Total Bases / 0 SB
Pitching
Who’s Hot: Zach Eflin
Zach Eflin has instantly turned into one of the best trade deadline acquisitions across the entire league as he continued his great start with the O’s. Eflin led the O’s to a victory over the Red Sox as he allowed just 1 run (A solo home run) on 5 hits over 6 innings. The biggest thing to note was the fact that Eflin walked none and struck out 8 batters in this performance.
Eflin is now 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA in his short Orioles career and is showing no signs of slowing down. With the injuries to this pitching staff, getting a guy like Eflin who can come in and produce the way he has is huge for the team. Eflin will undoubtedly be a huge factor in the Orioles’ postseason success as the 3rd man in the rotation. He is giving the O’s a great chance to win every time he takes the mound, and he will look to keep that going into his next scheduled start against the New York Mets.
Weekly Stats: 6.0 IP / 5 H / 0 BB / 1.50 ERA / 8 K / 1-0 / 1 HR
Who’s Not: Corbin Burnes
Corbin Burnes has not looked like himself since the All-Star break. The Orioles’ ace has seen his ERA climb from 2.43 before the break to 3.10 after his lone outing this week against the Red Sox. That start against the Red Sox was actually Burnes’ worst start of his career as he allowed a career-high 8 runs in just 4 innings of work. He yielded 10 hits and 3 walks in the game, which almost saw the Orioles pull off a tremendous victory due to the offense putting up 10 runs. However, the bullpen went on to allow 4 runs of their own which ultimately led the Orioles to a 12-10 loss.
There is no doubt that Corbin Burnes is still a top-tier pitcher and the Orioles’ ace. However, it cannot be denied that he has struggled in recent weeks. Given the injuries to the Orioles’ rotation, any and every Burnes outing needs to be a win at this point, and that seems to not be the case recently. In a division race as close as the AL East, Burnes will need to find his stuff again and find it quickly. He will be one of, if not the, biggest factor to the birds’ success down the stretch and in the postseason. He will look to bounce back next week in a matchup against the Houston Astros.
Weekly Stats: 4.0 IP / 10 H / 3 BB / 18.00 ERA / 7 K / 0-1 / 2 HR