The Baltimore Orioles’ decision to sign Ryan Helsley to a two-year, $28 million contract has sparked renewed conversation around the reliever’s late-season struggles in New York As questions continue to swirl about whether pitch tipping played a role in his downturn, St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol pushed back on any lasting concerns, offering detailed insight into Helsley’s past tendencies and why he believes the right-hander will rebound.

During his recent appearance on the Foul Territory podcast, Marmol explained that some of Helsley’s issues were tied to moments when the speed of the game caused him to slip into bad habits.

“In the heat of the moment, game speeds up on you you fall into it,” Marmol said, providing context from their years together in St. Louis. “But this is a real competitor. I enjoyed having Helsley. We went through times where it was just keeping him healthy and there’s times where he wanted the ball all the time, like last year. I think he’ll bounce back and be just fine.”

When pressed on whether pitch tipping was a chronic issue, Marmol acknowledged that the Cardinals had identified patterns before, though he avoided specifics. The question posed was whether “once a tipper, always a tipper” applied, prompting him to clarify.

“So there’s a combination of things there and we’d have to get to it to the nitty gritty but he would fall into it and then the correction for it would kind of lead to a different type of tipping right, so there’s this back and forth of just trying to mask it so that he didn’t fall into it,” Marmol stated.

Helsley had earlier acknowledged to The Athletic that tipping issues have resurfaced in the past. While Marmol added that the challenge is mental as much as mechanical.

“It is hard like creature of habit and sometimes you fall, especially in the heat of the moment,” Marmol added. “You’re 15 pitches into an outing, and you fall back into it and next thing you know it snowballs on you. So it’s not the easiest thing. He’s definitely aware of it and I think he’ll be fine.”

Helsley’s history backs up that confidence. He became one of MLB’s premier relievers in St. Louis, winning the 2024 NL Reliever of the Year Award.

Now, with a bullpen role tailored to his strengths, the Orioles are banking on Helsley rediscovering the dominance that once made him one of baseball’s most feared late-inning weapons.