{"id":660744,"date":"2026-04-03T12:49:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660744\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:49:26","slug":"5-orioles-takeaways-after-opening-week-risp-success-defensive-woes-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660744\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Orioles takeaways after opening week: RISP success, defensive woes and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orioles finished the first week of the season with three wins and three losses, and their performances were evenly positive and negative.<\/p>\n

As Baltimore prepares for its first road trip, stopping in Pittsburgh to play the Pirates before facing the White Sox in Chicago, here are five takeaways from the opening week.<\/p>\n

Early success with RISP\"\"Orioles designated hitter Samuel Basallo, right, celebrates with third baseman Coby Mayo after scoring a run on opening day. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n

There is a reason the Orioles practiced these situations<\/a> in spring training. Last year, when the Orioles had runners in scoring position, they hit .234 (27th of 30 teams) and produced a .716 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (23rd).<\/p>\n

This spring, under the direction of hitting coaches Dustin Lind and Brady North, batters were challenged to come through in the clutch<\/a>. They had one pitch with which to operate \u2014 the bases were loaded with two outs and a full count. Could they succeed?<\/p>\n

The early returns of those drills are showing up now. And while Baltimore has played only six games \u2014 thus drastic assumptions can hardly be made about anything, especially this \u2014 it\u2019s at least encouraging to see the Orioles produce in meaningful moments.<\/p>\n

On Thursday\u2019s off day, the Orioles ranked fourth with a .324 batting average and third with a .945 OPS in those situations. They\u2019re striking out at a 16.7% rate (the lowest in the majors) and walking the fourth most frequently, at 14.6%.<\/p>\n

The Orioles can\u2019t do much better than that. It is, of course, only a six-game sample. But, if Baltimore produces in those situations more frequently than last year, the lineup has the potential to be among the best in baseball.<\/p>\n

An unsteady bullpen\"OriolesReliever Yaramil Hiraldo pitches in the seventh inning against the Twins on Sunday. (Jamie Sabau\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

One of the biggest question marks heading into this season was the bullpen<\/a>, and that question remains unanswered. The bridge to closer Ryan Helsley appears precarious.<\/p>\n

At first glance, there is reason for concern. Baltimore\u2019s combined ERA for its relievers is 5.09. But at this point of the season pitching stats can be deceiving. Relievers have pitched so few innings that ERA numbers can leap rapidly.<\/p>\n

For the sake of this analysis, we\u2019ll put more stock into fielding independent pitching, which only takes into account outcomes directly related to the pitcher: strikeouts, walks, homers and hit batters. The lower the FIP, the better.<\/p>\n

And overall the Orioles\u2019 relievers have more positive FIP numbers. Their mark of 3.82 ranks 14th, and their expected FIP (which uses batted ball data to calculate the expected home run rate) of 3.27 ranks eighth. That\u2019s more palatable and shows there could be improvement among the group.<\/p>\n

Helsley, right-hander Rico Garcia and left-hander Grant Wolfram are early FIP heroes. They all have FIPs below zero and xFIPs below one, which means they\u2019re recording far more strikeouts than walks, hit batters and home runs. Over a longer sample, they won\u2019t remain in the outlandish territory of negative FIPs, but their strong starts are evident (and it helps excuse the two runs against Wolfram in 2 1\/3 innings).<\/p>\n

Right-handers Yennier Cano and Anthony Nunez and left-hander Dietrich Enns have FIPs below 4.00, which also suggest they\u2019re off to a good start. Nunez is the victim of poor luck from a FIP perspective, considering the only run against him was a home run from Corey Seager. Nunez\u2019s expected FIP is 2.12.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more concern regarding right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo. In 1 2\/3 innings, he has allowed four runs and four walks with two home runs. His FIP is 23.57. And, with the heavy innings load the Orioles\u2019 relievers dealt with over the first week, players are more susceptible to poor outings.<\/p>\n

Defensive questions\"OriolesOutfielder Taylor Ward tries to trap a short fly ball against the Rangers on Monday. (Jamie Sabau\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When discussing possible weaknesses for the Orioles, most scouts interviewed by The Banner<\/a> agreed the defense could be an issue. Baltimore is proving them correct so far.<\/p>\n

The Orioles rank 30th with negative-5 outs above average, which measures range and how many outs a player has saved, according to Statcast. They\u2019re 28th with a negative-3 fielding run value, which is another Statcast metric that measures all facets of defense, including throwing, range, double plays, and catcher blocking and framing.<\/p>\n

This can have tremendous impact on a pitching staff if there are contact-oriented hurlers. The Orioles\u2019 rotation ranks 25th in strikeout rate, which means there is an elevated number of balls in play.<\/p>\n

Fielding run value and outs above average are more useful when judging defensive performance than just counting errors, although Baltimore\u2019s five are the seventh most in the majors.<\/p>\n

Starting rotation considerations\"\"Kyle Bradish allowed two earned runs, two hits and three walks in 4 2\/3 innings in his first start. (Jamie Sabau\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It took only one turn of the rotation for the Orioles to have a major health concern. Right-hander Zach Eflin landed on the 15-day injured list<\/a> with elbow discomfort, and an update on his MRI should arrive Friday.<\/p>\n

The Orioles have the benefit of improved rotation depth. Right-hander Dean Kremer was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk<\/a>, and he\u2019s slated to start Friday for the Tides. The earliest Kremer can be promoted as a non-injury replacement is April 9. <\/p>\n

Left-hander Cade Povich is in the same situation due to the 15-day option buffer before another call-up. Right-hander Trey Gibson, meanwhile, would need to be added to the 40-man roster, and his limited time in Triple-A makes his imminent debut unlikely.<\/p>\n

That means April 7 is up in the air. Baltimore will need a fifth starter that day against the White Sox, although right-hander Albert Su\u00e1rez \u2014 called up to replace Eflin \u2014 could feature as the bulk pitcher to begin a bullpen game.<\/p>\n

The top of Baltimore\u2019s rotation has begun the season well. Left-hander Trevor Rogers still looks like an ace, with two runs against him in 13 innings. Right-hander Kyle Bradish starts Friday and will aim to build on the two earned runs he allowed in 4 2\/3 innings. Right-handers Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt both allowed four runs in their Orioles debuts.<\/p>\n

ABS overturns\"\"The Oriole Bird hypes up the crowd on opening day. (Kaitlin Newman\/The Banner)<\/p>\n

Ahead of Thursday\u2019s games, the Orioles are third in baseball with an 86% win rate on challenges using the Automated Ball-Strike System while on defense, and their six challenge wins are the most in the majors.<\/p>\n

They have eliminated three would-be walks through successful challenges of balls and strikes, the most of any team. They\u2019re tied for second with three strikeouts gained via challenge, including a walk-off challenge<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The ABS system is a new wrinkle in the sport, and Baltimore is taking advantage of its catchers\u2019 understanding of the strike zone. Samuel Basallo, particularly, has found success. He has won three defensive challenges in four attempts.<\/p>\n

Orioles batters are doing well, too. They have challenged seven strike calls and have overturned six of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orioles finished the first week of the season with three wins and three losses, and their performances…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,39604,47,2538,5,1404,60,4,12212,23849,125,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-660744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-orioles","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-city","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles","11":"tag-baltimoreorioles","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-camden-yards","14":"tag-minnesota-twins","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-os","17":"tag-opacy","18":"tag-orioles","19":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116340862860624389","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}