The book on Jorge López has been pretty easy to read for much of this year heading into Saturday night against the New York Yankees.
He’s good early and starts faltering as he heads into the middle innings.
In his first seven games this year, López had a 2.57 ERA in innings one through three and an 11.45 ERA after the third.
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But in his previous outing, López finally hurdled the five-inning barrier, throwing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball Monday against the Boston Red Sox.
So, maybe the 28-year-old was turning the corner a little bit. That was the hope, anyway.
Then he barely got out of the gate on Preakness Saturday in an 8-2 loss to the Yankees.
López, who hadn’t allowed a run in the first inning this year, loaded the bases on two walks and a single in the first. Then, after catcher Chance Sisco allowed a passed ball for the Yankees’ first run, Gary Sánchez smacked a two-run single to push the Orioles into a 3-0 hole.
It wasn’t any better in the second. López, a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011, allowed two consecutive singles to start the inning and then a two-out, two-run homer to Aaron Judge. López didn’t come back out for the third, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits, two walks and a hit by pitch.
It took him 71 pitches to get through two innings.
“He’s been so good early in the game all year,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “He just didn’t have his command in the first inning, and they jumped all over him because his command hasn’t been the same as it had been.”
And so, the question now is, what do you do with López, a guy who is 1-4 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts?
You can move him to the bullpen, where he probably would flourish facing hitters once a game, but there’s not exactly anyone beating down the door for his rotation spot.
Bruce Zimmermann will be recalled at some point, maybe sooner than later. But that still only makes five starters. Keegan Akin has acquitted himself fairly well in his two recent appearances, but he’ll likely get a shuttle ticket back to Norfolk.
Zac Lowther and Alexander Wells struggled in their most recent Triple-A starts. Adam Plutko could go into the rotation, but he’s been exceptionally valuable in the Orioles’ bullpen.
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López is also without minor-league options, meaning you can’t send him to the minors without him first passing through waivers.
And that’s not a consideration at this point. He has major-league stuff. He’s shown that in his 2.57 ERA in 21 early innings before Saturday.
Even if he gets a mulligan for Saturday, there’s still a lack of consistency and an obvious dropoff in performance as he goes deeper.
You have to assume the Orioles keep putting López out there every fifth day and hope they get more of last Monday against Boston and not more of Saturday versus the Yankees.
One of the good things about a complete rebuild is that you can keep giving a talented guy such as López opportunities because it doesn’t matter in the standings.
But, as the season goes on, it will matter to the bullpen, who has had to pick up half a game or more nearly every time López toes the rubber.
Because of a lack of options, it’s not decision time on López yet. But it would be helpful if the Orioles had a better sense of what they have in him.
Losing some Pop — probably for good — to Miami
The Orioles knew they were taking a risk by not putting hard-throwing Zach Pop on their 40-man roster this winter, but given that the 24-year-old right-hander hadn’t appeared in a game since having Tommy John surgery in May 2019 and that he was considered a two-pitch reliever, they thought it was possible he’d slip through.
He didn’t.
Pop was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the sixth pick of the 2020 Rule 5 draft — one spot after the Orioles took pitcher Mac Sceroler from Cincinnati — then traded to the Miami Marlins.
He made the Marlins, threw a scoreless inning in his major-league debut April 3 then was charged with four runs — on a grand slam by Dylan Carlson — in his next outing April 7 against St. Louis. Two appearances later against Atlanta on April 15, Pop allowed a three-run homer to Pablo Sandoval to push his ERA to 18.90.
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Pop hasn’t given up an earned run since — in eight appearances spanning 10 1/3 innings. In that period, he has allowed four hits and two walks while striking out 11. His ERA is down to 4.61.
Yeah, don’t expect Pop, whom former GM Dan Duquette acquired in the five-player package with the Los Angeles Dodgers for Manny Machado in 2018, to be returned to the Orioles organization.
“It’s been incredible. It’s a dream come true, really. Everybody wants to play in the big leagues and to come up here and to do it and compete at the highest level is a great thing,” Pop said during a Marlins video call Saturday. “It sucks that you weren’t protected or you weren’t taken (for the 40-man), but to have this opportunity, that the Marlins valued me enough to take a chance on me, is just an incredible experience and am super grateful for that.”
The Orioles added six players in November to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, including four pitchers (Lowther, Michael Baumann, Isaac Mattson and Wells).
At the time, Pop was the most glaring omission since he had an ERA under 2.00 in parts of two seasons in Double A. But the Orioles felt like they had plenty of quality relief options in the system. Plus, Pop had an uphill climb, even though he’s now roughly two years removed from Tommy John surgery.
“He hadn’t been in games. Things were a little quick. His motion was really slow and methodical and then, what we’ve been able to see, is the more he has been able to get out there, the more comfortable he gets,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said about Pop. “He’s a little quicker to the plate now. Been out there on the mound enough where he has been in competition, where it’s becoming that you can see him more relaxed. … Obviously, the guy has good stuff, and you don’t take a guy like that without it. And we’ve seen him really just getting out of the rehab mode into compete and game mode.”
According to Fangraphs, Pop’s throwing his fastball (at an average of 95.4 mph) 64 percent of the time and his biting 85-mph slider the other 36 percent. Just those two pitches, but they’ve been working, he said, since he made mechanical changes in April.
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“Early on in the season, and even now to some extent, the delivery work that I’ve been going through to be a little more consistent with my leg lift and a little bit more consistent to where I need to be on the mound, that’s really helped me out,” Pop said. “I’d say it’s confidence, too, going out there and knowing that you can do what you need to do because your mechanics are in the right place or whatnot is a comfortable feeling.”
Mattingly has not used Pop in consecutive games yet, but he has pitched multiple innings on three occasions.
“I think he is in a pretty good spot where he feels healthy. We haven’t had any issues with anything popping up,” Mattingly said. “We do protect him a little bit from the standpoint of a guy coming back off Tommy John. You’ve got to be a little bit careful with certain things and how you do it.”
Who knows how long he’ll keep his consecutive scoreless appearance streak going? But Pop’s obviously showing, in a small sample size, that he’s healthy and can pitch in the majors. And that means it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever see him in an Orioles uniform.
Rutschman’s time at first
If you’re a lover of the Orioles and the minor leagues, you probably have been paying attention to Double-A Bowie catcher Adley Rutschman, who is getting walked a bunch in his first two weeks for the Baysox.
Through nine games, the first pick in the 2019 draft is hitting .229 with a .438 on-base percentage, two homers, eight RBIs, 12 walks and 12 strikeouts. Nothing to be alarmed about here. He’s fine.
But there is one other thing to keep an eye on: Rutschman has started six games at catcher — and three at first base.
No, the Orioles aren’t considering a position change for their top prospect. This is a plan to keep Rutschman in the lineup as much as possible without having him catch every game or add extra wear onto the 23-year-old’s body after not dealing with the grind of a full baseball season in 2020.
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It makes sense. And Rutschman should be more than adequate at first when needed.
When I went to watch Rutschman play at Oregon State University in 2019, he played first in one of the three games I attended. He was solid there. He moved well. Caught everything that came to him. Showed athleticism on attempted bunts and foul pops.
The Orioles made him the cornerstone of the rebuilding movement because he is a switch-hitting catcher with a good power bat and advanced skills behind the plate. Those kinds of catchers don’t come along very often.
So, Rutschman is a catcher. Will be a catcher. But there’s no harm in getting him time at first.
When he was in high school, Rutschman suffered a shoulder injury and there was concern there would be lasting effects — but the Orioles, notorious for their stringent physicals, combed through the medicals and signed off on Rutschman’s $8.1 million signing bonus. Still, injuries, old or new, are part of the game and you have to have contingency plans.
So, let Rutschman play first some. Keep him seeing pro pitching every day. None of that can hurt in the big picture.
(Photo of Jorge López: John McCreary / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)