Gas ’em up Grayson

Since being sent back to Norfolk after a somewhat disappointing stint in the Majors Grayson Rodriguez has been lights out. Before getting pulled early from Sunday’s contest he had gone 6 innings in 5 out of the 6 games since being sent down, he has only allowed 7 ER in 37.1 innings of work and his command has been much better. 

It is likely that he will be called up to join the team right after the all star break so who’s spot in the rotation will he take? 

Cole Irvin seems like the obvious choice based on his numbers this year but he’s been very solid in his last 3 appearances and his last start against the Twins looked like the Cole Irvin that the Orioles traded for. 

Kyle Gibson has been struggling over his last few starts and after he gave up a walk a hit and run before recording an out it looked like he might be in danger of losing his spot but then he buckled down and had arguably his best start of the year going 7 innings allowing 2 ER striking out 11 and getting 22 whiffs. 

Dean Kremer’s ERA is high and his peripheral stats are a little scary but he has given the O’s some really good starts and is also coming off possibly his best start of the year going 7 innings with 2 ER and striking out 10. 

Out of these three I think Irvin is the one who goes to the pen where he will be a capable long man in case of a blow up on an injury and the corresponding demotion will be Bazardo who has looked alright in his short stint with the Major League team and may get more chances as the season goes on. 

With the back half of the season being so tough and the O’s being a dogfight for the division and playoff spot I have to wonder how long the leash will be for Rodriguez. His first stint in the Majors was characterized by gutsy 5 inning performances where he battled high pitch counts and pitched out a lot of jams followed by absolute blow outs where he was quickly pulled resulting in his ERA sitting in the 7s. The O’s can’t afford to give games away down the stretch getting called back up indicates the organization believes Rodriguez’s struggles are in the past but if not how many bad starts will he get before he gets sent back down? 

Hopefully we never find out and we have a homegrown young stud pitcher we can put on the mound in a playoff game.