Talkin Orioles Baseball Podcast Episode 32: Breathe Birdland Breathe

talking basball basball and the o oh welcome back Birdland to another episode of the talking Orioles baseball podcast I'm your host Benny Becker as always thrilled thrilled to be back with you gang here today A lot of good stuff on this episode it's our 32nd episode of the talking Orioles baseball podcast and I cannot wait for what's to come we have a lot of ramping up going on in the studios with the production we're going to be on social media a lot this month we're going to be pumping out episodes a lot this month and for the weeks and months to come so be sure to check out all of those a lot of exciting stuff and as I always tell you a lot of big things just coming down the pipeline as far as guests as far as other people interviewing people whether it be from the franchise players uh front office folks broadcasters or just like Orioles beat writers or heck just really any fans that I think can contribute to the talking Orioles baseball podcast so a lot of fun stuff going on I believe you're going to be seeing my face hearing my voice a lot in the coming weeks and months gang we had some uh shaking up in our personal life a little as far as responsibilities go elsewhere so we can focus that time and energy right here gang providing the best and most passionate Orioles content out there but like I said episode 32 and the title of today's episode gang is breathe Birdland breathe because as a whole I think we just need to take a few deep breaths we saw our Orioles kind of in a bit of it a cold spill if you will the first five game losing streak this franchise had in over two years since 20202 the preadly rushman era and we're not used to it gang we're not used to it trust me my bank account hurt because of it we know we got swept the three games in Houston that was at our last episode coming into that we were about to go back home to face Cleveland for three games and it was a big three games against one of the other best teams in the American League in fact I believe the team with the best record right now in the American League the Cleveland Guardians always the tribe to me but I'll do my best to change that and then we also had a four game set against Texas following that so we will catch you up on those games just like we've kind of been doing the past few episodes we're not going to dig crazy deep into any of it we're going to look at it more as the whole series and kind of bulk of the games together and kind of tell what we've learned off of it what we took away from those series the good and the bad so we have a lot to talk about but certainly it's time to take a deep breath Birdland because we made it out of that horrible horrible June and I don't mean horrible as in our performance even though some fans in Birdland probably are overreacting to it certainly I had my overreactions at times in June but I mean horrible in the sense of just schedule-wise they had a single off day in June it's something we talked about coming into the season back all the way in February during spring training when we looked ahead at the schedule so we kind of want to go back and just recap a little of what happened in June and how the Orioles performed as a whole during that month right because that was the biggest test they'll probably have all season until the postseason all right now we of course want to catch you up to date a little on the AL e standings at least you know against the Yankees I don't really care about the other three teams this year because I really think the two teams in the Orioles and Yankees are A Cut Above the Rest and you know personally I feel like the Oriol are a better and at least much more consistent team and deeper team than these Yankees are at least currently constructed heading towards the trade deadline but we're going to catch you in a little bit because it's exciting stuff gang it's exciting stuff we also have a little bit of allar talk it's we're past phase one of the Allstar voting you know that I'm trying to be this driving force if you will in getting as many Orioles to Texas for that allstar game as possible so we're going to catch you up on that along with I'm sure you've heard gunar Henderson doing the Home Run Derby we have to talk on that as well and kind of give my take on it the good and the bad so then we want to kind of bounce around a little frankly we have a lot to talk about in this episode between hon kirad Dean Kramer the rotation as a whole whether it be Cole Irvin Kade Povich Albert Suarez possibly eventual trades by these Orioles is a topic of conversation we'll probably have every episode up until that trade deadline and we're going to do it yet again today also a little bit of a midseason report the Orioles are 84 games into the season we know 81 games in each technical half of the 162 Game season so a little over halfway but that's all right we can still look at some of these guys and not only what they've done currently but what they're on Pace to do and it's special special special stuff gang truly tremendous things that we've seen from these birds as I'm sure you know so far in this first half okay also we're going to obviously talk more gunar Henderson because he's on such a historic piece it seems like every episode I'm throwing you a stat whether it be something like borderline stat like in your face like War for instance we talked on the last episode well this one might be a little more off the beaten path the beautiful thing about baseball is sometimes you get to create these categories of players and we're going to look at one that gunar yet another one I should say that gunar Henderson has found himself on after only half a season which is just insane to think but we'll get that in a little we also want to touch a little on the minor leagues there's a few guys that I do want to talk about and I'm just going to jot down one more name for us in that conversation all right so I don't forget in the old Noggin so a fantastic episode on our way gang very excited to kick it off so excited I decided I have myself a logger today got to wash down that chipotle I had just a little bit ago you know I mean say what you will about Chipotle still pretty good stuff man still pretty good stuff I'm not always in the mood for it and I'm not always going there when I'm in the mood for burrito kind of a paneros guy myself but sometimes I do the Chipotle I want to spend the $22 on a burrito and I did that today so I got to wash it down with a little seresa all right feeling good gang we're feeling great here at talking Orioles baseball podcast just as Birdland should be feeling great right so we mentioned at the time of our last episode we were coming off of that three game sweep us getting swept which certainly is an anomaly for this club at the moment but we're getting swept where we just came off of getting swept against the Astros and we talked about how okay we're not going to look too too much into it and the Astros are a team that's certainly starting to Surge and try and make a push for the playoffs personally I think they probably win the AL West but that's neither here there let the Astros podcast handle that debate maybe the Mariners podcast as well as far as these Orioles podcast we're going to stick to the bird so push that series aside again that was coming off of our last episode we were going back home to face Cleveland these tribe for three games and it listen we talked about this stretch going into really the month but truly just the season in general right June was tough enough but certainly the back half with the teams we faced whether it be the Braves whether it be the Rays whether it be the Phillies whether it be the Cleveland Guardians whether it be the Astros whether it be the Rangers whe whoever it may be is not an easy task to face especially back toback to back with very few if any off days in there right only one off day in that entire June so understand this as well when we're talking about these final two series of June is this team had to be a bit worn down right this team had to be a bit worn down because they hadn't had an off day in two weeks and before that they hadn't had an off day in two weeks before that the second to last day of May is the last time they had an off day other than the one they got in June right so you know they're tired you know they're going through it and frankly there was some roster changes whether it be just sending a guy like Kyle stoward down and certainly that was because we needed the infielder Nick mat at least potentially for those days where we thought we might not have Westberg and then because of the 10day rule we couldn't bring hon or Star right back up so we decided to give hon another try which we'll get to we'll get to okay but you know these Orioles had to be tired and kind of had to be a little worn down and mentally just needing a even a day break okay so understand that when we're talking the these last two series okay now the Cleveland series we only won one of the three the last game okay but truly we should have and could have won that game too I'm saying should have because it was the fourth inning if you remember again I don't want to dig too deep into these games as a whole but when you look at that game too it all changed in that fourth inning I keep on to say the Indians apologies the Guardians the Guardians put up five in that fourth inning and it was mainly if not entirely off of one bad play where I think James mccan who made the bad play frankly made the bad play I love mam but he made the bad play and I think if we were sitting side by side right now he would tell you it's not the smart play that he made there was a man on first one out a little dribbler in front of the plate that he got too quick but then he tried to deliver down to second base to get the lead Runner I get it I get why you want to get the lead Runner but had you just made to throw to first you would have had that second out instead the throw wasn't horrible but certainly wasn't great kind of pulled Mato into the runner there was a scary situation that looked like Mato might have damn near broken his wrist on the play he was not only fine enough to stay in the game but really I don't even think he missed a day after that which was a great sign love having Matteo out there and he's been a key pieace to this team but ultimately that means that the Orioles have to align it infield with one out and two men on in a way where you're trying to set up a double play Then There are two ground balls through the second base side of the infield and then you give up a home run I believe ultimately again it was five runs that end up scoring on it I don't think you score any if you just throw the ball to first base on that one so bad luck Orioles end up losing that game two just like they lost game one and now we find ourselves in a five-game losing streak for the first time since May 2022 I believe gang it was easy to look right there and go oh my God they're about to get swept not only a third time this SE season but for the second straight series now you start going oh boy uhoh this isn't good and that's how it felt truly that's how it felt but again there's a reason why the episode is called breathe bird L breathe because in these spots you got to breathe you can't get too wrapped up in a five game stint in 162 Game season this isn't the NFL where if you lose five games you just lost every game for a month if not a month and a week like this isn't the NFL this is baseball five games isn't the end all be all whether you win it or you lose it gang and the Orioles listen maybe they needed that reality check that's something we talked about too coming off of that Houston series maybe these birds need a bit of a reality check need to open their eyes and realize hey we need to kind of settle in we need to focus we need to figure out how to get back to win these games and again some of these losses many of these losses were games we were right there in right there and it sucks when you can't finish the comeback when you even blow the lead these Orioles knock on wood I feel like have been pretty decent at holding on to leads in the last month or two really I feel like when I look at the story lines blowing leads was something we did maybe earlier in the year but not so much as of late which is a great sign because again baseball you're not going to win every day you can't expect to win every day you're not always going to perform well not the team's not always going to be clicking offensively or pitching hopefully defensively is something that you can constantly click in and I think these Orioles do despite every now and then having moments like that James mccan play it happens gang it happens this is just real life like I hate to keep bringing last year up right because I want to move past last year into this year and we have moved to this year but last year Doesn't Really Happen gang a whole season where you don't get swept and then you go another couple months into the season without getting swept into this one oh and you went back a few months from the season before like that doesn't happen a 2E stretch without getting swept doesn't happen right so do not panic when those moments happen it especially worked out because the Yankees have been playing horrible baseball too despite the fact that judge and stto still continue to perform they're starting to decline or at the very least they're in consistency like I've talked all season they have has really become detrimental in that team for that team as it will baseball is a game about consistency and the irony is it's a game of consistent failures and just not failing as many times as the other guy right even the best hitter still fails more often than not so understand this when you're going about it okay and we'll get back to the Yankees and the standings in a second I want to finish up kind of talking about these because again we could have easily won and should have won I'll argue two of those three games against Cleveland it's the truth and then we go we stay home but we have Texas coming in for four and it had reminiscing obviously of the playoff series in the divisional round last year because we were the home team to begin that series we lost all three games against them two of which were at home so it kind of had that playoff Vibe and that playoff feel in fact on Saturday they even had the top Bowl looked like almost entirely filled I know Sunday for Sunday Night Baseball some reason did not look that filled it it was kind of sporadic crowd if you will but either way the park was rocking and I loved seeing on Saturday especially that e having that top bow field because that's something that I don't think usually happens unless it's a playoff game gang so we go into that having salvaged the last game of that Cleveland series now having lost five of six and again it's a four games set against Texas we come out and we take the first three of that series and really in a dominating way for the most part now the thing I'll say is in that last game against Cleveland and that first game against Texas we had our Aces we had Burns and gra Rod I think it was gry Rod and burns but neither here or there it was that one two that you need to stop the bleeding and they did that they came out and they stopped the bleeding and the offense was performing especially against Texas and it was a beautiful thing so then we take three against Texas now we're on a four-game winning streak going into Sunday night baseball and I think I've said this before on this show and you know it's not something that I enjoy by any means what I'm going to say the Orioles tend to lose nationally televised games uh especially in the regular season I don't know why I'm blaming it on myself because if I'm not able to watch it or if let's say I'm working at the bar and I'm forced to watch it then that kind of gets null and void now typically on a Sunday I actually work at night so typically I'm working during Sunday night baseball this Sunday I switched into the day shift and I was so excited because I was like hey I got a couple buddies that came up let's watch the Orioles man and they got demolished on that night I'm not going to say I'm surprised gang but it's not a big deal either you take three of four from Texas one of three from Cleveland overall I'll take that I'll take that cuz again that's at the very end of this brutal brutal June that these Orioles had in front of them a terrible June as far as schedule wise and I think they perform pretty well frankly I really do now they had a 17 and 12 record overall in June dang I will take that now listen let me go back to the schedule talk that you hear me talk so much about since before the season even started okay I broke if you're not familiar I broke the season down for these Orioles in three separate columns first 36 games final 27 games middle 99 and I did that because that first 36 was against pretty mediocre opponents and the final 27 are against pretty mediocre opponents and I thought that they could dominate in those two polls right and then that left 99 games in the middle and I knew that some stretches were tough some stretches were easier I understood that but I counted as just 99 games and I said if they go 50 and 49 in that 99 they're going to have a fantastic season gang especially if they can perform really well in the beginning like they did we asked for 24 and 12 they got 24 and 12 now we're asking for 17 and 10 at the end but the X Factor to this all is that even when I was saying 50 and 49 in the middle 99 I wasn't telling you that's what was going to happen in fact I was telling you the opposite not only did I think that they were going to be up above 500 as in one game above 500 I was telling you they were probably going to be more like 10 games above 500 in that span and then if you do the math if you do the math with 99 with the 24 and 12 with 17 and 10 at the end if they went 50 and 49 they would have 91 wins I believe in 91 maybe 92 but I'm pretty sure 91 right now if they for each game they perform better that's closer and closer they get to 100 or even over 100 so again if that 50 and 49 that one game over 500 in that 99 game stretch turns to 10 games above 500 in the 99 game stretch now instead of 91 we're back at 101 dang this is what I'm talking about with setting yourself up for the best possible seating to try and be not just the best team in the AL but maybe the best team in baseball this year it's still possible and it's possible because of how they're performing in the hardest parts of their schedule 17 and 12 in June gang if I were to tell you that the Orioles not only only have one off day in June but they are playing some of the toughest teams throughout baseball I mean if you were to rank the 10 hardest teams outside the Orioles we probably played six if not eight of those teams in the Braves the Phillies the Guardians the Astros you might even say the Rangers that right there's five like you know what I mean so and those might be the five tough outside of the Dodgers those might be the five five of the six best teams besides the Orioles we just had to play oh yeah and then you also had teams like Tampa Bay four games in Tampa Bay in the trout It Ain't Easy gang and these guys didn't necessarily make it look easy but they made it look like that's right where they belong because that's right where they do belong gang they do belong at the top they because I I've been saying it all year we're the best team in baseball and if you want to argue we're not the best well we're absolutely top five at not even a question top five and I'd argue you're insane if you say we're not even top three and then hey if you want to order the top three a little different you want to go Phillies Dodgers Orioles Okay you want to go Yankees Phillies Orioles well I'll argue the Yankees point with you but I'll still say okay fine that's fine oh you want to put the Guardians and the Phillies above us okay all I'm saying is when we played the Guardians while we only won one of those three we should have won two of those three and in a playoff game with adley behind the dish I think he's either good enough to make a better throw and get the runner at second or he just makes the easy play to First and it is what it is to real gang now we we've been talking Orioles records for All Season it feels like it seems like damn near every episode we have a new record if you will for these Orioles or third most second most in major league history well we get another one gang we got another one Orioles last month hit 30 or excuse me 30 they hit 60 home runs last month the third most of any team in a month in major league history one behind second place I think first place was like 72 or something so decent amount away from that but still 60 home runs now the contrarian in me will say well they only had one off day baseball typically isn't that way like when people looked at that schedule that I showed they were like damn they that's not even make like that's what they did to you so yeah a part of it truly is the fact that we had 29 games last month okay but that doesn't guarantee you to even be close to that record let alone Be third in on the list the Orioles had to continuously performed and not just performed by one guy like gunar Henderson or Anthony Santander who may have led the majors in June home runs and if he didn't he was certainly up there I know he was leading at one point I'm not sure where he finished as far as June home runs go but neither here or there he had at least 11 June home runs so yeah okay Santander had 11 of those 60 Gunner probably had another what six to eight I would say okay again you're not getting all these home runs from one or two guys you're getting it throughout the entire lineup almost every night even players that are more role players who aren't necessarily performing the best this season guys like cower guys like Mullins guys like uas still hit home runs for that 60 home runs and that's why the Orioles are so much better than just about if not every team in baseball truly phenomenal stuff phenomenal stuff and listen the records are great you love seeing it it shows you just how great this team is obviously you want to see it continue through the season and into the postseason because it's all about winning guys I love all these records like the sweep record was amazing what's it matter if you get swept in the playoffs kind of doesn't as much as I'm love it and I can talk up why it shows how great we are you got to see it when it comes October and maybe November so trust me I think we will also I do excuse me all right so oral right now sit top of the AL East now not any games up on the Yankees the Yankees have more games played an extra win an extra loss uh that was coming into last night I'm pretty sure since we had off pretty sure the Yankees also had off I know there were only three games I don't think the Yankees were one of them apologies if I'm off on that but Orioles top of the AL East because of the win percentage it was the first time that the Oriols got back the AL East lead since early may I believe it was like May 12th May 13th if I remember correctly so it's been a little bit it's been like a month and a half since the Orioles saw themselves at the top of the division and it's a beautiful thing something I said I was confident about this entire time even when we were four games back I still said I have no hesitation these Orioles are not only going to make a push for the division but most likely win the division and I'm still in that camp gang I still wholeheartedly believe these Orioles win the American League East again we're sitting 53 and 31 and they're just a great ball Club that's also yes after a bit of an easy beginning but also remember that easy beginning wasn't as easy as people predicted the Brewers were better the Red Sox were better especially at that time uh the A's were actually winning games then which was impressive like you you were playing some teams that were playing above what we expected out of them at least even in the beginning of the season so the Yankees just aren't as nearly as consistent as we are gang they are so topheavy and knock on wood gar Cole has not looked like gar Cole since he's come back this season I'd go so far to say that if he was taking a lie detector test or put under truth serum he would tell you he's not 100% and he's not going to be 100% you know the funny thing about these pitchers is they can be unbelievably great and hit a wall and drop off like that gang like that and I don't believe gar Cole has truly hit that wall and fully dropped off but even the best pitchers have some down seasons have some wacky seasons have a season that you don't necessarily feel your best and certainly Cole has already dealt with that injury earlier I question if they even brought him back earlier than they expected or even wanted I think if the Yankees truly had their way they would have waited till the allstar break waited like another month till bringing them back not a month from now I mean a month from when they did bring them back but listen you're in a heated penet race starting to waver a little you never know what happens right they bring him back maybe a little early who knows gang either way we'll see what happens as far as the Orioles and Yankees go again it's something I talked last episode about how I loved how this heated rivalry was truly reignited obviously when you're a team that's barely barely not losing a 100 games or just losing 100 games or little over like the Orioles were forever there's no rivalry that can really be heated in fact the only way that a real losing team like that can really have a heated rivalry I feel like is if the other team kind of stinks too and you just are kind of these two pathetic teams going at each other you know for bragging rights but that's not how it was the Yankees were at least a decent if not really solid team over the course of these Orioles stinking now it's flipped in the sense of the Orioles aren't stinking the Orioles I believe are the best team in baseball these O's are as good as they come and the Yankees they're a fine team if you compare them to a lot of other teams out there yeah I think they're a better baseball team than the Twins and the Royals and the angels and obviously like the A's and the Tigers and white socks like sure the Yankees are a really good team compared to them start comparing a really good team to a great team like the Orioles they start looking not that good and don't forget we're five and five- two against the Yankees this year in the seven games we played we got their number gang we have their number and that's something I've been confident about because we play the AO extremely tough even before we were this great all right all right now looking ahead at the schedule real quick and what's the cost tonight we start a West Coast Swing we're out in Seattle followed by Oakland then we have a day off as we come back home and then we play the Cubs followed by those Yankees again headed into the allstar break so 12 games remain till All-Star break it's exciting it's very exciting stuff and I just love the idea that we now get it easier right cuz it was so hard that June not only without the off days but just the opponents we were facing was so so tough that now again we can breathe Birdland breathe and you know I wouldn't be shocked if it takes the Orioles a day or two to kind of get back in the swing of it after finally having an off day and finally breathing cuz sometimes you take take that breath and you blink and you're in the seventh inning losing and you're like I you know like I I was ready to play but or I thought I was ready to play but I guess not because I I guess I just kind of enjoyed that off day mentally a little too much and I didn't wasn't able to click it on right away don't get me wrong I'm going be betting them tonight I'll be taking them tonight because I think we win a lot of these last 12 games I think we probably I don't know at least go eight and four I would say I'd say that's a win that means that we lost one of the series I would say probably the Seattle one is the most likely and then we lost a single game in the final three series before the break that's how I'm looking at it that's how I believe it's going to shake out but we'll see what happen Seattle's a decent team I'm not necessarily a huge believer in them as far as World Series goes but they're a decent team and I thought they would actually be a better team than they've shown so far so I wouldn't be surprised to see the Mariners kind of turn it up a little in the coming weeks and months we'll see hopefully they're tired after maybe I don't know their last series maybe their bullpens burned out I didn't look deep into that stuff so I don't know really how the Mariners are sitting going into this series but I know they're a decent Squad so don't expect if you see or don't worry if you see Seattle come out and kind of dominate this first one or even two games similar to that Cleveland series again just breathe breathe Birdland breathe all right so now let's talk about the allstar game because there's some cool stuff going on there's some cool things happening we were telling you about how to make these pushes for these guys to push and get a couple of these guys into that fease too and we did it gang we did it now we knew that adley Gunner and Mount Castle were going to be in there Mount really made his run couple weeks ago to get himself in that top two and that was fantastic Westberg we knew should be in it but we didn't know for sure he would he got himself in the phase two as well then the kind of final two that we were saying you got to make this push for and they're guys that deserve it a th% is Anthony Santander and Ryan O'Hearn I think oarn for sure deserves to make it o'n has really established himself as one of the most consistent hitters in baseball this season really across the league it's unbelievable especially when you look at his two strike hitting and how he never gives up on it he never gives up on these fats and he has some power but he's not power Reliant you know he recently hit his 10th home run and Brandon Hyde was joking that he was like I didn't even realize how long you were stuck on nine for and her was like he you know I haven't really even had a double or extrap hid in a while either or at least many of them and while that obviously is a big factor in extra base hits and home runs and you want to see it and all at the end of the to day if you just keep hitting singles when you are cold and then you get hot and that's when the extra base hits and Home Run start coming I mean you're one of the most consistent hitters in baseball and that's really what Ryan o'n has become this season now he's going up against yordon Alvarez do I think that we're going to get that push no probably not I I probably think we fall short but first land it's possible and if we go out there and make this push we can get oarn in the allstar game now sander one of the six outfielders The Outfield is the only one where it's not now head-to-head you have six and I believe there's already one guy and judge voted in because he had the most votes in phase one so I believe there's I don't know three more spots five more spots at most five spots maybe available I don't don't know if he makes it or not certainly other good candidates you got SoDo obviously jiren Durant few other guys here and there as well uh Kyle Tucker might be up there as well um I'd love to see Tony in there he's been a solid Force for these Orioles all season and really for the past few seasons as just kind of this veteran presence home run hitter and it's a beautiful thing how he hits bad balls right he's like the best bad ball hitter in baseball similar to a Vlad Guerrero style but like obviously maybe not as great as Vlad but certainly on the same kind of ballpark as he's hitting balls at his feet he's hitting balls outside the zone and those are typically the ones that do the best so it's nice that Santander like earlier this season was not having the best success he had the power numbers decent still but it really was few and far between and not consistently getting hits and on base right but the nice thing is somewhat a guy that does his best stuff against Bad balls can kind of work out of that a little easier I feel like because you have that leeway of okay well I might have chased some bad pitches but again if I can contact on those bad pitches I can do damage on it I know that's my game so I'm just gonna grind and battle through this and look what he did 11 at least home runs last month I believe leading the league in home runs last month awesome for Tony taters and I'd love to see ters get himself into that allstar game and what could potentially be his last season in Baltimore just being real folks but frankly from a Viewpoint of looking in the future the idea of Tony getting himself in the All-Star Game buys a little more Capital to be able to give him a qualifying offer on his way out to get us draft pick compensation for him because listen it might be stupid it might be small but just the idea of him being him and his agent being able to say this is an All-Star buys maybe a another year another $510 million a year and then before you know it they're not even thinking about the qualifying offer if the Orioles offer it to them just throwing it out there gang just throwing it out there I'd love to see Tony make it again I'm not positive how many more Outfield spots they give overall I want to say there's usually six of them so that would be five left and I think he's deserving to be one of those five if that's how many they take now we go to Westberg Westberg has quietly become one of the best 30 third basem in all of baseball one of the most consistent third basem in all of baseball when you look at his War compared to all of other third basem I believe he's sitting third in Major League Baseball as far as third basem definitely at least in the AL but I believe third Jose Ramirez is above him and uh the guy from Texas Smith I believe is above him too when it comes to war other than that you got Jordan Westberg so again maybe it's just Al third base and he's ranked third but if you look at War as a whole across the league I looked at this just about a week or so ago I believe Westberg was sitting at about top 25 give or take gang phenomenal stuff by Jordan Westberg who really has quickly become one of my favorite Orioles this season I love Westy I love how he's a key piece to this organization now really that third big Cog in the mix and certainly we're going to be adding more and more and more and when I say that I mean at least offensively grey Rod has already been in that Cog okay as long as far as young players to build around now we can say West BG's the fourth big player we can build around obviously the next two guys we're going to talk about or two of the next three guys we're going to talk about obviously are the top two guys for us but neither here or there Jordan Westberg absolutely deserves to be in this All-Star Game you know his defense despite the fact in that last game in Texas he had a couple wonky plays I was truly looking at it going it reminds me of like Matt Chapman out there and really just consistently making good plays like consistently making tough plays look easy going up and snagging balls way in the air making nice diving snags playing short hops perfectly he's been impressive gang it's been incredibly impressive and this is somebody who came into the season saying how excited they were about Jordan Westberg he has exceeded my expectations so far and frankly knock on wood I'm not really concerned about him going into some big slump right like a lot of times with these young players we see them oh they had this great stretch and then they kind of went and disappeared for a little I don't see that in Westberg he's so consistent his game is so simplistic if you will and yet so special I don't see him struggling much at least at any point whether it's this season or moving forward Westy's the man so now we get to Ryan Mount Castle who also has established himself as one of if not the best first baseman in the American League we talked about it a few weeks ago when we compared his numbers to other first baseman not just around the American League but all through baseball and especially when you look at him in the American League I mean he's top one two or three in just about every legitimate category that you want in a first baseman he's been playing a gold glove caliber defense I don't know if he'll win it or not who knows but it just shows you how special Ryan Mount Castle has been that Ryan o'n or anyone else for that matter really doesn't play at first much like Mount Castle has taken that position and taken it from being hey almost guaranteed platoon platoon to oh just every day just an everyday first basem it's special don't forget how young he is still I believe just 28 maybe 29 years old Ryan mountcastle is certainly just coming into his own as a ball player and it's amazing it's amazing because you know the past few years we saw the signs of it wasn't always the most durable guy certainly had some bad luck with that such as like the vertigo listen there's no blaming a guy for that so there's certainly been some bad luck throughout his his career as far as healthwise knock on wood he's found the right procedures to stay healthy or maybe he's just had the right luck to stay healthy because sometimes that's all it is when it comes to staying healthy sometimes it's just luck guys and it's tough to say that but it's true and Ryan mountcastle's performance this season bar nun is the best of any American League first baseman I believe he's going up head-to-head against Vlad Guerrero I mean you know name wise I'm sure a lot of people are like oh I want Vlad in the game but if you start looking at Stats I don't know how you make the case for Vlad other than you're like well he started off really slow but he's finally turned it on he's finally becoming himself Ryan alcast so has turned it on and become an elevated version of himself and maybe his true self and potential this season for the entire year doing a great job gang and again just like o Hearn maybe the power numbers aren't where you necessarily expect or think they could be certainly his power could have been better this season or could get better in the second half as far as his home run split goes but everything else on base slugging extra base hits he he potentially is leading the Orioles in doubles this season and if not he's right up at the top I I don't think I wrote that down I didn't write it down for doubles but I did look at it and I'm pretty sure he was at the Top If not right towards the top so Ryan M Castle I believe the best first baseman so far this season in the American League and deserves to be the American League starter at first just like Mount Castle deserves to be the starter at third and maybe you'll push back and say Jose Ramirez okay maybe I'll give you that but ultimately Westy's right there just like mount's right there two guys who should have no problem starting this allstar game are the next two guys and adley rushman and gunar Henderson I mean what can you say about these kids gang truly what more can I say about adley and Gunner potentially the best onew combination in all of baseball as far as a lineup goes especially because that's typically where they bat one and two Gunner and athlete ex extremely tough for an opposing pitcher to start off the game to have to face those two guys guys you'll love to see it they're the best I'm not going to spend a ton of time because truly I don't see any way adley doesn't win that and I know Gunners against Bobby Wht and wit's been great wit's been phenomenal I don't see any way that Gunner isn't making the push to start as well at the very least I believe we get those two starting potentially with Corbin burns on the bump I think Corbin will absolutely be an Allstar as well for us I could see maybe grey Rod also scking his head into the rotation at some point sticking his head into that pitching staff at some point I mean right there there's four guys and I believe at least mouny and Westy deserve to be there too if not also Santander and oarn so make sure you go out there put in the votes get these O's to Texas we talked about how it would just kind of be a good feeling story to have our guys there in the spot where they lost the division playoffs last year also kind of I feel like it would be a good mental thing for them to be back at that Park to start this push after the allstar break and have them really focus in and realize what happened last year remember what happened last year and make sure that does not happen again and look at each other and go guys we have to make a run to the World Series this year we do we're the guys to do it and that's what I want so I want as many of those guys in the game as possible well while we expect gunar Henderson be starting short stop for this American League we know gunar Henderson's going to be doing the Home Run Derby he's the first guy to announce he's going to do the Derby he actually announced it on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball as he was wearing those Lego cats awesome Lego cleats I'm not going to dive into it but I do love just the rerie of this team and how they geek out over something like Legos and they bond over this thing like Legos it's just fun it's enjoyable it's exciting and Gunner in the Home Run Derby is also exciting we saw adley last year and adley put on maybe the show of the night despite the fact that he didn't make it out of the first round forget he who he was matched up against whether it was like Otani or one of these top top home run hitters adley perform from both sides of the plate in that round really had an unbelievable run if he went second I think adley might have won sometimes it's easier being the Chaser and some unfortunately adley went first and he was the chasee giving the other guy the number that he knew he had to beat and he found a way to do it ultimately though I was fine with adley only competing one round last year in fact I argued that that's almost even better my guy performed great put on an unbelievable show I loved seeing it and I didn't need him killing himself for this Home Run Derby I didn't need him maybe screwing up his swing because he Swang too many times looking for a home run listen we we know the talk about the Home Run Derby and fans all over the country will be like I don't want my star player doing it so it's going to screw up it's going to screw him up and certainly hey we've seen that over the years but I don't know if you can blame the Home Run Derby for that because there are plenty of guys who perform just as well home run wise if not better following the Derby and there are plenty of guys who didn't do the Home Run Derby who stopped being able to hit home runs and the All-Star break kind of worked against them even if they weren't at the All-Star Game and it worked against them so you never know I'm excited I love seeing the Orioles in the Home Run Derby obviously Miguel Tad to me is the name that most sticks out as our home run derby guy but there have been a bunch of cool orol who perform well Trey Mancini that year like I said uh adley rushman last year who have performed really well and done well in the Home Run Derby and it's always fun it's always cool I enjoy seeing it so I'm excited for gunner obviously I think he has a tremendous chance at winning we'll see what the field is we'll see how the brackets look as a Gambling Man I'm all about looking at that and maybe if you have an easy path Gunner's the guy to take unfortunately gambling wise I feel like Gunner is going to be one of the top if not the top favorite so you're probably only looking at two maybe three times your money that's not necessarily the juiciest thing for me maybe a prop in there or something becomes more juicy in my eyes neither here or there maybe I gamble on it just because I love Gunner and I want to see him perform well and I make a run at it who knows though for all I know they stacked the field and gunar finds himself at plus 600 plus a th000 which would be crazy I don't know how that would be possible but it is you never know so we'll see what happens with that either way very exciting exciting for the Young man exciting for Birdland and just one more exciting thing for these Orioles fans to I hate to keep using it but get excited about gang to get excited about Home Run Derby gotta love it all right now a man who certainly could find himself in the Home Run Derby next year the year after sometime in the near future let's say and that's hon kirstead gang like I I said earlier we brought him back up for his third stin in the major second this season because we needed the extra infielder worried about Westburg with that rib injury that turned into nothing thank goodness but because of that we moved down STS BR up maton so after a couple days when we knew Westberg was good we sent maton down starers can't come up for another few days a week or so so we're like hey hon get on back up and listen I loved it because I said at the time we're going to maybe not see exactly what H it's not a make or break moment for hen but the cool Parts about H is at any moment he could make it and once he makes it once it clicks really in him I don't know if he's ever gone back down and based off of what we've seen since our last episode dang I got to be excited I got to say that it's looking ly clicked and he's looking like the hon K Dead who we saw in triaa he's looking like the hon kirstead that we've been promised the prince that was promised and he's looking like that now sometimes it takes a few times for it to really click and really sink in and have the guy figure out how to be successful at the major league level so since he came up he's s for 16 two two home runs including a grand slam eight RBI two doubles since he's been recalled in his 60 at bats in his career okay he's had 30 this season and 30 last season it's kind of interesting he's in each of these last two seasons he's been in 13 games and had 30 at bats in each of them so it's very nice to see so in his whole career he has an Ops of 870 9 and slugging a 5117 now those numbers might not be completely Elite but they're very good gang if you're getting that from one of your young role players doing a great thing there's a reason why he made the playoff roster last year I mean he didn't play in the playoffs but he made the roster and there's a reason why they view him so highly because they know his Bat plays and it's only going to take a certain amount of time till his Bat plays in the majors okay we talked when they brought him back up this time about how his position might be a bit of a dead spot in the lineup or in the roster and we didn't know if the playing time would necessarily be there for him we saw that in his first go around earlier this season there just wasn't much playing time for him but situations change a bit okay cower certainly isn't playing as well as he did a few months ago around the time hon got called up so hon now maybe takes that role hon gets those at bats and cower now becomes more of the defensive substitute in pinch Runner type guy or just giving a guy an off day here and there back up where H now becomes more of this everyday fixture in the lineup especially against Ries now in his 13 games and 30 plate appearances both seasons right listen to these numbers and how he's improved already again it's a small stample size each season's 13 games 30 plate appearances okay this year he has more hits more total bases more doubles more RBIs more walks a better ad average a better on base percentage a better slugging percentage and a better on base plus slugging he has the same amount of runs and home runs and he has less strikeouts gang when you're looking at a statline for a young top top prospect and he's improving on everything and at least staying the same on other big numbers numbers and the only thing he has less of is strikeouts you got yourself a star baby I mean truly that's what hon kad's becoming by the time we get to playoff baseball hon kirad is going to be a scary name to see in this lineup I truly believe that I'm at that point gang it's funny just a week ago our last episode we were talking about being like yeah we'll see it could be really good and he could stay up for a long while or forever or you know he could be h a little choppy again and maybe he moves back down now we've never seen the horribleness from hon in the majors just again looking at his numbers career-wise we've never seen that horribleness yet and I don't think we really will because again his Bat just plays his Bat plays really well but not only that is we've seen the growth we've seen the development it just feels better and I love the nickname silent J obviously because his last name has a j after the K and it's like what the heck in fact one of my buddies was trying to ask me about him the other day and he was coming up with the craziest names and I had no idea he was talking about till he said bunch of random letters in there and I was like oh hon Kiren yeah stud and he is phenomenal talent and I listen I'm not going to guarantee it it but it seems to me like H has secured a spot on this ro roster really I think for the rest of the season just like cower secured the spot earlier hon has secured the spot now and I think they're both of it honestly leaves me to believe the number one guy that these Orioles are going to try and trade in a deal is Kyle Stowers and it kind of stinks because I like Stowers heck stows was producing well just before he had to get sent down because of mateon and Westburg incident so maybe I'm wrong maybe one Stars doesn't maybe doesn't have as much value as I believe he should have because I think he's a nice outfielder maybe though the Orioles just view him really highly as well and they go why move him why because he is Battle tested he is kind of a veteran in some sense even in the majors he's been up and down so many times and been through these stins for the last couple years I don't know I think Stowers might have a place on this team but it's just going to be hard obviously cower and hon are both these left-handed outfielders Mullins left-handed outfielder Santander switch outfielder oarn left-handed outfielder I mean you know what I'm saying I don't know where the spot for starers is the rest of this season if hon stays up and I think he will I think he secured the spot now we have some Intrigue when it comes to the rotation Dean Kramer's been gone for the last couple weeks uh he had that tricep injury it wasn't serous but certainly it was a little worrisome especially right after before the bradish and mean situations and all of this stuff now Kramer is going to most likely return this week at some point and we need him his rehab numbers haven't been great but certainly his season stats as a whole in the majors this season have been very good maybe not Elite maybe not unbelievable but there's room in an MLB rotation for an average to slightly about slightly above average arm truly I've said this since day one not everyone has to be Corbin Burns or Grayson Rodriguez some guys I just need to be solidly consistent and Dean Kramer has been and frankly some nights he's completely unhitable like no hit stuff unhitable so he returns this week so what do we do about the rotation who leaves it now we're past the point of six-man rotations I don't think the O's are going to have to do that or will do that at any point moving forward this season so what do we do now well the number one name is Cole Irvin that's going to bounce down listen Cole Irvin was a guy coming into the year we talked about being in the best shape of his life having refocused his diet and workout having really added some velocity and movement to his pitches and looking very impressive and frankly he had been very impressive on after his start on June 7th okay he had an erra of 287 this season phenomenal stuff like the type of stuff that we were coming into the season saying this is possible and you might look at me like I'm crazy it was it was great since then in his last four starts since then he has an 85 ra a whip of 1.89 and now his ra sits at 413 not the worst not horrible but anytime you get past those that 38 I feel like is round the number 36 38 anytime you start bumping up towards that and into the fours it's starting to get a little ugly now it's starting to border on are you worth it are you not worth it I'm not quite sure personally I think I'd rather keep irin in the rotation and move Suarez to the bullpen we talked about this the past few episodes about how Albert Suarez I believe is such a bigger X Factor for the bullpen than the rotation now the problem with that logic is that was mostly when we were fully healthy fully healthy in the bull pet so when we had three lefties pitching really well in the bullpen right now it maybe isn't that way in fact it isn't because Danny CL is out now he should be back at some point but not till August or September at the best and you know with those stuff you never know you're literally just crossing your fingers hoping that he's going to make it back healthy and he's going to be there for the playoffs so yeah then we rely on our other two CNL Perez uh Keegan aen and both have been pretty solid this season I wouldn't say either have been dominant I think they've each had some runs of dominance Keegan Akin started the season really dominant hasn't been as effective as of late CNL Perez maybe was a little more shaky early got got himself into being pretty well but the more you have to rely on those two as your Lefty is out of the pen then you start worrying now Nick vby another Lefty out of the pen has been solid as well so I could argue we're good on lefties out of the pen we don't need to add another Lefty to the pen so we should move swarez instead of uh Irvin out of the rotation I think others would go can we really count on Nick vby now it's funny because I was going to talk about it but I knew that we were going to be running long and already were running long so I might have cut it had I written it down but Nick ves's Numbers over the past couple Seasons because of the amount of time he's come up and down up and down it's been over a dozen I'm sure if not like a dozen and a half times in the last two seasons that Nick vby has been moved up and down on this roster and yet when you look at his numbers they're actually pretty solid for kind of this Swingman for kind of this taxi squatter uh I love the look of him the hair the tattoos I just worry I just worry about his consistency in being great and I think it's probably going to be one of these maybe one good one bad two good one bad at best like that's kind of how I feel about Nick vesy right now hate to say it I'd love love for positive stuff on him but ultimately I think we're better served keeping Cole Irvin in the rotation for the moment and moving Albert Suarez back to the bullpen that's what I would rather because Albert Suarez is that guy whether it's early in the game for a long relief spot mid game even high leverage late situations save situations that I feel comfortable putting him in at times this Bullpen has shown some shakiness it's also shown some greatness but I don't know how much we can rely on consistently hoping that Jacob Webb and Brian Baker can pitch this well as well as they have all I'm saying is adding Albert Suarez in there can take some of that off of Canó and Baker and web and help that heck Baker might not even make the cut if and when we move one of those guys to the bullpen web and Canó obviously will be there we'll see what happens but another name really the only other name that could move out of the rotation is youngster Cade Povich who five starts into his major league career we know he was the top Orioles pitching Prospect the name we've been talking about since maybe our first episode in spring training and he had a phenomenal spring had a phenomenal season in the miners and we felt that this was the time to give him a look right this this was about when they brought him up right before they brought him up we were in here screaming about how it's time to give Povich his shot and to give him his moment I wanted that instead of trying one of these veteran pitchers or you know journeyman or all like I love the idea of seeing what poic has and we've seen some good and bad as we'd expect from most young pitchers right obviously people get spoiled watching Paul skes over in Pittsburgh and how absolutely electrically dominant he's been not everyone's Paul sk's gang in fact very very very very few prospects ever are Paul skes so what we're looking at is a normal top pitching Prospect and usually those guys have some struggles but you hope to see some success as well and really that's what we've seen from Kade Povich at the moment now it's possible that poic gets sent back down and you keep Suarez and Irvin in this pen with Kramer coming back I'd argue though poit has shown you enough and I think proven enough that you keep him in there and you continue to see what he has right now okay so let's just break down some of his numbers real quick through his five starts he's one and two an RA of 405 5 17 k a whip of 1.24 now the whip is a little high but not dangerous it's over one but not insanely over one you can live with that the Ks are decent but not insane he certainly hasn't been a strikeout pitcher in his career in fact I think there's a start in there where it didn't even have a okay so we'll see how I think as he progresses through his career as he develops and gets better in his command and control we're going to see those C numbers rise a little bit now he's not throwing 103 like Paul ski he's living more in that 94 95 range they do talk though that it's kind of like sneaks up on you it's kind of like a hidden fast ball that it kind of you're you're not able to see it right away and then it kind of just pops up on you so it feels probably faster than it is and we've seen his secondary stuff be solid most of the time we all we've also seen him be able to work out of jams that he got himself into now he's only pitched under five innings once out of those five starts and it was four and two3 so he's at least consistently getting you halfway through the ball game which for frankly is all you can truly ask from your rookie starting pitcher no matter how talented he is you're not going to expect him to go six seven eight every game if any games he certainly has gotten a little deeper into some games but he's pitched essentially at least five innings in every start which means again even when he gets hit around like that first game in Toronto when Vlad Jr gave him his welcome to the major moment with a three-run home run the first hit he gave up he's able to stay in the game for a couple more Innings a few more Innings and work through that jam and not let it get insane on him now in that Toronto game we just said Vlad had that three-run home run he ended up giving six earned runs up that game but if you look at the four since it's given up zero one three and then two so great stuff truly you cannot ask really for much more from a young pitcher than to give you five innings giving up two to three runs I take that every day of the week his first start he also gave up four walks and we've seen at times he can be a little walk happy but the nice part is if you look at the start since he has two starts without a walk one start with one walk and then another start with five walks so again that game got away from him with walks just like the Toronto game in game one got away from him ultimately though three of those five he has one or less walks one or no walks give it all it's nice stuff and when you look at his mentality when you see his Expressions when you see him on that mound you're not necessarily worried at least me I'm not worried about him I'm actually pretty confident in the confidence I see in Kade poic so I'm excited about him and I really think that he's earned himself that rotation spot certainly if bradish was coming back okay maybe he lose it then certainly if bradish and Wells or means was coming back well then yeah it's done at least for this season but that's not the case gang and I really enjoy what I've seen from Kade poic the young starter this season and it gives me hope and promise for what's yet to come because again he doesn't have the most Blow You by stuff and he's still doing really well just wait until that command gets a little better and he settles in as a major leager a little bit more and then maybe he's able to get a couple more outs hit a spot a couple more times and before you know it he's having himself a fantastic career we have yet another great pitcher in this rotation in Kade poic for the future at the very least if not right now I'm more than happy with what I've seen from Kate poic in fact if you go back to the episode a few episodes back when he was getting brought up or even before he got brought up when we were saying how this is the time to bring him up we I think we were saying Heck if he can have five starts a record of one and and ra around four I'm thrilled like I'm happy and certainly those stats don't necessarily even do him Justice because again when you break down like the earn run six in the first game he had the next four 0 1 32 getting through essentially five innings every single start you love seeing it you love seeing it now eventually I believe whoever stays in it the rotation the two of the three that stay in whether it be Irvin poic Suarez I believe at least one of them will wind up getting bumped out eventually because we will make a trade for a starting pitcher and I believe a relief pitcher as well if not a closer hopefully hopefully a closer but that that's for another day another topic we've already gone at it heavily many episodes and I'm sure there are a few more episodes to come that we will be touching on it heavily as well but that's coming G at this point I expect it to be after the trade deadline maybe even at the trade deadline and well I could run you down all of the targets that I have and we will do that and we already have done some of that I'll just say this it'd be nice if we signed Trevor Bower like I get it he's probably being black balled from the league but the league is getting to a point that if nobody signs him he may be setting up for an enormous lawsuit and as much as baseball wants to Black Blacklist them I mean they might kind of be forced to tell these team one of these teams to can you just sign this guy please so we don't get get sued for a billion dollar which I think is probably way high maybe it's only 20 million but still they don't want to get sued they don't want the publicity they don't want the negativity they don't want to have to write the check I mean the idea that we could add Trevor Bower to this rotation and give up literally no players and give up next to no money I get he's a jerk off I get he's not the best for for the for the clubhouse and the he's not the funnest coolest guy to have around oh you know I'll I'll take a line from draft day that horrible yet entertaining movie and I got a locker room full of tar Tarzan I could use a Jane you know I'm not calling him a Jane and I'm not saying everybody else is a Tarzan what I mean is I got a locker room full of awesome dudes I got a whole locker room of Good Vibes I can add one douche back and have everything be great because guess what when the douche comes in and he pitches phenomenally well ah his Antics become a little funnier and he becomes a little cooler and easier to deal with when he's out there with a 2E you know I'm just saying I get it he's black bald he's blacklisted odds are nobody is going to sign him and as if we don't sign him I hope nobody signs him but you know where are this team sits the idea that people want to trade for uh Michael copek and I get it he's a stud or Garrett crochet excuse me the idea that we want to trade for Garrett crochet and again I love it I I would love Garrett crochet but the idea of what we have to give up I mean there's talks everything from Jackson and hon and basalo and poic and mayo and a combination of two or three of our top six guys that I think all six of those prospects are Untouchable we've talked about that previously and we'll continue touching on that I did see an interesting one slightly today the one that I went okay like I could live with that it was basalo and bow Meister who we picked towards the top of the draft if not our number one pick last year um who's done really well bow Meister has done great for us as a pitcher and obviously s basalo my buddy Joey would be crushed because he's such a s basalo believer and I am too the kids is stud I don't see them giving up basala like I tell Joey that all the time basala is one of the six that I don't think they have any chance at giving up but when it's just two guys okay when I see oh it's Jackson and H and Mayo I mean that's just a publication that doesn't know what they're talking about and again the idea that yeah we could trade even not that much in basalo and bow meister for gar crochet oh yeah awesome or you just sign Trevor bower for like a half a million dollars not give up any of of them I don't know if any of these guys as great as crochet has been will be as good as Trevor Boward down the stretch and in the postseason listen I'm not going to spit at the idea of getting crochet but it better be for the right deal and I don't think that one they're going to be interested in the right deal and two I don't think the Orioles are going to be interested in any of the deal the white socks are talking about so this is a topic that we're going to touch more on later as we go on and on and closer to the trade deadline certainly will have an episode or true two really primarily based on this trade stuff but we're not there yet gang we're not there yet all right so midseason report we're going to run down kind of how these guys have been playing so far because it's very impressive we're not going to go through every single person we're not going to go through every single stat this and that and the other but I just want to kind of show you exactly what these Orioles have been doing right so at this point 84 games into the season adley rushman has the highest team batting average in 294 just under 300 he had been living above 300 for quite some time dipped down a little bit but I see that pushing against if not getting back over 300 when it's all said and done atle's not going to be dipping much lower than that 290 range and frankly even 294 is Elite when it comes to hitting in Major League Baseball now I mean there's only a hand full of guys who are above 300 truly in the entire league at ley's technically up there now Gunners quickly or shortly behind him at 288 Westy at 281 and then you got mounty at 273 those are really the four best batting averages as far as qualified hitters for the Orioles there might be some guys like hon kirst did right now batting 300 or whatever that I'm not counting because again 30 at bats 1D te games we're talking qualified batters okay now the home runs is when it starts to get really exciting so we're going to talk about what these guys are on Pace for moving forward okay because obviously average what your average is now is technically what you're on Pace for at when it's all said and done essentially but everything else I kind of wanted to just project so home runs Gunners projected give or take 50 home runs over now but again you never know these things but Gunner projected to hit 50 home runs Tony ters 40 plus adley 30 Westy 25 and then cower mounty and oh' herner all project or on Pace to hit 20 plus home runs I think mounty and o'n get there I don't think cower gets there because as long as Hon's having his success I don't see and Mullins is playing well again and Hayes and taters continue to play well I don't necessarily see him getting the same amount of that bats he had in the first half of the Year also he could get hot again though and hit 20 plus let's say all these guys hit their marks that means we have 150 140 130 125 and then 32s that's impressive gang that's like te that's video gamees numbers another video gamees number is to have three guys right now in gunar adley and Tony taters projected to get 100 plus RB then you have Westberg at 90 plus mounty at 80 plus that right there is video game like 300 RBI guys a 90 and an 80 oh and then three guys cowo Hearn and Mullins all with 60 plus RB's they're on Pace for G elite elite video game like numbers that these Orioles are putting up and if they can stay on Pace it's unbelievable where this team is going to finish numbers wise truly we're going to look back on this and go God that might have been one of the best offenses in recent memory and hopefully moving forward we're saying that every year essentially about this Orioles offense which is possible with the talent they have gag and the youth and age that they're at now stolen bases we have three three guys projected right now to get about 25 plus stolen bases in Mullins gunar and Matteo unbelievable I mean I get it more guys are running now more players are running but I'm just highlighting those three there are other guys projected to get you know 15 plus stolen bases also on the team but Mullins gunar and Matteo all projected to get 25 plus stolen bases wins Grayson and burns are both right now on Pace for 18 wins unbelievable I mean we rarely see 20 game winners anymore I know they're not on Pace for 20 but on page for 18 means you can get to 20 and even if you don't having two guys right around even if they fall short two guys at 17 wins at the top of your rotation I mean not many teams are going to be able to say that sure the Phillies can not many other teams are going to be able to say that when it's all said and done and as far as strikeouts with those two they're each on Pace for just under 200 strikeouts I wrote 200 plus because remember grey Rod had a little stin in there where they you know had him on the DL for like two weeks so technically his pace is on Pace for 200 like if he doesn't miss any time in that second half he should get 200 plus K which was something I believe was a bet we were telling you coming into this season uh I'd have to look back at the gambling episode to guarantee that and Corbin Burns also right there should be at 20ks yet another guy who's just having a phenomenal season and burns maybe doesn't have the same strikeout stuff he always had but maybe he's a better pitcher because of it I know the broadcast was talking about that the other start and how you know his strikeouts might be a little bit down but maybe that extends him and games more maybe he has a little more quick Innings still having an unbelievably dominant year so far and really the year we hoped he would have when we traded and brought him in so that's kind of stuff we're on Pace right now as far as midseason reports go I'm so excited I mean these are things that we told you to bet on coming into the year in our gambling episode so I can't wait to see where they land and actually how many of those bets we'd hit now you know just like orio's records I feel like we're talking about every single episode there's also a new gunar Henderson club that he's a part of and again some are very basic such as war and players at this age with this war you know yes those are very impressive sometimes the fun part about baseball is that you kind of make up these clubs you know you kind of pick some arbitrary numbers and they don't necessarily add into anything like completely special necessarily on their own but together it's special because only a certain amount of guys have ever done this right and gunar is now one of 12 Short Stops ever ever with a season of 24 home runs 13 stolen bases and defensive runs saved now again kind of arbitrary but just amazing that he's only one of 12 Short Stops ever to have that combination in season and again he's on Pace for 50 home runs and 25 stolen bases and if he has six defensive run saved which is truly what he has now I know the stat is five plus but truly that's that could be six plus because the only one on that list to get five and not six was Jimmy Rollins who also had over five a different season in defensive run Sav so again you could just cut that even out and make it six plus defensive runs saved okay and so think of the idea that Gunner might have 50 home runs 25 stolen bases and 10 plus defensive run saved unbelievable to think of how that group of 12 Short Stops is going to shrink down to possibly one because frankly just if he has the 50 home runs as a short stop there's only one other guy A-Rod who's done that so I almost would guarantee A-Rod did not have even 13 stolen bases that season definitely not 2025 like Gunner should end the season with who knows how many defensive run SA but Gunner's going to be yet another one of one when it's all said and done this season game because he's jining Elite clubs halfway through the year special special stuff we know that he had an on base streak of 36 games I'd be remissed if I didn't bring it up it got snapped of course in that Texas game it's funny it's something I meant to bring up last episode I may have brought it up last episode but you know as it keeps going through the three games against Cleveland and the first three games against Texas and gets up to 36 you're like oh man it was the longest streak by an oral in quite some time I know Brian Roberts had three of those streaks uh the most recent three streaks and I believe one of them at least was above that 36 gam like 41 games if I remember correctly neither here or there gunar for the power he has been displaying this season for for him to continue that on base is special he's up there in walks he's up there in hits like he's up there in average again SP 288 with all those dingers it's just a special special thing and it sucks that it got snapped but overall it's an arbitrary streak gang it ain't the 56 game hit streak put it that way if G already got on the 36 hit streak I think we'd all have been a little more excited and a little more disappointed that it ended on base streak awesome but listen it is what it is and it's still very cool to see and it's exciting to watch but it's okay that it ended hopefully he starts up a brand new one starting tonight now we're already a little bit long over an hour and a half now so we're going to finish it up with a minor league report uh have some couple names two of which are probably the two biggest names for the Orioles at this point in the miners and one of them is kind of an unknown name but a name that I think more and more people are going to be learning and certainly could be a guy that comes up and pitches for us right uh we're going to start with that cuz we talked about how the bullpen is sound on lefties right now but could struggle with Danny Kum out and that's one of the reasons we thought Cole Irvin would make possibly a better fit in the bullpen and when Nick vest be pitching well maybe that's not the case but if the Orioles listen to me and move Suarez to the pen instead of Irvin and vby is starting to struggle at some point or God forbid CNL Perez or uh Keegan Aken excuse me go down with something and I hope that's not going to happen but you never know we may be seeing Trey mow Migo I really don't know how to pronounce his last name MC g o u g h m m go I don't know anyway Trey a different Trey and he's another Lefty out of the pen we got him in the milb rule five draft I don't really know how the rules work as far as that I understand the MLB rule five draft and how he has to stay on the roster or be sent back to the team I'm not sure how the milb rule five works exactly but we picked him up last year in the M MB International League rule five draft and he's done great for us he has this season he has 42 innings pitched he's mainly been a reliever for us he started the season with a couple starts and then moved to the pen for us and he's been pretty solid gang 42 Innings pitched an area of 214 47 k a whip of under 1.98 and a batting average against a172 phenomenal stuff we've been seeing from this kid Trey and certainly a name to look out for whether it be this year or next year because Bullpen arms are always important you need a stable of Bullpen arms as we've seen this season so it's just good to have yet another guy there and if the MB rule five draft is anything like the MLB rule five draft which I'm assuming that they're pretty similar in some regards it means that a guy had to have been on this current team or his former team for at least a few seasons before he's eligible to picked by another team in that draft which means that mcal I didn't look it up what his age is but that would mean that he most likely is even a little older which is nice it's a guy that's had some seasoning had some developing understand had some maturing and now when he eventually gets called up whether it's this season or next could be a nice guy to have in this bull pet all I'm saying is don't be shocked when you see that last name on the back of the jersey and go who the heck is this kid cuz I think especially once rosters expand late in the season he's a name the Orioles could absolutely look at at some point now the next two guys we're going to talk about is first Kobe Mayo okay we know he had the rib injury he came back he's been pretty good s and when you look at these numbers you see why people were just clamoring to get Kobe Mayo up to the majors and frankly I don't know exactly where he would be playing right now we've talked about this before how this season isn't really Kobe Mayo's opportunity like unless things went really bad for some guys or certain guys got really hurt Kobe Mayo wasn't a name that we were probably going to see until again maybe roster expansion and then I could see the Orioles giving him a look for a couple weeks going into next year and next year really being his moment to break through ultimately it's exciting stuff when you look at what this kid has done in Triple A cuz we know he's had great stats all throughout the minor so far and his defense is something he's really been working on and it seems like every week at least I'm seeing a highlight of Kobe Mayo in the field making a great diving snag he's got good athleticism remember this a guy that could wind up even potentially playing a corner Outfield spot for us depending on the infield alignment and roster construction that we have moving forward but listen to this statline at triaa cuz some would argue boy is he ready he has 29 home runs 102 RBI a batting average of 290 on base of 389 slugging of 58 or 578 and an Ops of 967 I mean elite elite stuff man again this is why I talk about the embarrassment of riches the Orioles have it there seems to be no sight of end or end in sight for these top talented prospects like we're just wrapping our heads around how great great ex exceptionally historically great adley and gunar are how unbelievably consistently solid Westberg is how special cower and hon could be and now we have guys like Kobe Mayo still to come still to come to embarrassment of riches and as I get it as much as we want Kobe Mayo up again some more seasoning in the miners might be the best thing for him and letting the roster spot open up for him to play might be the best thing for him wait till next season because then we can make the move easier on a uas potentially and I hope not a mato heck again maybe an outfield or two or three are gone and maybe he placs Corner outfield for us and instead we'll have to see where it's at cuz certainly the next guy I think just like Kobe Mayo at this point will be in the majors next year and frankly I could see him performing even better than Kobe Mayo at this point in the season next year and that's Jackson holiday we know he had a little bum elbow for a little that's all right he came back from that like a week or so ago and has been putting up decent numbers now from what I know he's only dhing at least for about a month maybe even two heck maybe the rest of the season just because they don't want that little bum elbow to turn into something worse if they can easily find the time to play him at DH and have the other guys that maybe were dhing more play in the field more I think that's fine I have no problem with you going you know what you've had a good amount of work at second we're only going to have you continue continue working at second this off seon and going into next season by the time we're at next season we're confident that you would have had a lot enough experience at least at second base for us to feel comfortable with you there heck I mean they already brought him up once and felt comfortable with him there and he did even make some plays wasn't making every play but still that was very early into the second base uh learning curve for him so Jackson holiday while I'm bringing him up I know he had a big Dinger yesterday that was one of the reasons I wanted to bring him up he's been on a little bit of a hot streak since he came back with that elbow thing we know we talked about his mechanics just feeling right finally that was something he talked about and I think you saw it on that home run swing cuz if you compare that home run to let's say the home runs that he was having in spring training or early in the Minor League season it looks much better timing wise contact wise you know I always talked about those spring training home runs the results didn't necessarily look pry like the results were there the swing didn't always look great the contact didn't necessarily look great despite the fact the ball might have got out or become a double and a gap or whatever and he talked about that when he was talking about mentally struggling with his mechanics even while succeeding in spring training and early on in the miners I think he got himself in a really smart spot a really good spot and frankly just trust the Orioles developmental crew to work with an extremely talented young man to get it right that's what I believe and frankly it's insane all the hate that I see on these comments on Instagram oh you guys are trying so hard to make them relevant oh quad a player like the kid didn't just turn 21 years old I mean it's insane to think that people are so off of this kid after 10 games in the majors he's going to make him pay for that man he's going to make him pay don't think he's not keeping receipts but he's in the right mental head space I think right now even so much I saw him post on Instagram kind of uh a picture album of captures of him while he was in the majors for those 10 games and you know it's something that he didn't post any of that when he was mentally struggling with it really just struggling all around with it and then after he gets sent back he didn't post it posting it now shows me he is feeling good mentally he is feeling confident again he's feeling great with his swing he knows it's all there he knows how talented is and now he can go back and appreciate those moments even if the results weren't good he can appreciate that he made the majors he can appreciate that he played in those games and he did have you know a couple moments sporadically by this time next year I wouldn't be shocked if Jackson holiday is in phase two for the allstar game next year just saying gang just saying don't s short on the kid one last point on him I saw his wife Chloe posted a PCT or a few pictures with him and their dog their dog is so cute I have to say unbelievably cute I'm actually Furious I forget the name right now my brain wants to say marshmallow it's not marshmallow I can't believe I forgot this name I'm going to take a swig think about it for a second and if I don't get it we're g to move on to the end is it popcorn is it marshmallow ah can't believe I forget this ah it's something like that though it's a great name it looks like I don't know a golden doodle or something I don't know just some great looking dog and a phenomenal name too so I'll make sure I write that on thep last one it sucks because I have holiday written I remembered all the stuff about his playing and I didn't write the name of the dog and it's crushing me again marshmallow uh popcorn I believe both are wrong but both are like a smidge there just so close to being there and I just can't think of it I don't got it oh well oh well gang listen you talk an hour and 45 minutes about the Baltimore Orioles you might forget a dog's name or two it happens gang anyway so that has been episode 32 of the talking Orioles podcast episode breathe Birdland breathe before we get out of here I want to give a special thanks to a close friend and good uh friend of the show uh Adam for giving me a couple Cal ripping cards you might have seen them up there in our last episode but the glare I didn't notice you couldn't see anything but a glare in them so let me show you a couple cow cards Ah that's a cool one young cow the franchise cuz he was he was the franchise the even cooler one and this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen is the big head Cal Ripken card look how cool and special that is gang oh I love it I love it appreciate it Adam I very much appreciate it they're going to be on the Shelf in fact they were last episode forgot to bring it up didn't notice the glare was on them so we'll find a good spot for them where you can keep your eye on them at times but appreciate you Adam we know he's a loyal listener loyal fan and a loyal friend most of all so I appreciate all of the loyal friends family listeners and fans out there thank you so much for supporting us we got a ton more coming again this going to be a hot hot July with the dog day of Summer right around the corner we are not slowing down at all gang in fact we are ramping the heck up you're going to be seeing me a ton you're going to be hearing me a ton and it's only going to continue progressing as the Oriol season continues gang so with that being said fantastic episode today this was another episode of the talking orol baseball podcast let's go o [Applause] [Music] basball baseball in the old the bird the bird the bird some B the bird the bird the birds