Rob Long: The Dawning Of A New Day
The Baltimore Orioles are just about ready to head North for the start of the 2017 Major League Baseball season. Last year the O's ended their season in Toronto with a walk-off homerun by Edwin Encarnacion. The O's begin their season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards against the same Blue Jays with a lot less at stake. Next Monday only represents the beginning of the season, not the end.
Next Monday potentially represents the beginning of possibly a new era in the Birds rotation. For four seasons, Chris Tillman has been regarded as the number one starter for Buck Showalter and the Orioles. During that time Tillman has put together a 56-39 record with a sub 3.80 ERA in every year except 2015. Basically he's been more than a number poser, he's in fact in a number one for the O's.
Now, with Tilly on the shelf, Showalter is looking for a substitute to fill in. He's called on his number four overall pick of the 2012 draft, Kevin Gausman. The 26-year-old right-hander will make his first Opening Day start. In fact, due to injury, Gausman did not make the trip North with the team last year. He didn't make his first start until April 25th of the 2016 season. He lost that game going five innings giving up only one run while striking out seven. That became the theme for Gausman during much of the season.
Gausman isn't the only interesting story with the rotation. In 2011, the Orioles used their fourth overall pick for a right handed pitcher as well. That pitcher was Dylan Bundy. The Oklahoma native has spent a large part of his professional career battling injuries but due to his contract status he was placed on the 25-man roster with lots of uncertainty.
On April 7th, Dylan made his first Big League appearance since 2012, going one inning against the Minnesota Twins giving up one hit on 11 pitches. It seems everyone held their breaths whenever Bundy was on the mound for the first month. The youngster went the month of April giving up only two runs in eight innings. Not bad for a start.
The Baltimore Orioles will begin the season on paper with Kevin Gausman as the number one and Dylan Bundy as the number two. Maybe that's a look into the future. Maybe the order could change with Bundy as the number, or maybe not, but for a franchise that has been accused of not being able to develop their own pitching, this is a good sign. Both Gausman and Bundy were completely home grown. Yes, Tillman was traded to the O's at a young age, and basically grew up in the farm system here, but he wasn't a product of the team's draft.
We aren't looking at two young pitchers without promise either. These two were promising prospects at one point and both have shown signs of MLB dominance. This is a situation that could work. Not only that, but when Tillman gets back, you now have three pitchers who have the ability to dominate. Tillman and Gausman both are capable of pitching a lot of innings. While Bundy isn't going to monitored in 2017 like he was in 2016, but there is still going to be the unknown factor at least going into 2017.
The dawning of a new season is exciting in its own right, but things could get even more interesting watching two young Birds grow up at OPACY. Gausman has high expectations. Bundy's expectations are growing. Sit back and watch the new "Arms Race."
