Brandon Young’s first full season in the Orioles’ rotation has been about more than just surviving the job. He’s started to look like a pitcher who can shape an outing instead of merely trying to get through one.
That was on display Sunday night against the Brewers, when the 28-year-old right-hander matched his career high with nine strikeouts over six innings of two-run ball. Against one of the league’s best offenses, Young looked every bit like a starter who has learned how to use the whole toolkit.
Carlos Narváez noticed the change from the other side before he ever caught Young in Baltimore. In Boston earlier this year, while the Red Sox were preparing to face him, Narváez saw a pitcher he thought he had pegged as an east-west arm who lived down in the zone and leaned on the slider. That view has shifted.
“Now, it’s like, ‘This guy is an overall pitcher,’” Narváez told me earlier this month. “He can throw anything in any count.”
Young has earned that description by sharpening the things that once made his major league debut uneven. In the spring, after the Chris Bassitt signing pushed him to seventh on the Orioles’ starting pitching depth chart, Young said he spent the offseason working to smooth out the biggest issue from that debut: the inconsistency in his fastball velocity.
When his four-seamer was above 94 mph, he usually pitched well. When it dipped below that, he got hit.
He said he attacked that with conditioning, trying to keep his arm strength more consistent from start to start. He also knew the answer wasn’t just about velocity. Young talked about learning to “learn how to pitch” in any situation, using the splitter more after introducing it last year, tunneling it off his four-seamer down in the zone and bringing back a sinker he had used in junior college.
The results have shown up clearly. Entering Sunday, Young’s four-seamer was averaging 94.4 mph, and it had been below 94 mph in only eight of his 27 starts.
Some of his best outings, including scoreless starts on May 24 and June 10, came on those days. The splitter has grown into a swing-and-miss pitch against hitters from both sides, while the slider and curveball have still played late in counts.
Opportunity has helped too. Injuries to Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer and Bassitt opened the door for Young to stay in the rotation regularly since mid-April, and that run has accelerated his understanding of how hitters see him and how he can set them up.
One lesson came on July 31 against the Phillies. Young left the mound with a bad taste in his mouth after hanging an 0-2 slider to J.T.
Realmuto, who hit it out to end Young’s night. The next day, he thought back on that pitch and the need to make his locations so consistent that they become automatic.
He said he learned that lesson from Corbin Burnes during Burnes’ season in Baltimore, watching him throw cutters at bullpen catcher Ben Carhart’s knee to hammer home exactly where the pitch needed to live, no matter the count or situation.
Young also said that game showed him he had been out of sync early and hadn’t done enough to reset himself. He pointed out that it was also one of several games this season in which opponents clearly had a plan as a group. By the time the game wore on, he realized the Phillies were sitting on slower pitches late in counts and were letting fastballs down the middle go by with two strikes because he had caught them off guard.
“If I can just realize that earlier, that would be nice - and I think that obviously comes with experience,” he said.
That experience showed against Milwaukee. Young mixed his pitches well, leaning on the four-seamer and slider the first time through the order before shifting more toward the splitter the second time.
He got ahead early, throwing 16 first-pitch strikes in 22 batters, and only 18 of his 82 pitches came when he was behind in the count. His slider was firmer than usual, but when he needed strikeouts, he still found them with the pitch, generating seven whiffs, five for strikeouts, plus a called third strike.
“They walk almost the most in the league, they get on base the most in the league, they don’t strike out,” he said. “So, I think just watching [Trevor Rogers] throw yesterday and how he got ahead, I wanted to put pressure on them and try to replicate that.”
Young’s season leaves the Orioles with a real decision point. On pure results, a pitcher with a 3.62 ERA in 27 starts usually writes himself into next year’s rotation in ink. But the low strikeout rate - 7.5 per nine innings - and the expected stats that would push his ERA nearly a full run higher complicate the picture.
The offseason will bring more rotation movement. Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish are locked up long-term, while Trevor Rogers and Chris Bassitt are headed for free agency.
Baltimore will be looking to add to the group, and Young will serve as a measuring stick of sorts. Any outside addition should bring more experience and a stronger track record while at least matching what Young has given them this year.
If the Orioles bring in too many arms, he could find himself squeezed again.
For now, though, Young has done enough to make his case. He said after Sunday’s game that what he’s most proud of is how present he’s been compared to his rookie year, and that has him feeling good about both the season he’s putting together with one start left and what comes next.
“I think I have more to show,” he said.
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Orioles Front Office Move Wont Silence The Bigger Mike Elias Debate
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Still, moves like this tend to raise the larger question around Mike Elias rather than quiet it. Baltimore has steadily tried to build out its staff and improve the process behind player acquisition, and Holubs return is another piece of that effort, but the broader debate over whether the Orioles have enough impact in the front office to match their on-field ambitions is not going away anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]