The Orioles may have stumbled onto a quick fix with Alex Hoppe.
Baltimore acquired the 27-year-old rookie as part of the deal that sent Taylor Ward to the Seattle Mariners earlier this month, and the early results have been striking. In nine appearances for the Orioles, Hoppe has thrown 8⅓ innings and hasn’t allowed an earned run.
That’s a sharp turn from what Seattle got. Hoppe posted a 5.79 ERA in 28 innings with the Mariners, even though his underlying numbers suggested better days could be coming. Seattle still moved him in its effort to bolster the outfield, and Baltimore has already put a different version of the right-hander on the mound.
The biggest change has come in how the Orioles are using his pitches. In Seattle, Hoppe leaned most heavily on his high-80s slider, a pitch that had been trending up but still got hit for a .267 average.
Since arriving in Baltimore, though, he’s been throwing his high-90s sinker far more often - the pitch he used least this season. Orioles pitching coach Drew French has bumped the sinker to 35.4% usage in August, more than 25% higher than in July.
Baltimore has also shifted his approach depending on the hitter. Against righties, Hoppe is now throwing his sinker nearly 75% of the time. In his final month with Seattle, that number sat at 15.9%.
And it’s not just about more sinkers. Hoppe has been locating all three of his pitches in the zone more often since the trade.
The sinker has shown the biggest jump, climbing from 28.6% in the zone to 55.9%. August is the only month this season in which every one of his pitches has been in the zone more than half the time.
The payoff has been immediate. Hoppe has yet to allow a run in Baltimore, and the month has brought his lowest hard-hit rate and highest groundball rate of the season. The sample is still small, and hitters will eventually adjust, but for now the Orioles seem to have found a simple formula that’s working: more fastballs, more strikes, more outs.
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