There was a different trajectory imagined for Mike Baumann, one that might’ve led him into the starting rotation for the Orioles alongside Tuesday’s starting pitcher, Grayson Rodriguez.
They shared honors as the organization’s minor league pitchers of the year in 2019, and yet it’s Rodriguez who will make his Camden Yards debut with a T-shirt giveaway welcoming him to the big leagues.
Baumann might trot in as a relief pitcher.
He’s OK with that. Now that he knows what his role will be, he’s embracing it.
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Baumann, a third-round pick in 2017, rose through the minors as a high-potential starter and yet, after an elbow injury in 2020, found himself in a momentary middle ground. He was a candidate for the starting rotation in spring training, but always appeared to be on the outside looking in.
When he was shifted full-time to the bullpen during spring training, however, it removed the ambiguity from his role and leaves the 27-year-old with a more a permanent place — a place that might not lead to a T-shirt night but could stabilize a major league career that has consisted of irregular appearances the last two years.
“I like it. I like it a lot. It just kind of allows me to turn my brain off a little bit and just focus, kind of have hyperfocus for a few batters, one inning, one-plus innings, two innings, whatever it might be,” Baumann said. “I think it’s kind of fun to get that adrenaline rush out of the bullpen.”
He’s been here before. In 2021, when Baumann made his major league debut, he pitched 10 innings as a reliever. Last year, he featured as a spot starter and a reliever for the Orioles. But as a full-time reliever this season, he’s still learning the rhythm to rapidly preparing to pitch.
He closely watched the veterans in the bullpen last year, including right-hander Bryan Baker and left-hander Cionel Pérez, and picked up hints on how to stay prepared throughout an outing.
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By the third or fourth inning now, Baumann begins to stretch his legs. When he thinks there’s a real chance he’ll throw, Baumann works out his arms with bands and plyo balls (sand-filled balls that are heavier than baseballs).
There’s a mental checklist he runs through. For a reliever, it has to be shorter than what he might’ve done as a starter.
“Especially if you ever had an injury, when you first switch, you almost want to make sure you do every little single thing to make sure your body’s ready to go — and your mind, for that matter,” Baker said. “But you realistically don’t have all that time and energy to do every little thing every time.”
That was the largest adjustment for Baker, too, when he made a full-time switch to the bullpen in 2018. And it’s something Baumann picked up on by watching Baker prepare.
“I need to do these four or five things to get ready really quick,” Baker said. “Get the essentials down. Knock them out really quick. And then you feel like once you’ve met that, even with a shorter checklist, it’s like, ‘OK, I’m ready to go.’”
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To begin the season, his rapid preparation to enter a game has been smoother. He allowed one run against the Boston Red Sox during the opening weekend of the season, but pitched on back-to-back days against the New York Yankees and struck out three batters in two innings.
Out of the bullpen, Baumann has put the pitch mix he developed as a starter to good use. He can mainly lean on his fastball and cutter-like slider as his two main offerings, but Baumann can mix in a change-up and curveball to offer alternative looks.
Still, more than ever before, Baumann is hurling his four-seam fastball out of the bullpen. And with shorter outings, his average velocity has risen two mph. In 2021, when Baumann threw 10 innings in the majors, his fastball averaged 93.6 mph. In his 4 2/3 frames as a reliever this season, Baumann is throwing at an average of 95.9 mph.
“With how easy it looks, with somebody his size and as strong as he is, it can definitely be an advantage,” Baker said. “Maybe as a hitter, it looks like it’s pretty easy, so they don’t think it’s as firm as it really is, so it kind of gets on them. And even his off-speed is really hard and sharp. He can definitely use that to his advantage and sneak up on some hitters that way.”
This might not have been the plan when Baumann made inroads as a starting pitching prospect, ranking as high as No. 15 in 2018 among Baltimore’s prospects, per MLB Pipeline. But he’s solidifying an early season role in the bullpen on the back of all that experience as a starter.
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