Bundy considering adding cutter back to his arsenal
Gausman on track to face Jays on Tuesday
Rookie right-hander Dylan Bundy takes the mound today a week away from completing his first full regular season in the major leagues, one that despite his evolving role has always had the goal of being a healthy one above all else.
To that end, Bundy, of his own free will, decided that the cut fastball he’d been throwing for most of his life was causing some of the elbow, forearm and shoulder problems that limited him over the past three years, and took it out of his arsenal.
He has a 9-6 record and a 4.13 ERA this season, and a 4.73 ERA since joining the rotation at the All-Star break, but has often thought about what his arsenal — and his season — would look like if he had his effective cutter back.
“Absolutely, yeah, it does need to be [one of my offerings],” Bundy said. “But I think my health and getting a full year up here, and the amount of stress this first year is, getting that out of the way before adding that pitch. Really, I could get away without it if I was able to throw a little better two-seamer, I wouldn’t need that cutter-slider thing. But I definitely need it. I’d just rather get a full year healthy than risk it right now.”
Bundy is working with a fourseam fastball, a changeup and a curveball. All have four-seam spin, and he does an adequate job replicating his arm speed on the secondary pitches to keep hitters deceived. But the 23-year-old was at his best in the minors with the cutter coming in a few miles per hour slower than his fastball and disrupting hitters’ timing.
A sinking two-seam fastball would go a long way toward making the cutter obsolete, but Bundy said he has yet to find one that works.
“I’ve been experimenting with a two-seamer for 23 years,” he said with a smile. “I just don’t know if it’s the arm slot or the way I finish or what. It just doesn’t get a consistent movement on it.”
If he ultimately decides to add the cutter back this offseason, he’ll do it slowly.
“You never know,” he said. “That’s what kind of my plan was, to maybe start throwing it in the offseason a little bit — December, January, sometime between there. I might start playing around with it and starting playing catch with it, but not throw on the mound with it until spring. That was kind of my plan.” Gausman good to go: On Saturday, right-hander Kevin Gausman took his first bullpen session since suffering a tweak in the intercostal area of his rib cage during his start Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox, and came through it well enough that he’ll be the team’s starter for the series opener in Toronto this week, provided he feels good today.
“Gaus’ work day went well today, so we’re thinking about him pitching on Tuesday,” manager Buck Showalter said Saturday. “We’ll see how Chris [Tillman’s] work day goes tomorrow — I think it’s tomorrow. We’ll pencil him in there. We’ll see how Kevin and him feel the day after, too. So that was a good work day.”
Gausman said the injury, which Showalter said was the beginnings of an intercostal problem that the Orioles caught early, was “more of kind of a cramp maybe, just a little bit of a tweak.”
“But I feel fine a couple days later,” Gausman said. “I just came in a little bit sore, got some treatment on it. After a couple days of treatment, I was ready to go. I think it was just tightness.”
After Gausman, Tillman will pitch Wednesday, but Thursday’s starter is unclear. Ubaldo Jimenez will be on at least seven days’ rest by the time a spot in the rotation is available to him.
Yovani Gallardo, who allowed two runs on six hits in six innings Friday night, and Wade Miley, who started Saturday night and might not leave the team for the birth of his first child as originally planned, will also be options.
Sisters Tatyana and Hannah McFadden, both of Clarksville, threw out ceremonial first pitches before Saturday’s game. Tatyana, one of the most decorated wheelchair racers of all time, won four gold medals and two silver medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Her sister, Hannah, finished fourth in the 100-meter and seventh in the 400-meter track events.
“It’s so wonderful to come back and to have this experience, to be here at a game,” Tatyana said. “It’s celebration time. We’ve put in all the hard work, and to be acknowledged for it is something we’re really, really happy about.”
Said Hannah: “Things just continue on for the happiness. At least for me, those four years, I had been training for 16 seconds. That 16 seconds is over now. … So these celebrations just celebrate your hard work, and just get you more excited to continue it.” Around the horn: Showalter said he and executive vice president Dan Duquette have not talked about the future of the team’s coaching staff beyond this year. “I’m very happy with our coaching staff,” Showalter said . ... Showalter still isn’t pleased with the explanation given on the ninthinning play at the plate Friday on which shortstop J.J. Hardy was called out. He said the team contested that catcher Welington Castillo tagged Hardy with his mitt while the ball was in his other hand, but were told it couldn’t be confirmed that Hardy touched the plate.