Explosive Baumann may wind up with the Tides
SARASOTA, Fla. — An arm injury shut down what the Baltimore Orioles believed was one of the more promising stints at the team’s alternate training site in 2020 by pitching prospect Mike Baumann. But now that he says his flexor mass strain in his throwing elbow is healed, the team’s third-best pitching prospect and top-rated pitching prospect in spring training is showing off his electric arsenal at his highest level yet.
“I just want to prove that I belong here, and I can be here, and go out and compete,” Baumann said. “But I also want to focus on what I need to work on to get ready for the season.”
Based on what he’s done so far, the 2017 third-round pick by the Orioles has consistently proved he has a big-league future.
He has a career 2.82 ERA and shared the Orioles’ Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors with Grayson Rodriguez in 2019, a season that he started at High-A Frederick and finished at Double-A Bowie. With the Baysox, he pitched to a 2.31 ERA with a pair of shutouts, including a no-hitter.
Because he wasn’t going to be added to the major league roster until after the 2020 season, Baumann wasn’t brought to major league camp last year.
But he was one of the more impressive arms at the team’s alternate site in Bowie in 2020, with some of his development points only meant to enhance that. The team tried to make his delivery more efficient to combat his bouts of getting off-kilter and losing his command midgame, giving him keys to dial himself back in and get back through the strike zone.
While his four-seam fastball lives in the mid-90s and explodes on hitters, Baumann’s best secondary pitch was a hard slider that projects as a plus pitch. The pitching coaches at Bowie in 2020 worked on a curveball with a similar look to hitters as his fastball that has consistent shape and vertical action with depth.
“That was kind of the emphasis at Bowie, just kind of honing in on those secondary pitches and working on consistency and just attacking through the zone with all of my pitches,” Baumann said.
All those pieces mean that as far as a starting pitcher goes, Baumann’s possible major league debut this summer could bring some of the best raw stuff that the Orioles have seen come through the system in years.
There are plenty of checkpoints for him to hit. Elbow issues such as his, especially when rehabbed, can be fickle and return or worsen at a moment’s notice. He said he was “slowly progressing” building up to spring training after being cleared to throw again in December, and said he feels good so far this spring and “confident moving forward.”
Despite his premium pitches, Baumann’s half-season at Double-A means the Orioles will likely require him to pitch most of this season at Triple-A Norfolk before he makes his debut. Righthander Dean Kremer had only a month at Triple-A when he was called up in 2020, but had spent over a year at Double-A before that.
It won’t be about making an impression this spring, though. Baumann already has a good relationship with pitching coach Chris Holt and benefited from him coming on as minor league pitching coordinator in 2019. He’ll also presumably be back with Triple-A pitching coach Kennie Steenstra this year, allowing more continuity as he climbs to the big leagues.
Baumann, though, is trying to focus on the moment he’s in rather than look at whatever his future may hold.
“I like to have that attitude because I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself,” Baumann said. “I think it gets me in the right mindset of just being in the moment. I’ve got to take care of what I’ve got to take care of on a daily basis, whether that’s being in a game or recovering or something I have to work on in between starts. I think that just helps me out mentally and gets me prepared physically for when I have to go out there and compete and perform and try and go out there and win for my guys.”