At the All-Star break the Birds nest in first place in the hotly contested AL East with a record of (58-38). The New York Yankees are a close second one game behind at (58-40). The Boston Red Sox sit 4.5 games behind at (53-42).
Baltimore, finally getting the respect they deserve showcased five players in the All-Star game. Three were starters, Corbin Burnes, Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson. Burnes was the first Orioles pitcher to start in the game since 1980. He had some traffic but pitched a scoreless first inning throwing to his teammate Rutschman. Jordan Westburg and Anthony Santander were selected to the roster as injury replacements.
At the break Henderson leads the team in multiple offensive categories.
He is first in Average (.286) Homeruns (28) RBI (63) Runs (78) Hits (108) Games (95) At Bats (371) Walks (47) Strikeouts (102) OBP (.373) and SLG (.584).
He is 3rd in MLB with 28 homers and Santander is 5th with 24. Henderson is 4th in Slugging in the MLB. He leads the MLB with (78) Runs Scored. His OPS of (.957) also leads the team.
Ryan Mountcastle and Westburg are tied for the team lead in doubles with (22). Henderson has (18).
Henderson and Westburg lead the team with five triples.
Cedric Mullins leads the team with (16) stolen bases. Henderson has (14).
As for the pitchers Grayson Rodriguez leads the team in Wins with a record of (11-4). Burnes has a record of (9-4). He has the team’s lowest ERA at (2.43) Rodriguez is next at (3.88).
Reliever Jacob Webb leads with (46) games pitched. Craig Kimbrel leads the team with (23) Saves.
Burnes leads with Innings Pitched at (118.2). Rodriguez has (99.2). Cole Irvin has given up the Most Hits (103) and Most Runs (54). He also leads the team with (46) Earned Runs. Rodriguez has (43) and Burnes has (32).
Burnes, Rodriguez and Dean Kremer have all surrendered a team-high (13) Homeruns.
Rodriguez leads with (31) Walks while Burnes, Kremer and Albert Suarez all have (25).
Rodriguez has (112) Strikeouts while Burnes has ( 110).
Burnes has a Batting Average Against at (.222) with Rodriguez second at (.243).
The MLB Draft was held during the All-Star Break and the Orioles drafted 21 players, 17 from college.
With their first-round pick at # 22 they selected University of North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt.
The 21-year-old is listed as 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds. Hits and bats right-handed.
As a Junior he hit (.318) with (13) doubles (2) triples and (28) homeruns. He also had (88) runs (28) steals (81) hits and (70) RBI. The homers are a UNC single-season record.
According to Baseball America he was listed as the 13th Best Player in the draft and was also ranked #22 by MLBPipeline.com.
He was also the ACC Defensive Player-of-the-Year the last two seasons. He sounds a lot like Henderson and hopefully he can produce and play defense like he can.
The season picks up again July 19th with three games in Texas against the Rangers.
Update: They took two of three from the Rangers and are now in Miami facing the Marlins.