DL Hall has a big fastball, but his changeup has made nice gains this year

For O’s bullpen lefty DL Hall, it is nice to be able to touch 98 mph with his fastball as he did in a scoreless eighth inning on Saturday night at Camden Yards. He can and has hit triple digits with the pitch.

But he said Sunday that is not the pitch that has shown the most improvement for him this year.

“I can lean on my changeup a little bit more this year than last year,” said Hall. “Last year it was still a plus-plus pitch for me, but I feel like this year with getting the reps to throw it throughout a full season, I can rely on it a little bit more. And just have a better feel of it.”

Hall got a popup and strikeouts Saturday of Seth Brown, on a changeup and Shea Langeliers on a 98 mph fastball during his 1-2-3 inning on 15 pitches with 10 strikes. He made quick work of the Oakland No. 3-4-5 hitters.

His fastball averaged 97.8 mph and his changeup averaged 86.3 mph and Hall said a separation of anywhere from eight to 12 mph between those pitches is what he shoots for.

He also said having an effective changeup for a bullpen guy can be big too.

“It’s huge for me," he said. "Now in a bullpen role for the rest of this year, it’s big for me to have that. Because you know a lot of bullpen guys are fastball-slider or fastball-curveball. To throw it pretty hard and have a good pitch off of that, that looks just like a fastball, can be huge. I feel like having four pitches out of the bullpen is a pretty good advantage.”

Saturday night Oakland batters swung and missed on three of the four changeups he threw and he got five whiffs overall on 10 swings.

"That was electric stuff, that was fantastic,” manager Brandon Hyde said of Hall’s first home appearances and first MLB relief outing. “Overpowering fastball, saw a couple good changeups. He's got a big arm, so nice to have him available the last month."

Hall said pitching out of the bullpen, for him, is not very different so far from being a starting pitcher.

“It’s all about mindset for me. Just going out and being myself, being aggressive and attacking. No matter where I’m at, bullpen or starting. That took some learning from Tampa to now,” he said.

The Orioles still have every intention for Hall to be a starting pitcher in 2023. And no matter his role, the challenge will always be bring down a walk rate that was 5.8 at Triple-A this year and is 5.1 per nine over his minor league career.

I asked Hall what he sees as the difference in having a game where he is locked in like Saturday night and then having those games where his command is spotty and inconsistent?

"For me what I have learned, it’s just the mental part of knowing that I belong and that the stuff is good, really good. Need to believe in that and trust that my stuff plays anywhere. For me it’s just going out, knowing that and going right at guys. Not try to do too much or be too fancy. And I feel like sometimes you fall into second guessing yourself or your stuff. Or you are trying to be too perfect in the zone, it ends up biting you. Just working on that consistent mindset that my stuff will play as long as I’m in the zone,” he said.

Showdown series: Starting with today's doubelheader at 1:05 p.m., the Orioles have 29 games left and 10 are against the Toronto Blue Jays. The clubs begin a three-day, four-game series at Oriole Park today with Toronto leading the Orioles by 2.5 games for the final AL wild card spot.

Last year the Orioles went 5-14 against Toronto and didn't win a single series, going 0-5-1. This year they are 6-3 against the Blue Jays and have not lost a series, going 2-0-1. 

Last season the O's team ERA was 8.49 versus Toronto and they allowed 44 homers and an OPS of .965 to Toronto batters in the season series. Toronto has still hit the O's well this year but not nearly as well as in 2021. This season the O's staff ERA is 5.01 in the nine games with 12 homers allowed and an OPS for Toronto of .796.

The Orioles will need to win three of four in this series to gain any ground. After this week the clubs meet three more times at Rogers Centre and three times to end the regular season in Baltimore from Oct. 3-5.