It's too soon to pass any judgment on Mike Wright

There is a saying in baseball that goes like this: You are never as good as you look when you are winning or as bad as you look when you are losing.

Maybe that applies right now to Orioles right-hander Mike Wright. He burst on the scene in May with back-to-back scoreless starting outings, but now he looks very, very hittable.

It was clear that Wright took his latest loss hard last night. In the clubhouse postgame Wright said:

"I felt good all my starts. That is what is really tough. I feel good about it, but still get hit all over the yard. ... It (stinks). This isn't fun at all."

Looking back, maybe those first two starts were not the best thing that could have happened. They served to increase expectations for Wright and maybe served to increase his own expectations of what he could do at the major league level.

Wright became the third starter in Orioles history to begin his Baltimore career with two consecutive scoreless starts. The others to do that were Bill Short from July 1-8, 1966 and Tom Phoebus from Sept. 15-20, 1966. Wright fanned Mike Trout for his first big league strikeout. Not a bad way to start.

But now he is struggling badly and that has to be testing his confidence. When you work all your life to get to this level and then struggle, sometimes it must feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

But just as it was wrong to proclaim Wright a future major league star after those first two outings, it's wrong to be overly critical of him now. Wright has made nine career major league starts. He has pitched a total of 42 2/3 career innings. This is a small sample size and not enough to pass judgment.

Wright has a lot of talent and, as one scout once told me, he has two things you can't teach - 6-foot-6 and 96, his size and his fastball velocity. Scouts also say if you can do it once, you can do it again, and the talent is in there somewhere.

Sure, Wright's future role could be as a bullpen pitcher. There are some in the organization that felt that way long before last night. Maybe that 96 mph heater will play up to 98 or 99 mph in shorter outings. Maybe Wright would thrive as a seventh- or eighth-inning guy. He won't have to face lineups two or three times and he won't need consistent command of secondary pitches. He can go right at hitters and attack.

But right now, the jury is out on all of this. O's fans have seen enough of the club's pitching prospects struggle over the years to feel that Wright is just the latest to do so. But there is no reason to feel that way. Not just yet.

Nine starts and 42 2/3 innings. That has been enough to see perhaps the best and worst of Wright. At this point, the pitcher himself must be wondering if he can succeed at the major league level.

But none of us - Wright included - have that answer just yet.