John Means uses strong changeup, composure to get off to solid start

MINNEAPOLIS - An 11th-round draft pick by the Orioles out of the University of West Virginia in 2014, left-hander John Means went to spring training a longshot to make the Orioles roster. But not only did Means make it, tonight he'll make his fourth start when the Orioles open a series in Chicago against the White Sox.

Showing more velocity than in 2018 and an impressive and, at times, swing-and-miss changeup, Means has gone 3-2 with a 1.74 ERA over seven outings. In 20 2/3 innings he's allowed 17 hits with six walks, 23 strikeouts, a 1.113 WHIP and 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings.

A veteran of more than 600 minor league innings, Means is a homegrown product trying to stick in the Orioles rotation. A lot of teammates and coaches on the O's farm have helped him along the way, and Means has been hearing from plenty of them this month. They seem to be taking pride in seeing a long-time minor league guy make the show and do well.

"I get a bunch of former coaches and teammates reaching out. They are just as excited as I am to watch on TV and stuff like that. It has definitely been a cool experience. I'm still numb to it. I don't know when it is going to really set in," Means said of his great start while in the clubhouse in Minnesota over the weekend.

In addition to his strong changeup, Means credits solid composure with being a big part of his success. He's keeping his cool out there. How does he not get rattled?

"I think it is all those years in the minor leagues," he said. "Thinking about all those days just grinding through and grinding through. When we get up here, if you want to stay, you can't have that minor league mindset of letting stuff get to you. That young, coming-up mindset. I'm trying to stay up here, so I want to act like I belong here."

Means is averaging 92.3 mph on his four-seam fastball and throwing it 54 percent of the time. He's thrown his changeup 34 percent, at 80.5 mph. Hitters are swinging and missing the pitch 26.3 percent of the time, according to Brooksbaseball.net.

"I think I just disguise it well," Means said of a changeup that has fooled some top hitters, including the Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. "I think it looks like my fastball coming out, and that is the biggest key, if I can keep that going. It is easier said than done, obviously. I'm sure there will be hiccups, but right now I am going out there confident and ready to go."

Means has credited Orioles minor league pitching coordinator Chris Holt for helping him improve his changeup this spring.

"I didn't really work on it much this winter. I was more focused on gaining velocity. But I came into spring training and worked on it. Always been good at disguising it, but he just told me how to slow it down. That has been a big key as well," Means said.

So he added velocity to his fastball and took some off his changeup.

"I was throwing it about, like, 84, 85 in the minors. It was still a good pitch, but it was more of a pitch for late in the count, 2-0, 3-1. Kind of fooling hitters. I hadn't thrown it this much with two strikes. It wasn't slow enough for them to swing through," he said.

But they are doing that now, and the 26-year-old Means will try to keep his roll going tonight in Chicago.

Means once saw his fastball sit between 88 and 91 mph. But this winter he went to P3 Premier Pitching Performance's facility in St. Louis. He made some velocity gains, and we saw that early in spring training, when he was touching 94 and 95 mph. Back in early March for this story, Means detailed his winter work to improve his velocity.

Final notes from Minnesota: The Twins beat the Orioles 4-1 Sunday to post a series sweep, win the season series 6-0 and win their 12th consecutive game versus the Orioles. They outscored the Birds 19-4 and outhomered them 12-1 at Target Field. The Orioles had just 20 hits in the series.

The Twins set a team record last weekend by hitting 11 homers in a three-game series in Baltimore. Then they topped it this weekend with 12. They scored 45 runs and hit 23 homers in the six games against the Orioles.

Right-hander Dylan Bundy took the loss yesterday, allowing four runs in five innings. But he fanned eight batters and got 19 swings and misses, a season-high. Can Bundy build something off of that?

"Yeah, you can say that. Especially with the fastball later in the game. Just got to look at the positives, and I'll look at them tomorrow," he said Sunday.

Yesterday was the second time this year and in his career that Bundy fanned eight or more batters in five innings or less. He also did that 17 days ago against Oakland.

Chris Davis homered for the lone O's run. Over his past 10 games, Davis is batting .323 (10-for-31) with three doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs.

The O's bullpen recorded three scoreless innings Sunday after allowing eight runs in four frames on Saturday. The O's 'pen has thrown scoreless ball just five times in 2019.

The Twins' Max Kepler hit four homers in the series. In 17 career games versus Baltimore pitchers he is batting .422 (27-for-64) with seven doubles, nine homers and 22 RBIs.

The Orioles took two of three from Chicago last week at Camden Yards. They lost the series-opener 12-2 and then posted 9-1 and 4-3 victories.