O's pitcher Mike Wright looks back on 2015 season and ahead to his future

For 25-year-old right-hander Mike Wright, the 2015 season was a mixed bag. He pitched well at Triple-A and made the major leagues for the first time. Those were positives. But after initial success with the Orioles, there were struggles.

He has proven he can get outs at Triple-A. Now, as he looks ahead to 2016, Wright has to prove he can consistently do that at the big league level. What role he will be in if and when he gets that next chance is also uncertain.

With Norfolk this season, Wright went 9-1 with a 2.22 ERA. With the Orioles in 12 games (nine starts), he was 3-5 with a 6.04 ERA. In 44 2/3 innings, he allowed 52 hits, including nine homers, with 18 walks and 26 strikeouts.

Wright's first two major league appearances were outstanding as he made a stunning start to his big league career. He pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings May 17 against the Angels and followed that with seven scoreless against Miami on May 23.

Wright became the third starter in Orioles history to begin his Baltimore career with two consecutive scoreless starts. The others were Bill Short (July 1-8, 1966) and Tom Phoebus (Sept. 15-20, 1966). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last Orioles pitcher with at least 14 1/3 scoreless innings to start a major league career was right-hander Dave Ford in September 1978.

But after that initial success, where Wright showed a fastball that touched the high 90s, he went 1-5 with a 9.88 ERA in his last seven starts. During the final days of the season, Wright looked back at his year and ahead to his future.

"As far as the year goes, I made it here," Wright said. "That is what I was working for my whole life. But I gave up way too many runs. More than I would like to and that was disappointing. But the fact is I made it, I'm here and I know the more comfortable I get, hopefully I start pitching like I did in Triple-A."

What did Wright learn about pitching in the majors that can help him going forward?

"You have to go out there confident and you have to pound the strike zone. But I have to throw more quality strikes," he said. "I would say it is harder to get here as a position player. If you make it here as a position player, you can punish a pitcher's mistakes. The guys here in the AL East, you have to limit your mistakes."

But Wright can draw on the fact that he not only made the majors for the first time in 2015, he had that success early on. That provides something to build on for next year.

"Absolutely," he said. "I've been working for that since I was 4 years old. To finally get that opportunity, I've known many people that tried to get here and I'm one of the few. I definitely don't take that for granted."

Wright was the Orioles' minor league Pitcher of the Year in 2013, winning the Jim Palmer Award. Over his last 22 Triple-A games, dating to late in the 2014 season, he is 13-3 with a 1.75 ERA. Now it's time to take the next step.

But will that come in a bullpen role? Some feel pitching as a seventh- or eighth-inning setup man could be in Wright's future.

"I'm still shooting to be a starter, but if I help the team more out of the bullpen, that is what I'm going to do," he said.

A third-round pick out of East Carolina in 2011, Wright spent some time on the disabled list this season with a left calf strain. But he finished the year healthy and on the Orioles roster in September.

What will he need to improve on for next year?

"I have to get better throwing the ball where I want to," he said. "I've hung way too many sliders and left way too many fastballs over the plate. I have to work on hitting my spots a lot better.

"It's a combination of a lot of things - mechanics, focus and intensity is definitely different when you are in a game as opposed to a bullpen. You can throw as many bullpens as you want and it's different in the game. Getting used to 40,000 people behind you. Just getting used to it and getting your concentration where it needs to be and having your adrenaline just kind of flow."

Several pitchers from the O's farm made their major league debuts this year, including Wright, Tyler Wilson, Oliver Drake and Mychal Givens. For an organization that takes some hits for developing pitchers, Wright thinks that is a solid list that advanced to help the Orioles in 2015.

"I think the Orioles have handled us well," Wright said. "We all have good stuff and we all have really high ceilings. Sometimes we struggle, but that's pitching. You don't always get a Clayton Kershaw every time you draft a pitcher. I would say between me and (Tyler) Wilson and (Mychal) Givens, we've come a long way. What they've done for us is big."