Another look at how three O's pitchers got added to the 40-man roster

On his way to making the Orioles' 40-man roster, 24-year-old right-hander Parker Bridwell may have found some consistency.

He has heard the criticism often. Some nights, he has electric stuff and then a week later he gets rocked. He was called inconsistent. It is a label he'd like to leave in the rear-view mirror.

Added to the 40-man roster yesterday along with pitchers Chris Lee and Andrew Triggs, Bridwell went 4-5 with an ERA of 3.99 in 18 starts for Double-A Bowie this season. But it was over his last nine starts that he put a real good run together, allowing two earned runs or less seven times.

"I was really happy with it," Bridwell said of his season and those last nine starts. "The first few years in pro ball, I was like a roller coaster. I'd have a real good game and then go two innings and give up eight runs or something like that.

"This year, I wanted to be able to put more than a few good starts in a row together. I wanted to get over that hump and I think I did a lot better job of that. I felt like the year went well overall. I was happy to bounce back after negative talk about how I'm inconsistent."

Bridwell struck out 93 in 97 innings before missing the end of the year with elbow tendinitis, which he feels is no issue going forward after a platelet-rich plasma injection in August. He features a fastball that has touched the mid-90s and a changeup one scout called the best in the Eastern League, one with solid arm action and movement.

"Working with (Bowie pitching coach) Alan Mills, he really helped me a lot this year with how to pitch to guys - how to get them uncomfortable in the box and what to look for in their swings. I really worked on fastball command this year and setting my pitches up. I never quite knew how to do that to the level that I learned this year," Bridwell said.

Lee ended the year in Bowie after the Orioles acquired him from Houston in May and sent him first to Single-A Frederick. In his last seven regular-season starts for Bowie, the 23-year-old Lee went 4-2 with a 3.08 ERA.

Lee saw his velocity increase this year. One scout said he topped out at 91 or 92 mph at Frederick, then was touching 95 and 96 mph at Bowie - and holding his velocity deep into games.

Lee gave two O's instructors credit for his velocity increase.

"Alan Mills and Rick Peterson (director of pitching development) both helped me polish up my delivery a bit more," Lee said. "Made me be more smooth and let my arm catch up (to my body in the windup) and it helped me repeat my delivery. That allowed me to get more movement and keep the ball in the strike zone more.

"Every day, I did some dry work. Go to the mound without a ball and work on repeating my delivery. They helped me improve my velocity, my strike ratios and just helped me be a better pitcher overall. They taught me how to pitch instead of throw, you know?"

And, yes, he even threw a cut fastball at times.

"I cut the ball sometimes, it depends on the hitter and situation. It is basically the same grip as my slider, I just throw it harder. Same spin and arm slot as the slider, but a little more depth to it," he said.

As for Triggs, he had a strong year in relief for Bowie with a 1.03 ERA, a 2.28 ground-to-air out ratio, 10.33 strikeouts per nine innings and a .196 batting average against.

Pitching with a low three-quarters arm slot and with a crossfire delivery, Triggs proved to be effective against both left- and right-handed batters. And he used a pitch this year that he had seldom used before.

"I really try to get ahead with two-seam and four-seam fastballs," he said. "I added the four-seam this year. I hadn't really thrown it since high school. But there was a game in Harrisburg early in the year where I was really struggling with my two-seamer. I started mixing in some four seamers and it was easier to command. I also throw kind of a sweeping slider and there is also a harder cutter, a smaller-type of slider, and I mix in a changeup, as well."

And he mixed it in well, allowing just 42 hits and no home runs over 61 innings. He pitched to an ERA of 0.83 over the seventh through the ninth innings.

For Bridwell, it was finding consistency. For Lee, it was finding more velocity and a smoother delivery. For Triggs, it was reuniting with the four-seamer. Those aspects helped shape their games in 2015 and led this trio yesterday to their first time on a 40-man roster.

Click here for more info on this group and here for their reactions yesterday to getting added to the 40-man.

Photo by Bert Hindman