Kevin Gausman looks back on his 2015 season and ahead to his future

Will 2016 be the year for Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman? Will it finally be the year where he is a starter at the major league level for the entire season?

He certainly hopes and expects that it will be. No more back and forth between the majors and minors, and no more work out of the bullpen. It appears that day is coming for Gausman.

"I'm really looking forward to that," the 24-year-old right-hander said. "Every year, I've gone into the season wanting to be a starter and throw a lot of innings. This was the first year, from an innings standpoint, I was going to be able to let go.

"Then I started the year in the bullpen and that changes how you look at some things. I'm definitely looking forward to next year and getting the ball every fifth day and knowing that is what I'm going to be doing from day one."

In a situation where the Orioles started the 2015 season with six starters for five spots, Gausman was selected to begin this year pitching out of the bullpen. He had an ERA of 9.00 in his first four appearances. Before long, he went to the disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis from May 8 to June 20. This was not the start to the season he envisioned.

Gausman went 4-7 with a 4.25 ERA in 2015 after going 7-7 with an ERA of 3.57 in 2014. Even though his ERA went up this season, several other peripheral numbers improved. His strikeout rate per nine innings increased from 7.0 to 8.3 and his walk rate went down from 3.0 to 2.3. His WHIP decreased from 1.315 to 1.228. He gave up fewer line drives and got more ground balls.

So why did his ERA go up? One reason was he gave up more homers, going from allowing 0.6 per every nine innings in 2014 to 1.4 this year. Perhaps hitters were sitting on that fastball or perhaps he didn't locate some of them as well as he wanted to. But the longball was an issue at times.

I asked Gausman what he feels he needs to do to take his game to another level.

"Just pitching. There are times I get in situations where I don't necessarily think through everything and rely on my fastball maybe too much," he said. "At times that has hurt me, at times it has been a help.

"The biggest thing going forward is going to be my breaking ball (curveball). It has come leaps and bounds this season. My last start, it was the best it has been all year. I'm excited about it. This was the first year I've thrown my breaking ball since college. I think next year I will come in throwing a hard slider with it. Just something I can throw down and away to a right-handed hitter that is more of a power pitch than a breaking ball."

Improving his curve and reinstating his slider could help Gausman lower his batting average against versus right-handed hitters, which was .278 this year. Left-handed batters - kept off-balance by his solid changeup at times - hit just .227 off Gausman.

As the Orioles look to get better pitching out of their rotation next season, Gausman could be a real key. He knows some fans have expectations that he can be a top of the rotation starter.

"That comes with the territory," he said of such expectations. "I expect way more out of myself than anybody expects of me. I think that is good, but you have to be realistic. You are not going to be great every time you go out and I am still learning the league. I'm still learning how to pitch at this level and how to change speeds and keep guys off balance. But I'm ready to make that jump."

One issue facing Gausman and the Orioles for 2016 is his light innings total this year. In 2014 between the minors and majors, Gausman threw 158 2/3 innings. This year, due to beginning the year in the bullpen and missing time on the DL, he threw just 134 2/3 innings. He is not in position, it would not seem, to be able to go 200 innings next year.

"I wanted to get to 170 or 180 this year. But starting the year in the bullpen and going on the DL had a lot to do with that. I feel like I'm ready for that jump. But it could be hard to jump 60 innings in a season and you have to be smart about it. But I'm looking forward to 2016," Gausman said.

More notes on Gausman:

* The Orioles went 2-3 in his starts in 2013, 10-10 in 2014 and 7-10 this year. But he did have the lowest run support average of any O's starter in 2015 at 2.96.

* Gausman recorded eight quality starts in 17 starting assignments.

* At home this year, he went 3-1 with a 2.19 ERA and .212 batting average against in 11 games, eight as a starter. He posted a quality start in seven of his eight home starts.

* Gausman was the first player selected in the first round of the 2012 draft to reach the majors.

* In 39 career games (21 starts) against American League East opponents, Gausman is 9-7 with a 3.83 ERA.