Looking at the O's challenge of facing a rookie pitcher with a strong resume

An Orioles team that is last in the American League in runs scored since the All-Star break faces a different challenge tonight.

The last two nights, they saw Boston starting pitchers they are very familiar with in Eduardo Rodriguez and David Price. But tonight, they will see 23-year-old Houston right-hander Joe Musgrove for the first time.

He will be a nobody to many fans, but not to those in the sport. Called up from Triple-A on Aug. 1, Musgrove is 1-0 with a 1.47 ERA in three major league games. Over 18 1/3 innings, he has walked two and fanned 21. In his last start against Toronto, he gave up two runs and six hits over seven innings with one walk and seven strikeouts. That should be enough to get the Orioles' attention.

Musgrove was drafted 46th overall in 2011 by Toronto and dealt to Houston in July 2012 as part of a 10-player trade. He was Houston's minor league Pitcher of the Year in 2015 and this season was a combined 7-4 with an ERA of 2.74 between Double-A and Triple-A.

I asked catcher Matt Wieters about his approach to facing a pitcher he has never seen before.

"Simplify it," he said. "Sometimes we have so much information in this game, we have too much information. Sometimes, until you have seen a guy in the box or seen him from the dugout, you don't quite know what he is going to have. So you get in the box and judge it from there.

"That is what we used to do. That is what we used to do as kids and in the minors and in college. That is kind of fun sometimes to go up there and say, 'Hey, what does he have today?' Now go up there and try to find the barrel."

Wieters said watching video and reading scouting reports only takes him so far.

"You can know what four pitches he has, but you won't know how they move until you get in the box," he said.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he has been impressed by Musgrove. But he agrees with Wieters that information overload can be a problem in a situation like tonight and seeing a pitcher for the first time.

"That is why it is so important to have a process - and I don't want to say a program - but you know, things you have to stay in," Showalter said. "We talk a lot about the guy's presentation and different things, but there is no substitute for getting in the box. They're all good here. These are the top pitchers in the world and there are some things you can't get until you get in the box.

"Sometimes you can overanalyze it. If we sat here and went over eight guys in the bullpen today along with their (starting) pitcher and all this stuff - who can retain that when you are playing 162 games? Our guys will know their sequences and what percentage of pitches they throw. But some guy may throw 40 percent changeups and then all the sudden against us he throws three all night. So it's a game of constant adjustments. Usually the people that adjust the best to patterns and what is going on, succeed. We need to do a better job of that."

Musgrove was Houston's No. 6 prospect at the end of the 2015 season and made Baseball America's top 100 list at No. 83. In the minors in 2012, he had just eight walks to 99 strikeouts over 101 innings. This season on the farm, he walked 10 with 87 strikeouts over 85 innings.