McFarland circles back to Orioles

T.J. McFarland missed the brutality of the Orioles’ rebuild process.

He was a Rule 5 pick in the winter of 2012, after the Orioles snapped a streak of 14 consecutive losing seasons and defeated the Rangers in the wild card game. He appeared in 37 games in 2014, when they won the division and reached the American League Championship Series. He was released in February 2017 after their final playoff appearance, the wild card loss in Toronto.

The rhythm of McFarland’s career skipped him over the front office, managerial, coaching and philosophical changes in the organization. It brought him back this week, four teams later, after he agreed to a minor league contract and reported to Triple-A Norfolk.

“I missed all of that,” he said with a laugh during yesterday’s phone conversation. “I was here with the good years. It’s funny how everybody, even the young guys in Norfolk, they were asking me about Baltimore and I was like, ‘I don’t know anything about that. I was here when (Adam) Jones was here and (J.J.) Hardy was here and (Chris) Davis was here. We went to the playoffs three of the years I was here. It was like, I don’t remember any of the rebuild part.”

McFarland, 34, has tossed 2 1/3 scoreless and hitless innings in two games with the Tides, though he’s walked three batters. He gives the major league club a veteran left-handed option for the stretch run.

“I see an opportunity,” he said. “I don’t know how big, but that would be the reason why signed. I wouldn’t sign with a team if I didn’t feel like there was an opportunity. There were a few other teams that were interested, as well. But when you get to this point in my career, nobody can give you a for-sure answer. There are no guarantees like, ‘Hey, if you sign with us, we’ll call you up.’ But you’ve got to read between the lines and look at how the team is formulated.

“There’s a lot of young guys up there, they’re throwing really well, it’s a great ‘pen. There are some guys who are maybe throwing more than they’re used to in terms of just workload, so that’s why I took a chance here. Especially because obviously I have a little piece of my heart in Baltimore, too, just because it was where I debuted.

“I don’t think there’s a huge chance, but I definitely think that they signed me with the intent of potentially calling me up. I’d hope so.”

The Mets designated McFarland for assignment earlier this month after he allowed one earned run and four hits in only three appearances covering 1 2/3 innings and registered a 2.76 ERA in 32 2/3 innings with Triple-A Syracuse. He declined an outright assignment and came back to the Orioles.

“It’s a career come full circle, I guess,” said McFarland, who posted a 3.58 ERA in 133 1/3 innings in his first two seasons with the Orioles and a 5.68 ERA in 65 innings over the last two.

“As a player in your career, you never think that you’ll never be back, but it’s certainly not the first team you think of. Usually, that’s the team you leave because you stunk and they don’t want you, but I’ve stuck around long enough where I’ve kind of changed myself and have had success, and there’s a new regime, so it’s essentially like a new team. It’s the same team, but it’s a new team, if that makes sense.”

The most important change was going back to being the original version of T.J. McFarland.

McFarland signed with the Diamondbacks in 2017 and registered a 2.00 ERA and 1.194 WHIP the following season in 47 games, with only four home runs surrendered in 72 innings. He lowered his arm slot, to how he pitched during the first two seasons in the majors.

“I guess for some reason in Baltimore, the pitching coaches that were there and whoever wanted me to throw a little harder and wanted me to throw a little higher with my arm slot, and it kind of negated everything that made me good, which was the sink and the deception and all that, and that’s why I kind of stunk,” McFarland said.

“When I figured it out and got back to my normal self, I was able to have a nice career.”

The other factors in the reunion were a sweeper introduced into McFarland’s arsenal this year and the analytics department built by executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and assistant Sig Mejdal whom the left-hander says “was very fascinated” with it.

“Previously in my career, I only threw a slider that was like kind of a small little baby slider,” McFarland said. “This year I figured out how to throw a bigger sweeper, and analytically, I’m not well-versed in it, but I do know that it sticks out as a little bit of an outlier pitch. When it is good. I’m still kind of trying to fine-tune it. But with the addition of that pitch, along with my sinker, it’s a really good pitch mix.

“I think that’s why they wanted me to come over. And the fact that I still get ground balls and I still get lefties out well. I think that was the draw for them.”

McFarland has joined the No. 1 farm system in baseball, with Norfolk’s roster including four of the top seven prospects, five of 11 and eight of 18, per MLB Pipeline rankings. He missed outfielder Colton Cowser and infielder Jordan Westburg, promoted to the Orioles, and left-hander DL Hall, who was sent down to Sarasota on a strengthening program and is pitching in the Florida Complex League.

“They’re good,” McFarland said of his new teammates. “They’re young. I know that. I definitely don’t want to look at birth dates on the roster sheet because it makes me depressed, but it’s great talent. They have a great defense, which is another reason why I signed here, because I feel like anywhere I go, I need good defense behind me, especially if you’re a ground ball guy.

“It’s a great clubhouse and I feel like it’s going to resemble the same clubhouse that won all those years. Guys that played together, came up together, that are in the same stage of their lives, and it ends up being a really close-knit group. And then, that’s a great recipe for success, which it’s showing right now.”