Mullins keeping good company, plus the rotation and more

There is no one stat in baseball that gives us a complete picture of player. No one stat that provides a thorough overview of that player's skills and run production on offense. But OPS - on-base percentage plus slugging percentage - is not bad to provide solid context.

Through Sunday's games, the top two in the American League in OPS are kind of in a class by themselves. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is first at 1.047 and Shohei Ohtani is next at 1.015. Oakland's Matt Olson is third at .954, and look who is fourth - the Orioles' Cedric Mullins at .936.

Yes, the player who had an OPS of .337 when he fell all the way to Double-A in 2019 and had an OPS of .723 last season, which was just below league average then, now is well above average. Well above. He is hanging with the best in the league and in the game.

Look who trails Mullins. Right after him come Rafael Devers (.921), J.D. Martinez (.888) and Nelson Cruz (.882), as Mullins is one of just five in the league with an OPS of .900 or above. Further down this list come Aaron Judge (.871), José Ramírez (.861) and Jose Altuve (.844).

Mullins hasn't had a good series, a strong week or even one great month. He's had a great year. He just keeps hitting and hitting, and is now batting .320/.384/.552 with 28 doubles, four triples, 20 homers, 21 steals, 65 runs and 40 RBIs. And also now a career-best 16-game hitting streak.

There are now two 20-20 players in the majors. Mullins and San Diego superstar Fernando Tatis Jr., who has hit 31 homers with 23 steals and has done that in just 87 games.

On Sunday, Mullins became the seventh Oriole with a 20-20 season and he was the second-fastest in team history to get there, doing so in his 108th game. In 1976, Reggie Jackson did it in 104 games. Jackson in 1976 (27 homers, 28 steals) and Don Baylor in 1975 (25 homers, 32 steals) are the only Orioles to go 25-25. No player in team history has produced a 30-30 year and Mullins has a shot this season.

If the Orioles were a contending team, Mullins would no doubt get AL Most Valuable Player votes. He still may get some when the voting happens.

He's been remarkable on the field and manager Brandon Hyde keeps telling us he's been a leader and great teammate in the clubhouse.

It wasn't all bad: Mullins became a 20-20 player during a loss, and during the five-game losing streak against the Yankees and Rays, the O's bullpen gave up seven runs or more in each of those games, pitching to an ERA of 16.47 over the five games. So, yeah, rough.

Because that happened and they lost games, it tends to overshadow some good things that also happened.

But in addition to Mullins' continued excellence, there were good things.

Like the rotation getting deeper into games. In the first half, O's starters went six innings or more just 16 times over 89 games, or 18 percent of the time. In the second half, that is nine times in 21 games for 43 percent. They have gotten back-to-back six-inning starts from Spenser Watkins and Jorge López. The Orioles are 7-2 since the break when their starter goes six or more innings.

López putting together such strong back-to-back starts against the Yankees and Rays is also noteworthy. Has he turned a corner? Two starts can't tell us that, but these were really good outings against top competition.

His confidence is growing. If John Means, Matt Harvey and López can get rolling consistently, and with the impending return of lefty Bruce Zimmermann, the rotation is finally in better shape.

Also, Richie Martin and Jorge Mateo have put a large infusion of speed, athleticism and energy into this team. Martin drove in two runs on Friday against Tampa Bay and went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI on Sunday. And he made a few nice plays at shortstop. Mateo is 3-for-11 with a double and triple in his first three games. His blazing speed is fun to watch. He's getting a chance here and seemed like the perfect type of player for a rebuilding team to take a look at. Could Baltimore be the place where Mateo fulfills the potential he's always had? He's been a top 100 prospect three times and has played in two Futures Games.

While we are talking about positives, seeing outfielder Anthony Santander have a big game Sunday was a welcome sight. He went 3-for-5 with a single, a double and his first homer since July 6. He drove in two runs. It was his first three-hit game since June 6.

Pinto gets honored: Low Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds hurler Jean Pinto has been named Low-A East Pitcher of the Week.

He is the fourth Shorebird to garner a weekly award, following Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg and TT Bowens, and the first Delmarva pitcher to be so honored.

Making his second Delmarva start last Tuesday against Down East, the 20-year-old right-hander from Venezuela pitched a gem. He threw six shutout innings on two hits with no walks and six strikeouts on 60 pitches.

Pinto allowed both hits in the first inning and then retired 15 in a row, and has an ERA of 2.70 after two starts with three walks and 14 strikeouts over 10 innings. The O's acquired him along with pitcher Garrett Stallings in the José Iglesias trade from the Los Angeles Angels on Dec. 2, 2020.