Mychal Givens talks about his strong start for the Orioles

To say the least, 25-year-old right-hander Mychal Givens has gotten his big league career off to a strong start.

In five games in the majors for the Orioles, he has pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. Givens has walked one, fanned 10 and has a .125 batting average against. Lefty batters are just 1-for-11 against him. Right-handed hitters are 2-for-13 with eight strikeouts against the sidearm delivery he features.

Givens got his first major league win July 31 versus Detroit and Friday night, in the opener of this series, he pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts against Oakland. So far, he's making it look pretty easy.

"Get ahead and stay ahead (in the count), that is the big key," Givens said this morning. "You want the hitter to be on the defensive and have to swing at your pitches. Plus I've been trusting our catchers here. They have a better scouting report that I do on the hitters.

"Right now, just taking it day by day and enjoying the moment. Appreciate everything I've done in my career and the help that the coaches have given me."

Givens is a success story for the Orioles' player development operation. Converted from shortstop to the mound starting with the 2013 season, he had thrown just 101 innings through last season as they brought him along slowly.

Then some small tweaks the O's made with his delivery yielded big results. He went from issuing 58 walks in 101 innings from in 2013-14 to just 17 in 65 innings this year between Double-A Bowie and Baltimore.

You put together that arm slot and that mid-90s or better fastball velocity with a kid that is very confident and you have an impressive young pitcher. That is what we've seen from Givens so far this year.

"For me, I always stay positive and think you can do it. Have always had that belief in myself. Just go out there and have confidence. You know some days will be good and some not as good. Just looking to be consistent," he said.