Notes on John Means and DL Hall, plus Thursday on the farm

When a pitcher is 4-0 with a 1.21 ERA and a WHIP of 0.712, he is certainly doing a lot to help his team win. But for Orioles ace John Means, the contributions he makes extend well beyond the nights he is pitching.

Means recently talked about his willingness to mentor O's young pitchers and teach them about the importance of having a daily routine to follow among other things.

Means has thrown 15 scoreless innings in his last two starts and has produced five straight quality starts. But the mentorship and leadership are proving to be pretty big too.

"That's been the biggest difference for me with John this year is that he has taken on a big-time leadership role in our clubhouse," said O's manager Brandon Hyde via Zoom. "And you know, we don't have a ton of veterans. We have a few. A few good ones. But John has recognized that and kind of recognized that he was the opening day starter and a guy that some of our younger pitchers are looking up to.

"Just because of his story, what he's gone through. What it took for him to get here and what it has taken for him to stay here. What it has taken for him to be a No. 1 starter and an opening day starter. I think he has embraced that really well. He's more vocal in our clubhouse and more vocal in the dugout during games. That's been fun to watch him mature as a pro and understand his role has changed a little bit. He can now have conversations with young pitchers and give advice."

Speaking of young pitchers: As the Orioles brass has watched lefty DL Hall put together two pretty stellar starts at Double-A Bowie, there is a lot to like. The 22-year-old Hall, ranked No. 52 in the national top 100 by Baseball America and No. 59 by MLBPipeline.com, has thrown 9 1/3 scoreless innings on four hits with two walks and 19 strikeouts for the Baysox.

The O's brass may like that walk total every bit as much as the strikeouts that he is piling up. In 2018 at low Single-A Delmarva, Hall averaged 4.0 walks per nine innings. In 2019 at high Single-A Frederick, he averaged 6.0 per nine. The stuff was great, no one questioned that. But the command and control were not.

In an interview before the season opener, Hall said he had made gains in this area.

"Coming in after a lot of walks in the 2019 season at Frederick, this year I wanted to come in and focus on pounding the strike zone and not giving up free bases," Hall said. "That was a big thing for me. It was really just more mental cues to help me to get to that, and trusting my stuff, and I feel like I made big strides with that. In spring training, I think I had three walks all of camp.

"I've made some minor tweaks, nothing too crazy, just some things to time everything up. Not really mechanical or changing anything, just working on getting everything timed up better. And getting that rhythm and flow more consistently. That was big to work on that and find a consistent rhythm."

Bowie manager Buck Britton was also Hall's manager during that 2018 season at Delmarva. He saw the kid make major strides with command during spring training in Florida.

"That impressed me the most," Britton said. "Not only the strikes he is throwing, but the quality of strikes he is throwing. Being able to throw his breaking ball at any time. A 3-2 breaking ball for a strike, first-pitch breaking ball for strikes. Changeup has come a long way and he's had that really good fastball and is starting to understand, these hitters, it doesn't matter how hard you throw, but location is important. He's got upper 90s now and is commanding the ball well."

On the farm last night: At Triple-A, Charlotte beat Norfolk 3-2 as the Tides have lost six of their first nine games. Starting pitcher Konner Wade threw six scoreless innings on six hits and is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.82 through two outings. Brett Cumberland hit a solo homer for Norfolk and Ryan Ripken went 2-for-3 with an RBI single and a triple.

Double-A Bowie got a combined seven RBIs between Patrick Dorrian and Terrin Vavra in a 9-3 home win over Reading. The Baysox are 6-2. Dorrian, acquired to complete a trade of pitcher Yefry Ramirez to Pittsburgh on June 26, 2019, hit a three-run shot in the opening inning, his fourth homer of 2021. Dorrian added two doubles as part of a 3-for-5 night with four RBIs and he's batting .417. Vavra had three hits and drove in three for the Baysox. Bowie has won all three games in this series, scoring 24 runs.

On Wednesday, Bowie placed pitchers Brenan Hanifee and Reed Hays and infielder Malquin Canelo on the seven-day injured list.

High Single-A Aberdeen won again, beating Hudson Valley 9-5 to improve to 7-2 to start the year. Toby Welk drove in three runs while Maverick Handley and Shayne Fontana drove in two each. Starter Drew Rom allowed two runs over four innings.

Aberdeen has been piling up stolen bases and added five more last night, including two by Handley, a catcher, who has five on the year. He is 5-for-5 in steal attempts, and so is outfielder Zach Watson.

Low Single-A Delmarva beat Fredericksburg 7-3 as Hudson Haskin had three hits and scored a run. Delmarva got two RBIs each from Jordan Cannon, who is batting .414, and Cristopher Cespedes. Winning pitcher Jake Prizina threw three scoreless innings and has thrown 5 1/3 scoreless frames on the season.

"With this organization and what we've brought in... You're gonna see a lot more stories like this."

Anyone opposed to more stories like @JMeans25?

-- Baltimore Orioles 😷 (@Orioles) May 13, 2021