Taking a look at the Pedro Severino agreement

The Orioles provided a vote of confidence yesterday in 27-year-old catcher Pedro Severino. A potential non-tender candidate when the deadline hits tonight, the Orioles made a pre-emptive move to retain a player that has played in 144 games for the club over the last two seasons.

The O's agreed to $1.825 million deal with Severino to avoid a possible arbitration hearing and keep him with the club that claimed him off waivers from the Washington Nationals on March 23, 2019. The agreement was first reported by MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

As it turns out, Severino's late-season slump, which also seemed to impact his defense, was not enough for the club to move on. They saw him play at a high level, especially on offense, over the first half of the shortened season,

For the year, Severino hit .250/.322/.388/.710 in 178 plate appearances. In the season's first 24 games, he batted .333/.413/.568/.981 with five homers and 20 RBIs. But over his last 24 games, he hit .165/.224/.203/.426 with no homers and one RBI. He hit .157 in September, was 1-for-28 in his last eight games and 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position in his last 21 games.

The Orioles took a bigger body of work into to play - one that included his play for the club in 2019 and his fast start to the 2020 year - as they came to terms for 2021 with a first-time arbitration-eligible player.

Before the report surfaced that the O's had agreed with Severino, manager Brandon Hyde was a guest on "Inside Access" on flagship station 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore. Given a chance to discuss his top two catchers, Severino and Chance Sisco, Hyde talked up the duo.

"I felt like Chance and Sevy did make big strides last year. Sevy, if you would have had the All-Star game 30 games into the season, he would have been the All-Star catcher for the American League," said Hyde. "He got off to that type of start. Now he faded at the end. I thought he put too much pressure on himself to keep it going. I think that was part of the problem a little bit. We started to scuffle as a club and he tried to really pick it up, instead of just playing the way he was and taking the at-bats he did in August.

"Thought he showed you the ability that he has offensively. I thought he made strides defensively as well. I think both guys have a ways to go and have the ability to improve. Whether we make a move with our catching or not, I'm comfortable with these two guys and the improvement that they made continuing to get better going into next year."

Another factor that the O's may have considered in bringing Severino back was his ability to execute a game plan and run a pitching staff. Catchers must take the pitcher's strengths and make it work while considering the hitters' weaknesses, all the while using the data and analytics to their benefit.

In an August interview last summer, Orioles major league field coordinator/catching instructor Tim Cossins provided some insight on how his catchers were doing in taking the game plan from the clubhouse to the field.

"The process has evolved quite a bit since last year," said Cossins. "We built some internal things that are really helping. There is a new process in place, they are taking to it and it's really economized everything for these players. So they're doing a great job of absorbing information and commanding the game as well as manage their pitching staff. Things are coming into focus for both those guys. They're in a great spot and it's fun to watch. Fun to be on the bench and listen to the dialogue as we go through these games and watch them grow in those areas."

The Orioles were not ready to move away from this player and that growth and they came to terms on a new deal yesterday.

The Orioles played .417 ball last season, going 25-35 and they ranked ninth in the American League in team ERA at 4.51. But they played .469 (15-17) ball when Severino was their starting catcher. Their team ERA was 3.89 with him behind the plate.

Wells talks with reporters during Zoom call: Lefty pitching prospect Alexander Wells spanned a few countries with his Zoom interview yesterday as he spoke with local reporters from his home in Australia. Travel issues, at least in part, kept Wells from making it to the Bowie alternate camp this summer or pitching at instructional league. But they did not keep him off the 40-man roster. He was added with five others on Nov. 20. He said he did have concerns that not pitching in the U.S. in 2020 could hurt his cause.

"It definitely crossed my mind thinking I didn't get over this year and had I done enough in the past to be protected," Wells said. "It crossed my mind a little bit, but I tried not to think about it too much."

A pitcher that throws his fastball between 87 and 91 mph, Wells decided to add a pitch during his strong 2019 season at Double-A Bowie and he did it with success. He added a slider to his fastball, changeup and curveball. Just another weapon for the hitters to be aware of. Wells had not thrown that pitch before 2019, but he said it will be big for him going forward.

"Absolutely, that is definitely a keeper. Continued to work on it and work with (Orioles director of pitching Chris) Holt whenever I can with it," he said. "I've just got to get more confidence in throwing it to hitters. Once I do that it's going to be a very handy pitch for me in the future."

Wells, who turns 24 in February, went 8-6 with a 2.95 ERA for Bowie in 2019. For his minor league career, he is 30-24 with a 2.82 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP.

The soft-tosser has made it this far and next season, he might get his first chance to see if his repertoire plays at the major league level.