Velocity and strikeouts are up and the Orioles need to get on board

It is not exactly this easy, but one way for the Orioles could improve their pitching staff is to add pitchers who throw with premium velocity and/or pitchers who have strong strikeout rates.

It is not a direct correlation, but the teams with the best strikeout rates and those that throw the hardest are often good teams with good pitching staffs.

The sport keeps trending toward more and more velocity, and the trend of managers pulling starters sooner just gets teams into bullpens sooner, and that's where some of the hardest-throwing pitchers all over baseball can be found.

The teams with the top five strikeout rates from 2018 all made the playoffs. Houston, averaging 10.44 strikeouts per every nine innings ranked first, followed by the New York Yankees (10.10) and Boston (9.61) with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland tied (9.54). The Orioles ranked 28th at 7.57 per nine.

Here are some of the top teams in average fastball velocity for the season: Yankees (94.5 mph), Houston (94 mph), Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh (93.9 mph), with St. Louis, Philadelphia and Cincinnati tied (93.8 mph). The Orioles rated 17th at 92.7 mph and Boston is 12th at 93 mph.

Ironically, even with several pitchers on their staffs who can cut it loose, three American League East teams threw among the lowest percentages of fastballs this year. The Yankees, while averaging the highest with velocity, threw the lowest percentage of fastballs at 47.4 percent. Boston is third from the bottom at 49.9 percent and Tampa Bay is fifth at 50.2 percent. A 57.8 percent fastball rate put the Orioles in 21st place.

The top five teams in getting swings and misses were, in order, Houston, the Yankees, Cleveland, the Dodgers and Tampa Bay. The Orioles are 23rd.

The highest strikeout rates, in order, among starting pitchers were posted by Houston, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Boston and the Dodgers. Among bullpens, the highest rates were by the Yankees, Houston, Milwaukee, San Diego and the Dodgers. The Orioles were 26th in the majors in strikeout rate for both their starters and relievers.

O's leaders, strikeouts/nine innings (minimum 40 innings pitched)
12.83 - Tanner Scott
9.65 - Dylan Bundy
9.27 - Mychal Givens
8.54 - Yefry Ramírez
7.90 - Mike Wright Jr.

O's leaders, average velocity (minimum 40 innings pitched)
97.1 - Tanner Scott
95.5 - Miguel Castro
95.1 - Mychal Givens
93.7 - Kevin Gausman
93.5 - Jimmy Yacabonis
93.2 - Mike Wright

Using my arbitrary number of 40 innings or more pitched this year, the Orioles had six pitchers who averaged 93 mph or higher. Tampa Bay had nine such pitchers, the Yankees eight, Boston seven and Toronto five.

The Orioles pumped a little more velocity into their system during the July trades, and in limited innings after the deals we saw Cody Carroll average 96.2 mph and Evan Phillips at 93.8 mph.

All the above team and individual stats came from FanGraphs.com.

I have written here often that, in my opinion, velocity and strikeouts are overrated. While I still enjoy watching pitchers such as Dallas Keuchel, Rich Hill and Kyle Hendricks, who succeed without big fastballs, the sport keeps trending to more and more velocity, and it's working for some of the best teams.

Maybe I need to get more on board, and so do the Orioles.

AFL notes: When Glendale beat Surprise 21-8 yesterday in the Arizona Fall League, three Orioles prospects did a lot of the damage at the plate. The trio of Ryan McKenna, Steve Wilkerson and Martin Cervenka combined to go 11-for-16 with two doubles, seven runs and nine RBIs.

Cervenka entered the game just 1-for-16 in the AFL, but went 4-for-7 with a double and three RBIs. Wilkerson went 3-for-4 and drove in five. McKenna went 4-for-5 with two doubles, three runs and an RBI. Over his last five games, McKenna is 10-for-22, batting .455.

Among the AFL batting leaders, McKenna ranks sixth in average and OBP (at .476), and he is third in slugging (.657) and fourth in OPS (1.133). McKenna hit .377 this past season for Single-A Frederick in 67 games. Then he moved to Double-A Bowie and hit .239 in 60 games. But his strong start in the AFL is very encouraging and lends further credence to the solid strenth and depth of the O's outfielders on the farm.