r/orioles • u/Wild-Bluejay7138 • 1d ago

Bryan Baker's Change-Up

He developed it with the Orioles not the Rays. I keep hearing about it on the broadcast. The Rays traded him for his new pitch and the O's were sucking so why not.

32 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

23

u/FurryUnicorn 23h ago

It’s not so much that they developed his changeup. It’s moreso that they pitch sequenced him, told him to throw his FBs high, and told him to get rid of his third pitch. He’s ended up just throwing his effective changeup way more than a third pitch ate into its usage.

1

u/buck_naked248 Manny being Manny 10h ago

Exact same thing they did with Peralta.

9

u/mateohatepotato 23h ago

His change up was elite with the Orioles in 2025. His fastball jumped in value by a huge amount in 2026 with the Rays.

20

u/OwlishlyFaraway 23h ago

This team really did just look at everyone else's trash in 2019 and say "we can fix him" and somehow it worked

2

u/FurryUnicorn 10h ago

I wouldn’t call him trash. I don’t think he was bad with us, or even unwanted. It was moreso just about roster crunch. Hindsight is 20/20 but we kept pitchers like Cionel, Soto, Akin, and Dominguez over Baker. At that time those guys had more track record, and Baker didn’t yet grab lightning yet.

12

u/PurplePassion94 18h ago

So the rays have better coaching than the orioles?? Gee who’d a thought.

6

u/Low-Crazy-8061 23h ago

He developed it back in 2022 with Chris Holt.

5

u/SafeFill1057 15h ago

CHRIS HOLT

3

u/Apprehensive_Elk2608 16h ago

one man's trash is another man's treasure

1

u/Gr8ful17 12h ago

One man gathers what another one spills.

2

u/beervendor1 13h ago

Plenty of RPs go zero-to-hero with a change of scenery. Glad for Baker. Happened in our favor with Bautista, Garcia, Cano, Walker, Hoppe just among our current pen.

1

u/RobEatsPie 1h ago

Don’t forget the DoD! He was awesome…

1

u/beervendor1 55m ago

He was! I was just naming current reliever reclamations. FYI ODay is doing solid work on Braves radio.

0

u/805locc 4h ago

Yikes some of those guys listed haven’t pitched well in years

1

u/beervendor1 3h ago

My point exactly - other teams' castoffs are often successful with a change of scenery. The guys I listed are pretty much all in line for spots in next year's bullpen. Doesn't mean their previous GM needs to be fired.

8

u/whereami8888 23h ago

Yawn. Wake me up if and when Mike and Craig get canned.

2

u/GreedyRaisin3357 1983 WS Champions 13h ago

Some aren't watching baseball outside of the O's and it's ok

1

u/harten66 13h ago

Rays make every pitcher better

1

u/pan567 5h ago

Baker always had strong raw stuff, even if the results weren't always perfect. The Rays fine tuned it in a way that our coaching staff was unable to.

Nunez also has great raw stuff. Hopefully our staff will be able to be successful in helping him to fine tune it.

1

u/Wild-Bluejay7138 4h ago

If you look at his numbers as an Oriole they are decent. It seemed like he always blew the lead.

-2

u/CryOld6591 16h ago

Who cares