Baltimore Orioles Pitcher Reveals Major Role Change for 2024
A lot of young players stepped up for the Baltimore Orioles during the 2023 season, helping the team win 101 games overall, which was 18 more games than in 2022.
Emerging stars like Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Kyle Bradish helped carry the team all year long.
Young pitcher DL Hall was another player who took his game to new heights last season. After a rocky debut in 2022 (1-1, 5.93 ERA), Hall spent much of 2023 in Triple-A working on his game.
He returned to the majors in late August with a vengeance, establishing himself as a force out of the bullpen down the stretch. Hall finished the regular season with a 3-0 record, a 3.26 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP and a 23:5 K/BB ratio in 19 1/3 innings before logging 3 1/3 scoreless frames in the playoffs.
Now, after proving he belongs in the big leagues, Hall is ready for an even larger role in 2024.
Appearing on The Adam Jones Podcast on Friday, the 25-year-old lefty said that he plans on joining the Orioles' starting rotation in 2024.
That would be a major transition for Hall, who has only started one game in his big league career so far. That was his MLB debut in 2022, when he took the loss after allowing five runs on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Hall has grown a lot as a pitcher since then, however. He finished 2022 strong with a 3.60 ERA in September, excelled during the 2023 campaign and was electrifying during the postseason, striking out six of the 12 batters he faced on the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers.
Hall was primarily used as a starter in the minors and has a starting pitcher's mentality as a former first-round pick. Baltimore's rotation also has an opening with Kyle Gibson now a free agent, so Hall deserves a shot to fill it.
If the move doesn't work out, he can always go back to the bullpen.
