Newly-Signed Baltimore Orioles Starter Brings This Elite Aspect to Their Rotation

The Baltimore Orioles should be getting a boost in this aspect of their starting rotation.

Sep 4, 2024; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton (50) pitches against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning at Truist Park | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles' rotation looks worse on paper right now than it did last season.

That was to be expected when Corbin Burnes officially departed in free agency, but their inability to replace him with another top-end starter creates some major question marks for this team going forward.

The Orioles have been able made additions, though, signing Japanese star Tomoyuki Sugano and veteran Charlie Morton to one-year deals each.

Both could come in and provide great starts every fifth or sixth day for Baltimore to boost this rotation, something the front office is banking on happening as they look to take the next step in this iteration of the franchise.

Both also come with risks.

This is the first time Sugano has pitched outside of Japan, and Morton is over 40 years old.

However, the latter of the two also is bringing something with him that is going to be a huge boon to this staff; strikeouts.

Morton has been one of the best strikeout artists in the game since 2017 when he won the World Series title with the Houston Astros, ringing up 1,417 batters.

In fact, only three other players have recorded more K's than the right-hander in that time, trailing only Gerrit Cole (1,713), Aaron Nola (1,590), and Max Scherzer (1,526).

While eight years is certainly a long period of time and players can regress the further along into their careers they go, Morton has still been able to strike batters out at a high rate, recording over 200 K's in two out of the last four seasons, and having a K/9 ratio over 10.0 in three of them.

If that continues in 2025, that'd be a huge boost for Baltimore.

This past campaign, the Orioles' starters finished 13th in Major League Baseball with 1,380 strikeouts.

While Burnes was a workhorse and totaled 181 K's across his 32 starts and 194 1/3 innings pitched, his K/9 ratio of 8.4 was less than Morton's 9.1.

Nobody is saying the veteran is going to replace the former NL Cy Young winner at this stage of their careers, but what the newly-signed right-hander does bring to the table is something that can silence opposing lineups when he has his stuff rolling.