THE BALTIMORE BATTERY

BRADENTON, FL. – The Orioles shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday in their second spring training win, but the big story was the performance of left-hander Cole Irvin.

cole irvin throwing 95 my goodness pic.twitter.com/iTKPXGcBHf

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) February 25, 2024

There is no better way to say it than that Irvin absolutely dominated. In two innings, he faced the minimum and struck out half of them, issuing no walks.

These were not just random Pirates prospects looking to secure their spot on the Opening Day roster. In the first inning, Irvin faced Oneil Cruz (groundout to second), Bryan Reynolds (four-pitch strikeout) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (groundout to second).

In the second inning, Irvin retired Jack Suwinski (strikeout swinging), Rowdy Tellez (strikeout swinging) and Yasmani Grandal (flyout).

Overall, Irvin threw 28 pitches, 20 for strikes (71.4%).d

What contributed to Irvin’s dominance?

There were two notable improvements over last season: velocity and cutter movement.

Last year, Irvin’s average fastball topped out at 92.2 mph. Yesterday, Irvin’s fastball averaged 94 mph and topped out at 95.9.

Over the offseason, Irvin also put significant work into improving his cutter.

With the help of @PitchingNinja, Cole Irvin developed a new cutter last season.

Irvin broke down his new cutter and sinker grips that could help lead to a big 2024. pic.twitter.com/GShtb92MKr

— Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) February 25, 2024

Last year, Irvin’s cutter averaged 85.5 mph and topped out at 90.8. Yesterday, Irvin’s cutter averaged 88 mph and topped out at 89.5.

According to player development analyst Lance Brozdowski, Irvin’s cutter picked up 4″ of induced vertical break as well.

Irvin’s pitch arsenal is fairly diversified. In 2023, he had a fastball (28.2%), changeup (21.1%), sinker (20.4%), cutter (15.9%) and curveball (14.3%). With the cutter already being Irvin’s best pitch, any improvement will certainly be welcome.

With the fastball being Irvin’s most common pitch, we should definitely expect to see a payoff from the increased velocity throughout the regular season.

Of course, this is just a small sample size from one spring training start. But with Irvin battling for the fifth spot in the Orioles’ rotation, he definitely helped his case.

What did you think of Irvin’s start? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!