Zach Eflin has been everything and more that the Baltimore Orioles needed this season and beyond.
Considering Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells and John Means will all be unavailable for the rest of this season and most of next, along with Grayson Rodriguez’s status unknown heading into October, O’s GM Mike Elias had to make this move to get Eflin.
The 30-year-old right-hander, who’s spent time with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays, is familiar with pitching in the postseason. In 11 games, mostly out of the bullpen, in October, Eflin has a 5.17 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched with 15 strikeouts.
That might not look fantastic on paper, but as we dig deeper, we can see that his ERA is inflated due to one poor start for the Rays last year against a red hot Texas Rangers team in the AL Wild Card series, in which he gave up five earned runs in five innings.
With the Phillies, Eflin has given up four earned runs in his 10 games played in October, and three of them came in one game alone. What’s even more impressive is that in four World Series game appearances, Eflin has given up zero runs in 4.1 innings of work.
That’s a short sample size, obviously. However, Eflin is going to be either the game two or three starter in a playoff series in a little over a month for the Orioles.
We’ve seen what Eflin can bring to the table in his four starts with Baltimore. In those starts, the Orlando native is 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA and 1.026 WHIP. The biggest key: 25 strikeouts to just TWO walks.
Listen to how insane this is. Eflin has thrown 254 strikes to just 117 balls as an Oriole. This man HATES walking batters and pounds the zone to the tune of an 8.9 K/9 and 0.7 BB/9.
And get this. Eflin has had 12 of 23 starts this season in which he hasn’t given up a single walk. That leads all of baseball.
In his first game with the O’s, Eflin gave up 10 hits and three earned runs against the Toronto Blue Jays, which is why his WHIP is a bit elevated. In his next three starts, he’s given up three earned runs COMBINED.
Even more important, each one of Eflin’s outings with Baltimore has been a quality start. He’s given this team length that it so desperately needs at this time in the season, going at least six innings each time he’s taken the mound.
Mike Elias acquired the best starting pitcher available at the trade deadline this season. Eflin is exactly what this Orioles team needed, and he will be a big factor in next year’s team as well.
What do you think of Zach Eflin thus far? 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!
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