How Orioles left-hander Cole Irvin found himself — and trust in his sinker — after ‘humbling’ demotion to Triple-A – The Denver Post

Cole Irvin’s biggest change after his stint in the minor leagues was evident during the first inning of his first start back in the majors.

Irvin, a left-hander the Orioles acquired in the offseason to help anchor their rotation, stumbled out of the gate and was demoted to Triple-A in mid-April. He returned Saturday with the opportunity — now that Grayson Rodriguez is down in Norfolk after struggling — to earn back his spot in Baltimore’s rotation.

He opened the game against the Kansas City Royals with a sinker. And then another. And another. Eight of his first 11 pitches were sinkers, while the other three were changeups. Irvin escaped the first inning thanks to a web gem from Anthony Santander and went on to pitch 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball for his first win as an Oriole.

The heavy sinker usage was a stark contrast from his first three starts of the season when Irvin relied more on his four-seam fastball to little success. The renewed trust in his sinker was one of the conclusions Irvin found as he searched to find himself — the strike-throwing lefty that Baltimore wanted in the first place — during his eight weeks in the minors.

“Being optioned was humbling, and that was a great segue for getting me back on the right track,” Irvin said.

With the Oakland Athletics in 2021 and 2022, Irvin was a consistent and reliable starter who averaged just under 180 innings per season — traits that made him an attractive target for the Orioles, who gave up infield prospect Darell Hernaiz to acquire him.

He relied on a diverse and balanced pitch mix between his four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup, curveball and slider, but his four-seamer was rated as his best offering in both seasons, according to Baseball Savant’s run values. He allowed a .218 batting average and .379 slugging percentage on his four-seamer in 2022 compared with .287 and .453 off his sinker.

During spring training and early in the 2023 season, Irvin said he “dove into” the Orioles’ scouting reports that detailed the effectiveness of his four-seamer, choosing to rely more on his heater than his sinker. In his three starts, he cut his sinker usage in half and threw his four-seamer 47.5% of the time — allowing a .308 average and .615 slugging off it as he surrendered 15 runs in 12 2/3 innings.

“I think when guys first come into the organization, they are introduced to all of the information that we have at our fingertips that lends itself to success for different pitchers with similar repertoires,” Norfolk Tides pitching coach Justin Ramsey said. “He was … almost getting away from who he was and why he was such an interesting target for the organization in the first place. You could see that these things work, and then you almost fall in love with that stuff a little too much and you get away from your strength.”

What Irvin learned, he said, was that his four-seamer was successful because of how it paired with his sinker and other pitches. His four-seamer has less arm-side action than his sinker but can be a few ticks faster — a combination that makes the heater harder to square up. It’s less about which pitches are getting good results, Irvin said, and more about having a diverse arsenal that gets outs. As Ramsey said, it’s “the sum of all parts” that can make Irvin an effective pitcher.

“Getting that sinker usage back where it needed to be absolutely lets that four-seamer play,” Ramsey said.

That was clear Saturday, as Irvin, who threw more sinkers against the Royals (29) than he did in his first three starts (25), got at least one swing and miss on all five of his pitches, including a strikeout of star catcher Salvador Pérez on a 94.6 mph four-seam fastball.

“The fact that I got away from it is more of a palm-to-the-forehead type moment. Like, ‘Dangit, why’d you get away from doing that, man?’” Irvin said. “I’ve got to remember to throw the pitches that make the four-seam and slider good, the pitches that complement the rest of my arsenal. So that’s why I had to get back on my sinker and changeup.”

His sinker wasn’t the only thing he found in Norfolk. The 29-year-old said he took the extended time in the minors — his first since 2019 — to grow more in his faith and “as a man,” noting that “humility goes a long way.”

Ramsey and Orioles pitching coaches Chris Holt and Darren Holmes also noticed a mechanical breakdown in Irvin’s delivery that was causing his command issues. During his two years in Oakland, few pitchers filled up the strike zone more than Irvin, who posted an elite 5.2% walk rate with the Athletics. But he issued eight free passes in his first 12 2/3 innings with Baltimore — a perplexing trend that had a simple fix.

When Irvin pushed off his back foot, he was heading in the direction of the left-handed batter’s box rather than directly at home plate, causing issues throughout his kinetic chain and making it harder for him to command his pitches. Irvin said that one fix “cleaned everything up right away.”

He didn’t walk a batter Saturday and threw 76% of his pitches for strikes. Including his seven starts in the minors, he’s issued just four walks in his past 47 2/3 innings.

“When you start to get off line and take yourself in the wrong direction, the body’s gonna compensate in other ways,” Ramsey said. “You’re gonna start opening up earlier and find other ways to manipulate the ball to try to get it where it’s supposed to go, and the pitch doesn’t come out as efficiently. The ability to locate the ball is harder, the pitches get more flat and you start to expose the baseball sooner so you don’t have as much deception.

“Fixing something that early in the delivery can have a lot of positive effects down the chain.”

Irvin’s start in Baltimore was rocky, but that doesn’t mean his whole season is doomed. His ERA fell from 10.66 to 7.85 after his start Saturday, and he gets another opportunity Friday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs to prove he’s worthy of a rotation spot.

In a matter of a couple weeks, Irvin went from being Baltimore’s No. 3 starter and originating the “homer hose” celebration to roughing it in the minors.

“I knew I wasn’t doing my part here, so the demotion was warranted,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t far off. I just needed to go down and get more work done. I didn’t have a pity party. I just looked at what I was doing wrong and started attacking it.”

That mindset, Ramsey said, is why Irvin is back in the show with a chance to stick.

“He knew he wasn’t having success, and it’s a good ball club that’s trying to win and he wasn’t performing,” Ramsey said. “He understood that. He also understood it wasn’t an easy path back because of the guys who were up there. He came ready to work, and it’s a credit to him.”

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