Dream On Dylan Bundy, If Not Much Else

Dylan Bundy and Adam Jones's walk-off homer were the best parts of an otherwise frustrating opening series for the Orioles. The O's have been pretty awful all around in the team's first three games, but it's too early to say much definitively about this club. If you want to write off this team, no one can stop you, but the team's play during this brutal stretch of games in April will tell you plenty.

With Bundy, though, there's hope. There's been hope for a while. And even though he's not the same pitcher that the Orioles drafted back in 2011, he's still immensely talented. He showcased just that in the first game of the season, when he threw seven scoreless innings (thanks to Craig Gentry's excellent home-run-saving catch) and weaved in seven strikeouts.

As a refresher, here are some of the highlights from that outing:



Here's my now-favorite moment, where Bundy strikes out Brian Dozier, who likes to get mad at made-up rules:

On opening day, Bundy threw his slider, his most effective pitch, about 27% of the time. That's what he did in the second half last year, when he had even more success. Will Bundy keep throwing his slider close to 30% of the time? Will that lead to a permanent rise in his strikeout rate?

Bundy has only thrown seven innings this season, so there's a long, long way to go. But, in his one start so far, he's been impressive. That's more than you can say about Andrew Cashner and Kevin Gausman.