With the way he’s dominated opposing hitters since he debuted in 2022, it’s hard not to have confidence when Félix Bautista jogs out of the Orioles’ bullpen for a save.
That feeling, manager Brandon Hyde said, reminds him of one other pitcher he’s shared a uniform with. That same pitcher is the one whose strikeout record Bautista is chasing this season.
With 64 punchouts in 31 innings, Bautista’s 18.6 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate is on pace to shatter the record Aroldis Chapman set in 2014 with the Cincinnati Reds. Chapman struck out 17.7 batters per nine that season — the highest for any qualified starter or reliever — amid a stretch as perhaps the greatest strikeout pitcher in the history of the sport.
But Bautista, in just his second major league season, could make history if he keeps up his unprecedented strikeout rate. With a triple-digit fastball, a filthy splitter and an imposing presence at 6-foot-8, Bautista is giving Hyde flashbacks to when he watched Chapman come out of the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen during the second half of their 2016 World Series-winning season.
“It had the same sort of feeling,” Hyde said. “It’s gonna be 100-plus [mph] and you feel like you had a really good chance of winning the game, because it’s gonna be really hard to hit.”
Bautista, who is tied for fourth in the majors with 17 saves and fifth among relievers with a 1.16 ERA, is obviously aware that he’s striking out a ton of guys, but he didn’t know that he’s potentially set himself on a path to chase Chapman’s record throughout the summer.
“I didn’t really know that,” Bautista said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “It’s pretty cool to think about, but I just go out there and try to do my job.”
The strikeouts-per-nine figure is far from the only jarring one on Bautista’s stat page. The right-hander has struck out 50.8% of the 126 batters he’s faced — a rate that, entering Tuesday, was 3.7% better than the next highest qualified pitcher, Cincinnati’s Alexis Diaz. He has 13 more strikeouts than any other relief pitcher, ahead of Houston’s Bryan Abreu (51) and Seattle’s Matt Brash (50). And he’s struck out the side in 11 of his 30 appearances.
He has as many strikeouts in 31 innings as 2020 American League Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber has in 87 2/3. He has more than Orioles starters Kyle Gibson (58 in 83 innings) and Kyle Bradish (51 in 53 innings). Baltimore setup men Yennier Cano and Danny Coulombe, the former of whom also ranks as one of the best relievers in the majors, have combined for 65 strikeouts — just one more than Bautista — in 56 1/3 total innings.
In the years since Chapman set the record, other elite relievers such as New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz, former Boston Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel and ex-Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Josh Hader have fallen just short. At the very least, Bautista appears to be a lock to break the Orioles’ strikeouts-per-nine record of 13.0 set by Armando Benitez in 1997. He’s also on pace to set the Orioles record for most strikeouts by a reliever in a season, which is 122 by B.J. Ryan in 2004.
To rack up those strikeouts, Bautista has mastered how his gravity-defying fastball and drop-off-the-table splitter work off one another. From a straight over-the-top arm slot, he regularly throws his four-seam fastball — with an average velocity of 98.9 mph that ranks fifth in the majors — at the top of the zone, setting the hitter’s eyes up before following with 88.1 mph splitters at the bottom of the zone.
Opposing hitters are swinging and missing at 46.2% of Bautista’s offerings — up 12.6% from last year and nearly twice the league average. His 59.3% whiff rate on his splitter is the third highest of any pitch thrown at least 100 times this season behind Andrew Chafin’s slider and Kodai Senga’s forkball, according to Baseball Savant, while his 39.4% fastball whiff rate ranks fourth among four-seamers.
“The stuff is pretty much unmatched from anybody that I’ve seen,” Orioles reliever Bryan Baker said. “It’s different. Even when he warms up, you see the ball zoom by your face. It’s a different sound, and he can do it pretty easily. I think we all realize it’s not just another closer. If he can continue the path he’s on right now, he’s obviously gonna be really good for a long time.”
The eye-popping numbers have elevated Bautista from a rookie wonder to one of the sport’s best closers. But it’s not necessarily surprising considering how good he was last season — going from a High-A pitcher to open the 2021 campaign to Baltimore’s best reliever at the end of 2022. He posted a 2.19 ERA and struck out 12.1 batters per nine innings last year — numbers that earned him the closer job after the team traded Jorge López at the deadline.
The 27-year-old attributed his improvement to trusting his stuff more after having one successful big league season under his belt.
“I think it all goes back to consistency, being more focused, working extremely hard and then coming into my second season just bringing that confidence over that I had last season,” Bautista said. “Seeing how well last season went, carrying that over into this season just gives me that much more confidence.”
“He was pretty good last year, too,” Hyde said. “Well, maybe just another year, pitching in huge moments and what he did the second half of last year. Just more experience. It’s still 100-101 [mph], the split’s still really good.”
Bautista also said that being about 15 pounds lighter than he was last year is also helping him in the midst of his first full season as a closer. Bautista is on pace for 73 appearances and 76 innings.
“I think that was huge. That was a big deal for me,” he said. “Shedding a ton of weight, that was really important for me, and I think it’s helped me with my overall consistency.”
Bautista and Hyde aren’t the only confident ones. Baker said he and the rest of the Orioles’ relief corps know that when Bautista jogs out of the bullpen to Omar’s whistle from “The Wire,” they’re only a few swings and misses away from heading home with a win.
“I imagine being a hitter and trying to square up his stuff. That’s all you need to really think about,” Baker said. “As long as he’s in the zone and not walking people, I think he’s probably as good as it gets in the game in terms of just pure stuff, being able to square stuff up. As a hitter, it’s got to be next to impossible.”
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