Donnie Hart

After a 22-appearance audition in 2016, Hart entrenching himself as a key left-hander out of the Orioles' bullpen in 2017. A sidearmer, Hart works around his lack of electric stuff (87 mph fastball) with consistent command and an ability to generate groundball outs (1.63 GB/FB Ratio). He notched a 3.71 ERA over 43.2 innings, but Hart's 4.53 FIP suggest that he was living on the edge a bit last season. Hart enters 2018 primed to be the Orioles' top left-handed reliever in the middle innings. That said, the Orioles are notorious for shuttling relievers back and forth from the minors, so if Hart's troubling peripherals start to manifest into bad outings, he could lose his grip on his lefty specialist role.

Hart was selected in the 27th round of the 2013 draft and spent the majority of his first three professional seasons with the Orioles lower-level affiliates. He features a sinker, slider and changeup, with his sinker being his most effective pitch. The young lefty began the 2016 season with Double-A Bowie, where he quickly became one of the team's top relievers. Hart posted a 2.72 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and an impressive 23.3 percent K-BB% over 46.1 innings. His gaudy minor league numbers earned him a couple of major league callups later in the season when spots opened up in the Orioles bullpen. In 18.1 innings of major league relief, Hart posted a 0.49 ERA (3.53 FIP), 16.9 percent strikeout rate and 8.5 percent walk rate. The difference between his ERA and FIP can largely be attributed to his unsustainable 100 percent strand rate. That being said, it was certainly an encouraging debut season for the 26-year-old. Hart will battle for a bullpen role entering 2017 but may again shuttle between the majors and minors.