SEASON SUMMARY

Bale, a hard-throwing left-hander, had a brief stint with the Orioles during April, was sent to Rochester and then returned to Baltimore on August 24.  He remained with the big club for the rest of the year, appearing in a total of 14 games.  Bale turned 27 in May and has now made a grand total of 17 big league appearances.  Like many tall (Bale stands 6-4) pitchers with big fastballs, Bale struggles with his command; it's not clear if he really has a pitch that he can be used for anything more than show other than his fastball, and occasionally Bale can't find the slot even with his hard one.

Bale's peripheral stats are classic for a pitcher who throws hard and gets pretty good movement, but has frequent control problems; he allowed only 18 hits in 26.2 innings, and fanned 21--both good marks--but walked a far too high 17--nearly six free passes per nine innings.  If Bale wants to keep a full-time big league job, he's got to gain firm command of his best pitch--the fastball.  If he wants to be a real factor at the big league level, he needs another pitch he can depend on, something else for opposing batters to keep in their minds.  Ultimately, without that, no matter how good Bale's fastball is, if batters can sit on it, they'll hit it.  With Rochester, in better than 30 innings, Bale walked only five while fanning 40.  He obviously can get ahead of and finish off hitters.  That is to say, he's capable of it.  He has yet to demonstrate a consistent, sustained ability to do so, however, even at the minor league level.

Given that Bale is left-handed and throws hard, he'll be given every opportunity--by someone--to demonstrate that he's turned a corner.  Bale wore out his welcome in Toronto, but can be expected to be given a chance to win a job with the Orioles next spring. 

TO CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY NEXT YEAR, HE MUST:

1) gain full command of his plus-pitch--the fastball

2) develop something off-speed that he can throw for strikes

3) cut the walks in half...at least

NOTES

Despite the control problems, allowed only four of 20 inherited runners to score in 2001...held opponents to a .194 average, .301 slugging percentage...peripheral stats at Rochester were very different than in Baltimore; allowed more hits than innings pitched with Red Wings, but walked barely a man per nine innings...was death on left-handed batters; port-siders managed just .138/.257/.138 in 19 ABs.