While there were plenty of reasons to criticize the 2021 Orioles, perhaps the most obvious flaw of this team was that they handed far too many innings to pitchers that proved, time and time again, that they were not up to the challenge. However, it’s not fair to write off those struggling pitchers altogether. It’s possible they were simply thrust into the wrong role. That certainly seemed to be the case for Jorge López.
This was López’s second season in Baltimore. He appeared in 10 games for the O’s during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season after being claimed off waivers from the Royals that August.