Means 'exceptional' as O’s snap A’s streak 

Everything John Means has accomplished on the baseball field, he’s earned on the mound. Means pitched his way through the Orioles’ system as a non-prospect, pitched his way onto their Opening Day roster in 2019 despite long odds and into an unlikely All-Star that summer. Then he pitched himself into an ace, improving at the big league level the way few do.

Is he pitching his way out of Baltimore now?

It’s a question bound to pop up later this summer if Means keeps pitching the way he is, which is to say as well as any starter in the American League. The latest example came Sunday, when Means twirled 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball to shave his AL-best ERA to 1.50. The resulting 8-1 victory over the A’s snapped Oakland’s 13-game win streak and snapped the Orioles’ eight-game losing streak to the A’s dating back to 2019.

“He was exceptional today,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “The way he’s throwing the baseball right now -- you feel good about your chances when John Means is on the mound. This is a guy who is going to pound the strike zone and be really competitive with multiple pitches to mix. He’s facing playoff-type lineups and going into the seventh inning -- just doing a great job.”

Sunday’s result came largely due to Austin Hays’ second-career multi-homer game and Means, who was pitching on extra rest and put on a clinic in soft contact to outduel Jesús Luzardo. Of the 23 batters he faced, only one put a ball in play -- Ramón Laureano, who hit a solo homer in the fourth -- that eclipsed Statcast’s 95 mph “hard-hit” exit velocity threshold.

Through five starts, only three MLB starters -- Jacob deGrom (0.31), Corbin Burnes (0.37) and Joe Musgrove (1.04) -- own better early-season ERAs than Means. Over his last nine starts dating back to 2020, Means sports a 1.51 ERA with 59 strikeouts against 12 walks in 53 2/3 innings.

“It was nice finishing last season strong, and going into this season with confidence and getting back to who I am as a pitcher,” Means said. “I just feel very comfortable right now with my mentality and stuff, so I’m just trying to keep that going.”

“Every time out there, we’re 100 percent confident we’re going to get a dominant start out of him,” Hays said.

With each passing start, Means appears to be growing more and more into the kind of frontline starter his underlying metrics hinted at last season, the kind the Orioles haven’t had at least since Wei-Yin Chen in the middle of last decade.

If that growth continues, it’s not difficult to imagine contending teams inquiring about his availability as early as this summer. And it’s not difficult to imagine the Orioles at least listening, given their long-term rebuilding plans and current place on the competitive timeline.

Another All-Star honor would certainly raise Means’ already-emerging profile further -- he already looks like a candidate to return to the Midsummer Classic, pitching well ahead of his All-Star pace in 2019.

Means was something of a novelty then -- a two-pitch pitcher nobody saw coming who took the league largely by surprise. He’s a more complete package now, armed with plus command of a mid-90s fastball he can dial up when he needs to, a swing-and-miss changeup and two distinct breaking balls.

Opposing hitters batted .458 against Means’ curve in 2019 and .308 against his slider in 2020. This year, they are 1-for-17 in at-bats that end in either pitch.

“Because of the breaking balls, they can't just look high-low anymore,” Hyde said. “Being a little more unpredictable and his pitch mix [are] going to create guys not being on time. That's the difference between this year and in the last couple years.

“To go through these veteran-type lineups like he is, and he’s still so early on in his career, it’s fun to watch. … He’s a winner.”