ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — As the Orioles assembled for a workout Thursday at Tropicana Field to prepare for the second half of the season, manager Buck Showalter casually strolled up to right-hander Dylan Bundy and asked him about his plans for the workout.
Bundy told him he was planning on throwing a light side session in preparation for his next relief outing. That's when Showalter advised Bundy to prepare on making his first major league start on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
"Why don't you take it a little further and start the game on Sunday instead of coming in in the fourth or fifth inning?" Showalter told Bundy.
The Orioles former first-round pick's career has taken many turns, from a fast track to the major leagues at the end of the 2012 season to the bevy of injuries that followed – including elbow ligament reconstruction surgery in 2013 – that limited him to 17 minor league appearances over the past three seasons entering this year.
Because he signed a major league contract after the Orioles made him the fourth overall pick in 2011, Bundy entered the season void of minor league options, which meant he had to build up his innings count as a reliever. And now, after just 38 relief innings, the Orioles hope using Bundy in a starting capacity will boost a beleaguered starting rotation that owns a 5.15 ERA, ranked 28th out of 30 major league clubs.
"I'm really excited," Bundy said about starting Sunday. "First major league start for anybody is going to be exciting. I'm excited for it and we'll see how it goes. … I don't get too nervous anymore in the bullpen, so I don't know if it's different starting or not. Though I guess we will find out Sunday."
The timing is a surprise, especially considering Bundy wasn't believed to be a starting consideration until late in the season at the earliest, but Showalter said that the Orioles' ability to pitch Bundy out of the bullpen while giving him four or five days between outings – much like a starting pitcher – has allowed the team to start Bundy now.
"The process started in the offseason," Showalter said. "We've followed a pretty strict regimen to get to this point. There's 75 games left and you're always trying to manage what's best for the player and what the needs of the club are.
"I've talked to a lot of people about it medically, trainers and pitching coaches, and everyone's in agreement," Showalter said. "There's no set [blueprint]. All this stuff about increment jumps and all that, it's very convenient to say all those things, but there's nothing to back it up. It's all individual. Dylan feels good and, like I said, there's not going to be a whole lot of changes other than he'll have a workday in between, which he had some."
Bundy has worked exceptionally well in relief this season. He is 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA in 38 relief innings this season, and he pitched well after Showalter began using Bundy every fifth or sixth day as a multiple-inning reliever. He has not allowed an earned run over his past six starts spanning 14 1/3 innings – allowing just 11 hits and striking out 19 — and is holding opposing hitters to a .212 batting average over that span.
The Orioles likely won't allow Bundy to go very deep into Sunday's game. He hasn't pitched more than three innings or thrown more than 57 pitches in any of his outings this season.
"Just depends on pitches I think," Bundy said when asked how many innings he believes he could throw Sunday. "I haven't been up more than three or four times, I've been going two or three and a third. I've been up three, maybe four times. Four or five innings, maybe six, if I'm lucky.
"I'm sure there is [a pitch count]," Bundy added. "But I don't know anything about it which is all I care to know about it. I'm just going to go out there to compete and give the team as many innings as I can."
Showalter wouldn't divulge any pitch count for Bundy.
"I'm not going into it with any preconceived ideas," Showalter said. "The other team is going to kind of tell me, Dylan is going to kind of tell me. I'm going to keep an open mind about it. We'll do what's best for Dylan and the Orioles, which is one in the same."
The Orioles have been cautious with Bundy, who despite the injuries remains one of the Orioles most valuable young arms, emphasizing that this year's focus was for Bundy to build his innings count in relief and above all remain healthy.
Showalter said during spring training that he believed Bundy could start in the second half of this season, but later retreated from that comment, saying that throwing 70-80 relief innings this season – and a possible winter ball stint – would likely set him up to compete for a rotation spot next spring.
Working on that pace appealed to Bundy's past as a starter, and he's pitched well under that schedule. When pitching after four or more days rest, Bundy has a 1.04 ERA. In his last outing on July 6 at Dodger Stadium, Bundy recorded all seven outs by strikeout in a 2 1/3 scoreless innings in a 14-inning win over the Dodgers.
"We think he has a chance to help us in [a starting] capacity, just like he's been able to help us in [a relief] capacity," Showalter said. "You've seen kind of the evolution from where he was in the spring and where he is now and we just think this is the next step for him. It's not like we're doing something drastically different than what we have been doing."