A long road back: Right-hander Carter Baumler is now with High-A Aberdeen
The 2020 draft pick has had to overcome two major surgeries
ABERDEEN, Md. – O’s 23-year-old right-handed pitching prospect Carter Baumler is due for good health and good luck.
A high school pitcher drafted out of Des Moines, Iowa by the Orioles in the fifth-round of the shortened 2020 MLB Draft, Baumler has had two major surgeries and the second one didn’t work out too well.
Such has been his tough luck that a few months after that 2020 draft, while throwing that October in the fall instructional league he felt something in his right elbow and on Oct. 28, 2020 needed Tommy John surgery.
During the 2022 season, when all that was finally behind him, he experienced shoulder inflammation. That led to surgery that winter, ahead of the 2023 season. Yet after that procedure, his shoulder still hurt for large parts of that 2023 season and 2024.
This is a pitcher that is throwing well now, but has just 62 career minor league innings since that 2020 draft.
But rather than be bitter or frustrated after two surgeries, the Dowling Catholic High School product turned to his faith to stay upbeat, stay positive and keep working.
Once an O’s top 30 prospect – ranked No. 18 by Baseball America in 2022 and No. 23 by MLBPipeline.com in 2023 – now he is happy to be healthy. And that makes him happy.
During a recent interview at Aberdeen’s Ripken Stadium I asked Baumler about the aftermath of his shoulder surgery from the winter before that 2023 year.
“Came back the next year and threw in the Fall League (fall of 2023) and the shoulder was still barking. Last year, kind of the same thing, some shoulder impingement stuff. Halfway through the (2024) year had to go back on the IL and was kind of dealing with it all year last year. Tried to get through it, but there was another trip to the IL.
“It was a blessing for me to go on the IL and just kind of really figure things out at the end of last year. That is what we did. Me and the medical staff and the strength coordinators sat down and put together a good program. It got me on a good track forward and now I am building off that.”
He must be frustrated that the second surgery didn’t seem to take?
“Personal opinion, I don’t think the shoulder surgery did anything for me,” Baumler told me in Aberdeen. “I mean this is my opinion, but I don’t know if it really did anything to get me healthier or made anything better for me. The pain and discomfort, what I was feeling before and after the surgery, was the same. But feeling a lot better now.”
The Orioles selected Baumler No. 133 overall in 2020 and he got an overslot $1.5 million bonus to bypass a TCU commitment. The O’s were getting a high school kid that could touch 95 mph and showed a clean delivery and smooth mechanics.
But then came the injuries.
How does he now process all the rehab and all the stops and starts?
“Honestly it’s just kind of been keeping my head down and continuing to move forward and knowing the work is never going to stop. Having some good roots and faith – I think honestly it was a blessing.
“I think God was using it as something to deepen my faith with Him. I think difficult times can create harder men. Not only harder men, but God used this as opportunity to deepen my faith with Him. That is kind of what happened.
“I don’t see it as something necessarily bad. I see it as an opportunity. Have used it as an opportunity to learn more about baseball and a lot more about my body and health. It was a blessing in the long term.”
No longer a top 30 prospect, Baumler is also no longer a starting pitcher. No doubt the O’s are being conservative and careful with him after two surgeries and with so few innings under his belt.
For now he is throwing once or twice a week for High-A Aberdeen, throwing one or two innings at a time and about 30 or 35 pitches. It’s a start to what could be a long road back.
One that this time, he hopes, goes all the way.
“I am feeling good,” Baumler told me outside the IronBirds’ clubhouse. “I never want to jinx anything and say everything is feeling 100 percent. But, feeling good. We’re out here playing baseball and I could not be more grateful. Every day I am always thinking about how grateful I am to be here, to be playing and having fun. We have a fun team and a good coaching staff and it’s fun to come out here and play.
“When the game is taken away, you definitely appreciate it more. You have to take a step back and use it an opportunity to learn more. More grateful now.”
Baumler even dealt with a minor back strain this season that delayed his first game until May 5 in the Florida Complex League. He has now made seven appearances for Aberdeen and his first six were scoreless until he gave up three runs in 2/3 of an inning this week on Tuesday at Jersey Shore.
Over the seven games, his ERA is 2.61. He’s thrown 10 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and those three runs with seven walks and eight strikeouts.
Years later, the pitcher the O’s drafted and one that has been through so much, are different pitchers.
“I throw a couple of different pitches now,” he said. “When I was drafted, I didn’t know what I could be. I was young and naïve. There was a lot of talent but I didn’t know what direction to move it in. All these injuries and setbacks sort of taught me what direction I do need to move it to. Not only the direction, but what kind of pitcher do I need to be.
“It’s maybe an opportunity to be even better than I could have been if everything would have gone according to plan. I am throwing harder than when I was drafted and at that point fully healthy in 2020 going into that draft. I would definitely say I am in a better spot than I was then.”
Now he throws a four-seamer, a combo slider/cutter, a knuckle curve and a pitch he calls a “tumbleweed.” He learned that pitch in his youth, said that Triple-A pitcher Kyle Brnovich also throws it and that his tumbleweed is like a top spinning knuckle ball, but is not one. It has splitter-like spin and similar velocity (mid 80s) to his curve.
Baumler said reports before the draft that he hit 96 mph were a bit exaggerated then, but now he sits mid 90s and can touch 97 and 98 mph.
“I always knew, I’m an athletic guy, pretty powerful. I always knew I could throw hard. Just a matter of figuring out what was holding me back. Whether it was the injuries, something in the weight room or even the mechanical side. But I knew I could throw hard. I am not trying to throw hard, just trying to be efficient, move clean, be repeatable.”
So as he works on his long road to being fully back and get to higher levels on the O’s farm, what is his plan for this year?
“The plan is to have a good, full healthy season, first and foremost. Recover. Continue to build. I am currently a reliever. Want to maintain the velo and feel good. Just build on that and sharpen up my pitches. Trying to throw my best stuff to the best locations.
“I have a lot of goals and aspirations. I think a really good season for me and I don’t want to sit here and get into a bunch of numbers, but I think if I can throw twice a week, continue to maintain a good velocity throwing on shorter and shorter rest and filling up the zone, that is kind of what the Orioles want from me. And what I want to do. That would be putting myself in a good position to move up levels and hopefully get to the big leagues in a few years.”
Like every one of his teammates and any one playing for any team on the farm right now the dream is the same.
The majors.
“The Orioles drafted me for a reason. Ever since that day I want to get up there and help them out.
“Obviously the big leagues, it doesn’t matter who you are in the minors, the big leagues is always going to be in the back of your head. That is why we play. But in order to get there, you have to focus on each and every day. That is what I pretty much do now. What can I do today to put myself in a better position for tomorrow? And to put myself in a better position to actually get there?”
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Two runs, two rain delays: The O’s overcame it all last night to post a 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Charlie Morton fanned 10 over five scoreless and the bullpen took it from there.
The Orioles have won nine of 13, 12 of 18 and are 13-8 their past 21 games.
Before the game I ran into the Demper, the 1983 World Series MVP and Joe Orsulak, who will become an O’s Hall of Famer in the Class of 2025 this August.
Good Luck to him! We can use a good young reliever.