Baltimore Orioles: Zach Britton gives credit for historic 2016 season
Zach Britton had a historical 2016 campaign for the Baltimore Orioles. However, he admits he can’t take all of the credit for his All-Star season.
Quiz time!
When was the last time Zach Britton blew a save while pitching for the Baltimore Orioles?
*tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock*
Times up.
If your answer was September 20, 2015 in a 7-6 loss against the Tampa Bay Rays, then you were correct. The fatal blow in that game was a walk-off single off the bat of Kevin Kiermaier.
So how did Britton bounce back from his terrible outing? He converted his final two saves of the 2015 season and all 47 saves in the 2016 season.
However, Britton couldn’t take all the credit for his successful 2016 season. He recently gave credit to his teammates, coaches and most importantly his catcher.
“It was pretty special, but a lot of things happened in order for me to put together that season,” he said last week. “I mean, you have a good team, a good defense behind you, a good catcher calling a good game.”
Britton admitted he had plenty of fun getting hitters out in 2016, but not even he could see his historic season come into fruition.
“I mean, yeah, it’s the big leagues and they get paid to score runs,” he said. “My wife was joking with me a couple times. ‘Well, why don’t you just not give up a run the whole season?’ I said, ‘Well, if it was that easy, I think more people would do it.’ It’s not easy.
“I tried not to think about it, in all honesty. We’re human, so obviously I knew what was going on, but when I got on the field or even when I was warming up, in my head I just had an idea of, this is what I want to do to every single hitter. I had a chance to look at the lineup and know who I was probably going to face and the pinch-hitters, so I kind of had a game plan. Every single hitter, this is what I’m going to do and if I get beat doing it, I get beat, but I’m going to stick to it. And I felt like this was the first year that I’ve ever had that plan and actually stuck with it.
“There are times that you want to do something and you get into the game and for some reason or another you kind of get away from what you wanted to do. I told myself this year that I’m not going to give in. I’m going to do what I prepared to do in my scouting report. I’m going to execute the way I want to execute. When I was down in the bullpen running it through my head, I’m going to do it and take it out to the game. And I did and I found some success. Not saying that I’m going to be perfect again this year, but for some reason, putting that into action allowed me to be consistent.”
With the 2017 season around the corner, Britton is happy to see most of the bullpen still intact, especially after the Orioles were fielding offers for reliever Brad Brach.
Despite the Orioles keeping most of the team together, there is still one player that won’t be on the roster on Opening Day: former catcher Matt Wieters. However, Britton will have a chance to work with Welington Castillo, which he recieved a scouting report from close friend Jake Arrieta.
“Talking with Jake Arrieta, he had nothing but good things to say about (Castillo),” Britton said. “He played with him with the Cubs. He said that we’ll definitely like him. He’s improved a lot over the years, so I’m excited to meet him.”
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Well, Britton will get his chance to work and develop a relationship with Castillo in Spring Training, where Castillo hopes to form a relationship with all the pitchers on the roster.
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