DL Hall Sad To Leave Orioles ‘Family’ But Excited For Chance To Start With Brewers

Former Orioles left-hander DL Hall, who was sent to Milwaukee as part of the package for Brewers ace Corbin Burnes, is sad to leave teammates he considers family but is fired up for the opportunity to prove he can start in the big leagues.

Hall, 25, was developed as a starter by the Orioles after being taken in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft, but because of injuries and the pandemic, he still has not pitched more than the 94.1 innings he threw in 2018. As such, all but one of Hall’s 29 major league appearances with the Orioles came in relief.

In addition to the difficulty he had in building up his workload, strike-throwing was an issue throughout his career with Baltimore (204 walks in 353.1 minor league innings). Had Hall remained with the Orioles, he very likely would have been a bullpen piece in 2024.

Opportunity knocks, however, for Hall as a starter in Milwaukee. Following the Burnes deal, the Brewers’ rotation is expected to include Freddy Peralta, Wade Miley and Colin Rae, with a lot of question marks beyond that.

Hall is excited to try his hand at starting once again. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound left-hander does have a minor league option remaining should the Brewers choose to build him up at Triple-A before bringing him to the majors.

“I was kind of itching for years for that chance to get a few starts in the big leagues and get my feet wet and just kind of see how it goes with a few starts versus just one,” Hall said on Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 5. “For me, just getting the opportunity to get some starts under my belt and see how things go, it’s super exciting for me just to hopefully be able to shove it in some people’s face, just to kind of prove a point that I can be a starter.”

It’s hard to ignore, though, how good Hall was out of the bullpen in 18 relief appearances late in the 2023 season. The Orioles called him after closer Félix Bautista hit the shelf, and Hall provided a much-needed shot in the arm. He posted a 3.26 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, mostly with a fastball-changeup-slider combination.

Manager Brandon Hyde leaned on Hall in some big spots, including Games 1 and 3 of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. Hall allowed that he thought his mindset meshed well with the bullpen.

“It’s hard to pitch sometimes because it’s not as ‘get after it’ as you may want it to feel,” Hall said. “Being a starter and stuff, you’re playing chess a little bit. You’ve got to go through the lineup a few times. You’ve got to be smart with it and do things a little differently, whereas the bullpen, you’re coming out and you’re letting it rip and you’re kind of almost just psycho and get after it out there on the mound. That part of it I really enjoyed.”

Hall said he was caught “100 percent off-guard” when Orioles general manager Mike Elias called to alert him about the trade. It took until the next day for it to sink in that he was headed to Arizona for spring training rather than Florida.

It’s bittersweet for Hall to leave the Orioles at a time when they had turned the corner with a 101-win season given that he had been around since 2017 and became friends with many of the players who are now household names in Baltimore.