Dylan Bundy broke out his slider last night, and it broke Josh Donaldson

Dylan Bundy had it all working last night, including his magical slider that was shelved for all of last season.

Captain Ahab had his great white whale. Fans of the Baltimore Orioles had Dylan Bundy and his slider. For years, the pitch had been billed as the former top prospect’s best potential MLB offering, but his long list of health problems limited his actual use of the pitch. Bundy threw nearly 110 innings for the Orioles, but did not throw a single slider over concerns about the long-term health of his elbow.

This year, however, Bundy has the green light to throw his slider, and its debut was quite possibly more majestic that a Moby Dick sighting.

Keep in mind that the batter tossing his lumber halfway across the infield after flailing weakly at the slider is 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson. The Toronto Blue Jays third baseman is one of the hardest hitters in the league to fool, but Bundy toyed with him like a future first-round pick might toy with the number-nine hitter on a bad high-school team. In his first inning of the season, the young right-hander sat down Devon Travis, Donaldson, and Jose Bautista on strikes, needing only 13 pitches to complete the job.

Not this time, Mr. Bats.

By the time his night was through, Bundy had thrown his slider 16 times, registering 13 strikes, three strikeouts, and no baserunners on the pitch. He went seven strong innings against a potent Blue Jays lineup and allowed only four hits and a single run while striking out eight. Travis, Donaldson, and Bautista each struck out twice against Bundy, and he worked ahead in the count to hitters all night long.

If Dylan Bundy is able to continue this level of dominance all season long, the Orioles will finally have a homegrown ace for the first time since Mike Mussina wore black and orange nearly 20 years ago. Kevin Gausman simply does not command his fastball and breaking pitches anywhere close to Bundy’s level against the Blue Jays. His fastball flowed freely out of his hand at 94, with breaking pitches and changeups starting in the strike zone only to dive down and away at the last second.

Going forward, look for Bundy to use the slider carefully. It does place more stress on his elbow than the curveball, which he also throws very well. Bundy and the Orioles will have to determine how carefully to divvy up his sliders all year-long, but the Orioles have not had a pitcher with this deep an arsenal in years. Bundy has four plus-pitches, and the team needs him to take the mound every fifth day.

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The Orioles and their top prospect were in a tough spot with the team last year, out of options, but short on MLB experience. Forcing him into the rotation worked well enough, but he began running out of steam in September. With a full year under his belt, and with his best weapon back at his disposal, Bundy looks like an even more exciting pitcher than a year ago, and that’s saying something because he flirted with a no-hitter on more than one occasion. The Orioles have a hit-or-miss rotation, but if they get sliders, fastballs, and curveballs like this from Bundy all year, they just might prove the doubters wrong yet again.