Baltimore Orioles: Worrying about the Defense

Sep 27, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays short stop Jose Reyes (7) dives to second base on an error after his RBI single in fifth inning against Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

Watching the baseball flying past Baltimore Orioles infielders while opponent runners circle the basepaths is not something that O’s fans are accustomed to seeing. And the question that is raised is if this is something to be greatly concerned about as the playoffs season approaches.

The problem of course is that it is difficult to replace a Platinum Glove winner in Manny Machado, a Gold Glover in Matt Wieters, and a top-tiered defensive first baseman in Chris Davis.

The issue is especially obvious at third base, where there have been six errors in the past nine games. As well, there are other plays that are not being made that, while not counting as an error, are balls that Machado may well have turned into an out or prevented from going down the line into the left-field corner for extra bases.

Over the past 12 games, the Orioles have committed a total of 13 errors. In those games, the O’s have a record of 6-6. A total of 11 errors were committed in the six losses, while only two errors were recorded in the six wins.

Defense is not everything, but a breakdown with it tends to multiply by becoming the seed that leads to more weeds growing. The other team is given more outs and Orioles pitchers need to throw more balls – diminishing their effectiveness and shortening their length in the game.

Here is a breakdown of the 13 errors over the past dozen games:

Ryan Flaherty – two throwing errors

Kelly Johnson – two

Jimmy Paredes – two

Alexi Casilla, Christian Walker, Brad Brach, J.J. Hardy, Caleb Joseph, Nick Hundley, Steve Clevenger – one each

The throwing errors by Flaherty are the biggest concern on the list, since he will likely be the most featured player at third base. And while not a big Flare-dog fan, I think this is out of character and that he is a plus defender.

J.J. Hardy will be solid, we know that.

It has seemed that Caleb Joseph’s level of play has gone down, and not just with his at-bats. But overall, the catching has been quite solid.

Beyond this, the names on the list are mostly the end-of-season players who will either not be on the roster for the playoffs or featured much on the field.

Since the clinching of the AL East title on September 16th, there has not been much in the way of a regular-looking Baltimore Orioles lineup. When the O’s take the field on October 2nd, I think we can expect their generally stellar defense to be with them.