Baltimore Orioles: The Right Field Fiasco of 2015

Aug 10, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Baltimore Orioles left fielder

David Lough

(9), center fielder

Adam Jones

(10), and right fielder

Gerardo Parra

(18) share a hug following the final out of a 3-2 victory against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

It is generally believed that the Baltimore Orioles had a terrible season in 2015 at the corner outfield positions. Just how bad was it?

Let us take two articles to examine it more closely, beginning today with right field and then next time looking at left field.

To jump into this, let me ask the reader to guess where the Orioles placed among the 15 teams in the American League in cumulative offensive production from the rotating list of players who were in right field in 2015. It totals to be 12 different players who spent some time at this position, including two games each from David Lough and Jimmy Paredes.

So … before reading further, where do you think the Orioles ranked in categories like batting average, on base percentage, home runs, etc.?

My guess is that most of you reading this would think that in just about every category (except maybe home runs) the Orioles would rank well into the bottom half of the American League.

The following chart lists seven offensive statistics, followed by the average stat for that category among AL teams, followed by the total number produced by Orioles right fielders, and finally listing how the O’s ranked in the entire league.

Statistic	AL avg.	O’s	AL Rank
Batting Avg.	.257	.275	4^th
On Base Pct.	.324	.318	9^th
Home Runs	24	24	7^th
Hits	157	173	3^rd
Runs	82	84	6^th
RBIs	81	82	10^th
Xtra Base Hits	57	58	6^th

Are you surprised by what you saw? My guess is that these actual numbers are far better than what Orioles fans would suspect. It certainly does not feel like the O’s would have had the third highest number of hits and the fourth best batting average. Not when the eyes saw a regular merry-go-round of players sent out there over the course of the season.

Overall, the numbers in the chart above show that the Orioles were no worse than middle of the pack in terms of right field production.

My next guess is that readers are now remembering that Chris Davis was sent out there quite a bit and that he is the reason for these better than expected numbers. He certainly did not hurt them, especially by hitting nine home runs; but Crush only actually played 30 games in right field.

Here is a chart of right field production for the Orioles in 2015 …

NAME	G	AB	H	HR	RBI	BA	OBP
Gerardo Parra	43	162	44	5	20	.272	.300
Delmon Young	40	148	40	2	13	.270	.278
Chris Davis	30	111	28	9	25	.252	.311
Travis Snider	20	68	21	1	9	.309	.347
Dariel Alvarez	12	28	7	1	1	.250	.300
Alejandro De Aza	10	28	10	0	1	.357	.455
Nolan Reimold	10	13	4	0	2	.308	.400
Chris Parmelee	8	26	9	3	4	.346	.414
Steve Pearce	7	25	6	2	3	.240	.321
Ryan Flaherty	5	14	2	1	3	.143	.294
Jimmy Paredes	2	5	2	0	1	.400	.400
David Lough	2	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Totals	162	628	173	24	82	.275	.318

Contributing to these numbers are those of Demon Young, who did hit well while playing a respectable outfield. And a number of others — Parra, De Aza, Snider — did actually hit fairly well when playing right field, though other places did not go as well for them.

And that is the story of the season. Those who played right field, by and large did not contribute as well from other positions or designated hitter.