Baltimore Orioles Offense – A Position by Position Review

Aug 17, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop (6) celebrates his solo home run in the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

SECOND BASE (-1 = Marginally Worse)

After the very mixed 2013 experience of Brian Roberts, Ryan Flaherty, and Alexi Casilla, there was a definite sense that something better needed to be secured for 2014. Roberts moved on to the Yankees, and no deals were forthcoming in the offseason.

Flaherty was the presumptive starter before Jonathon Schoop had a big spring season. Neither has hit for much of an average, though Schoop has shown some significant power and has been worth it all as a stellar Yankees killer.

Schoop has picked it up of late, hitting five home runs with 12 RBIs over his past 20 games. The ball comes off his bat with a lot of authority, and when he learns to make better and more consistent contact, he may well project to be a player of the statistical range of Adam Jones.

Flaherty is a plus defender, but a minus hitter. His defensive versatility makes it difficult for a team to not keep him around. But what he is at the end of the day is a utility player who can occasionally turn on a pitch and hit it a long distance. Since we are talking offensive production in this article, this is sadly not usually a category that will include Flaherty’s name very much.

So overall, though the second base position this year will give the Orioles more home runs than 2013, it is moderately worse in production than 2013.