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Baltimore Orioles: Incredible Hitting Streak of Adam Jones

By Randy Buchman

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Apr 12, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones (10) hits a two-run home run during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones has been on a total tear in the five games the O’s have played at Camden Yards to open the 2015 season. He has done this after opening the season 1-for-12 in the three games against Tampa Bay.

Over the past five-game stretch, Adam Jones has been 11-for-17 with a double and four home runs. While knocking in nine runs, he has also been walked once and been hit by a pitch, scoring eight runs.

This may be difficult to believe about Jones, but this is his 10th season in the major leagues. He will turn age 30 on August 1st of this year. Adam’s first two years in Seattle only involved about one-quarter of a season the big leagues, but since then he has been pretty much a regular starter.

I thought it would be interesting to look back over the previous nine years and see if there are other comparable stretches of the same sort as we have seen in the past week. We know he can be a streaky hitter, but this span has been especially impressive. In fact, I could only find a handful of other occasions that come even close.

One of these was just a year ago from April 16th to 21st when Jones was 10-for-21, though he did not hit any home runs and only drove in a total of four. The first of these games was a 3-0 win over the Rays, while the other four games resulted in a four-game split with the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

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Also last year, from June 3rd through 7th, Jones was 11-for-23 with three home runs and eight RBIs. Again, the Orioles were 3-2 over this stretch. He was 6-for-10 in the first two games which were victories in Texas. The final of the five games was a 6-3 victory over Oakland back in Baltimore where Jones opened the scoring in the first inning with a solo blast.

Adam Jones was 12-for-23 with four RBIs (but no homers) in the first five games of 2013. However, this nice start of the season was rather lost when compared to Chris Davis who was 10-for-18 with four home runs and 17 RBIs!  (Remember that player?) Also, from May 23 to 26 he hit four consecutive solo home runs – one per game – against the Blue Jays in Toronto.

The only marginally comparable stretch of game farther back in history is from June 19 to 24 of 2010. Jones was 11-for-21 over these five games with a double, three home runs and six runs batted in. The Baltimore Orioles were only 2-3 against the Padres and Marlins – those teams tallying 35 runs in five games.

So, putting all of this together, the past five games have been the best five-game stretch of his career.

If Adam Jones can keep up some measure of similar success over the first couple months of the season, he could do for the Orioles what Nelson Cruz did in 2014. Cruz helped the O’s just barely keep their heads above water until such time as the pitching got into a groove and others began to hit.

The Orioles are not playing at a high level at this moment; that is simply the truth, especially with the relief pitching. But there is too much talent and good coaching and leadership for this to continue indefinitely. The O’s are going to fix and straighten out some of these problems. And until then, it might be Jones who prevents them from falling behind terribly far in the AL East.

Next: Current and future salary obligations for the Orioles

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