Baltimore Orioles: Position by Position Ranking in the A.L.
Jun 30, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado (13) signals to the crowd after hitting a home run in the fifth inning against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
From time to time I dig through the statistics of the Baltimore Orioles hitters, going position by position to see how they rank with the rest of the American League. We are halfway through the season. This exercise always surfaces some pleasant surprises and some shocking negatives.
In the pleasant surprise category is the combined batting average of all Orioles right fielders at .291 and second in the league, even as their combined RBI totals are near the bottom.
In the shocking category is seeing the combined batting average of all O’s left fielders at 12th in the league at .221. Ugh! I guess that is not terribly surprising given the early season troubles of Alejandro De Aza, and nobody else has claimed that position on a daily basis.
And in the category of “I was afraid that might be true,” it is grievous to see the combined second base batting average as 10th in the league at .241. But it is true that the power numbers in home runs and RBIs are among the best in the A.L.
Here is a chart of the Orioles hitters, position by position, and how they rank in the American League. After the graph we’ll make a few comments on each position.
| Position | Average | HRs | RBIs |
| Catcher | .237 (6) | 8 (10) | 35 (7) |
| 1st Base | .243 (9) | 19 (4) | 51 (5) |
| 2nd Base | .241 (10) | 8 (5) | 39 (4) |
| 3rd Base | .299 (2) | 17 (3) | 47 (2) |
| Shortstop | .226 (12) | 6 (3) | 28 (6) |
| Left Field | .221 (12) | 8 (7) | 25 (13) |
| Center Field | .274 (8) | 12 (2) | 44 (3) |
| Right Field | .291 (2) | 10 (11) | 37 (9) |
| D. Hitter | .279 (4) | 10 (7) | 44 (7) |
Catcher – Caleb Joseph’s numbers contribute to about two-thirds of these total stats. Even though Wieters has obviously better production numbers (though that has cooled off in recent games), Joseph does have a very good on-base percentage of .317 for a player that is only batting .239. He does however strike out in about 25% of plate appearances.
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1st Base – About 70% of these numbers belong to Chris Davis, including 15 of the 19 home runs. A surprise here is to see that Steve Pearce is batting .317 when playing first base – 16-for-51 with three doubles and three homers. Does his position defensively affect him greatly on offense? I don’t know, I’m just a reporter here, but his batting average apart from playing first base is .194.
2nd Base – It has been a long, long time since the Orioles had much of a batting average contribution from the second base position, and this continues to be a reality. However, they get above-average power from the likes of Ryan Flaherty and Jonathan Schoop. Exactly one-half of the at-bats are from Flaherty, who has hit .254 when playing second.
3rd Base – Obviously, and not surprisingly, Manny Machado has this position’s numbers near the top of the American League. It has been a great year and a pleasure to see him achieving at the very high level of the hopes everyone has had for him. The impressive item in this number is to see his RBIs total of 47 as second in the league – most of this from the leadoff position (34 total).
Shortstop – Though we would not expect J.J. Hardy and the other O’s who have played shortstop to have these stats in the top third of the league, neither would we expect them to only be better than three other teams. Everth Cabrera’s 19-for-91 (.209) really pulls the numbers down. Also giving some better feeling to these stats is the way that Hardy has a special gift for delivering in clutch situations – bang for the buck.
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Left Field – There is not much in the way of any sort of excellence that stands out among the seven players who have been in left field for the Baltimore Orioles. The most at-bats have come from Travis Snider, who is hitting .240 while playing there. The best overall numbers are surprisingly from David Lough – 13-for-48 with a .271 average.
Center Field – Adam Jones helps these numbers to be near the top, especially in terms of power – second in home runs and third in RBIs. But it is surprising to see the .274 batting average as only in the middle of the pack. There are some very good A.L. center fielders.
Right Field – As mentioned above, the .291 average is surprising and certainly a good statistic. This is about Markakis-like numbers, while the 10 homers are above what he would have provided. The combination of Snider, De Aza, and Chris Parmelee are 40-for-121 for an average of .331. Chris Davis will likely bring the overall average down, while increasing the power stats.
Designated Hitter – Jimmy Paredes represents 70% of these statistical numbers and is batting .319 as a DH. Very good! Unfortunately all other are only hitting 16-for-83 for an average of .189 … so, why not just let Paredes do it most nights?
Overall, again, it may not be as good as we hoped for; but everyone is pretty much with the team now, healthy, and ready to contribute at a higher level in the second half.
We’ll come back in the next day or two with some overall pitching statistics for the first half of the season.