Baltimore Orioles: A 2016 First Quarter Evaluation

Apr 12, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; (From left to right) Baltimore Orioles second baseman Ryan Flaherty (3), shortstop J.J. Hardy (2)m, center fielder Adam Jones (10), and second baseman Jonathan Schoop (6) celebrate a victory against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports /

Now that the first quarter of the 2016 season is in the books, what might we say in terms of evaluation about this edition of the Baltimore Orioles?

With the Orioles on pace to win about 100 games, it should be rather difficult to find a great deal of negative. But every team has weaknesses, and those of us who follow the O’s everyday are aware of some of them.

Yet at the same time, it has to be stated that this is a very good start upon a 162-game season. Winning 25 of the first 40 games is excellent by any standard, even if it is true that 25 of those games were at home rather than on the road. The Orioles were 19-21 at this point a year ago. Before that: 22-18 in 2014, 23-17 in 2013, and 26-14 after the fantastic beginning of the 2012 season that launched this new era of Baltimore baseball.

This is a long way traveled from just a couple of months ago when it took over a dozen games to get even a single spring training victory.

Yes, there are some warts on this team. Starting pitching can be sketchy – no surprise there. The powerful offense can be shut down by excellent pitching – again, no surprise. Players have their ups and downs and mini-slumps.

But so many more positive things can be said than negative concerns. The bullpen and defense have been all that everyone hoped and expected them to be. The Orioles lead all of baseball in home runs, with the promise of many more to come if it ever stops raining and gets warm.

A new item, for which the O’s are not really getting that much credit, is the on-base percentage number they have established. This has been (justifiably) a major complaint about the team in recent years. At this point, their .331 OBP ranks them second in the American League behind Boston’s .355. The Red Sox lead in almost every offensive categories (we’ll see how long that remains the situation).

The Orioles also trail the Red Sox with the second-best team batting average at .267, as well as second in slugging and OPS. And they are fourth in runs scored per game. Fearing that this would be a team that struck out at a prodigious rate, in fact the O’s are ninth in the league in this regard, with Houston already fanning 100 more times. The Birds are league-average in bases on balls.

On the pitching side of the equation, the picture is brighter than might have been anticipated six or seven weeks ago. The 3.70 total ERA is fifth in the AL, giving up a fourth-highest runs per game at 3.90. Their walks, strikeouts, hits allowed, total WHIP are all at about the league average.

It is no surprise that the Orioles bullpen is among the best. Actually they have the #1 best ERA at the moment at 2.49 with an 11-3 record. And concerns about the pen being overused are overwrought, as the 130.1 innings of work is the exact average in the AL.