Baltimore Orioles: Grading Jonathan Schoop So Far

Jun 14, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop (6) is greeted in the dugout after hitting a home run during the eighth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

With a total of 64 games in the books on the Baltimore Orioles season of 2016, how would we grade Jonathan Schoop so far?

Hope for Schoop was pretty high going into this year. After marked improvement in 2015 over the previous season, talk even circulated that perhaps the O’s second baseman could have a sort of Machado-like breakout season.

Here are the numbers right now, noting that Jonathan has played in all 64 Orioles games this year. He is 86-for-309 for an average of .268 and OPB of .299, hitting 10 home runs and 13 doubles. Most of these numbers are about the same as last year, with the average and OBP slightly lower. Add to this his stellar defense and rare arm strength.

These are not breakout sorts of numbers, but they are solid for a player who is age 24 years, 8 months. For example, he is on pace to hit 26 home runs. I was hoping for 30+, but not many second basemen are going to come close to a number like that.

Just how well is Schoop performing compared to other second basemen in the American League? There are some good ones for sure, but Jonathan is well above average.

Among the best players at the position are Robinson Cano, Ian Kinsler, Jose Altuve, Dustin Pedroia and Jason Kipnis.

Schoop’s 10 homers tie him with Altuve for third in the league behind Cano’s 18 and Kinsler’s 14.

His 36 RBIs are fourth-best in the league behind the three characters in the sentence above. His doubles are fifth-most.

Altuve’s batting average of .341 and OBP of .414 sure are impressive. He and Pedroia really demonstrate that the game is not ALWAYS about bigger players and body types, though the trend is heavily in that direction. All of the names listed above are ahead of Schoop in batting average and OBP.

Schoop is growing on the job by slowing dropping his percentage of strikeouts by a point or two each season, while also gaining just a few more walks. Even so, there is a lot of headroom for plate discipline improvement.