Baltimore Orioles: Manny Machado Among Baseball’s Top Third Basemen
By Nate Wardle
2. Baltimore Orioles – Manny Machado, Ryan Flaherty
Preseason prediction: 2nd, Machado, Flaherty, Mark Trumbo, Jimmy Paredes
It was another fantastic year for one of the brightest stars in the game. Machado hit .294/.343/.533 with 37 HRs, 40 2Bs, 96 RBIs, 105 runs for the Baltimore Orioles this year. It was the best batting average of the now three-time All-Star’s career. Manny’s oWAR was 5.0, and his dWAR was 2.2. It was another great year for Manny at third base. He only made seven errors, is a Gold Glove finalist and continues to turn in dazzling play after dazzling play. His range was above average, as expected.
The only flaw continues to be the strikeouts and free swinging nature that Machado possesses. He was better the first half of the season, hitting .318/.375/.569 with 29 of his 40 2Bs. Manny also had 30 walks to 65 strikeouts. In the second half, he hit .266/.306/.492 with 18 walks and 55 strikeouts. So, his selectivity went down, but so did his strikeouts in the second half. Regardless, he continues to be a superstar, but there is still room for improvement.
Ryan Flaherty, and Paul Janish and Pedro Alvarez (each played less than 10 games) only played third base because Machado moved to SS to replace an injured J.J. Hardy. Flaherty and Janish simply couldn’t hit, and Alvarez couldn’t field. If Machado and Donaldson were equal, those three would have put Manny in second.