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Baltimore Orioles Offense Hanging Pitchers Out to Dry

By Nate Wardle

BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 31: Trey Mancini
BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 31: Trey Mancini /
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The Baltimore Orioles ruined another fantastic start by Dylan Bundy on Monday night, with a close game turning into a late 7-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Baltimore Orioles had two men on with no outs in the first inning and got nothing.

With two men on in the second inning with no outs and the Orioles got nothing. They had the bases loaded in the fifth inning, and Adam Jones hit into a double play where he was ruled to have been inside the baseline.

Let’s not sugarcoat this. The Baltimore Orioles are not hitting.

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One game may show glimpses of returning to their powerful selves, but those glimpses are not enough.

Trey Mancini is doing well leading off. Manny Machado is doing pretty well too. A lot of the rest of the regulars, however, are not.

The Orioles are hitting .214/.287/.352. That’s not just bad, it is abysmal.

They have struck out 127 times, dead last by a wide margin in the American League. Their batting average is 14th in the AL, the on-base percentage is 13th.

Orioles starting catcher Caleb Joseph is hitting .115 in 28 plate appearances. Furthermore, Chris Davis, starting first baseman, is hitting .088 in 40 plate appearances.

Jonathan Schoop, last year’s Most Valuable Oriole, is hitting .200 in 53 plate appearances. Tim Beckham, starting third baseman is hitting .196 in 49 plate appearances.

Anthony Santander is hitting .182 in 36 plate appearances. Colby Rasmus, the other right fielder, is hitting .095 in 23 plate appearances.

Lastly, Adam Jones has already mashed his way into three double plays, several rally killing.

So, while everyone wants to blame Davis, and his egregious batting average makes that easy to do, this isn’t just his fault.

At this point, hoping for the approach to change just won’t happen. Yeah, it was great to see Jonathan Schoop lay down a bunt in a win over the weekend.

Where was that last night, when you just needed one run? Where is hitting the ball the other way? Not swinging at balls outside the strike zone? Where is hitting a deep fly ball when runners are on base?

The Baltimore Orioles seem to continuously do this. When the pitching does well, the offense can’t hit. When the offense breaks out, the pitching falls off a cliff and they have to score 10 runs to win.

The pitching is looking better, except for a few shaky bullpen pieces right now.

Dylan Bundy has been an ace, period. Andrew Cashner can continue to prove himself tonight. Alex Cobb will make his first start this weekend. Chris Tillman was somewhat better in his second start, showing some signs of hope. Kevin Gausman was better too.

But, if the offense continues to flail uncontrollably at strike three, the results aren’t going to change.

At this point, this isn’t on the hitting coach, because the Orioles’ offensive approach has been the same throughout Buck Showalter‘s tenure.

Maybe he is the one to blame for this, I don’t know. Whatever the case, the Baltimore Orioles’ offense is in a funk.

Likely, the only way to get themselves out of it is to play through it.

It might look ugly for awhile, and the numbers might still look pretty bad a month down the road, but you have to wonder how much sitting these players would help.

Joseph is obviously strong defensively, as I wrote yesterday.

Chris Davis is a strong defender, a reason to hope he turns it around.

Tim Beckham has looked pretty good at third base, arguably better than Manny Machado has at shortstop. Schoop has an arm better than most, if not all second baseman.

Next: Caleb Joseph's Baseball Intelligence Shouldn't Go Unnoticed

So, while the offense isn’t good, these guys are likely to play because overall they are better than any potential replacements. Shield your eyes though, as there is no telling how long it will take for things to get better.

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