Baltimore Orioles Season Preview: Winning Season Still Not in Sight
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There are a handful of teams—the Royals, Tigers and Pirates join the Orioles on this list—that have fallen on hard times after fielding a run of contenders in the mid-2010s. Of that group, the O’s are the furthest from being good again. But they have made progress down on the farm. They now have a top-10 prospect in switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 pick in ’19. He won’t get to the majors until ’22, but when he does, he’ll be to Baltimore what Buster Posey was to last decade’s Giants. Behind Rutschman are the team’s previous two first-rounders, righty Grayson Rodriguez and lefty DL Hall, giving the O’s a credible farm system for the first time in nearly a decade.
At the big league level . . . hey, how about those prospects? The Orioles lost 108 games last year after losing 115 in ’18 and are in line to lose 110 again—especially after trading two of their best players, infielder Jonathan Villar and righthander Dylan Bundy. They did at least retain (for now) outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini after his career year (.291/.364/.535, 35 homers).
Mancini’s breakout wasn’t the only bright spot in 2019: Lefty John Means made the All-Star team as a rookie, and journeyman infielder Hanser Alberto challenged for the batting title. The ’20 Orioles will be looking to unearth similar finds. Can rookie Austin Hays hold down centerfield? Is this the long-awaited year that Ryan Mountcastle will take the third base job? Will Chance Sisco become the everyday catcher? Even the worst team gets to distribute 6,000 plate appearances and 1,400 innings, giving talent a chance to prove itself.
No, it’s not a pennant race, but for the first time in a while, O’s fans should see players who will be there the next time the team makes a run. — Joe Sheehan
Projected Record: 53-109, 5th in AL East
Baltimore has dropped all pretense of trying in the majors. Get ready for another dreary season from not just the O’s you’ve never heard of, but also the ones you have.
Key Question: Will Chris Davis bounce back?
The veteran first baseman was contemplating retirement this winter, but decided to stick it out. Now, he already has three spring training home runs and has put on 25 pounds. His teammates voted him Baltimore’s most impressive player so far, according to MLB.com, though it’s too soon to tell whether he truly resurrected from baseball rock bottom. — Matt Martell
Player Spotlight
Moving Up: Hunter Harvey, SP
Six years after being drafted at No. 22, the oft-injured righthander finally debuted for Baltimore last August with a fastball averaging 98.4 mph.
Moving Down: Chris Davis, 1B
The less Davis plays, the more valuable he becomes—Davis was actually 1.8 WAR better
in ’19 (-1.0 in 352 PAs) than ’18 (-2.8 in 522 PAs).
Watchability Ranking: Avert Your Eyes
Can they really be worse than they were last year? is not the sexiest question to drive interest in a team, but it’s a question all the same, and that gives Baltimore second-to-last place here rather than last place. — Emma Baccellieri
Preview of the 2030 Preview
Adley Rutschman, C: Remember what Matt Wieters (the No. 5 pick in ’07) was supposed to be? That’s what Rutschman has been: an elite receiver and patient hitter with a swing that’s identical on both sides. The Orioles never blossomed, but Rutschman’s power did. Now in the twilight of his prime, he will lose some of his defensive value with the umpires’ signing off on an electronic strike zone, finally persuaded after all those catchers let fastballs sail at Ángel Hernández as payback for years of missed calls. — Craig Goldstein
