The Biggest Orioles Surprise (And Disappointment) of the First Half for the Season

Sometimes it just is what it is.

Sometimes there have not been nearly enough shocking developments – on t he positive – for a team to get close to its aspirations and sometimes there are way more setbacks and disappointments to overcome, especially if you flirt with the MLB lead in unearned runs and can’t play clean enough baseball and give away outs and runs and opportunities.

There is a time for going meta and trying to find different ways to frame things, but with the second half nearly upon there is also something to said for pointing out why the Orioles are where they are. And the fact that a guy who most thought would be a spare part on the bench has been their best player since April 28, and their most talented player, by far, hasn’t even been one of the top four or five performers on a bad team in a bad American League, that kind of tells their story nearly 100 games in.

Biggest Surprise

Blaze Alexander is not supposed to be able to go 200 plate appearances with a .922 OPS. Ever. And especially not as part of a suspect lineup for a team really struggle to produce runs consistently and while being thrust into an everyday role more than he is accustomed to.

Alexander was supposed to play some second base with Jackson Holliday out for the first few months of the season and move around and pinch run. He wasn’t supposed to lead MLB in batting average since May 1 and get on base 40 percent of the time. He leads the team in pretty much everything since April 28, and now in a lot of categories for the entire season.

He’s made everyone forget about a really tough adjustment and slow start. And now his indefinite injury from getting hit by a pitch in his hand has cast a major cloud over the second half of the season. There isn’t anyone else on the roster or close to it who could handle third base like him and play eight positions and no one was hitting like he was, not even Pete Alonso.

It’s yet another reason this team is going to end up selling no matter what baseball czar Mike Elias says.

There is a case to be made for Samuel Basallo, still just 21 years old, and he is making history. But the power was there and the profile was there and I’m not shocked he capitalized on the opportunity. Alexander is doing things no one could have imagined.

Biggest Disappointment

This is Gunnar Henderson. Period.

He cannot get it going and cannot get out of his own way. This front office and coaching staff seem to have no idea how to reach him or help him in any of the aspects where he is struggling, and there are many. The fact that he has an OPS below .700 this late in the season is bonkers.

He is too good for that.

The fact the has been picked off and caught stealing, combined, more times than he’s stolen a base successfully makes no sense. The failing to put tags on people and not being on the bag and booting routine balls. Some of that is just The Elias Way, but it can’t cut this deep for a player this important to everything the Orioles do.

He has to be better in the second half. He might need to DH more often and get a little more time off. He did finally hit a homer again shortly before the break, so many that helps. Leading off sometimes maybe might help.

You’d like to think it can’t get any worse, but then again Adley Rutschman was a lost cause for a full season and a half, so who knows with this staff.

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