Your 2018 Orioles Preview - Infielders
We did it, friends. Baseball season is less than a day away. Pretty soon you’ll have 580 people tweeting out “Player X is on pace for 162 homers!” I can’t wait. While I’m pretty jazzed up to watch Orioles baseball for the next 6 months, there is the dark cloud hanging overhead. The fact that many key members of this team could be running down the orange carpet for the last time. Manny Machado, Brad Brach, Zach Britton, Adam Jones, and Buck Showalter could all be with different clubs next year, and to be honest, it sucks. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
I previewed the starting pitchers on Monday, the bullpen yesterday, infielders will be today, and then the outfielders tomorrow leading you right into Opening Day. The Orioles have had a solid infield core for a while, and that should continue this season…..as long as Manny Machado is still on the squad. Let’s take a look at this fantastic infield.
The Deputy, Chris Davis is looking for a big comeback year. He missed a chunk of the season last year due to an oblique injury, and even when healthy and in the lineup, struggled bad. He played in only 128 games and only hit 26 homers, had 61 RBI, still struck out 195 times despite missing all of those games, and had an disgusting .215 average. Insane that you can still strike out almost 200 times despite missing 34 games. His big thing was striking out looking. 75 of his 195 Ks were looking. That is unreal. You hear little league coaches tell you that you can’t get a hit if you don’t swing. That was easily the most infuriating thing about 2017, watching Davis watch pitch after pitch get called for a strike right down the dick.
I feel it in my plums, Davis will have a good year in 2018. We won’t have to worry about the defense, that will always be there, but the bat will comeback in a big way. I’m not expecting a 2013 like season for Davis (53/138/.286/.370), but I’m guessing something like 34/90/.250/.310. We’ve seen what he is capable of, so those numbers aren’t out of the question at all. He has to stay healthy, and absolutely cut down on the strikeouts. He did have a sore elbow this spring than held him out of some games, but it seems as if that has passed. There have been rumors of Buck placing him atop the lineup as leadoff guy. It’s interesting, but I don’t hate it. He does draw walks, so he can be that out of there box leadoff guy who sets the table and can still hit 35-40 bombs.
Your starting second baseman is one of the move improved players in the league, and is quickly making a name for himself. Jonathan Schoop is turning into an absolute animal before out eyes, and I love it. This year he will be turning double plays with his BFF, Manny. I think eventually Schoop will outgrow second base because he’s as big as a house (listed at 6’1″ 225 but probably 6’3″ and 240), but he still manages to make some highlight plays. People forget he has a stronger arm than Machado. He’s become a very dangerous weapon on offense as well, he really broke out last year. The only Orioles representative in Miami for the All Star Game, Schoop put up career high numbers across the board. Batted .293, hit 32 bombs, 105 driven in, and had an OBP of .338. I’m insanely excited to see if there is another level that Schoop can reach. Is he a 35+ homer guy from the second base position? Dear lord that would be sweet. Excited to see Schoopy make another All Star game this year.
At third this season will be a guy the O’s picked up at the deadline last year, Tim Beckham. Beckham came over from Tampa last year and finished the year strong as the Orioles shortstop. That will change this year as he will trade spots with Manny Machado. It’s not ideal to move Manny and switch Beckham to third, a position he had virtually no experience in, but it was basically the Orioles catering to Machado. His arm scares me at third, and it’s a fact that we will see a fair share of plays where he boots balls, skips throws, and just doesn’t look comfortable at third. It will be ugly at times. In 50 games with the Birds, Beckham hit 10 homers, drove in 26, hit .306, and had an OBP of .348. I’m not expecting his average to be above the .300 mark, but I do expect his power to be there this season. I am a bit worried that his move to third will have an effect on his bat, but time will tell. This is a scary experiment, it’s not easy to go from a guy like Manny at third to a guy who has 5 starts at third. In Buck We Trust, right?
My son, my baby. Manny Machado is making the switch to short in his last year with the Orioles. I’m not here to talk about whether or not the O’s should bring him back, because the answer is of fucking course they should. But let’s look at this year. Machado moves back to his original position, shortstop. It’s what he has wanted since he came up, and no more J.J. Hardy meant shortstop was open. Manny will be a Gold Glove caliber player at short, there is no question about that. It is scary to think that Machado may be better at short than he was at third. Literally take a second to think about that. He started off very slow at the plate in 2017, batting .219 and hitting 15 homers in the first three months of the season. But his last 3 months were typical Manny, .283 average with 18 homers over that time. Everyone and their mother expects Machado to have a MONSTER season since it’s his walk year, and I’m with them. I expect Manny to be there in the MVP talk with the numbers he will put up. How the team does also dictates where Machado finishes the season. If the O’s start out terribly and are 10 out in May, the trade talk will be hot. But if the O’s play above their heads and are fighting for a wild card spot near the deadline, I think the O’s keep him. Even if that is the wrong move in the long run, I believe they’ll hold on to him and see what they can squeeze out of him for one last run. I do know I am fucking HYPED to see him run down the Orange Carpet one last time. MVP numbers for 13 in his last season as a Bird, book it.
Danny Valencia makes the team as the utility infielder, which was Ryan Flaherty’s position the last few years. Valencia absolutely eats lefties for dinner, it is just what he does. Valencia hit 15 bombs for Seattle last year in 130 games, mostly at first base. He’s not known for his defense, but in a pinch can come in and provide some relief across the diamond. I’m not expecting much out of him with the leather, but I do expect to see him at DH against lefties while Mark Trumbo is still out with a quad injury.
Pedro Alvarez joins the Birds for their trip up North in a surprise move. He was brought back on a minor league deal in case of injury. That injury happened. Alvarez is strictly a DH at this point, he’s just god awful in the field. The Orioles tried him in the outfield in the minors last year, and it just doesn’t work. You know what does work? His boom stick. He hit 26 homers in Triple A for the O’s last year. He’ll likely get see some time against righties in the DH spot, but that is it. Alvarez should only be in Baltimore for a few weeks until some other guys get healthy.
Catching should be interesting this year. Caleb Joseph rebounded from his insanely unlucky 2016, and played pretty well in his role. 8 homers, 28 driven in, .256 average in 89 games. Those are decent numbers for a guy who had 0 RBIs the year. This year he’ll probably get more than half the starts, but will be looking over his shoulder as Chance Sisco, a top 50 MLB prospect is waiting there. Sisco has a great name, and can hit the shit out of the ball, that is all he has been doing this spring. The worry for Sisco is the defense. He isn’t quite there behind the plate, so expect to see teams test him, and often. There was even talk about switching him to another position a few seasons back. I’m a bit surprised Buck gave Sisco the backup catcher role, I thought he would want Chance to get everyday reps with Triple A, but it seems as if he’ll be counted on to help the team immediately. I’m insanely excited to see what Sisco can do with the bat, and if that glove and throwing arm can come around in time to take control of the starting spot behind the dish.
This is an insanely powerful group, we could be looking at 35+ homers from Manny, 30+ from Schoop, 30+ from Davis, and 20+ from Beckham. They can all flash the leather too. This is a fun group to watch, and the team kind of goes as they go. If Davis and Manny are slumping, the team kind of follows that. Let’s hope these big bombers find their grove and play like we know they can. Like I said above, expect Machado to have an MVP type season this year, so just remember I told you so.
Outfield preview coming tomorrow just in time for Opening Day!