Orioles Hitters in May

The Orioles followed up a 16-11 record in April with a 15-13 May.  As a team they scored 142 runs in 28 games, which comes out to an average of 5.07 runs per game.  The Orioles offense was nothing if not consistent, averaging 5.11 runs per game during the month of April. 

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The Orioles actually hit 16 more home runs in May than they did in April, but still scored less runs.  They also had a higher batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage in May.  It’s interesting that they averaged less runs per game in May than April with the facts in the previous sentence.  It just points to the importance of the sequencing of events.  I strongly suspect that many of the Orioles extra base hits came without runners on base.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at how each of the Orioles primary hitters performed during the month of May.

Matt Wieters  

Matt Wieters had a decent month of May hitting 3 home runs and driving in 17.  He didn’t show much in the batting average and on base departments but his .447 slugging percentage for the month is impressive for a catcher.  His strike out rate was solid during the month, four percentage points lower than his career rate.

Chris Davis  

Chris Davis had an absolutely phenomenal month of May.  He hit 10 long balls and slugged an astronomical .768.  His .768 slugging percentage led the league for the month and so did his .404 ISO (isolated slugging percentage).  Davis has truly blossomed into an elite slugger this season.  If he hadn’t won the American League player of the month award during April, he probably would have won it for May.  And there’s also this.

Ryan Flaherty

The Flaherty as my colleague Lance Rinker likes to call him had a very nondescript May facing right handed pitchers and getting sent to the minors for a brief stay to find his swing.  He didn’t hit well before or after his trip to the minors, but he did play some good defense to help balance out the scales.  Flaherty played at about replacement level for the month.

Alexi Casilla

For most of the month, Casilla drew starts against left handed starters.  The club flirted with having him give up switch hitting and bat only from the right side.  Nothing much came of that talk.  It’s possible that he’s still working on the switch.  There’s no sugar coating it, he didn’t hit well.

J.J. Hardy

Hardy had a good month in the power department swatting seven long balls.  He didn’t walk or strike out much, and his low on base but high slugging ways are fitting in much better lower in the order this season.  He slugged .518 for the month, fantastic for a shortstop.  He now has 12 home runs on the year.  That kind of power for a shortstop with a good glove is extremely rare in the game today.

Manny Machado  

What is there to say that hasn’t already been said about Manny Machado?  The 20 year old continues to have a monster season on both sides of the ball.  He hit an incredible 14 doubles during the month, one for every other game that he played.  Machado had an astounding 44 hits during the month, 18 of which went for extra bases.  He tied for the league lead in both hits and doubles for the month.  And almost as an aside, he played fantastic defense at the same time.  We are witnessing an unbelievable beginning to his career.  I feel lucky to be able to watch him play every day.

Nate McLouth 

The most impressive thing about Nate McLouth’s May are the nine stolen bases.  Nine!  In only 24 games.  The amazing on base percentage we saw during April from McLouth came back to earth a little bit, but he was still able to provide value to the club on the bases.  As the leadoff hitter, Nate is doing leadoff hitter things.  He scored 14 runs on the month, which is pretty impressive considering he only had 104 plate appearances and had a .308 OBP.

Adam Jones

Jones had a great month for all of his fantasy owners out there, piling up seven dingers and seven steals.  His plate discipline didn’t improve any as he drew walks at a 4% clip for the month.  On defense, he seemed to settle down after making some gruesome errors during the month of April.  His most impressive offensive number for the month was his .546 slugging percentage.  That’s fantastic for a center fielder, as the position has turned into more of a place to put plus defenders who don’t hit a whole lot.

Nick Markakis 

We continue the theme with another Oriole who had a great month at the plate.  A .336/.391/.526 slash line tells the story for Nick Markakis.  An excellent all around month for the Orioles right fielder.  He continues to be almost impossible to strike out.

Chris Dickerson

Dickerson is starting to see more and more time at the DH position for the Orioles.  He is getting more and more playing time as a result of his solid play.  And he also had this walk off home run to beat the Tigers on the last day of May.  A few days prior to that, he had a two home run day against the Yankees.  If he continues to put up these kinds of heroics, he’s going to be a big piece of the Orioles this summer.  Dickerson had a .400 ISO in 35 plate appearances.

Steve Pearce

Pearce continues to get at bats in left field and at DH versus lefties.  He only batted .250 but was able to post a .341 OBP because of a strong walk rate.  He also popped two homers in 41 plate appearances.  Pearce is basically doing what he’s been asked to do, which is hit left handed pitching.

We’ve seen a number of Orioles hitters have fantastic months of May.  If the pitching didn’t struggle as much as it did, the Orioles would have had a much better record than 15-13.  The team is currently 2^nd in the league in runs scored.  The hitters are definitely holding up their end of the bargain so far.  We’ll check in on them again after the month of June to see how they held up.