Best Professional Seasons for the O’s likely 25 Man Roster

It is not official, but I believe the Orioles Opening Day roster will be:

Arrieta, Chen, Hammel, Hunter, Matusz
Johnson, Lindstrom, Gregg, Strop, Ayala, Wada, Patton

Markakis RF
Reimold LF
Jones CF
Wieters C
Reynolds 3rd
Hardy SS
Davis 1st
Betemit DH
Andino 2nd

Paulino, Chavez, Johnson, Flaherty

Assuming that is correct, let us look at the best professional seasons these players have had.

Arrieta:
2010 AAA: 6-2, 1.85 era, 73 ip, 48 hits, 3 hr’s, 34 bb’s, 64 k’s

You could argue that his 2008 season at Frederick was better, but we went with his 2010 season at Norfolk because it was the higher level. Based on that, you could also argue for his 2011 MLB performance, but we took the AAA numbers because they were that much better across the board.

Chen:
2010 Japanese Central League: 13-10, 2.87 era, 188 ip, 166 hits, 21 hr’s, 49 bb’s, 153 k’s

Hammel:
2009 MLB: 10-8, 4.33 era, 176.2 ip, 203 hits, 17 hr’s, 42 bb’s, 133 k’s

Hunter:
2010 MLB: 13-4, 3.73 era, 128 ip, 126 hits, 21 hr’s, 33 bb’s, 68 k’s

Matusz:
2010 MLB: 10-12, 4.30 era, 175.2 ip, 173 hits, 19 hr’s, 63 bb’s, 143 k’s

Johnson:
2011 MLB: 6-5, 2.67 era, 91 ip, 80 hits, 5 hr’s, 21 bb’s, 58 k’s

Lindstrom:
2008 MLB: 3-3, 3.14 era, 57.1 ip, 57 hits, 1 hr, 26 bb’s, 43 k’s

Gregg:
2008 MLB: 7-8, 3.41 era, 29 saves, 68.2 ip, 51 hits, 3 hr, 37 bb’s, 58 k’s

Strop:
2011 MLB: 2-0, 0.73 era, 12.1 ip, 8 hits, 0 hr, 3 bb’s, 12 k’s
2010 AAA: 1-2, 1.91 era, 42.1 ip, 32 hits, 1 hr, 14 bb’s, 57 k’s

Ayala:
2011 MLB: 2-2, 2.09 era, 56 ip, 51 hits, 5 hr’s, 20 bb’s, 39 k’s

Wada:
2011 Japan Pacific League: 16-5, 1.51 era, 184.2 ip, 145 hits, 7 hr’s, 40 bb’s, 168 k’s

Patton:
2011 MLB: 2-1, 3.00 era, 30 ip, 25 hits, 2 hr’s, 5 bb’s, 22 k’s
2011 AAA: 4-1, 1.83 era, 44.1 ip, 44 hits, 0 hr’s, 12 bb’s, 30 k’s

His 2007 season where he had success at AA, and AAA, and advanced to the Majors at 21 was more impressive. We went with his 2011 numbers as they were more recent, and after the torn labrum.

Markakis:
2008 MLB: .306 baa, 20 hr’s, 87 rbi, 48 doubles, .406 obp, .491 slg, .897 ops

Reimold:
2009 MLB: .279 baa, 15 hr’s, 45 rbi, 18 doubles, .365 obp, .466 slg, .831 ops

Jones:
2011 MLB: .280 baa, 25 hr’s, 83 rbi, 26 doubles, .319 obp, .466 slg, .785 ops

Wieters:
2011 MLB: .262 baa, 22 hr’s, 68 rbi, 28 doubles, .328 obp, .450 slg, .778 ops

Reynolds:
2009 MLB: .260 baa, 44 hr’s, 102 rbi, 30 doubles, .349 obp, .543 slg, .892 ops

Hardy:
2008 MLB: .283 baa, 24 hr’s, 74 rbi, 31 doubles, .343 obp, .478 slg, .821 ops

Davis:
2008 MLB: .285 baa, 17 hr’s, 55 rbi, 23 doubles, .331 obp, .549 slg, .880 ops

Betemit:
2010 MLB: .297 baa, 13 hr’s, 43 rbi, 20 doubles, .378 obp, .511 slg, .889 ops

Andino:
2011 MLB: .263 baa, 5 hr’s, 36 rbi, 22 doubles, .326 obp, .344 slg, .670 ops

Paulino:
2007 MLB: .263 baa, 11 hr’s, 55 rbi, 25 doubles, .314 obp, .389 slg, .703 ops

Chavez:
2011 MLB: .301 baa, 5 hr’s, 27 rbi, 11 doubles, .323 obp, .426 slg, .749 ops

Johnson:
2009 MLB: .291 baa, 8 hr’s, 62 rbi, 24 doubles, .426 obp, .405 slg, .831 ops

2006 was clearly a better season for Johnson, but we went with ’09 because it was more recent.

Flaherty:
2011 AA: .305 baa, 14 hr’s, 66 rbi, 20 doubles, .384 obp, .523 slg, .907 ops

Obviously not every player on the roster is going to match their previous top levels of production. Instead of this ‘optimistic’ look, we could have just as easily looked at the worst professional seasons these players have had.

I guess what I wanted to show here, is that there is some talent on the roster. Quite a number of players on the roster have had fairly recent success. If more players than expected can come close to again reaching these existing individual ceilings, the O’s can collectively exceed their current expectations as a team.