2022 is almost here! To celebrate the occasion, here are three things I’d like to see from the Baltimore Orioles in the new year.
Keep adding players when the lockout ends
While I personally would love if the Orioles made Carlos Correa the centerpiece of their offseason, I have sadly accepted that won’t happen. However, we can still reasonably ask for them to acquire a couple more players to raise the floor of this roster’s talent and improve the depth.
In terms of position players, a utility infielder with plenty of big-league experience would feel like a no-brainer to join Rougned Odor.
One candidate that comes to mind is a former Houston Astro that Mike Elias already knows: Marwin Gonzalez. I’ll be honest and admit Gonzalez has had two straight years of absolutely dreadful hitting, providing a .590 OPS across 144 games between 2020 and 2021. However, he can play second base, shortstop and third base and that would be pretty useful if he’s able to be a more productive hitter in 2022.
Josh Harrison has less experience at shortstop than Gonzalez, but he’d also be a strong option for a utility infielder, especially if you want someone who has been a better hitter than Gonzalez. Harrison’s .745 OPS between 2020 and 2021 will hardly win a Silver Slugger, but it is perfectly solid for a utility infielder.
There wasn’t much stability or production at second base or third base last year, so being able to stick someone like Harrison there regularly would go a long way to raising the floor of this team.
And of course, Jordan Lyles probably shouldn’t be the only new starting pitcher they take to spring training. Adding more veteran arms to see how much they have left is another low-risk move that should definitely be explored. Matt Harvey’s second half was quite the pleasant surprise, delivering a 4.18 ERA across 10 starts and 51.2 innings. I don’t know if we can bank on him having a 4.18 ERA in 2022, but that second half was a large enough sample to prove his career as a starting pitcher in MLB shouldn’t be done just yet.
The left-handed duo of Cole Hamels and Jon Lester are also worth exploring for 2022. Hamels and Lester have had similar careers, but 2020 and 2021 were wildly different for them. Hamels has pitched just 3.1 innings over the last two years, while Lester combined for just over 200 innings across 2020 and 2021. As such, I’d imagine Lester would be more in-demand but either option would be an addition worth making for the current pitching staff.
I have no idea how much things like a “veteran presence” actually matter for player development in baseball but also, it probably couldn’t hurt for someone like Grayson Rodriguez to have someone like Hamels or Lester to learn from in his rookie season. Perhaps the wisdom from one of these veteran southpaws could be exactly what someone Keegan Akin or Alexander Wells need to improve in 2022. And if Hamels or Lester have absolutely no meaningful impact on any of the younger pitchers? Well, no harm, no foul.
None of these proposed additions are especially glamorous and it’s hardly a guarantee any of them would work. And yet, they’d all be welcome additions to a roster that lost just 110 games.
More young players acquired by Elias start making an impact at the majors
There’s been plenty of good news from the minors since the Mike Elias era began. Now, it’s time to start expecting some amount of success at the major league level from the young players he has acquired through the draft or trades.
The obvious first player to highlight as someone acquired by Elias is the 2019 #1 pick and current #1 prospect in baseball, Adley Rutschman.
While it would certainly be great if Rutschman hit the ground running and enjoyed a successful rookie campaign, his success wouldn’t mean that much for assessing the front office’s ability to find and develop talent. Turning the #1 pick into a successful major leaguer isn’t exactly some stroke of genius and if Rutschman lives up to the hype, it’s hardly a crowning achievement for the front office in terms of identifying or developing talent.
However, that sentiment doesn’t apply to other people who reached AAA last year after being acquired in the Elias era. Kyle Stowers, taken in the 2019 second round with the #71 overall pick, would be someone who could demonstrate that the Elias regime can find good players without needing the #1 overall pick.
Stowers started the year in A-ball with the Aberdeen Ironbirds, before getting promoted to the AA Bowie Baysox and finishing the year in AAA with the Norfolk Tides. Stowers ended the season with 27 homers and a .897 OPS, becoming one of the biggest breakout stories in Baltimore’s farm system. Seeing him show flashes of his power in the majors this year would be very encouraging, demonstrating that perhaps the Orioles have found a reliable source of power from a second-round pick taken by Elias.
The Orioles have also been actively trading for prospects during the Elias era and we could see the first major success from those endeavors with Kyle Bradish. Acquired in the Dylan Bundy deal with the Los Angeles Angels, Bradish is widely accepted as the #3 pitching prospect in the system behind Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall.
He started three games with Bowie, allowing zero runs and producing a K/9 of nearly 18 before spending the majority of the year in Norfolk where he had a 4.26 ERA and 10.9 K/9.
While it’d be great if Rodriguez and Hall live up to their billing as top 100 prospects, it feels like that alone will not be enough for long-term success pitching to AL East lineups, so a successful 2022 at the MLB level for Bradish would be huge. Also, it would show that the front office can identify prospects worth acquiring in trades, which would feel like encouraging news for other prospects who joined the Orioles from trades like Tyler Nevin and Kevin Smith.
A front office with a successful #1 overall pick isn’t that impressive. However, a front office that found a legit power hitter from the second round of the draft and acquired a promising starting pitcher from a trade? Now we’re looking at a front office that can find young talent anywhere.
Do something to honor the tenth anniversary of the 2012 team
Can you believe it’s been ten years since the 2012 Orioles surprised everyone by winning 93 games on their way to their first postseason appearance since 1997?
Now that it’s been a decade, I think it’d be fun for the Orioles to find ways to honor one of the most magical seasons in the franchise’s history. I don’t think we need a year-long celebration of a season that ultimately ended in the ALDS, but a few promotions honoring key players or moments from that season would be a fun trip down memory lane.
For example, I’d like to think a Mark Reynolds bobblehead night would generate a nice bump in attendance, as would something like a t-shirt night for another player synonymous with 2012 like Nate McLouth.
The Orioles are home on September 6th, the 10th anniversary of the legendary Cal Ripken statue game, so that’d be the perfect day to do some sort of celebration of that season at Camden Yards.
In addition to any bobblehead or t-shirt, the Orioles can also be active on social media celebrating the season. The #OTD hashtag, short for “on this day”, could provide them with a regular source of highlights to share on the tenth anniversary of certain games.
I just mentioned September 6, but they could also use May 6 to remember Chris Davis getting the win as a pitcher at Fenway Park. Baltimore’s social media on September 12th should absolutely include Manny Machado’s fantastic play against the Tampa Bay Rays, even if he’s currently on the San Diego Padres.
Unlike the other two items listed here, this one has absolutely nothing to do with the current roster. However, it still matters to me and I’d guess I’m not alone. 2012 was a magical year in Baltimore and now that ten years have passed, it feels like the perfect time to meaningfully celebrate it at the stadium and on the internet.
After all, who wouldn’t love a Mark Reynolds bobblehead?
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).