Baltimore Orioles
81-73, 4th AL East, 13 GB
1972 Outlook: The O's throughout their history were really only competitive for a 2 season stretch from 1964 to 1965 that did include a pennant. In recent yearas they'd slid all the way to 98 losses in '69 and after a couple of .500ish seasons they retooled again and hoped for better. A lot of things would have had to break right but hey, it's happened before, right?
1972 In Review: The O's were strong out of the gate, starting 8-5 and 22-14. As of the end of May they were in 2nd, 3 1/2 games in back of Detroit, who to be fair was lapping the field with a 26-11 record. Then the O's fell off, or at least didn't play as well, going .500 the rest of the way. They didn't really hit rock bottom at any point, they were just .500ish all the way through.
1973 Outlook: Baltimore is in kind of a depressing position: not good enough to really contend, not with 3 high-fliers above them, not so bad that they're going to pick up a superstar in the draft (well, the MLB draft works differently but you know what I mean). They've got some key pieces now but it feels like it's not 95 wins worth of a team and nowadays you need to win 95 to capture the AL East. Well, that being said, they do have half of that club: the front-line pitching is spectacular. The hitting, not so much.
Pitching
Santos Rodriguez
LHP No. 15
LL, 5'12" 182 lbs.
Born 1949-04-21 in Bayamón, PUR
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 BAK A 2 3 0 2.83 7 7 3 54.0 49 19 17 11 68
1970 EP AA 5 1 0 2.07 8 8 5 73.2 68 26 17 19 71
1970 ALB AAA 1 0 0 0.99 1 1 1 9.0 5 1 1 4 7
1971 LAD MLB 8 11 0 3.65 32 25 6 187.1 176 92 76 63 126
1972 BAL MLB 16 10 0 2.20 34 34 12 257.1 217 69 63 54 154
Rodriguez was the key piece coming back in the trade with the Dodgers last December that sent Danny Fager across the country. Forget how Fager did or will do with the team: this move was huge for Baltimore. Rodriguez led the AL in ERA and fewest HRs/9 innings (0.24; 7 allowed total) as a 23 year old and looked like a guy who's going to be anchoring this rotation for the next decade.
Rodriguez is not a guy who will blow fastballs by you: instead, he mixes a high-80s fastball that cuts in on left-handed hitters with a devastating straight change and a couple other pitches he's still working on to generate outs. Even though nothing in his arsenal screams worm-killer, he does keep the ball down well, sporting a 54% groundout rate and 29 double plays, good for 2nd in the AL (Gene Lueders of the Yankees was 1st). His stuff doesn't scream "multiple ERA titles" but he's not a guy you can knock out all at once. Rodriguez also has solid stamina and finished 7th in complete games and 8th in CG percentage. Also, speaking of top 10s, he was 3rd in the AL with 7 shutouts - again, not the kind of thing you'd expect out of a guy with his profile.
George Dapson will probably get the Opening Day nod - after all, he wa the 20 game winner - but Rodriguez could surpass him as the staff ace as early as next season.
George Dapson
RHP No. 23
RR, 6'0" 196 lbs.
Born 1945-03-25 in Weston, WV
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 PHI MLB 11 14 0 3.90 35 33 6 237.2 259 117 103 78 138
1971 BAL MLB 11 11 0 3.33 30 30 9 221.0 214 93 82 53 123
1972 BAL MLB 20 9 0 2.93 34 34 8 251.1 197 88 82 88 140
When you win 20 games and finish with an ERA under 3 and still don't lead your team in ERA, you're on a pretty good pitching staff. Dapson is another guy who came back to the O's as part of a youth movement - in his case, he was the main piece returning from the Phillies for CF Bryant Tarala - and last year he appeared to have turned the corner into becoming an elite pitcher. He did it the opposite way you'd normally expect a developing pitcher to go: instead of perfecting the subtle arts of control, he let his Bugs Bunny changeup, which moves practically like a breaking pitch itself, just go and be free and used his low-90s fastball as almost more of a complementary pitch. As a result, he finished 4th in the league in wins, eclipsing the 20 mark for the first time in his career, and just missed out on the top 10 in ERA.
Dapson only struck out 2.2 hitters per 9 innings in 1971, which was the 6th best mark in the AL. It'd be nice to see him return to that but only if he can keep the new ability to strike at least some guys out. He's also thrown 35 wild pitches over the last 3 years, including a league-leading 16 last season. Hey, the change goes where the change wants to go.
Barring injury, Dapson's the Orioles' Opening Day starter. It's been a decent journey for the 27 year old but he seems to have put it all together just in time for his prime years.
William Hart
RHP No. 1
RR, 6'2" 207 lbs.
Born 1944-08-23 in Apex, NC
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 TUC AAA 12 9 0 3.21 27 25 11 199.0 212 83 71 55 98
1971 BAL MLB 13 7 0 3.26 27 27 3 187.1 175 77 68 61 73
1972 BAL MLB 13 14 0 3.69 32 32 5 224.0 203 94 92 85 108
Although the ERA says William Hart took a step backwards last year, the peripherals and the scouting reports say otherwise. In 1971 Hart was a pure finesse guy who barely struck out more guys than he walked in spite of pretty good control. Given that Baltimore has Montay Luiso in their bullpen, he was usually only asked to throw around 6 innings and try not to kill them in that time. Last year, even though the ERA ballooned, he actually lowered his HR total from 17 to 13 in almost 40 more innings and, taking cues from George Dapson in perfecting the change, struck out another man per inning. He's still below average in the Ks department but as a midddle of the rotation guy it's enough.
Hart will surely return in this same role once again and keep doing it until he's no longer effective. He's also just entering his prime so he should be good to go for a while.
T.J. Ziegler
RHP No. 27
RR, 6'1" 201 lbs.
Born 1946-11-13 in Southgate, MI
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 ROC AAA 2 1 0 1.66 4 4 0 27.0 23 8 5 11 22
1970 BAL MLB 10 13 0 3.08 28 28 4 192.1 141 79 66 110 120
1971 BAL MLB 8 16 0 3.31 33 33 4 222.2 210 95 82 122 115
1972 BAL MLB 12 10 0 2.80 31 31 4 215.0 170 74 67 118 139
Fate and her sister popularity can be fickle beasts. Ziegler went from posting a pretty gross 8-16 record with a good ERA with an All-Star nod to hitting career highs in wins and strikeouts and a career low ERA and getting snubbed. He was 7-6, 2.82 at the break this year; I guess that just wasn't good enough.
Ziegler, 25, probably has the best pure stuff out of anyone in the rotation. The Orioles pride themselves on the change of pace and so of course he throws one but his best pitch is a nasty 2-seam fastball that can hit the mid-90s on a sunny day. He's not blessed with the best stamina in the world, which would be an issue on a team that didn't have Luiso in the pen. Ziegler led the league in groundball rate in 1970 (61%) and finished 3rd in '72 (56%), which is just devastating for hitters given the high quality of Baltimore's infield. He induced 23 "pitchers' best friends" in '72, which was actually down from the 30 and 31 he got in his first two seasons.
On the O's, Ziegler is a mid-rotation guy. On a lot of other teams he'd be their ace. If he can get his arm stretched out, he might even be that guy for this team.
Montay Luiso
LHP No. 22
LL, 5'11" 201 lbs.
Born 1937-12-19 in Maracaibo, VEN
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 BAL MLB 9 6 27 1.80 73 0 0 114.2 84 25 23 26 98
1971 BAL MLB 11 8 25 3.34 69 0 0 105.0 108 47 39 17 73
1972 BAL MLB 5 6 27 2.46 63 0 0 80.1 66 22 22 21 69
It was just another year for Luiso - 1st in the AL in saves, 2nd in games pitched, his 8th All-Star Game - and this is prretty much what the O's have come to expect. Whether they're good, bad, or otherwise, you'd better go into the 8th inning with a lead against Baltimore because if you don't, this guy will take away all of your hopes. Luiso bounced back from a rough year - well, rough for him, anyway - by relying on his mid-90s fastball that sometimes dips, sometimes cuts, and sometimes just rises, and a change that's just plain mean when hitters get to expecting all of that speed.
Not really much to say about him! He's the star of the O's staff and at 34 years of age has been for quite some time now.
Phil Bowman
RHP No. 42
RR, 6'3" 197 lbs.
Born 1946-08-22 in Orange, NJ
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 ROC AAA 1 1 0 1.92 3 0 0 4.2 3 1 1 2 7
1970 BAL MLB 3 2 1 2.99 36 0 0 63.0 45 22 21 19 34
1971 BAL MLB 6 3 3 1.17 47 0 0 68.2 49 11 9 24 53
1972 BAL MLB 3 4 4 2.50 43 0 0 61.0 38 17 17 32 46
The Orioles were at one point grooming Bowman to one day be Luiso's successor... and heck, I guess that could still happen. Right now he's more of the right-handed foil to Montay's lefthandedness. He's also a sinker-change guy although his sinker doesn't have the pure speed that Luiso's does and he has to rely more on groundouts. He also can have bouts of trouble controlling it, although that can help him as much as it hurts - if he can't control his fastball, do you think hitters can? The answer is no.
Bowman's maaaaaybe something of a luxury on this Orioles team but at the same time, should they somehow find all the pieces they need on offense to make a run, he'd be a key part of the bullpen.
Tim Reece
RHP No. 29
RR, 5'9" 171 lbs.
Born 1944-03-04 in Pitman, NJ
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO
1970 SLC AAA 1 0 0 1.44 2 2 1 18.2 18 3 3 2 13
1970 SD MLB 10 9 0 3.07 30 25 8 187.1 173 69 64 71 127
1971 BAL MLB 11 12 0 2.77 31 31 9 224.0 192 75 69 73 124
1972 BAL MLB 4 5 0 3.72 24 6 0 70.0 75 35 29 13 38
Over the course of 12 months, Tim Reese went from being a key young member of the rotation and an All-Star to long relief, spot starting, and the doghouse. Reese held out in the beginning of the year, even after the strike ended, and didn't get into his first game until May 2. He pitched very sporadically between then and July, winding up getting his 6 starts during that period but otherwise pitching a total of just 14 games. He got sliiiiiightly more time late in the season but the rust came back to haunt him as he had ERAs of 4.50 and 7.11 in the last 2 months.
Even when he's on, Reece is a guy who lives on junk and guile. His fastball might touch 90 on the best of days. He does have decent command of his pitches, although when he does miss it's often over the plate, hence the high ERA. He seems like he's the victim of numbers on this roster; I'm sure he can be a solid mid-rotation guy in many places, although another All-Star game seems a bit much to ask for.
Infield
Frank Abagnale
C No. 25
SR, 6'2" 200 lbs.
Born 1948-05-12 in New York, NY
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 CR A .393 36 135 20 53 12 0 3 23 13 29 0
1970 ARK AA .222 31 117 16 26 7 1 2 11 18 30 0
1971 MID AA .273 6 22 0 6 1 0 0 3 4 6 0
1971 ROC AAA .249 108 389 47 97 32 0 5 37 40 65 0
1971 BAL MLB .306 20 72 11 22 5 0 5 11 5 15 0
1972 BAL MLB .284 109 430 44 122 28 1 10 51 35 79 1
Remember when the Orioles had voluble reliever Billy Munoz on their roster? No? Well they did... and this is the guy they got back for him when they shipped him off to the Cardinals in the winter of 1970. He put in a so-so year in AAA in '71 and then more or less exploded on the scene in 1972. He opened the year sharing catching duties with last year's Rule V darling David Delgado (more on him in a second!) but Abagnale's star proved to be too bright to, um, allow to shine(?) on the bench and by the end of May he was the primary backstop.
Abagnale struck out a lot last year but he's working on that. Well, he says he is. The players all trust him. I'm not sure I can trust the guy, however. Rumors about that outside of baseball he's a bit of a con artist. Enough about the non-baseball stuff! As a ballplayer he's every bit the 24 year old phenom catcher. The one tool he doesn't have is a good arm: Abagnale threw out only 23.8% of baserunners, the worst mark in the American League among catchers with at least 80 starts (there were 3 guys worse than that in the NL). For a guy who makes you think "catch me if you can" he doesn't actually have a lot of baseball speed.
If Abagnale can stay out of jail, he'll be a really bright star in this league, perhaps the second banana at catcher to Texas Josh Lewis for the 1970s.
David Delgado
C/1B No. 26
RR, 6'1" 192 lbs.
Born 1948-01-18 in Santo Domingo, DOM
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 DEN AAA .310 116 329 46 102 15 1 5 37 28 47 10
1971 BAL MLB .276 100 348 30 96 18 0 6 38 23 45 0
1972 BAL MLB .290 46 138 8 40 5 0 0 10 15 12 1
Delgado is a nice enough guys, works well with the pitchers (I hear they mostly don't pay him a lot of attention but that works too), and has worked hard to get where he is. His main issue is, he's basically a lesser version of Abagnale on the field: a good contact hitter with a popgun arm. As bad as Abagnale's CS% was, Delgado threw out only 21.7% of runners last year. A team like Baltimore should really be spelling Abagnale with a veteran presence who has a cannon. They don't have that on their roster right now but... well, here's Delgado, prospective teams! He's also only 24 so while I'm not sure he's got anywhere to grow he probably won't get worse in the next 5-7 years.
Jon Hernandez
1B/C No. 19
LR, 5'10" 196 lbs.
Born 1943-04-02 in Maracaibo, VEN
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 BAL MLB .231 147 532 69 123 32 2 16 78 83 137 1
1971 BAL MLB .261 123 399 44 104 19 1 9 52 53 77 1
1972 BAL MLB .254 127 401 56 102 31 2 13 67 58 101 0
Hernandez was converted out of the catcher position in 1970 to play first base and in 1972 he had his best non-catcher season yet. I guess 1970 might look better in some respects but a. Hernandez hit 23 points higher and b. this came during the depressed offense of 1972. He slipped into an almost entirely platoon role on this offense, getting just 14 at-bats all year against lefties, and seemed to thrive.
Hernandez doesn't blow you away with the stats but trust me, that's well above average even for a first baseman in this era. He moved around between 2nd and 4th in the order: it may not seem like much but he did in fact lead the team in HRs and RBIs last year. In spite of the (relative) power, Hernandez will go with a pitch, although if pitchers toss him the high heat or anything that comes in looking at high heat, Hernandez finds it hard to lay off the pitch. Don't expect him to go back to catching; he caught 11 games last year and although he did throw out 3 of 8 runners he also had a lot of problems blocking pitches and was lucky to not get charged with a passed ball. His lack of height hurts him at first base and otherwise he's not terribly mobile.
Hernandez should be able to slip into this platoony 1B/DH/maybe a teeny tiny bit of catcher if someone is hurt role for the next several years. He's in his prime and he's someone Baltimore can count on, at least against most pitchers in this league.
Bill Murray
2B/IF No. 9
LR, 6'1" 177 lbs.
Born 1950-09-18 in Evanston, IL
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 STC A .329 22 82 21 27 6 2 4 15 18 26 4
1970 MIA A .276 76 257 58 71 5 14 4 35 67 71 7
1970 MID AA .345 36 116 25 40 10 8 4 22 24 28 3
1971 MID AA .272 114 393 64 107 11 10 15 46 78 71 12
1971 ROC AAA .273 26 99 14 27 5 1 2 8 16 24 0
1972 ROC AAA .282 46 174 35 49 5 6 16 40 24 38 1
1972 BAL MLB .251 105 358 48 90 15 8 9 45 55 70 1
Murray joined the team in June after the Opening Day starter Alex Perez tore his ACL. At the tender age of 21, Murray wasn't just passable or replacement-level, he was downright good and now - sorry, Alex Perez - the job is his to keep.
Murray hit .251, which is above average but even so you can see from his minor league history that he's capable of a lot more. The scouts agree: he's got good pitch recognition skills and should only get better as he learns AL pitchers. He's also got OK speed, although the triples totals are misleading - he loved stretching doubles in the low minors and got caught out a lot too. As a fielder he's definitely a second baseman, although he did find time at the other 2 "main" infield positions last season. He doesn't really have the arm for 3rd or short and 3rd also means he doesn't get to use his best skill, which is navigating the pivot on double plays.
Murray could very, very easily be the Orioles' 2nd baseman of the 70s and hold that spot well into the 80s. Only time will tell. He works hard and gets results.
Alex Perez
2B No. 30
RR, 6'3" 203 lbs.
Born 1944-06-07 in San Francisco de Macorís, DOM
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 TOL AAA .292 101 312 46 91 27 3 1 36 27 58 16
1971 TOL AAA .285 97 379 51 108 19 5 1 26 25 51 12
1971 DET MLB .214 6 14 3 3 1 0 0 0 1 4 0
1972 BAL MLB .214 34 112 11 24 3 1 0 4 8 16 5
The Orioles gave up very, very little to snag Perez - minor league reliever Pat Pierson. Maybe Detroit should have asked for more, given the O's precarious 2nd base situation. 1971's starter Danny Fager was out the door, gone to LA in a big package of prospects, and so there was going to be an open competition for the job in '72. Perez only hit .208 in the spring but still kind of backed into it just by the Orioles' reluctance to use the youngsters Bill Murray and Vladimir Yakunin before they were ready to go. Perez continued to hit poorly and then on June 6 tore his ACL going in for a steal and forced the O's to play their hand at the position anyway.
Perez is a 28 year old now who is still (I think?) technically a rookie. Scouts think he could be a league-average starter but if he stays with ths O's it'll be due to versatility: Perez has also played at first, left, and right field in the minor leagues. He has legitimate speed and could also see time as a pinch-runner. At this point the biggest argument against trading him is that the O's probably won't get much of any value for him.
Vladimir Yakunin
2B No. 32
RR, 6'1" 181 lbs.
Born 1948-06-30 in Melenki, RUS
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 MID AA .284 73 299 45 85 19 9 0 32 29 48 3
1971 ROC AAA .258 107 275 29 71 10 0 2 26 37 33 1
1972 ROC AAA .367 51 60 12 22 2 1 1 9 5 8 1
1972 BAL MLB .286 30 91 9 26 4 2 0 7 10 11 1
AI's gotta AI I guess... Yakunin, in spite of being 24, was getting used mainly as a pinch-hitter because... the AAA manager decided he liked 35 year old Jeremy Rzepka better (I literally just released him as I'm writing this). I still saw this guy's relative success in the minors and, given that he's only 24, decided to use him briefly in a 2B platoon with Murray.
Yakunin is... OK. He's probably not going to be a multi-year starter in this league but he can fill in at second if you need him. He's a two-tool player: contact and speed. You'd really, really prefer for a young guy to play more than he did but again, AI minor league managers will not listen (and I'll be honest, I'm not interested in doing that much micro for a C-level prospect). If you decided to start him he'd be a good #2 hitter: he does have a tendency to try and pull anything in the bottom half of the strike zone but otherwise he hits for contact, can bunt, and has 55-grade speed. He lacks the good instincts a quality middle infielder has, although he works hard to get where he is. Eventually you'd expect him to switch out to a corner OF spot if he stayed in this league, although to do so he'd have to take some big steps forward as a hitter.
I don't see the O's getting anything back for Yakunin either so chances are he'll stick with the team for the near to medium future. Maybe he can be a throw-in, I don't know.
Marco Perez
3B No. 31
RR, 6'0" 187 lbs.
Born 1944-09-09 in Santo Domingo, DOM
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 BAL MLB .337 154 597 73 201 24 7 17 91 71 41 36
1971 BAL MLB .258 101 388 48 100 18 2 12 33 45 51 21
1972 BAL MLB .256 121 446 71 114 21 3 9 48 64 59 18
"Pepper" Perez missed significant time for the second straight year and the 3rd time in 4 years (he played in 116 games in 1969). This year, he even managed to fracture his thumb on the last day of the season. It's beginning to be a problem. When he did play he was right around in line with his 1971 performance, which is great for a bad offensive year but O's fans and the front office were really hoping for a return to his .337 average of 1970. Any chance of that was nixed by a .184 June where he might have been playing with a back injury that was severe enough that he missed basically all of July with it.
Since he missed all that time and since 1972 was, again, a terrible year for offense, the numbers don't really look all that great. But Perez is still a player: he walked more than he struck out for the 3rd time in his 8 year career, he's got good power for a 3rd baseman, and surely a lot of the hits will come back once the league undoes whatever it did with the ball last year. Somehow, thanks in part to his speed out of the box, Perez only hit into 6 GIDPs last year. He actually does still have world-class, leadoff hitter speed, although the O's are not a team that likes to run and on top of that every time Perez steals a base the entire stadium holds their breath because he's such an injury risk.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Perez wins his 5th Gold Glove in 1972 - he only didn't win last year because he missed too much time. That said, he's no longer the Brooks Robinson (who?) style first-class defender he was in his early 20s. The back injuries have robbed him of some of his range in the field and when the back is hurting him it affects his throwing motion and as such his arm, which is normally his best asset, can be a little scattershot on throws to first base.
You'd love to see Perez play 150 or more games again. I'd say it's possible with the DH rule in effect but Perez is still one of the premier 3rd basemen in the league and it's hard to just take the glove out of his hand.
Jon Blevins
SS No. 12
RR, 6'0" 199 lbs.
Born 1941-05-11 in Rochester Hills, MI
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 BAL MLB .231 151 575 54 133 14 5 7 39 43 94 5
1971 BAL MLB .252 143 440 43 111 18 3 5 43 40 85 5
1972 BAL MLB .240 129 391 26 94 16 1 5 47 31 63 4
"Lucky Number" Blevins is your classic shortstop: a hard-nosed competitor who gives it all on the field and who makes up for an iffy hit tool with determination and an ability to do the "little things". He's a pure bottom-of-the-order hitter and even split time at the position for most of last year with Charles Bradley, who the O's traded off in August in exchange for OF and former MVP Jason Workman. He more or less held short for all of August and then the team started switching him out again, this time with prospect Ekichi Yazawa (not listed this year).
Blevins has seen his PAs drop as the team is less and less enthused with his bat and eventually he'll probably give the job up. He is a good fielder but not Mark Belanger (who?). For 1973 at least the job's still his.
Outfield
Sergio Viera de Mello
OF/lB No. 20
RR, 5'11" 180 lbs.
Born 1947-07-16 in Rio de Janeiro, BRA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 MIA A .287 60 216 25 62 7 3 2 21 11 23 12
1971 ROC AAA .327 81 278 44 91 13 1 2 28 19 11 1
1971 BAL MLB .298 28 114 8 34 3 2 0 4 1 9 2
1972 BAL MLB .272 112 397 41 108 11 7 4 46 17 26 5
The Orioles tried to make Viera de Mello work as a full-timer for large chunks of the season. He did after all hit .327 in AAA and then .298 in the majors in 1971. Like a lot of cases where you try and slot in a low-level prospect into such a big role, the results were mixed. Viera de Mello doesn't have a lot of power and his contact ability is predicated on his ability to get his bat on anything that comes his way so he'll never be a big walker. He hit better vs lefties, of course (.281 vs .267) but all of his power came against right-handed pitching. That hopefully won't continue because his value going forward, especially with Workman in the mix now, is probably more as the right-handed half of a platoon with Jon Hernandez (although even there, Viera de Mello doesn't have the hitting you want out of a corner outfield - as a first baseman it's just not there).
Viera de Mello is a classic "tweener" - not rangey enough to play a harder defensive position, not a good enough hitter to carry a more offensively oriented position. Even as a 25 year old his future role screams "backup" at me.
Jason Workman
OF/1B No. 2
LL, 6'4" 202 lbs.
Born 1937-03-28 in Dublin, CA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 CHC MLB .312 150 581 98 181 26 3 44 135 29 37 0
1971 CHC MLB .248 147 565 75 140 18 1 26 84 38 57 0
1972 CHC MLB .264 65 235 25 62 6 0 9 30 10 30 0
1972 BAL MLB .245 40 155 19 38 2 0 8 22 2 18 0
The Orioles gave up a good prospect in Charles Bradley to acquire Workman, who as recently as 1970 was the NL MVP. His power has dipped precipitously since then, although somehow he actually hit for more power in Memorial Stadium than he had at Wrigley. Chalk it up to him being ahead of the pitching.
For such a power guy, Workman is a a very good bad-ball hitter. When things are going well he'll turn pitches that are out of the strike zone into base hits. Too often the last couple years those have just turned into easy outs. You're not going to be able to teach a 35 year old dog new tricks though so accept what it is. Workman has never been much of a fielder in his career and if the O's had anything at all better in left field - who knows, maybe they'll come up with something - he'd be the easy, easy choice to DH for this team.
That loss of power is very disconcerting. Workman's at an age where major skills he counted on during his prime can just go like that. I just snapped my fingers in case you couldn't see. Given the major holes in this lineup, not to mention what Workman has clearly shown that he's capable of in the past 3 years, he'll still get a pretty long leash in 1973.
Matt Nugent
OF No. 35
LL, 6'1" 186 lbs.
Born 1946-07-06 in Herndon, VA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 BAL MLB .207 132 445 54 92 14 3 13 45 62 99 23
1971 BAL MLB .231 148 594 78 137 19 6 17 61 67 109 34
1972 BAL MLB .209 112 402 43 84 14 4 8 32 44 85 27
The Orioles expected too much out of Nugent over the past 2 years. Even fans who want him to be a poor man's Bryant Tarala are just going to be disappointed by the comparison: Tarala adds value by drawing lots of walks and playing Gold Glove quality defense in center. Tarala... technically played center field last year and too often ruins a long at-bat by swinging at something that looks like a high fastball.
The statline might look like the Nuge got hurt last year but nope, not really: what actually happened was that he was hitting .227/6/17 as of June 6 and the team just got tired of both the subpar hitting and the poor play in center. Nugent is badly miscast in the leadoff slot for a team as Earl Weaver-y (who?) as Baltimore tries to be, although it's easy to see why you'd want to use him there what with all that speed. It looks like he did himself a real disservice by hitting a combined 30 HRs in his first 2 full years in the big leagues, as he's decided he's a power hitter now with the big, ugly swings to match.
I've added Nugent to the trade block; he's surely still a solid choice for someone as a starter, just not with Baltimore.
Frank Beard
OF No. 3
RR, 6'1" 179 lbs.
Born 1949-06-17 in Aurora, OH
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 ABD S A .312 74 298 78 93 15 2 13 61 53 50 9
1970 STC A .259 34 139 25 36 4 0 3 15 16 50 6
1971 MIA A .196 25 92 10 18 4 2 1 16 12 21 7
1971 MID AA .287 75 275 40 79 12 7 9 38 37 53 7
1971 ROC AAA .283 44 166 24 47 9 3 0 11 20 24 7
1972 ROC AAA .378 46 188 38 71 10 0 11 32 17 36 7
1972 BAL MLB .248 76 274 38 68 11 1 6 21 41 52 8
Frank Beard is a real enigma. He's the one member of ZZ Top without the flowing beard and... I guess that's the extent to how he's an enigma. I guess the fact that he only hit .248 after a red-hot April and May in AAA Rochester could qualify, although truth be told he's never quite looked like a .378 hitter anywhere else. He got to the majors, promptly hit .190 his first month, and spent the rest of the year trying to recover. The game says he missed 4 days with kidney stones in his right arm. That could be the key to why he slumped - how can you expect to survive, let alone hit a major league fastball, if you have your kidneys in your arms?
When he did play he was OK. He struck out a lot more last year than he had in the past. Hopefully that's just growing pains and learning the league. If he gets the Ks down you could see him hitting .280 or so. He doesn't have blazing speed but it's good enough and unlike Nugent it does translate into range afield.
At this point he's the choice for Opening Day Orioles CF but it won't be clear-cut... see the next guy...
Mike Nichols
OF No. 17
RR, 6'3" 203 lbs.
Born 1946-12-19 in Amarillo, TX
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 STC A .332 68 265 44 88 12 3 6 29 20 57 8
1970 MIA A .349 26 83 16 29 1 2 0 13 8 19 5
1971 ROC AAA .256 75 273 27 70 10 2 1 16 19 36 2
1971 BAL MLB .241 13 29 1 7 0 1 0 1 1 8 0
1972 BAL MLB .300 72 160 17 48 12 2 0 18 6 27 2
All right, so now that I look at him a little more closely I can see that Mike Nichols is not the guy for center. He's a good enough contact hitter that the O's used him 40 times as a pinch-hitter (he went 12-38 - .316 - with 2 walks) but Nichols has the same range issues that Nugent has for the position. He's much more of a 4th outfielder type who may not get as many opportuities to pinch-hit now that there's a DH in the lineup.
T.J. Corron
RF No. 10
RR, 6'1" 199 lbs.
Born 1945-10-17 in Magna, UT
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 MID AA .260 89 350 42 91 17 1 2 29 48 44 10
1970 ROC AAA .208 35 130 14 27 5 0 0 8 11 21 10
1971 BAL MLB .292 105 226 27 66 9 2 5 37 20 29 3
1972 BAL MLB .246 126 443 45 109 18 1 4 46 54 56 4
Corron followed up a promising 1971 with a toothless 1972 and at this point the former 1st round pick and top-50 prospect is going to have to fight for his job in spring training. Corron walks a fair amount, which is great and right in line with what the Orioles want. He's got very little power and last year pitchers just pitched him low a lot and got him to pound a lot of balls into the dirt. He's 27 and so just entering his prime; still, this is probably "what you see is what you get" territory.
Corron's a good right fielder with a nice arm and for that reason you can't completely cross him off. That and the prospects of his hitting .290 again.
Ralph May
OF No. 13
LL, 6'3" 202 lbs.
Born 1947-11-11 in San Bernardino, CA
Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB
1970 STC A .384 29 99 28 38 8 1 9 20 29 22 0
1970 MIA A .253 85 249 38 63 11 1 5 38 73 48 1
1971 ROC AAA .285 37 123 22 35 6 1 3 14 29 24 0
1971 BAL MLB .279 81 272 39 76 20 2 13 43 35 53 0
1972 ROC AAA .259 42 139 24 36 11 0 11 25 16 35 2
1972 BAL MLB .230 60 148 20 34 6 0 7 17 16 27 0
Any time I see this guy's name my mind jumps to Fat Ralphie May. However that is not him; the real Fat Ralphie May was born at about this time and this Ralph May is solid muscle, not fat. He's also the man to challenge Corron in spring training. Corron's got the pedigree but May's got power. He's also shown a lot of ability to take pitches in the past, although he drew only 32 walks last year, May is as you'd expect a dead-pull, high-fastball hitter. Pitchers who throw the ball up in the zone to him do so at their own peril.
May never made the prospect lists athat Corron did and even though he was drafted several years before - he came into the Orioles' system out of high school in 1965 - May has sat in Corron's shadow since the latter player joined the organization. Maybe this year is the year Corron has to start seeing May as the #1 man.