Baltimore Orioles: End of season player-shirsey rankings

The Baltimore Orioles season may be over, but the MLB postseason is in full swing and baseball is as alive as ever. Which Orioles shirsey will you be wearing during the playoffs?

Our Baltimore Orioles had a terrible season in 2018, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still support this franchise; we still buy and wear the merchandise, regardless of team performance. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to wear a Chris Davis jersey to Camden; we all have limits.

But we still take pride in wearing those Orioles colors. And since we’re waiting to see which direction the front office goes in replacing Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter, we can take a brief moment to rank player-shirseys from the 2018 season.

We’ll try to consider a few factors here. 2018 performance, whether they’ll return in 2019, etc., but essentially, we want to rank the 2018 Orioles by player shirts. Whose number would you want to wear? We’ll rank each jersey available on the Orioles web-store, which is the entire 40-man roster right now.

40- Tanner Scott – Someone might think you got a shirsey with your first name on it.

39- Evan Phillips – He threw 5.1 forgettable innings for the Orioles in 2018; he’ll likely throw a handful more next year, as well.

38- Donnie Hart – Someone might think you bought it in 2016. The aging curve isn’t treating Hart very well at all.

37- Pedro Araujo – There’s a theme here, and it doesn’t speak well of the 2019 Orioles bullpen.

36- John Means – He made his MLB debut this year but wasn’t impressive. He’s been very consistent throughout the minors; hopefully that continues.

35- John Andreoli – You know him as the guy who took Adam Jones‘ spot in the lineup a few times in September.

34- Sean Gilmartin – He played so far over his talent level this year; maybe the Orioles can get something for him in a trade this off-season.

33- Corban Joseph – He’s one of the all-time “he’s a guy” guys.

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32- Jace Peterson – He’s like a poor man’s Steve Wilkereson…yet, somehow still not last.

31- Steve Wilkerson – Wilkerson hit really well in the minors at the end of 2017 but the PED suspension and injuries killed his 2018.

30- Ryan Meisinger – He was one of the better pichers in this group in the minors but he wasn’t able to find success in the majors in 2018.

29- Anthony Santander – He had some pedigree as a prospect but he’s battled injuries. The emergence of D.J. Stewart doesn’t help Santander’s case; the outfield in Baltimore is low on opportunities.

28- Cody Carroll – Hopes are high for Carroll out of the bullpen; the Orioles sure do need it. However, he didn’t inspire us in his handful of innings at the MLB level in 2018.

27- Chance Sisco – He’s had some trouble framing pitches, which isn’t a great sign, considering that he’s a catcher with a weak bat. But he’s still very young and there isn’t a ton of depth at catcher in the organization. Sisco could still develop into an every day catcher.

26- Caleb Joseph – He’s the longest tenured Orioles player besides Jones but his time in Baltimore has run its course. Celebrate Joseph’s 2016 and forget his 2018 ever happened.

25- Joey Rickard – Rickard is not a good outfielder, but chances are that the Orioles play him at least part time in 2019, so at least you’ll have someone active on your shirsey.

24- Mike Wright Jr. – He wasn’t great in 2018 and he probably won’t be great next year. But he might be available for 80+ innings next year and there’s value in that.

23- Yefry Ramirez – His first name is Yefry with a Y, and that’s pretty cool. Not much else about him is.

22- Chris Davis – *insert sad face emoji*

21- Richard Bleier – He has three-straight sub-2.00 ERA seasons. Nevermind that he was hurt for the majority of 2018.

20- Austin Wynns – Wynns is the best catcher on the Orioles right now and the organization doesn’t know it.

Baltimore Orioles — (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

19- Andrew Cashner – He was ineffective on the mound; but he was consistently on the mound. In 2018, that’s an achievement, but maybe not one you want to celebrate.

18- Renato Nunez – In all honesty, Nunez should probably be top-10. Not because he’s that good, but because the rest of the infield is that hopeless.

17- Tim Beckham – If his career were a bell curve, it’d look like an upper-case I. Bad, peak, bad again.

16- Paul Fry – Fry was not terrible in 2018, and that’s about all anyone could’ve asked for from that Orioles bullpen. Average pitcher, average ranking.

15- David Hess – He struggled giving up homers this year but was surprisingly effective for the Orioles in 19 starts. He should have a similar role next year.

14- Luis Ortiz – There’s a decent chance he spends the majority of 2019 at Triple-A Norfolk but he has that prospect shine. Plus, at 6-3, 230, he’s got some Bartolo Colon to him.

13- Josh Rogers – He’s ranked this high assuming that he can make 30+ starts for the Orioles in 2019. If not, the O’s have a bevy of arms who’ll replace him.

12- Miguel Castro – PO-TEN-TIAL. Ok, maybe that’s a bit much but if the Orioles can figure out how to deploy him, he could be a great piece for this team.

11- Mychal Givens – He’s probably past-peak, but his saves accounted for 1/5 of the Orioles wins this year. He can be a solid piece for this Orioles team in 2019, or a back-end bullpen guy on a playoff roster somewhere.

10- Mark Trumbo – He was really good, then fine, then hurt. But I can’t hold that against him. He’s now a significantly better option at DH than Davis.

9- Jimmy Yacabonis – He was moderately successful this year, but this is all about the last name. YAK.

8- Dylan Bundy – Its been 7 years and we still can’t get off the hype train. Fingers crossed for next year.

7- Breyvic Valera – This is a sleeper pick, only because Valera led the majors in contact rate, beating out the myth/legend Willians Astudillo.

6- Cedric Mullins – I hemmed and hawed on Mullins. On one hand, he was impressive right after the call-up, but on the other, he kind of fell off the table the last couple weeks of the season.

5- Alex Cobb – He turned it on in the second half and is the best starting pitcher on the Orioles right now.

4- D.J. Stewart – KATOH had him as the 56th-ranked prospect before 2018. Trust me, he’ll earn that ranking next year.

3- Trey Mancini – He hit 24 homers for the second consecutive year and although his batting average dropped considerably this year, he might have finally found a permanent position and should be the Orioles first-baseman of the future.

2- Jonathan Villar – He’s the most exciting player on the Orioles now that Manny Machado is gone. He doesn’t have a ton of power but he plays the game with an aggressiveness that Orioles fans should love.

1- Adam Jones – Who else but everyone’s favorite Oriole? I considered moving him down due to the unlikelihood that he returns in 2019, but let’s be honest: Jones had such an impact on this community, his #10 will certainly be retired one day and he’s one of the best people in baseball.

If we do this exercise next year, Adam Jones might be #1 again. I’m almost certain he’d be there on Opening Day, even if he’s not on the roster.

Do you all have opinions on this meaningless activity? Who did I get wrong? Let me know in the comments.

The Baltimore Orioles season may be over, but the MLB postseason is in full swing and baseball is as alive as ever. Which Orioles shirsey will you be wearing during the playoffs?

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