Baltimore Orioles: Five Things We Want To See In The 2020 Season

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BALTIMORE, MD – AUGUST 24: Hanser Alberto #57 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates after scoring on a wild pitch during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 24, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. All players across MLB will wear nicknames on their backs as well as colorful, non-traditional uniforms featuring alternate designs inspired by youth-league uniforms during Players Weekend. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) /

Looking ahead to the 2020 season, what are some things you want to see from the Baltimore Orioles?

The 2019 season left a lot to be desired, but there were some fun storylines to follow, a number of players showed improvements, and the farm system took a giant leap forward. Despite the final numbers in the win/loss column, this season was much more entertaining for Baltimore Orioles fans than the disaster that was 2018.

With the World Series coming to a close, it’s time to start looking ahead to offseason free agent signings, the Rule 5 draft, and potential trades that seem to make no fan base happy. For Orioles fans, team leadership has already stated that no major free agent targets on the radar and the likelihood of pulling off any major trades seems low, considering the offseason trade chips are the same ones who weren’t moved at this year’s trade deadline.

There is still sure to be a lot of roster activity as Mike Elias and his team try to find more diamonds in the rough, fill the roster with pieces who can compete in spring training, and bring in more stopgap options to hold down lineups spots while top prospects work their way up through the system.

While the offseason should still provide some excitement for O’s fans, let’s skip ahead to the 2020 regular season and take a look at five things we hope to see on the field in 2020. Other than wins, obviously, we came up with five key decisions/developments that will make 2020 a bit more exciting and help this team take another step towards relevancy. Not a giant leap, but a respectable step, or two.

BALTIMORE, MD – AUGUST 07: Chris Davis #19 of the Baltimore Orioles walks to the dugout after striking out in the third inning against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 7, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) /

The Baltimore Orioles have to make the move with Chris Davis.

Chris Davis is coming back for spring training, this much we know. There’s no harm in letting him come back and take a few hacks in February/March with ample playing time available. However, it’s time to move on from the once-feared slugger, no matter the financial implications, and open up a spot on the roster for a more deserving player.

The Orioles will certainly play the service time game with Ryan Mountcastle, but when he’s finally up in the major leagues, the 2019 International League MVP must be in the lineup.

Removing Davis from the roster allows Trey Mancini/Renato Nunez to work at first base/designated hitter, while putting Ryan Mountcastle in left field where he worked extensively at the end of last season and slotting Anthony Santander in right field.

Santander played all three outfield positions in 2019 but put up his best numbers right field. He was worth -1 Defensive Runs saved in left field, -4 in center, and +4 in right field.

That’s a lot of home run potential in this lineup, especially if Major League Baseball keeps the 2019 ball around for another year.

We’ll never forget about the good times when it comes to Chris Davis, but he can’t continue to hang around if the Orioles want their budding youngsters to develop into valuable major leaguers.

BALTIMORE, MD – SEPTEMBER 22: John Means #67 of the Baltimore Orioles in congratulated for his performance in the seventh inning during a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 22, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

John Means was fantastic for the Baltimore Orioles last season. Now do it again.

I don’t know about you, but I spent much of the season waiting for John Means to implode. As a life long fan of the Baltimore Orioles who is 31 years old, I’ve come accustomed to not having nice things or watching breaks go in favor of the O’s, so I assumed that the emergence of Means was a bit too much to be true.

With a full year under his belt and every American League team having a more developed scouting report on him, how will John Means perform in 2020? Hopefully, we see that he’s for real and is someone we can rely on to stick in the starting rotation when winning is routine in Baltimore again.

His fastball may not carry the upper-90s velocity, but it does have a high spin rate and wasn’t a terrible pitch in his first full season in the majors. On the other hand, his changeup limited opponents to a .207 average and produced a whiff rate of 25%. It was the 8th highest rated changeup in the majors, according to Fangraphs.

We’re not expecting John Means to be the ace of the Baltimore Orioles, but the All-Star lefty is the very early favorite to take the ball on Opening Day and performed head and shoulders above the rest of the rotation in 2019.

ARLINGTON, TX – JUNE 04: Dwight Smith Jr. #35 of the Baltimore Orioles hits a three run home run in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 4, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images) /

Which Baltimore Orioles outfielder no named Austin Hays steps up?

As we recently discussed, if there’s one specific position group that we hope shows improvements in 2020, it’s the outfield. We’re putting a lot of faith into an oft-injured Austin Hays who played fantastic September baseball, but he’s earned it. A healthy, consistent Austin Hays should have a tremendous ripple effect in the outfield and in the lineup.

It would still be nice to see one more outfielder step up and make sorting out the outfield a difficult job. Between Anthony Santander, DJ Stewart, Dwight Smith, Jr, and Cedric Mullins, will one of them step up and be a consistent contributor in the lineup?

Santander seems the most likely. In 93 games this year, Santander logged 20 home runs, posted a wRC+ of 97, and was worth 0.7 fWAR. Like John Means, it’s going to be important to see how Santander responds in year two and in a full season of play.

DJ Stewart is already starting behind the competition after having offseason surgery. He won’t resume baseball activities until late-spring training, meaning it could be April/May before he’s fully healthy and ready to go in Triple-A.

Cedric Mullins struggled in the bigs and in Triple-A before finding his groove late in the year in Double-A. The organization is refusing to give up on him. His speed and defensive abilities could be valuable as a reserve outfielder who can play all three positions. He just needs to hit the ball.

Dwight Smith Jr was atrocious in the field and less than stellar on the basepaths, but he showed stretches of having a solid bat, with the ability to rack up the extra-base hits. However, can he do enough to keep a roster spot? He has options remaining and will have to really show up in spring training to avoid a trip to Triple-A, although, Stewart’s injury does play in his favor.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – SEPTEMBER 22: A general view during the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 22, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

Notable pitching prospects could be joining the Baltimore Orioles rotation soon.

Just as someone in the outfield needs to step up next season, 2020 will be much more enjoyable to watch if we see some success from at least one starting pitching prospect who is expected to make their major league debut next year.

Fans have been waiting for Keegan Akin for a long time now and he appears to be poised for an early call-up, possibly even cracking the Opening Day roster (have to image service time comes into play here). LHP Bruce Zimmerman and RHP Dean Kremer also figure to be not far away from the majors after getting their first taste of Triple-A action last season.

Player development is now in capable hands after years of a barren land of minor league roster filler taking up space in the minor leagues. Prospects won’t be rushed and won’t make the majors until they are refined and ready. Zimmermann, Kremer, and Akin all appear to be nearing this stage.

It would be refreshing to see at least one of these arms experience some success in the big leagues in 2020. Kremer is the hot name in Birdland after a big 2019 in Double-A and a dominant stint in the Arizona Fall League. MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo even took note of Kremer and his impressive repertoire on Twitter. Akin is a workhorse who has real potential to log big innings in the backend of a major league rotation and as MASN’s Roch Kubatko recently pointed out, scouts believe Zimmermann could be a valuable reliever out of the pen.

If at least one can show out next season, it will give fans even more optimism about the direction player development is going and increase the anticipation for top pitching prospects like Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall to reach the bigs and witness their potential.

TORONTO, ON – AUGUST 20: Jonathan Villar #34 of the Baltimore Orioles steals second base in the first inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on August 20, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Jonathan Villar can’t be the only one to make moves on the base paths.

We knew the 2019 Orioles were going to make a lot of mistakes at the plate, in the field, and especially on the basepaths. From 2014-2017, Baltimore ranked dead last in stolen bases as a team before making a large jump into the upper half of the league in 2018.

The issue with the 2018 numbers was that Jonathan Villar, acquired at the trade deadline, stole 21 bags, while Jace Peterson and Craig Gentry combined for 25. That’s 46 of the 81 stolen bases coming from two players are no longer in the organization and Villar’s two months of play after the deadline.

Jump to 2019 and the Orioles ranked 11th in stolen bases with 84. Jonathan Villar was responsible for 40 of them. Richie Martin (10) was the only other player who reached double-digits.

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The Orioles weren’t necessarily successful when it came to base running, but they were more aggressive, which is a start. They ranked 11th in bases taken with 154 (advancing on passed balls, fly balls, etc.). That number was 141 last season. But they took a slight step back in terms of extra-bases taken (turning singles into doubles, for example). After taking an extra-base 41% of the time in 2018, the percentage dropped to 40% in 2019.

Per Fangraphs’ Baserunning metric (BsR), the Orioles were one of only 14 teams with a positive BsR (2.0). They were worth -9.6 BsR in 2018.

Clearly, there was more aggressiveness on the basepaths, but Villar accounted for much of that aggressiveness and success. More players will have to step up in 2020 to put this team in position to win ball games. Manager Brandon Hyde placed a major emphasis on the fundamentals last season. Let’s hope that continues next year and we see more a more aggressive approach turn into more success.

Next. Ten Most Haunting Contracts In Orioles History. dark

Other than more wins, what would you like to see in 2020 from this team? Let us know!

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