Baltimore Orioles: JJ Hardy Was One Of The Best This Past Decade

Defensively, former Baltimore Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy was one of the best at his position during the last decade.

Since the offseason began, one of my favorite pieces to put out was our Baltimore Orioles All-Decade of 2010-2019. It consisted of a lot of easy decisions and largely every other website who put together one of these teams looked similar, but a few solid years of Adam Jones, Manny Machado, J.J. Hardy, and a productive Chris Davis provided plenty of no-brainer decisions.

What I enjoyed the most about writing the piece, and reading other All-Decade team pieces of not just the Orioles but all 29 other franchises, is the trips down memory lane which these lists lead one down. Those rabbit holes get a little deeper when you’re trying to avoid thinking about the current state of the Orioles.

A much harder decision would be to pick one Oriole from the past decade as your favorite player from the last ten seasons. It doesn’t have to be the best player, we all watch baseball for different reasons and enjoy varying aspects of the game.

I imagine many Orioles fans would designate Adam Jones as their favorite player from the past decade, and rightfully so. He gets my vote. Former Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy is a very close second on my list, and would likely sit atop the list of many fans. It’s impossible to come across Hardy’s name and not read it in Ryan Wagner’s voice.

During his seven seasons in Baltimore (2011-2017), Hardy appeared in 889 games, slashing .252/.293/.398 with 107 home runs, 385 RBI, 168 doubles, and a combined Wins Above Replacement value of 16.1, per Baseball Reference. While his offensive numbers weren’t eye-popping, it was his reliability with the glove that made the biggest impact during his tenure in the Charm City.

Taking home Gold Glove honors three-straight years from 2012-2014, Hardy’s glove was one of the more valuable this decade in all of baseball at the shortstop position.

Using Defensive Runs Saved, Hardy finished the decade ranked fourth in DRS with a total of 49. (top five list below includes only qualified shortstops)

J.J. Hardy (BAL)- 49

Trevor Story

(COL)- 33

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Hardy’s total ranks 21st among all qualified defenders, but the most fascinating part of the list above is certainly Simmons and his 198 DRS. That number leads all of baseball by a whopping 57 defensive runs saved. Outfielder Jason Heyward ranks second with 141.

Since Hardy’s departure, the Orioles have seen a rotating door of shortstops man the position, including Manny Machado for half a season before being traded to Los Angeles, Tim Beckham, Jonathan Villar, and a former Rule 5 pick in Richie Martin. Marin (89 games) and Villar (73 games) took over the position in 2019 (combined for -8 DRS), but Villar has since been shipped to Miami and there’s the discussion of Martin beginning 2020 in the minor leagues to continue his development.

The position of starting shortstop on Opening Day for Baltimore is up in the air, something that wasn’t in question with Hardy on the roster.

Hardy’s total defensive value ranked second among shortstops at 103.4, according to Fangraphs, behind only Andrelton Simmons (157.9).