Baltimore Orioles: A Trio Of Outfielders Looking For A Big 2020

This trio of Baltimore Orioles outfielders need a strong rebound in 2020 if they want to stick around.

Believe it or not, we’re just a few weeks away from the first spring training workouts of 2020 and the return of having baseball to occupy our evenings on a nightly basis. If your excitement for 2020 has been a bit tempered by the Baltimore Orioles, I understand.

While I’m excited to be back in my usual seats at all of the local college baseball fields around my house and have an MLB game on TV every night, my excitement for the return of Orioles baseball isn’t as high, but they are still our Orioles and I’ll be at Camden Yards plenty of times this season, regardless of how bad the product on the field gets.

As we have discussed a few times already this offseason, finding small storylines to follow and keep you interested in 2020 shouldn’t be too difficult. They aren’t franchise-altering storylines, but they will have to suffice to get us through September.

One area I want to focus on today is the growth of three outfielders who entered 2019 with expectations of claiming starting roles at the major league level or continuing their climb up prospect boards. All three struggled to live up to the hype last year, but they are all still young and have the ability to create a life for themselves at the major league level. Will it happen in 2020?

First up, let’s look at a center fielder who has an opportunity to earn himself a 26-man roster spot after spring training.

It’s not time to write off Baltimore Orioles outfield prospect Ryan McKenna.

A number of people want to point at Ryan McKenna’s 2019 numbers and say he had a down year, but the 22-year-old outfielder was rewarded with a 40-man roster ahead of December’s Rule 5 draft, where McKenna was eligible to be drafted if left unprotected.

McKenna spent his entire 2019 season in Double-A with the Bowie Baysox, slashing .232/.321/.365 with a wRC+ of 104. He also chipped in 41 extra-base hits, 25 stolen bases, and maintained a walk rate above 10% for a second-straight season.

Finishing his second season in the Eastern League, McKenna was still much younger than most of his peers in Double-A ball, arguably the toughest level of minor league baseball. With a set of tools that includes some of the most elite speed you will find in the minors, the ability to barrel a baseball and a glove and arm more than capable of staying in center field, McKenna is still one of the more exciting prospects in the Orioles system.

McKenna will have a big outfield in Norfolk to play with next season, as he likely begins the year in Triple-A. One thing I’d like to see is a decrease in his flyball rate. McKenna owned a flyball of more than 40% last season, around a 12% increase from 2018. His 18% line-drive rate ranked in the bottom half of the Eastern League and was nearly 10% lower than his 2018 season in High-A, where McKenna had his breakout performance.

I’m still very high on McKenna, probably higher than most, and believe another year of maturity will go a long way for the former fourth-round pick. With a group of outfielders set to battle it out and try and prove their worth in the major leagues in 2020 and other outfield prospects like Yusniel Diaz likely getting their shot at the big leagues first, McKenna will have a full season to showcase his skills in Triple-A and prepare for a strong push in 2021.

Baltimore Orioles outfielder DJ Stewart will start 2020 with a steep hill to overcome.

Oh, DJ Stewart. It took me a long time to come around on Stewart, but a trip to Bowie to get a few extensive looks at him and a quick conversation with Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser changed my thoughts about Stewart, until he reached the major leagues.

There’s a lot to like about Stewart, including his home run power, speed on the basepaths, ability to draw a lot of walks, and his sneaky speed in the outfield. The Orioles got him to stand more upright at the plate, instead of using his pronounced crouch at the plate, and it paid dividends in the minors.

Stewart posted a wRC+ of 135 in High-A and137 in Double-A (while also posting a 20 HR/20 SB season), while keeping that mark above 100 in his two stints in Triple-A (139 last season). He has nothing left to prove in the minors and is now facing a big season in Baltimore.

More from Birds Watcher

• Baltimore Orioles Sign RP Mychal Givens
• Gunnar Henderson: Destroyer of Four-Seam Fastballs
• Which Current Baltimore Orioles Pitchers Have the Best Curveballs?
• Orioles News: Should the O’s Pursue Eovaldi? + More MLB News
• Should the Baltimore Orioles Consider Signing Nathan Eovaldi?

Injuries prevented him from seeing much playing time in the majors last year, defensive blunders highlighted his struggles, and he managed just a .238 average and .698 OPS in 44 big league games. Notoriously a slow starter, Stewart won’t have much time to prove himself in 2020.

He’s not expected to resume baseball activities until the end of spring training, meaning we will be well into the minor league season before we see Stewart play in some rehab games, giving the outfield group of Anthony Santander, Dwight Smith Jr. Ryan Mountcastle, and Mullins a head start in taking over the left field job (assuming Mancini is still in right field).

Stewart has the potential to be a reserve outfielder on a good Baltimore Orioles team, but has to stay healthy and show consistency at the plate first.

The only other outfielder we haven’t really talked about this offseason is Dwight Smith Jr. With injuries and service time games impacting a few outfielders, Smith is very likely to make the Opening Day roster, but how long will he stay there? He has an option remaining, so it could be an up and down year for the former Blue Jay, both in terms of his numbers and roster status.