Baltimore Orioles: Best 2nd Basemen in the Last 30 Years

During the 2000s, Brian Roberts was the top Orioles second basemen. Other than a brief stint with the Yankees in 2014, Roberts was a career Oriole who came up in the system. He played second base throughout the decade and dipped a bit into it during the early 2010s.

In his 14-year career, Roberts only had two seasons with negative WAR numbers. His career WAR with the O’s was 28.8. His top season, statistically was 2005, when he had an outstanding WAR of 7.3. He finished 18th in the AL MVP votes that year.

Roberts went to two All-Star Games: 2005 and 2007. Standing all of 5’9, he was an agile man built for the position.

As a switch-hitting batter, his slash with the Orioles was .278/.349/.412. He topped .300, once, when he hit .314/.387/.515 in 2005. During that year, he hit 18 home runs, which remained his apex. Roberts’ strength was in hitting doubles and stealing bases. He led the league in doubles in 2004 and 2009, with 50 and 56 respectively. In 2007, his other All-Star season, he led the league in stolen bases with 50. In fact, between 2003 and 2010, he consistently had double-digit stolen bases.

Unfortunately, Roberts had a few issues during his career with the Orioles. He had a fluke concussion in 2010, when he hit himself in the head with a bat. He suffered a second concussion in 2011 after a head-first slide into first base. In 2013, he suffered a knee injury early in the season; he was never the same after that injury.

While injuries changed his career, the most damaging part of his career was admitting to steroid use. He was named in the Mitchell Report, but did not talk with investigators. He told reporters that he used them early in his career, but only once.