Baltimore Orioles: Freddy Galvis Flashes Power in Chicago

Freddy Galvis had a standout display of power at the plate during the Orioles’ four-game series against the Chicago White Sox

This weekend, the Baltimore Orioles traveled to Chicago’s southside to face off in a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox, riding a 9-game losing streak into the weekend that was extended to 13 games as the O’s were swept at Guaranteed Rate Field. While the outcomes of the games weren’t directly impacted by the performance Freddy Galvis had throughout the series, his contributions are promising and absolutely worth paying attention to.

Over his 16 plate appearances in Chicago, Galvis recorded a pair of walks and three hits, all of which were home runs. Notably, in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, Galvis launched a pair of solo home runs against White Sox starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel. The game was the fourth multi-home run game of Galvis’ career.

According to Baseball Savant, Galvis had six hard-hit balls in the series as well, putting some solid contact on display. What makes this performance so encouraging is how uncharacteristic consistent power has been from Galvis this season. Although he has the second-most home runs of any shortstop in the American League, Galvis ranks within the 18th percentile of hard-hit rate.

While the series ultimately brought down his season-long batting average, Galvis saw a significant increase in his slugging percentage and held true to the .315 on-base percentage he entered the weekend with. The performance spiked Galvis’ OPS from .768 to .803, slotting him in with the top 30 hitters in the American League to this point in the season.

As the Orioles return to Baltimore and start a homestand on Memorial Day, beginning with a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins, the team will attempt to break what is the longest active losing streak in Major League Baseball with the help of what is hopefully some new-found consistency from the team’s veteran shortstop.