4 Orioles who carried the offense during a difficult month of May

First impressions can be misleading and can linger. In baseball, if a player has a good first month or two weeks of a season, the fans and the media all get on board that they're having a good season, and even if they trail off quickly, their numbers will still look solid for a while. Inversely, when a player gets off to a bad start, it can be difficult to rehab both their perception and their stat line. The Baltimore Orioles had several players who suffered through a miserable month of April, who were excellent in the month of May, even if their season stat line still looks a little underwhelming.

Four members of the Orioles lineup in particular carried a heavy load this past month. Several of the Orioles best hitters hit below the Mendoza line in May, and for most of the month, the rotation was consistently allowing opposing teams to stack up large leads against the Orioles. If not for these guys' contributions, the season would be all but over.

Samuel Basallo is becoming a superstar even faster than the Orioles could have hoped

At the end of April, Basallo looked as good as you could hope a 21-year-old might look in just their second month at the big leagues. His .232/.315/.754 slashline wasn't a cause for a celebration, but he had displayed his incredible power, putting up eye-popping exit velocities that made it so fans could dream on the hitter he might one day become.

Little did they know that "one day" was next month. In May, Basallo hit .338/.376/.597, good for a wRC+ of 168. He looks like a hitting machine. He was having so much success putting the bat on the ball and creating hard contact that he was actually walking less, but towards the end of the month, you could tell in certain matchups, teams were telling their pitchers don't give him anything to hit and the walks started to tick back up. With every game that he plays, Orioles fans grow more and more grateful that he signed his extension last year and that they will get to watch him for the better part of the next decade.

Colton Cowser was a two-time walkoff hero, but he also excelled in between his big moments

Cowser got off to a dreadful start, and about 20 games into the season, he was relegated to the role of a defensive replacement bench player. In May, he battled back. His walk-off homers on back-to-back days (not games, funnily enough) made headlines, but he was solid all month long, hitting .275/.362/.529.

Cowser has always been a streaky hitter, and at this point, it's clear that some of the swing and miss concerns are never going to completely go away, but with his defensive ability, if he can draw walks and put the bat on the ball in between his hot streaks where he piles on homers, he should be able to maintain an everday role on this Orioles team.

Blaze Alexander finally saw some balls bounce his way

Alexander has provided the Orioles with valuable versatility all season, but his numbers through the end of April were hard to look at. Throughout his struggles, his expected stats stayed strong, and in the month of May, things finally balanced out. He hit .365/.403/.508 and finally broke the seal on his home run power. With how well he's been playing, hopefully the Orioles consider ramping up his playing time.

Pete Alonso is showing why the Orioles made him their big offseason target

Alonso had a slow start to the season and finished April hitting just .198. With how much the Orioles paid Alonso, that kind of production was hard to stomach, but in the month of May, he rebounded beautifully and looked much more like a player worthy of a $155 million contract. He hit .277/..331/.509 and capped off the month as a walk-off win hero.

One thing worth keeping an eye on with Alonso is that he is in the 98th percentile for hard hit rate and has not yet had an above-average BABIP month. With how hard he is hitting the ball, he is due for a month where these hard-hit balls find the outfield grass, and he puts up MVP-caliber offensive numbers.

These weren't the only three guys who contributed offensively during May, but looking at the numbers, these guys were superlative and deserve recognition for their excellent months, even if their season stat lines are still weighed down by what they did in April. Hopefully, they can keep this momentum going into June, and some of the team's other stars join them.

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