Orioles facing tough roster decision as this former top prospect prepares to return from IL

Dylan Beavers hit the 10-day IL on May 13th, which today feels like forever ago. Since then, the Baltimore Orioles had their disastrous 1-5 road trip, and the season felt like it was over. After that, they had their triumphant 7-3 home stand, and now it feels like they could be back. There was recently a report that Beavers was back taking full-speed swings in the batting cage, which means he should be back soon. This invokes the question, how is Beavers going to fit back into this Orioles team?

Beavers was playing very regularly before he went on the IL. With how poorly Colton Cowser and Tyler O'Neill had been playing, Beavers had pretty much locked himself into the daily lineup. Since he's been gone, Leody Taveras has pretty much taken over as the everyday centerfielder, and Cowser has rebounded. The Orioles have had a pretty consistent outfield of Cowser, Taveras, and Ward, with O'Neill mixing in as a short side of the platoon option.

So how does Beavers fit into this picture? The Orioles have made it clear that they want Ward in the lineup every day. As long as Cowser is hitting his glove, he makes him a super valuable piece in the outfield, and Beavers can't match Taveras' ability in center.

Getting Dylan Beavers back into the lineup could be more difficult than the Orioles previously imagined

Beavers’ season-long number doesn't jump off the page at you, but in the week before suffering his injury, he was really coming around. Over his last seven games, Beavers was hitting .350/.458/.550, and he was really the only outfielder on the roster hitting at the time. With that being where he left off, the Orioles would certainly like to get him in the lineup, but it's tricky.

Is he going to eat into Cowser's playing time as O'Neill's strong side of the platoon partner? Will the Orioles scale back Ward's presence in the lineup as he's tailed off a little bit? Would the Orioles try to rotate Taveras out of centerfield with Cowser and Beavers? With the Orioles catching tandem being two of the team's best hitters, there are not a lot of DH opportunities to move these guys around and get them all in the lineup.

Unfortunately, it seems like the most likely candidates to lose playing time are Colton Cowser and Samuel Basallo, as the Orioles remain committed to lefty/righty matchups, so rather than any sort of reduction in playing time for the struggling right-handed hitters, it will be the hot left-handed hitters who will have to take a seat to make room for Beavers.

Here are some potential solutions to avoid that. First, Ward could afford to play less. His offense was way down in May; his defense is not good enough to make up for it when he's not hitting. Against certain tough righties, the Orioles could sit Ward and have an outfield alignment of Cowser in left, Taveras in center, and Beavers in right.

Another thing worth considering is that even though Taveras is a switch-hitter, he's really struggled against lefties, so the Orioles don't need to treat him like a platoon bat when a lefty is on the mound. Beavers could play centerfield against lefties and get some at-bats that way as well.

Beavers is young and talented, and at the end of the day, talent is going to rise to the top, even if it has to deal with some playing time roadblocks.

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