Orioles stubborn outfield experiment is quickly backfiring again

Baseball teams love versatility, and the Baltimore Orioles are no exception. Roster spots are a valuable commodity, and if a player can play multiple positions, that saves the team from having to keep any specialists on the roster that can only play in hyper-specific situations.

Unfortunately for the Orioles, they've had a habit of pushing a player's versatility too far, and this week's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks was a prime example of how that can go wrong and cost the team wins.

With two outs and two on in the top of the third inning, with the Orioles leading 1-0 over the Diamondbacks, Adrian Del Castillo hit a high fly ball to the left field warning track. The Orioles' left fielder, Weston Wilson, tracked it back towards the wall, but the ball ricocheted off his glove, and what should have been an inning-ending fly out turned into a two-run triple that gave the D-backs the lead. That ended up being the difference between the Orioles winning this game and losing in extra innings.

This is not meant to lay the fault at Wilson's feet. He's not really an outfielder. He's a "utility man," but of his 7,000-plus professional career innings on defense, almost 6,000 of those have been in the infield.

Since the start of the regular season, Wilson had not played one single inning in the outfield in Norfolk, and in his first game with the Orioles, they put him out in one of the biggest oufields in all of baseball. They were asking for trouble, and they got it.

The Orioles have enough OF depth they don't need to put a 3B out there

The Orioles have had a lot of injuries this year, and that's why Wilson is on the team, but it was entirely unnecessary to put him in left field. They had Colton Cowser, Leody Taveras, and Dylan Beavers all on the bench. Cowser and Taveras are both solid centerfielders who would easily track down that ball. Taveras is a switch-hitter, so he could have hit from the right side to match up with the left starter.

If none of those options are enough, they could have just played Taylor Ward in left like they usually do and DH'd him the day before or the day after. Ward wasn't one day away from collapsing from exhaustion.

That's four actual outfielders the Orioles had available to play left field, and they chose to put a third baseman out there. It's a totally unforced error.

It's possible that if Ward or Beavers had been out there they might have also flubbed that fly ball. It was not an easy play to make, but if that had been the case and an outfielder had dropped that ball it would have been a lot more easy to stomach than having to watch someone who just shouldn't have been out there cost the Orioles the game.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow