4 Orioles who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

Jorge Mateo, SS

When Jorge Mateo is at his best he's one of the most electric players in baseball. He has game breaking speed and has established himself as an elite defensive shortstop. Coming into this season, Mateo was given the starting shortstop gig after a 2022 season where he finished as one of the best all around defenders in baseball, while stealing 35 bases as well. The downside with Mateo is his offense, which has consistently put him as a well below average hitter.

The Orioles clearly had faith that Mateo could turn into a solid offensive threat, and their bet seemingly paid off after an unreal start to the season. Mateo began the year slashing .333/.377/.667 with 6 homeruns through the first month of 2023.

That torrid start quicky evaporated, and since the start of May, Mateo hasn't had a single month with a batting average over .200 and doesn't have any home runs since then either. Along with his offense, his defense has also regressed this season. He still is considered one of the better Orioles defenders, but he has just 2 outs above average this season compared to 10 last year.

Although Mateo still has value and has made an impact with his baserunning recently, there isn't an argument to be made for him being on the team next season. The Orioles have multiple elite prospects who are currently blocked by the likes of Jorge Mateo, such as Joey Ortiz and the number one prospect in baseball, Jackson Holliday.

Both of these players would be significant offensive upgrades over Mateo while also projecting to be very good defenders. The Orioles would miss his speed, but I just don't think there will be a spot for him when next season comes around.

Kyle Gibson, Starting Pitcher

Kyle Gibson was one of the few signings the Orioles made this offseason and he's been very serviceable in his role. He was brought in to be a solid veteran presence who could pitch a lot of innings for the Orioles, and he's done just that. Gibson leads the team in innings pitched and strikeouts while being tied with Dean Kremer with 11 wins on the season. His 145.1 innings this season rank as the 4th most in the A.L.

The issue with Gibson is that his numbers simply aren't that strong, even with the substantial innings totals. He's given up the most hits of any A.L pitcher this season and has an ERA of 4.89. His advanced numbers also demonstrate his struggles. He's in the below average percentiles in many different categories such as hard hit percentage, exit velocity, K percentage, expected batting average, and expected slugging percentage.

Gibson has done a solid job for the Orioles this season, similarly to that of Jordan Lyles last year. Gibson is set to become a free agent after the season, and with the starting rotation running into some bumps in the road recently, it would make sense for the team to add higher level starting pitching in the offseason rather than keeping Gibson around.

Ryan McKenna, OF

McKenna has served as the Orioles 4th outfielder over the past two seasons and became a favorite of manager Brandon Hyde. McKenna is a solid defender with very good speed, but he struggles offensively. He has a career slash line of .218/.296/.613 but was slightly better this season. In just over 100 at bats McKenna slashed .248/.304/.670 with 2 homeruns, including a walk-off homerun against the mariners earlier this year.

McKenna is still only 26 years old, but the Orioles have too many talented outfielders to keep McKenna on the roster. With Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, and Anthony Santander establishing themselves as major contributors to the current team, plus Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad both expected to play big roles soon, there doesn't look to be any room for McKenna going forward.

Adam Frazier, 2B

Similarly to Kyle Gibson, Adam Frazier has been a solid contributor and has been a good veteran presence for the O's. He's slashed .239/.300/.414 with a career high 13 homeruns this season. Frazier has had multiple clutch hits for the Orioles and continues to be one of the teams best run producers. But even with the career high in homers, Frazier has an OPS+ of just 98 (the league average is 100).

The biggest problem for Frazier this season has been his defense, which ranks him as one of the worst defenders in all of baseball. Last season, Frazier posted a very solid 6 outs above average. This year, that number has fallen to -14, placing him in the bottom 1 percent among all MLB defenders. He also falls in the bottom 7th percentile in arm strength.

It also looks as if the Orioles have already found Frazier's long term replacement in the person of Jordan Westburg. Westburg was one of the Orioles top prospects and has had a fantastic start to his career.

He's slashing .277/.325/.438 in 34 games this season and he leads the Orioles in outs above average with 5. Frazier is also a free agent after the season, so it would be a relatively easy decision for the Orioles to let him walk this winter and continue with Westburg going forward.

These 4 players have all made contributions to the Orioles this season and have some very redeeming qualities. But as the Orioles continue to improve as a team, there just isn't room for these players going forward.