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

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.