As the Mets travel to Baltimore for a short two-game series, it is a good time to remember that it could always be worse. The Orioles are on pace for 48 wins and find themselves in a race to the bottom with the Royals. A team that, like the Mets, made the playoffs and lost in the Wild Card game just two years ago, they have fallen about as hard as a franchise can. As they take their first wobbly steps into the dark and treacherous forest that is a full rebuild, this stats preview takes a look at a few of the players they have acquired thus far.
Villar’s Voyage: Jonathan Villar was a Brewers’ trade deadline casualty as part of the deal to acquire Jonathan Schoop from the Orioles. The switch could be a good change of scenery for Villar, though, as he has struggled to find consistent success after his breakout 2016 season (4.7 WARP). His time with the Orioles is not a large enough sample size to draw reliable conclusions, but his plate discipline numbers are a little improved from his numbers with the Brewers, which is what marked one of the biggest dropoffs from his 2016 season.
Cody Carroll’s Cup of Coffee: Another deadline acquisition with only a few appearances for the Orioles, Cody Carroll was part of the package the Yankees sent to acquire Zach Britton. Carroll throws a fastball, slider and splitter, averaging 97.2 mph on the four-seamer. In the Yankees system, he posted big strikeout numbers, with K/9s above 11.0 between High-A and Triple-A across the last two seasons. His BB/9 fluttered around 4 in the minors, which means keeping the walk numbers down will be key to his success in the majors. With five walks in his first 3.7 innings in Baltimore, that has been an early Achilles heel, but if he is able to get his control figured out, he could be a useful piece in the Orioles pen for the foreseeable future.
Quick Hits
The Good: Orioles reliever Tanner Scott has the eighth highest K/9 among qualified relievers (13.25).
The Bad: The Orioles’ top two position players by WARP and three of their top five pitchers by DRA play for different teams now.
The Ugly: Baltimore’s .294 winning percentage has them on pace for their worst record in Baltimore history, and the worst in franchise history since the 1939 St. Louis Browns (43-111, .279).
Mets Check-In
With David Wright starting a minor league rehab stint, let us look at how miserable the production has been from Mets’ third basemen this year. None have hit better than .217, slugged better than .368 or had an OBP better than .300. It has truly been a miserable season at the hot corner, and even though it has been almost four years since Wright saw regular time there, this season is the first that there has been almost no production at the position.
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