Frobby

This actually reminds me a bit of Tampa’s hot start last year. That was even crazier, with the entire team at .879 OPS at the end of April. I remember looking at their players’ stats and virtually everyone was outperforming their historical and prior year numbers by a wide margin. The difference with the O’s is that several of our younger guys don’t have much of a track record to go on.

And when looking at that 3.46 ERA, keep in mind what Tony said in the OP about the questionable defense and official scoring in his first start. He hasn’t allowed a run since then.

Not a ton of relievers in the Hall of Fame. KRod at 437 saves has gotten 10.8% and 7.8% of the votes in his first two tries; Lee Smith at 478 saves got into the HOF only through selection by the Today’s Game Era Committee. I’d say the odds are against Kimbrel being elected by the writers unless he ends up somewhere north of 500 saves, and even then he’d be no sure thing. Pretty good shot that Kimbrel passes KRod this year and finishes the season 4th or 5th on the all time saves list, depending what Kenley Jensen (one ahead of him) does the rest of the year.

This is probably as close to clicking on all cylinders as most teams get. In any given 24-game period, some guys will be up and others down. We have 9 players with an OPS+ of 116 or higher. The four guys you mentioned will have hotter periods, and someone else will be cold then. That’s baseball. But the ratio of hot players to cold ones is really good right now.

I was looking at the O’s stat page and noticing how high all the OPS+ numbers are. For example, Cedric Mullins has a .736 OPS but that’s good for a 116 OPS+ right now. So, I looked around. Right now, the MLB average OPS is .698. That’s down from .734 last year, and (for those thinking of a “cold weather” explanation) from .726 last April. The O’s, on the other hand, have a .780 OPS, compared to .742 last year. That’s 3rd in MLB and good for an MLB-leading 130 OPS+, compared to 107 last year. I’m not sure if the hot hitting will continue, but the team has had one heck of a start offensively, in a year where the league has been pretty cold.

Jacob Cravey continues to be a bright spot for the Shorebirds. 3.2 scoreless last night, lowering his ERA to 0.61.

I have a feeling Roy wouldn’t have posted this today if Kimbrel had blown that game in the 9th. I always feel like the players and the manager are able to set aside the ups and downs a lot faster than a dedicated fan can.

Fair enough. I think both players have flaws and have talent, and how they’ll each develop is kind of an open question for me. I’m encouraged with how they’ve started. One worry I’ve permanently crossed off my list is Cowser’s defense. It was puzzling that he seemed so tentative last year, when his MiL rep was pretty good. This year he’s looked very comfortable from the jump, and he covers a lot of ground quickly with those long strides.

I’m very satisfied with a 4-2 road trip. A few of the wins got more stressful than I would have preferred. But, wins are wins.

That video encapsulates what you like about Bradfield. Most runners would not have scored on that play, if the catcher had held the ball.

Without being on a heater, he’s on pace for 27 HR and 115 RBI. His BA and OBP are a little lower than normal right now, but his 118 OPS+ is right in line with 120-121 from the last two years. Defensively, he’s played well. No big complaints about Santander so far, though I think his swing has looked a little loopy at times, generating a lot of pop-ups. His value hasn’t changed much from last year IMO.

Hard to say hiw Manny would have been as a SS if he’d played it right from the start in the majors. Due to Hardy’s presence, he essentially played 3B for 5.3 seasons before ever getting a shot as full time SS. By that time he’d lost some speed and range and was rusty at the ins and outs of SS. If 2012-14 Hardy was on this team, Gunnar would be at 3B, watching Hardy win his three Gold Gloves.

He said after the game that he has five pitches, and if any three of them are working on a given night, he can mix them up enough to get batters out.

He’s had quite the turnaround vs. LHP on this road trip. Hopefully it continues all year!

I’m sure he wasn’t running on his own. He was acting on orders. Took a perfect throw, a great tag and a questionable call to get him. Not a bad decision to try to get him into scoring position given that Kimbrel has yet to allow an extra base hit.