Orioles ML Best Tools

[RZNJ]

I admit it.  I didn't watch much baseball this year.   Just trying to have some fun here.   Feel free to correct me or at lease chime in.   The player had to have played in the majors for the Orioles this year and finished the year on the 40 man roster.

 

Best Outfield Arm

1. Austin Hays

2. Anthony Santander

3 ???  (Not much to choose from!)

 

Best Infield Arm

1. Jose Iglesias

2. Ruiz

3. Pat Valaika

 

Fastest Orioles

1. Cedric Mullins

2. Austin Hays

3. Ryan Mountcastle

 

Best Raw Power

1. Renato Nunez

2. Anthony Santander

3. Ryan Mountcastle

 

Best Fastball

Tanner Scott

Hunter Harvey

Dillon Tate

 

Best Breaking Pitch

Tanner Scott

Dean Kremer

Paul Fry

 

Best Changeup

John Means

Cesar Valdez

Keegan Akin

 

 

[ChuckS]

I'll add best hit tool:

1. Ryan Mountcastle

2. Anthony Santander

3. Jose Iglesias

Best outfield defense: 

1. Cedric Mullins

2. Austin Hays

3. Anthony Santander

Best infield defense:

1. Jose Iglesias 

2. Andrew Velasquez

3. .....................

[Aristotelian]

Valdez's changeup is even better than Means, especially considering he does not have a FB to go with it. I would put Mountcastle's raw power ahead of Santander.

[Roll Tide]

Is Mouncastle really the third fastest player? He moves good for a big kid but I doubt he is.

[BohKnowsBmore]

38 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

2 hours ago, ChuckS said:

I'll add best hit tool:

1. Ryan Mountcastle

2. Anthony Santander

3. Jose Iglesias

Best outfield defense: 

1. Cedric Mullins

2. Austin Hays

3. Anthony Santander

Best infield defense:

1. Jose Iglesias 

2. Andrew Velasquez

3. .....................

 

38 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Is Mouncastle really the third fastest player? He moves good for a big kid but I doubt he is.

If Velazquez counts he’s definitely in the top-3 fastest group

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Roll Tide said:

Is Mouncastle really the third fastest player? He moves good for a big kid but I doubt he is.

Baseball Savant actually had him faster than Hays.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/sprint_speed?year=2020&position=&team=BAL&min=10

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

Valdez's changeup is even better than Means, especially considering he does not have a FB to go with it. I would put Mountcastle's raw power ahead of Santander.

Agreed on both..

[scOtt]

18 hours ago, ChuckS said:

I'll add best hit tool:

 

3. Jose Iglesias

Is that really his M.O.? Or is it just 2 good years in a row? Cuz when he was in the lineup he was a BEAST this year. Even in the original Spring Training.

[Moose Milligan]

I think @RZNJ compiled a really good list, I wouldn't argue with it.  

[bobmc]

16 hours ago, Frobby said:

Baseball Savant actually had him faster than Hays.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/sprint_speed?year=2020&position=&team=BAL&min=10

Michael just saw stars!  @weams  #beast

[Matt Bennett]

19 hours ago, scOtt said:

Is that really his M.O.? Or is it just 2 good years in a row? Cuz when he was in the lineup he was a BEAST this year. Even in the original Spring Training.

I think fans will be in for a rude awakening if they put 2020 expectations on 2021 Jose Iglesias. Still a decent player by all means but we have pretty overwhelming evidence that he is a below average hitter in the league and just a 39 game sample size of a transformed line drive machine. BABIP was an .407. Career .308. His line drive % was 40% while the leader in LD% in 2019 was 28.5%. 

[weams]

On 10/20/2020 at 8:46 PM, Roll Tide said:

Is Mouncastle really the third fastest player? He moves good for a big kid but I doubt he is.

You would be wrong.

[Redskins Rick]

On 10/20/2020 at 6:08 PM, RZNJ said:

I admit it.  I didn't watch much baseball this year.   

 

 

They played ball this season? Dang, must have blinked and missed it. LOL

Sorry, just having fun.

Nice list and work there. 

[Frobby]

On 10/20/2020 at 7:20 PM, ChuckS said:

I’ll add best hit tool:

....

3. Jose Iglesias

 

20 hours ago, scOtt said:

Is that really his M.O.? Or is it just 2 good years in a row? Cuz when he was in the lineup he was a BEAST this year. Even in the original Spring Training.

 

26 minutes ago, Matt Bennett said:

I think fans will be in for a rude awakening if they put 2020 expectations on 2021 Jose Iglesias. Still a decent player by all means but we have pretty overwhelming evidence that he is a below average hitter in the league and just a 39 game sample size of a transformed line drive machine. BABIP was an .407. Career .308. His line drive % was 40% while the leader in LD% in 2019 was 28.5%. 

I think we need to define what we mean by best hit tool.   Iglesias makes contact more than any other hitter on the team.    His 2020 K rate was 11.3% and his career rate is 12.1%.   Nobody else only the team was below 13%.    So if hit tool means making contact with the ball, you could argue Iglesias is no. 1.

Iglesias also has a career BA of .278.    Only Mountcastle has a higher career BA than that, and that’s in a very limited sample.   Alberto is also at .278, while Hays is at .272.    

So, if you are treating power as a separate tool, there’s a real good case to be made for Iglesias’ hit tool, without having to rely on his 2020 outlier performance.  
 

[Frobby]

I realize the OP stated the criterion that the player had to have played on the team in 2020.   But it saddens me not to see Trey Mancini listed.    Hopefully next year he’ll be back near the top on the hit tool/power tool lists.