I’d say Mateo has been playing well compared to expectations for him. You can say his SLG is “inflated,” but it is what it is. And his defense has been way better than “fine” of late. He’s playing a stellar 2B. He’s our best defensive 2B and it isn’t close. Going into tonight’s game he’d been worth 0.7 rWAR, 0.5 fWAR in 25 games. Hard to argue that’s not playing well.
I didn't think this would be a possibility at the beginning of the season, but Elias might very well end up shopping for a veteran outfielder that can hit. Mullins and Hays have struggling at the plate since July 2023. Cowser has fallen off a cliff after his red hot start and hasn't adjusted yet to pitchers throwing him more breaking pitches.
While the Orioles have young prospects who have promise. You can't expect them to step up this year to be a major reason this team makes a deep playoff run. Maybe Cowser or Kjerstad answers the call, but I think this team would benefit from an established veteran if Mullins/Hays continue to not hit.
Nice job. 6 Orioles.
I had 7 Orioles, but my Oriole-less spots were Cleveland/Angels and Mets/Angels. (I had used Eddie for NYM/LAD so I couldn't use him for Cle/LAA). I had Orioles in the lower left (Joe Saunders) and lower right (Gregg Olson).
My rarity score went to hell when I used Nolan Ryan for Mets/Angels.
I agree he’s guessing a lot. He guessed wrong on strike three in the 10th inning and took a pitch right down the middle. Really poor approach there.
On the season his expected and actual numbers are very close, but in recent weeks his expected numbers have been much better than the actual ones. It was the opposite when he was hot.
He’s still learning and it’s pretty painful to watch right now.
What is good about his approach? He’s a guess hitter. Maybe he’s identifying a few more balls out of the hand and able to lay off some pitches, but he is just guessing up there.
His expected numbers are right in line with his actual numbers, so there is nothing saying the results should be better than that are.
I don't understand how you can say that Mateo has been playing well. He has a .288 OBP, which is putrid, and one of the contributing reasons this team is mostly producing its offense with solo home runs.
Mateo's SLG and OPS are inflated due to 2 solo home runs - power is not part of his game, given his first home run was his first non-inside-the-park home run in over a year. So he remains what he's always been with the Orioles - one of the worst hitters in MLB.
His defense has been fine at 2B. But playing him, as always, requires gold glove defense to make up for the terrible bat.
I'd much rather call up Mayo to play 3B and have Westburg at 2B every day. Or just roll with Urias at 3B instead of Mateo at 2B.
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