Top Ten Leadoff Options for the Orioles

[larrytt]

10) How about a switch-hitter with a .385 lifetime OBP, including averaging over .400 three years in a row, and who stole 51 bases one year? Down side - Don Buford will be 79 on Feb. 2, 2016.

9) Eddie Gaedel isn't the only dwarf out there.

8) Chris Davis. He led the Orioles in OBP last year (.361) - and imagine the poor pitcher thinking, "If that's their leadoff hitter, I don't want to see the rest of their lineup!"

7) Donald Trump. Think about it - first, he'll get rid of all the opposing Latino and Islamic pitchers, as well as these 14 guys. If they try pitching to him, how can they concentrate when they are staring at his hair? And if a pitcher does get him out, Trump'll rip them apart on Twitter and then buy his contract and sell it to the North Koreans. Plus, Trump won't just take walks -

to first base. Besides - isn't "You're fired" pretty much the same as "Take a walk"? He'll Make the Orioles Great Again! (Plus, he really was a baseball player! He might also be a pitching option.)

6) Oriole pitcher Jason Garcia, who had a 1.000 OBP last year.

5) A Paramecium. Very small strike zone. Bonus - "Paramecium" is an anagram for "America Ump," so maybe they'll get some good pitch calls.

4) Nolan Reimold. He played for the Orioles from 2009-2013, then for Toronto and Arizona in 2014, and for the Orioles against starting in 2015, so he's in the third segment of his major league career - and as we all know, "Leadoff Hitter" is just an anagram for "A Threefold Fit." Plus, he faltered right after getting hot to start out 2012 (.960 OPS after 16 games before getting injured), and of course "Leadoff Hitter" is also an anagram for "Faltered If Hot." And this year he's greased and ready to go, since "Reimold" is just an anagram for "Mr. Oiled." (Sure, he's 32, but we'll ignore that "Reimold" is also an anagram for "Mr. Oldie.") Plus he had a .344 OBP last year, third for the Orioles after Davis and Machado.

3) The Road Runner. Great speed, small strike zone, will work for grain. And one hundred years ago he maced the Independence Coyotes and they promptly folded - and of course "Mace" is just an anagram for Wile E. Coyote's favorite company, "Acme." And the Road Runner does play baseball!!!

2) Caleb Joseph or Ryan Flaherty - tossup. The two were third and fourth in walks for the Orioles last year - with 27 and 26. (I'm not making this up! Next was Jones with 24, then Pearce, Reimold, and Snider, each with 23. Then came Wieters at 21, Hardy at 20, Paredes at 19, and nobody else over ten. Davis and Machado easily led the team with 84 and 70.) The two also combined for exactly zero stolen bases, and so came with five of being second on the team in stolen bases.

1) The American Military. They spend most of their time on base. Cue the Star Spangled Banner!!!

[Number5]

LOL. Somebody took the day off. Funny stuff. Thanks.

[bobmc]

Let's give it up for larrytt, our pre-eminent table tennis guru - but can he beat Hardy? Hardly..... :clap3: :hearts:

[weams]

LOL. Somebody took the day off. Funny stuff. Thanks.

Let's give it up for larrytt, our pre-eminent table tennis guru - but can he beat Hardy? Hardly..... :clap3: :hearts:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Orioles Top Ten Lead Off Options for 2016 <a href="https://t.co/gKY7WkdtlV">https://t.co/gKY7WkdtlV</a> … Larry Hodges, Larry TT <a href="https://t.co/3lGcJdbnGQ">pic.twitter.com/3lGcJdbnGQ</a></p>— Orioles Hangout (@OriolesHangout) <a href="

">January 22, 2016</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[larrytt]

Let's give it up for larrytt, our pre-eminent table tennis guru - but can he beat Hardy? Hardly..... :clap3: :hearts:

Just to be clear, yep, I can beat JJ Hardy at table tennis, though he's surprisingly good - he and Brady Anderson even came to the Maryland Table Tennis Center in 2013, where I coached them for two hours. Here's a picture. Here's another!. Here's me hitting with Brady. I also played them and others in their clubhouse that summer. Here's video (79 sec) of the four kids I brought with me hitting with Orioles. I even got to give a short introductory speech to the assembled Orioles!!! (That was nerve-wracking.) I talked skill development with Chris Davis for 20 min.

-Larry "larrytt" Hodges, full-time table tennis coach & writer

[larrytt]

By the way, I'd like to see Reimold as our leadoff hitter at the start of the season, though Kim is an intriguing possibility. Then we can add Machado to our following "Murderer's Row."

-larry

[bobmc]

Just to be clear, yep, I can beat JJ Hardy at table tennis, though he's surprisingly good - he and Brady Anderson even came to the Maryland Table Tennis Center in 2013, where I coached them for two hours. Here's a picture. Here's another!. Here's me hitting with Brady. I also played them and others in their clubhouse that summer. Here's video (79 sec) of the four kids I brought with me hitting with Orioles. I even got to give a short introductory speech to the assembled Orioles!!! (That was nerve-wracking.) I talked skill development with Chris Davis for 20 min.

-Larry "larrytt" Hodges, full-time table tennis coach & writer

Why yes of course, hardly, in this instance, meant "hard, heavy and often" (pun intended). You da man! Thanks for the recaps! :clap3: