Adam Jones really looks lost at the plate.

[TheDeau52]

I'll never understand why Jones will continue to bat in the 3, 4, or 5 hole for the entirety of the season.

If he's slumping, like he is right now, you need to move him down in the order.

I agree. I'd much rather have a hole towards the bottom of the lineup than in the 3 hole. I love Adam, but he's horrible at the plate this year. I'm still holding hope that he'll figure it out.

[pastorfan]

Good post, Roy. I don't have a problem with that many K's if we are being blown away by 98 MPH fastballs, but guys like Jones are swinging at everything. Right now someone needs to address the team and get the "mentality" under control. Jones has always been a free swinger and his inability to change this is why he will be worthless from age 34 on. Cleveland pitchers will own us if we don't change this!

[Aristotelian]

The Orioles' strikeout percentage is at 22.6%, 5th highest in the league. Not really that terrible considering the spike in the last seveal games. The league average is 21.0%, up from 19.9% last year.

Good point. The raw K number looks better because we have had about 100 fewer ABs below the league average.

[Phantom]

I think Adam Jones should never swing at an 0-2 pitch. Nobody throws him a strike, or anything even close to a strike, in that situation.

In his career, Adam has faced an 0-2 count 1,149 times. Incredibly, the at bat was resolved on the next pitch 53.5% of the time (league average is 44.2%). 264 of those were strikeouts. I'd bet you could count the called strikeouts on one hand.

The Orioles' strikeout percentage is at 22.6%, 5th highest in the league. Not really that terrible considering the spike in the last seveal games. The league average is 21.0%, up from 19.9% last year.

And yet, Adam Jones is a better two strike hitter than "patient" hitters like Chris Davis. He's a better 0-2 hitter as well. IIRC, Manny is the only player on the team that provides as much value in an 0-2 count as Jones.

[Rene88]

Was concerned Roy was making a pro trump post here.

You and me both brotha. I don't like seeing those letters together.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Can_of_corn]

Was concerned Roy was making a pro trump post here.

You and me both brotha. I don't like seeing those letters together.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think Roy knows to avoid politics. :slytf:

[El Gordo]

I am more worried about the steady diet of breaking pitches that seems to be causing this spate of K's. I hope it's not our team's kryptonite.

[webbrick2010]

Good post, Roy. I don't have a problem with that many K's if we are being blown away by 98 MPH fastballs, but guys like Jones are swinging at everything. Right now someone needs to address the team and get the "mentality" under control. Jones has always been a free swinger and his inability to change this is why he will be worthless from age 34 on. Cleveland pitchers will own us if we don't change this!

Wow he is only 30

you think he will have value for 4 more years

He has an OPS of .718 over his last 111 games going back to July 1 of last year.

even worse if you just look at this year.

[osfan83]

This team is painful to watch right now...not sure I can torture myself again tonight.

[Tx Oriole]

Was concerned Roy was making a pro trump post here.

I thought he was bringing up that nasty klan.

[Tx Oriole]

Jones did look lost last night, and his offensive numbers have been really disappointing so far...

but,

Let's not act like he's been some kind of career bust. I mean, seriously. This is a guy that finished in the top 15 for AL MVP votes in 2012, 2013, and again in 2014. He's a five-time all star, with a hat trick of gold gloves. He's also been a leader for this team for years now.

Maybe he needs to be moved out of the three-hole, but let's keep his (very successful) career in perspective.

I agree with you. Geez the way some fans think.

[Can_of_corn]

Some interesting info here.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/eight-players-under-performing-their-xoba/

Adam Jones has gotten unlucky. His batted balls are of significantly higher quality this year over last year, you would expect his in game performance to have gone up. It hasn’t. It hasn’t at all. Somehow, he has managed to put up pretty atrocious numbers through the first quarter of the season, but this isn’t going to last. His average exit velocity is up from 89 to 92mph, value hit rate up from 7.7 to 10.6%. That boils down to a .366 xOBA and .303 xBABIP. His batted balls, you’d expect, should result in surging power numbers with a relatively constant batting average. He put up numbers like this back in 2012, when he bat .287/.334/.505 with .361 wOBA, perhaps the best season of his career to date. Those are the sorts of number you’d expect from his current batted ball production. Adam Jones has had some bad luck, but he has played very well. Don’t give up on him, he is going to turn it around and you might see some career numbers at the end of the season.

Expected: .280/.333/.516

To date: .227/.283/.364

Career: .277/.318/.459

For those interested, Nick Markakis is another name mentioned in that piece.

[ScottieBaseball]

OPSing under .650. That's a big problem in the 3-hole

Small sample size, fellas.

[pastorfan]

He could go 0 for his next 80 and buck wouldn't sit him or even move him out of the 3 spot.

Robo-buck is not my favorite. He's a terrific manager but his stubbornness is his biggest weakness.

True, his stubbornness may be exactly why two other teams won the world series the year after he left (no, I'm not advocating getting rid of him, but rather making the point that his strength which is to do things a certain way and never deviate--is also his weakness at times.)

[Tony-OH]

It doesn't help that Manny (140/.260/.395/.655) and Trumbo (.178/.213/.333/.546) are slumping as well in their last 11 games.