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Who had the best outfield arm in Orioles history?

Frobby

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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5 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Sorry.  Had to look it up.  28 sounded incredible for Shelby.   He did have 22 in A ball and 21 in AA.  Never had more than 10 in the majors.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=shelby001joh

 

Never more than 10, but he did that in 670 innings, which equates to about 80 full games (factoring in games where the losing team only plays 8 innings in the field).   

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SteveA
SteveA

John "T-Bone" Shelby 

Pickles
Pickles

I can't speak to before the 80s but a long hard think leads me to want to say Markakis. Especially, if we're looking at it as cumulative arm value added.

Orange
Orange

Alex Ochoa had the best throw I’ve ever seen live. It was in Bowie though 

Tony-OH Hangout Grand Counsel

Tony-OH

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9 hours ago, Orange said:

Alex Ochoa had the best throw I’ve ever seen live. It was in Bowie though 

That was going to be my choice but he actually never played with the Orioles. Plus he had some accuracy issues, but he had the best arm I can remember seeing arm strength wise.

Guys who I remember having really good strong, accurate arms would be Ken Singleton, John Shelby, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis (early in the career) and Austin Hays. 

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SemperFi Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

SemperFi

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11 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Sorry.  Had to look it up.  28 sounded incredible for Shelby.   He did have 22 in A ball and 21 in AA.  Never had more than 10 in the majors.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=shelby001joh

 

Sorry, I was using SABR and here's the quote "Shelby led Miami with 538 plate-appearances and paced FSL outfielders in chances and assists.28" 

I didn't realize the 28 was a footnote!! thanks for the clarification!!

 https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/john-shelby/

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Sanity Check Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

Sanity Check

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Back in the early '70's, a guy named Jim Fuller was reported to have a cannon as well, but he could never hit well enough to stick around in the big leagues.  If he did, he might be the answer here.  I kind of also recall BJ Surhoff having a strong, accurate arm, but maybe not the "best" arm ever on the Orioles.

 

As for non-Orioles that haven't been mentioned, check out Rick Ankiel's throwing highlights on youtube.......his arm and more importantly, his accuracy from long distances was amazing.  He came up as a stud  power pitcher, but very quickly lost the ability to throw strikes, and literally had no idea where the ball was going when he was throwing 60 feet, 6 inches.  He then resurfaced as an outfielder in a feel-good story, and actually had a decent career as a regular player, but if you haven't seen his throws from deep in the outfield to third base, in the air and on the money, check him out on youtube.....it's quite impressive.

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webbrick2010 Hangout Veteran Council

webbrick2010

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Ken Singleton had a strong arm and he played in an era with larger ball parks. I think Adam Jones should get some mention also

In the old days when I attended many games in Memorial Stadium and even arrived early to see batting and fielding practice, Singleton

would throw from the warning track in the power alley (386') to second on the fly

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SemperFi Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

SemperFi

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7 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

Here's a highlight reel of Rick Ankiel's throws....I wasn't sure if I'd be able to link this or not.....

 

Why did anyone ever run on him?  The amazing thing about Ankiel to me is not the arm strength but coming up as a pitcher I doubt he had many reps in the OF but look at his mechanics- in positioning himself to throw, his quick transfer-textbook.

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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45 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

That was going to be my choice but he actually never played with the Orioles. Plus he had some accuracy issues, but he had the best arm I can remember seeing arm strength wise.

Guys who I remember having really good strong, accurate arms would be Ken Singleton, John Shelby, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis (early in the career) and Austin Hays. 

Adam had a very strong arm until his last few years, but he had pretty poor judgment about when to use it, often throwing home when he had no real chance of getting the runner and allowing other runners to advance a base.   

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SemperFi Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

SemperFi

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9 hours ago, sevastras said:

Never an Oriole, but would Bo Jackson be the benchmark for arms in the outfield?

I don't think Bo was the benchmark, Clemente and Furillo and then the rest -maybe Bob Meusel going way back.

Bo certainly made a lot of flashy plays but the odd thing about Bo was that the Royals played him in LF (in a symetrical park) and Danny Tartabull who wasn't great in RF.  Does anyone know why he was primarily a LF not in RF to take advantage of his arm?

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RZNJ Hangout Grand Counsel

RZNJ

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38 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

Back in the early '70's, a guy named Jim Fuller was reported to have a cannon as well, but he could never hit well enough to stick around in the big leagues.  If he did, he might be the answer here.  I kind of also recall BJ Surhoff having a strong, accurate arm, but maybe not the "best" arm ever on the Orioles.

 

As for non-Orioles that haven't been mentioned, check out Rick Ankiel's throwing highlights on youtube.......his arm and more importantly, his accuracy from long distances was amazing.  He came up as a stud  power pitcher, but very quickly lost the ability to throw strikes, and literally had no idea where the ball was going when he was throwing 60 feet, 6 inches.  He then resurfaced as an outfielder in a feel-good story, and actually had a decent career as a regular player, but if you haven't seen his throws from deep in the outfield to third base, in the air and on the money, check him out on youtube.....it's quite impressive.

Some incredible throws by Ankiel.  Here’s some from Francouer.   
 

 

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Yardball85 Hangout Veteran Council

Yardball85

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Good thread topic.  Markakis and Hays have to be up there.  It seems like this past year at least, teams took notice and knew not to run on Hays.

Side note: Worst arm I have ever seen (non Oriole) - Johnny Damon.  Ramirez cutting off his throw will never not be funny.

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