Who had the best outfield arm in Orioles history?

[NashLumber]

How was Steve Finley's arm in his brief time as an Oriole? Brady Andersons arm? 

I didn't have much access to O's games in their era. 

Edited January 22 by NashLumber

[BRobinsonfan]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

Fantastic.  Great.  Didn’t have a cannon.

Having a "cannon" wasn't the question.  This was Frobby's question: “To be clear, I'm not just talking about the strongest arm. Strength is a factor, but accuracy, consistency, and a quick release should all be factored in.” 

You seem to be focused on who had the strongest arm. That's fine; that's not the question Frobby asked. 

Blair averaged one assist for every 127.45 chances

Here are some others that have been mentioned:

Sammy Sosa has one assist every 132.62 chances

Frank Robinson has one assist every 136.24 chances 

Adam Jones has one assist every 149.50 chances

Nick Markakis has one assist every 150.85 chances 

Edited January 22 by BRobinsonfan

[SemperFi]

36 minutes ago, NashLumber said:

How was Steve Finley's arm in his brief time as an Oriole? Brady Andersons arm? 

I didn't have much access to O's games in their era. 

Just my opinion but both could really run/good fundamentals which helps alot in positioning.  Brady had a good enough arm to rank just beyond top 100 in MLB CF's-I remember him as making a lot of good decisions and accurate over velocity.  Finley I loved in his brief period on defense but can't remember his arm.  He was very good #23 all time among CF's but only 6 were for the Orioles.  Devereaux from the same era was similar-all good not great.

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, BRobinsonfan said:

Having a "cannon" wasn't the question.  This was Frobby's question: “To be clear, I'm not just talking about the strongest arm. Strength is a factor, but accuracy, consistency, and a quick release should all be factored in.” 

You seem to be focused on who had the strongest arm. That's fine; that's not the question Frobby asked. 

Blair averaged one assist for every 127.45 chances

Here are some others that have been mentioned:

Sammy Sosa has one assist every 132.62 chances

Frank Robinson has one assist every 136.24 chances 

Adam Jones has one assist every 149.50 chances

Nick Markakis has one assist every 150.85 chances 

Maybe Blair was great at accuracy and getting to the ball quickly and getting rid of the ball quickly.  Maybe a lot of runners challenged him.  I don’t know.  I do know that I saw Blair play as well and his arm was nothing special.  Brooks Robinson may have had more assists than any 3B in history.  If you asked people which 3B had the best arm his name wouldn’t come up.

 

BTW, Blair’s assists and DP numbers do suggest that he was the best Orioles outfielder at throwing runners out.  Something I didn’t know.  I guess it’s semantics but I still say he didn’t have a great arm.

Edited January 22 by RZNJ

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, BRobinsonfan said:

Having a "cannon" wasn't the question.  This was Frobby's question: “To be clear, I'm not just talking about the strongest arm. Strength is a factor, but accuracy, consistency, and a quick release should all be factored in.” 

You seem to be focused on who had the strongest arm. That's fine; that's not the question Frobby asked. 

Blair averaged one assist for every 127.45 chances

Here are some others that have been mentioned:

Sammy Sosa has one assist every 132.62 chances

Frank Robinson has one assist every 136.24 chances 

Adam Jones has one assist every 149.50 chances

Nick Markakis has one assist every 150.85 chances 

The stuff in your earlier posts contained a lot of data on Blair that had nothing to do with his arm.  Nobody here doubts that he was one of the greatest defensive centerfielders of all time.  But that was mostly due to his speed and incredible defensive instincts.  At least in my memory, his arm was fine, but nothing special.  

It’s always tough to judge a player’s arm by assists.  Some weak-armed guys get a lot of assists because more runners challenge them.  Mickey Rivers had 19 assists one year and he had one of the weakest arms I’ve ever seen.  In Blair’s case, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of his assists were due to catching shallow balls and catching runners who failed to tag up, or just throwing from a pretty short distance.  To be clear, I’m definitely not saying Blair had a weak arm.  Just not a memorably good one IMO.
 

[Number5]

Assists are an indicator, but not the end-all, be-all.  Often an outfielder with a cannon doesn't have a lot of assists because teams know not to run on his arm.  That has value.

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, Number5 said:

Assists are an indicator, but not the end-all, be-all.  Often an outfielder with a cannon doesn't have a lot of assists because teams know not to run on his arm.  That has value.

Oh, absolutely.  Austin Hays had only 4 assists last year, but Baseball Savant ranked him 11th among all outfielders in Arm Value.

[Yossarian]

7 hours ago, CP0861 said:

He wasn't here long, but Gerardo Parra had an excellent arm. He won a couple of gold gloves.

Jesse Barfield had a cannon. Raul Mondesi. Dave Parker. Ichiro. Ankiel. Griffey. Winfield.

Tony Armas

[Jammer7]

I believe Albert Belle had an outstanding throwing arm at one time. I don’t remember if he still had that as an Oriole. 

[btdart20]

I recall a few good throws by Orsulak.  

Would have loved to have seen prime Eric Davis on the O’s.

[emmett16]

11 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

It would be a benchmark, for sure.  Not much better than that.

Raul Mondesi for me.  Best I’ve seen.  

[emmett16]

4 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Raul Mondesi for me.  Best I’ve seen.  

Was thinking Larry Walker also.  Just looked him up 30 A in 1991.  The year Slak had 22….

[emmett16]

6 hours ago, NashLumber said:

How was Steve Finley's arm in his brief time as an Oriole? Brady Andersons arm? 

I didn't have much access to O's games in their era. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/finlest01.shtml
 

134 career A 12 with Os. 

[Moose Milligan]

I don't know if assists are a worth stat in determining arm strength/accuracy.  They are to a certain degree...obviously, Cedric Mullins won't be leading the league in assists anytime soon.

But there's no way to tell how many times a runner didn't advance because whoever picked up the ball in the outfield can throw a rocket.  And to me, maybe that's a bit more important than 1 outfield assist every 135 tries or whatever.

But again, no way to tell how many times a runner thought better than to take a chance on taking the next base.

Anyway, whatever.  

This first throw by Bo Jackson...it's an optical illusion, but it almost looks like the ball is gaining velocity as it gets closer to first base.  Something with how the camera tracks it.  The second throw they get to Gallego at third is amazing, too.

 

 

Edited January 23 by Moose Milligan

[emmett16]

I think people forget how good this guy was.