Call to the pen
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Baltimore Orioles Chris Davis headlines 2018 performances that won’t repeat

By Joey Brasch

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates with the World Series trophy after his team's 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates with the World Series trophy after his team's 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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Baltimore Orioles
2 Apr 1996: Centerfielder Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles stares into the outfield as he follows through on a swing following a hit in the Orioles 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. Man /

While the season that the Baltimore Orioles slugger was historically bad, he headlines a group that should not be expected to repeat their 2018 performance in 2019.

Every year, there are players who truly break out and become superstars. Max Scherzer, for example. spent parts of five seasons as little more than a league-average pitcher before his breakout 2013 season, and since then, he has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball. Conversely, there are plenty of players who have single seasons that are complete anomalies. One of the most famous examples is former Baltimore Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson, who hit 50 home runs in 1996, and he never hit more than half of that in any season of his 15-year career. Clearly, there are players in 2018 who will not be nearly the same player in 2019.

Improving to an MVP

One example is the reigning AL MVP Mookie Betts. Now, before the pitchforks come, it’s obvious that Mookie Betts was a fantastic player both before and during 2018. But Betts took it to an absolutely different level offensively in 2018 that will be extremely difficult to repeat.

From his debut in 2014 to 2017, Betts was good for an OPS+ of 120, meaning he was 20 percent better than average based on park-adjusted OPS. In 2018, Betts posted a 186 OPS+, only trailing Mike Trout‘s 199 mark among qualified hitters.

A huge part of Betts’s 2019 success was due to his .368 batting average on balls in play compared to a .314 career mark, which is a stat that can often fluctuate due to luck. Granted, Betts is only 26, and his 2018 could mark a real change in Betts’s batting ability.

He provides incredible value on defense and on the basepaths and he could very likely end up in Cooperstown after his career. But even if he has significantly improved as a hitter, nothing in his career before 2018 suggests he’s a Trout-level hitter, and there is a great probability that his MVP-season was a career-year, even if he remains a very good hitter.

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