Baltimore Orioles: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season
Are the Baltimore Orioles in for another long season in 2020, or will we see progressive development of young talent and the shaping of a future contender?
The Baltimore Orioles are undeniably a team in transition right now, but that doesn’t mean no positives can arise from this 2020 season. Are the O’s going to make a playoff push this season?
Probably not. But in carefully dissecting their roster, it becomes abundantly clear that 2020 will be about getting the reps for the young players and pitchers that will very soon become the core of this Orioles franchise.
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One thing that is quietly going unnoticed by the baseball world is how well-run this organization is and how good Brandon Hyde is as the manager of this team. Did anybody else see what the O’s got out of Renato Nunez, Pedro Severino, and Hanser Alberto last year as outcasts scooped up from other organizations?
What about John Means, a 46th round draft pick back in 2011 that made his first All-Star Game in 2019 as a rookie and is now slated to be the number one pitcher of the O’s this season?
How about how the O’s have drafted or how they’ve traded star players for solid returns?
Look at the Keegan Akin, DL Hall, Tanner Scott, and Hunter Harvey draft picks among a slew of high-ceiling position players. Look at the Cody Carroll, Dean Kremer, Josh Rogers, and Dillon Tate trade returns they got for Manny Machado and Zack Britton. The Orioles haven’t been too good the last couple of years, but they’ve loaded up on prospects and now is the time I believe we will get to see the majority of them get their playing time.
The point I’m trying to make here is that the Orioles obviously aren’t a very good team right now, but they have a stable foundation with a host of young players and a manager that’s game for the rebuild. I’m excited to see what the Orioles do this year and if they can indeed play spoiler to a few of the sure-fire playoff teams in the process
The Lineup
The Baltimore Orioles are a team that may not have what it takes to break through and get to the playoffs in 2020, but their hopes are much higher than some of the other teams that took steps back this offseason.
Their strength will most certainly be their lineup. Not only do they have the trio of Pedro Severino, Renato Nunez, and Hanser Alberto coming back after terrific 2019s, but they also have a slew of young studs to plug into the lineup headed by Anthony Santander who hit 20 long balls in 93 games a year ago.
They brought in Jose Iglesias to lock down the shortstop position in place of Richie Martin, and it is more than likely we’ll be seeing a ton of two major prospects in Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle. Hays is set for a big role this year as he’s right now set as the starting center fielder, and no better timing as the spot is wide open for the taking.
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Mountcastle, on the other hand, could be seeing more of a utility role this year playing primarily first base and maybe even a little third. But that role could be increased if we see yet another flop season out of Chris Davis who will probably be the starting first baseman right out of the gate in 2020.
The O’s lineup takes a big hit with the loss of Trey Mancini for who knows how long due to his recent medical emergency, but this is still a potent lineup that limited strikeouts in 2019 and has a solid meshing of veteran and young players who are going to be playing with a chip on their shoulder once again this year.
The Rotation
In terms of their starting pitching, that is where we might see the true struggles of this team come to the surface. Does John Means repeat, or better, improve upon what he did in 2019? I don’t know. He’s more of a contact lefty, so I wouldn’t say he’s particularly a number one.
Does Alex Cobb stay healthy? Injury history would point to “no.” What about Wade LeBlanc? Do we see another resurgence in his game much like the one he briefly had in his first year in Seattle? Does he even make the team in a starting role?
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Who will piece together the back end of the rotation? Will it be the crop of young guys like Keegan Akin, Kohl Stewart, and Dean Kremer, or will they prove to be not quite ready and the back end will be sured up by veterans plugged into the system such as Tommy Milone, Asher Wojciechowski, and Tom Eshelman? Either way, I think the Orioles rotation will have its fair share of hardships this season and will be a huge reason the O’s don’t win that many games.
But the bullpen of this O’s team is very interesting. Mychal Givens, if he shows out in the first half, will almost certainly be a prime trade candidate. I know they used Shawn Armstrong a bit in the closer role last season, but as of now, I would say Givens is their ninth-inning guy and this will be a great chance for the Birds to reel in another solid prospect in return for him if he does indeed perform well.
Hunter Harvey and Miguel Castro are very intriguing arms in this pen as they can both hit the high 90s with ease and have electric stuff that could also swing them into a starter role at some point in each of their careers.
And finally, I’m interested to see what we get out of the Zack Britton return of Cody Carroll and Dillon Tate. Tate has worked his way back up to getting good velocity on his fastball and has since developed into more of a bullpen arm, while Carroll pretty much missed all of 2019, so I would expect to see him come back fresh and throwing bee bees out of the pen.
This isn’t a good team, but it’s young and it has potential. Look for the young bats and arms on this O’s team to hit the show hard this year and advance the franchise into possible relevancy in 2021.
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I had the Baltimore Orioles finishing 60-102 and in last place in the AL East before the Coronavirus shutdown. Now, I’m not sure how many games they’ll play, but I still have them finishing in last place. However, don’t be surprised if we see the Birds over-perform and overtake a very down Red Sox organization for that fourth slot in the East.