Baltimore Orioles: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season
By Sean Basile
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.