SARASOTA, Fla. — It’s spring training, the time of year when mistakes are prevalent and to be expected, even for the best of teams. Nobody is buried in March, and all of the Grapefruit and Cactus League stats are washed away when the calendar turns to opening day.
So, there are no conclusions worth drawing from the Orioles’ 12 errors in the spring, a total tied for the fifth most in MLB. The concern lies in where their fielders finished last season when the Orioles were one of the worst defensive teams in the major leagues.
It’s something the new coaching staff, led by manager Craig Albernaz, first base and outfield coach Jason Bourgeois and infield coach Miguel Cairo, was well aware of coming into camp and intent on fixing.
“It’s frustrating. We got to be better,” Albernaz said Tuesday of the Orioles’ three errors in a game against Team Netherlands on Tuesday. “That’s not indicative of who we are. But, yeah, we’re going to be better on defense. … That’s why it’s spring training, that’s why we’re here. Our guys have been working hard. It’s not the work, it’s just the attention to detail, even when the game starts. So, our guys are aware of it. We’ll make the adjustment.”
The advanced statistics suggest that they have their work cut out for them. Among the 11 position players projected to make the opening day roster — excluding catchers, more on them later — only one finished last season with more than zero Outs Above Average (OAA): Blaze Alexander, who was +3 at second base and +1 overall before being acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks this offseason.
OAA is a range-based stat that estimates how many outs a player saved, with different formulas for outfielders and infielders. It wasn’t kind to the Orioles last season. As a team, they were tied for 23rd in MLB with -23 OAA. Right field (-15), shortstop (-7), second base (-7) and left field (-5) were the biggest culprits.
“Film is out there, metric numbers are out there, some adjustability we have to do on going back on balls for [Dylan Beavers] as well as [Colton] Cowser,” Bourgeois said. “At the same time, those are easy ones to handle. We’re crushing early work right now, just on some specifics alone, and hey, when you put in the work, for me, eventually that’ll turn over.”
Injuries played a role in the Orioles’ defensive shortcomings. Tyler O’Neill, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner in the outfield, played just 54 games. Cowser appeared in only 92. Jordan Westburg was +3 between second and third base in his limited action, but he’s already expected to miss the first month of the season after suffering a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.
Perhaps the biggest bright spot was at catcher, where Adley Rutschman made huge strides behind the plate, particularly with his framing. But the Orioles are now working with the 21-year-old Samuel Basallo, who remains a raw prospect and a work in progress defensively. The more starts at catcher Rutschman cedes to Basallo, the less that position becomes a defensive strength for Baltimore.
For the Orioles to improve defensively as a team overall, however, they will need to improve their range — perhaps the most important tool for position players in the field. Gunnar Henderson, despite cutting down on the errors at shortstop last season, remained below average by OAA at -3. Jackson Holliday (-8) was a liability at second. Pete Alonso (-9) isn’t going to be an improvement over Ryan Mountcastle (zero).
Coby Mayo is also returning to third base, the position the Orioles originally moved him off of after he struggled to make consistent throws across the diamond. That has remained a problem in camp, both on the backfields and in games. He has -2 OAA at third in limited action since making his MLB debut in 2024.
For outfielders, the biggest key to improving range is making better reads off the bat and taking the right first step. Positioning has been a major emphasis of the new staff, and Bourgeois has been hammering lessons on the first step both on the field and in the film room.
“We’ve worked a lot on first move, reading the ball off the bat, but that’s kind of the main thing we’ve focused on this spring,” Beavers said, echoing the sentiments of several outfield teammates. “Just trying to get good jumps, because I think that puts me in a better position or get to the wall early and be able to find the wall and camp under certain fly balls out there.”
Infielders can improve their range with better positioning, but also by improving their footwork, taking better angles on hard-hit balls and anticipating where a ball will be hit by assessing whether a hitter is early or late on contact.
The Orioles remain, especially on the position player side, one of the youngest teams in baseball. There’s plenty of reason for optimism that the club can take a step forward defensively as players establish themselves at the MLB level.
It’s only spring, but the Orioles still have a long way to go to show that they can hold their own in the field.
Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich. Matt appears as a regular host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast.
