Baltimore Orioles Hitters: 2015 Team Preview
Aug 31, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles teammates Adam Jones (10) and J.J. Hardy (2) and Ryan Flaherty (3) celebrate after a game against the Minnesota Twins at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles defeated the Twins 12-8. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
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Adam Jones may be the easiest player in baseball to predict based on his last four seasons. Almost every single projection has Jones hitting roughly .280 and 30 homers. Adam Jones is not necessarily an exciting pick, but he is a very, very smart one. My article lays out what to expect from him.
I believe we will see Chris Davis as the primary 1B of the Baltimore Orioles this season. While Davis was a 2014 first round pick and major disappointment, he should go around the 75th pick next year. I really like Tanner’s projection for Chris Davis, but I actually think that Davis will probably hit for a lower average because of his trouble with shifts.
I am still trying to gauge Steve Pearce for 2015, but you have to remember that Tanner’s projection system is partially based off of three-year averages. We have less than one season of data on Pearce. I am fairly optimistic about last season’s Orioles breakout, but he is certainly a difficult player to project in 2015. He could very easily hit anywhere from 10-30 homers and no one would be surprised.
The lack of power from the Orioles’ shortstop, J.J. Hardy, was quite a disappointment and made him expendable in fantasy baseball. I think we see a return to normalcy and a 63/17/60/1/.254 stat line sounds just about right.
The Jonathan Schoop projection of 18 homers is very intriguing to me because it is greater than all of the Baltimore Orioles outside of Adam Jones and Chris Davis. However, the rest of the projected line looks similar to last year because Schoop essentially offered empty power. By that, I mean that Schoop only produced in the HR category.
There will be a lot of homers hit by the Baltimore Orioles once again (even without Nelson Cruz) and all of the players outside of Jonathan Schoop are all players who I could certainly see on my fantasy team.
Tanner Bell of Smart Fantasy Baseball has created all of the projections seen in this post. You can read about how he develops his projections here. His projections are invaluable to this site. You can also visit his site at www.smartfantasybaseball.com.