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Strikeouts and Jonathan Schoop: Steer Clear of Orioles’ Second Baseman

By Ryan Cook

Sep 6, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop (6) has his hand looked at after he got hit by a pitch during the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 6, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop (6) has his hand looked at after he got hit by a pitch during the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Is there any value in Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop? Unfortunately, the numbers don’t lie.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop took the field 162 times last year and missed only three innings of baseball, but you wouldn’t know it.

As far as 25-year old second basemen go, Schoop is pretty overlooked. He’s been a consistently reliable player, giving you 25 HRs, 82 RBIs, and a comfortable .267 AVG last year with the Orioles, but he’s still a player no one really wants.

Schoop’s numbers are nice if you’re pairing him with the right infielders. If he’s your number one second baseman, though, you’re in trouble, because he continues to hit his head on the high ceiling everyone has set.

At 25 years old, Schoop is at a crossroads. He should be nearing his peak either this season or the next, but to say he’s going to pinch Dustin Pedroia‘s title as the best second baseman in the AL East seems so far from likely.

Schoop has shown snippets of what he can do, and that’s hit. He’s a powerful guy, someone you want on your team if you’re struggling for homers. Last year he hit 12 “forget about em” moon shots, and he’s just as good away as he is at home when it comes to crushing one over the fence.

The things that Schoop hasn’t shown in his first few years, though, is patience. And that’s what a lot of fantasy owners are starting to run out of.

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Schoop’s eye is terrible, so much so that he struck out 137 times last season while swinging at 43% of pitches outside of the zone. His 21% strikeout rate is on par with the league average, but while Schoop is still trying to sort out his timing, pitchers are having a field day throwing slider after slider down and away.

The lack of patience Schoop has shown at the plate accounts for his .298OBP, the lowest on the Orioles’ roster. The strikeouts compared to walks have been ugly forever, even though his career high 21BB’s last year showed some improvement.

Some attest Schoop’s strikeout struggles to a rushed minor league career where he was crammed onto the Orioles’ Opening Day roster in 2014. It makes sense really, the strikeouts have been a problem for Schoop for ages, and it seems no hitting coach can correct old habits.

With the struggles in the strikeout game, comes struggles elsewhere as well. If Schoop isn’t hitting home runs, he’s not doing much else, and it’s hard to see his .267AVG increasing by much in the next few years.

The reason being?

Schoop’s line drive rate of 19.8% is awful, and well below the league average. The 34.9% of fly balls he hits may turn into home runs every now and again, but with a rising soft hit rate of 25.4% and an alarming hard hit rate of 26.6% (nearly ten percent lower than 2015), Schoop is only going to regress further.

Since Schoop can’t walk and has managed only 73 doubles and one triple in his career, he’s useless if you don’t need home runs. He doesn’t get on base all that often, he doesn’t walk and he doesn’t steal. He’ll easily be draftable in very late rounds.

If Schoop was to one day find himself in line for a DH spot, it would be easy to see some value. The problem is, the Orioles continue to place an enormous amount of faith in Schoop, and why not, he is still young and still provides some spark to their offense.

Defensively, it’s not hard to see why the Orioles are comfortable with what they have. Schoop committed only eight errors in 2016 and saved 11 runs on double play balls. He has the arm strength and the accuracy to perhaps be a standout Gold Glover one day.

Next: Blue Jays: Taking a Chance of Devon Travis

From a fantasy standpoint, Schoop probably isn’t winning you any awards, though. He can be avoided in a handful of league formats, and since his .243AVG against lefties is only going to plummet even further into nothing, stay well away from this strikeout machine.

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