Since losing their fifth straight on June 3 to fall a season-low six games below .500, your Baltimore Orioles are on a tear, folks. They’ve won 14 of 18 and are now a season-high four games over .500 and just 2.5 games behind the surprising Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. Their win Tuesday night in Boston was their sixth straight over the Red Sox, something they haven’t done since back in 1981.
Suddenly, things are looking up.
Let’s hit the links.
O’s Machado Soaring Once Again
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick says that, in a year full of young and hyped prospects getting called up and performing well, baseball fans would do well to not forget about Manny Machado, who is still younger than the Kris Bryants, Joc Pedersons and Nolan Arenados.
(Note: this is one instance where it’s worth clicking the video at the top of the page and watching)
In Year of Young Stars, Don’t Forget About Manny Machado
No, this isn’t the same exact link. Apparently the directive went out this week for the national writers to talk about Machado, and this article comes from CBS Sports’ Dayn Perry. Perry looks at Manny’s improvement with the bat, citing his drop in strikeout rate among the reasons for his improvement.
Best 25-and-Under Performers for 2015
This link also comes from Perry, who piggybacks off his Machado piece and ranks the Top 10 players in baseball under 25 years of age. Note that of these players, only Bryce Harper is younger than Manny.
The Change: Manny Machado, Billy Burns, & Batted Ball Mixes
Had enough Manny? Of course you haven’t. Eno Sarris of FanGraphs dives further into Machado’s peripherals, specifically ground ball and pop up percentage, and his newfound ability to go the other way, and tries to predict if the improvements we are seeing will stick.
Making the O’s run over the last week all the more remarkable is that they’ve done it largely without Adam Jones, who has missed five of the past seven games, and hasn’t played centerfield in over a week. Britt Ghiroli reports that Jones hopes to be back Friday, and has some quotes from the O’s leader as we fans get more and more nervous that the DL is a possibility.
