Many people around baseball expect the Orioles offense to be one of the most potent in the league this season. With a group headlined by the likes of Chris Davis, Adam Jones, and Nelson Cruz, anything less would be a disappointment. Four games into the season, that disappointment has become an early reality. To say the offense has underperformed so far in the young 2014 season would be an understatement. Where do we stand compared to the rest of the league? Well…
.214 Team BA – 22nd in MLB
11 Runs – 23rd in MLB
39 Total Bases – 28th in MLB
6 XBH – T-28th in MLB
.557 OPS – T-28th in MLB
While these poor stats likely will not hold for an extended period of time, they certainly have caused some alarm in Birdland. It’s easy to be concerned, especially considering our pitching has not been very good, either. I won’t even get into that.
The point of this article is not to focus on the negatives, however. Believe it or not, I have something positive to talk about. Something many of us have noticed throughout the first four games that I think we should keep an eye on. Someone, rather.
Adam Jones.
Our center fielder is notorious for chasing balls out of the strike zone. We have all watched in frustration for years as a slider in the dirt sends Jones back to the dugout. While he has been our most consistent hitter over the past few seasons, Jones’ reputation of being a free swinger and not working the count leads me to believe that he has not yet reached his ceiling.
That ceiling may be coming soon.
Putting aside Jones’ .231 average on the young season, there are a couple other stats on which I would rather focus. The first is pitches per plate appearance. Jones has averaged 3.64 P/PA over his career, never eclipsing 3.73 P/PA since he joined the Orioles in 2008. So far in 2014, he is averaging 4.93 P/PA, good for fifth in the majors. One might argue that four games is way too small of a sample size to think this statistic is significant, and while I do not fully disagree with that, here is why I think we should take note.
Jones’ high P/PA is not a product of luck or poor pitching; the Orioles have faced above average pitchers so far this season. Rather, Jones is being more patient at the plate. He is laying off pitches out of the zone and he is fouling pitches off to extend his at bats. He has even walked twice already. I know, right?!
The second stat – well, more of an observation – on which I’d like to focus is Jones’ approach as a whole. One at bat in particular stood out to me in the first Detroit game. With runners on first and second and only one out against Drew Smyly, Adam worked the count to 3-1 and then drove a fastball deep to right field. Torii Hunter hauled it in for the out, but it was a great at bat for Jones. Rather than trying to pull the ball and ending up hitting into a double play, Jones waited and drove the pitch to the opposite field, allowing Steve Lombardozzi to advance to third on the sacrifice fly. That is something we don’t often see from our center fielder.
So, while I understand that four games is not much and I am looking at a very small sample size, I am encouraged by what I have seen from Adam Jones thus far. I’ll leave you with a couple figures:
- Of Jones’ fifteen plate appearances, he has worked the count to at least three balls in eight (53%) of them.
- Of Jones’ fifteen plate appearances, he has seen 5+ pitches in nine (60%) of them.
- Jones has seen 4.93 pitches per at bat this season.
- Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli led the MLB last season with 4.59 P/PA.
- Jones’ two walks in four games put him on pace for 81 walks.
- His career high for walks in a single season is 36.
Only four games, I know. But I figured I would bring it up because who doesn’t want to see a more disciplined Adam Jones?
As always, feel free to sound off in the comment section, hit me up on twitter @BaltimoreBlake_, or shoot me an email at
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