Tap-In Question: Who will be the Orioles’ biggest surprise this season?

View Comments

• Small sample size taken into account, my pick might be Alec Asher. Another signature Dan Duqutte signature move, I think he has a better chance of staying in the rotation if Ubaldo continues to play as poorly as he has. I'm going with Asher winning at least 10 games for the O's and being a bigger surprise than anyone would have guessed.

  • That would be something. If Orioles get 10 wins out of Asher they are playoff bound.

• Want to say Mancini, the easy pick, I hope Buck gives him the at-bats and he hits 35 Dr. Longballs, but I'll take a chance and go with Jonathan Schoop having a stellar year. I love the way he plays, so smooth and poised. And he can hit a 480+ foot HR.

  • I'm not so sure many of us would be surprised if Schoop had a big year.

  • I dunno, Boog. As good as Schoop can be, 35 homers is a whole lot. Would surprise me if he jumps up with 10 more again this year (he went from 15 to 25 previously). I see a good year, but a 35-bomb year from a 2Bman on a winning team puts him in MVP talk.

    • I think he means that Trey could hit 35. Maybe I'm off the mark, though?

• I'd love to say a Cedric Mullins mid-season call-up might be forthcoming, but considering how crowded the outfield already is, and barring an injury to a certain center fielder, I can't see that happening.

  Now that he's shown at least a nominal ability to play the outfield (despite of what a certain reporter claimed was not feasible just last summer), I'm going to go with Boom Boom Mancini. My reasoning is that besides the awesome and all-too-obvious nickname, he's shown a calmness at the plate that belies his rookie status. At the expense of the Hitting Machine and Gentry, I see him pushing for more plate appearances as the season wears on. My only question now is, how well can he hit right handers? Considering he was a long shot to even make the team out of spring training, he's my pick for the O's biggest surprise player.

  • Low-hanging fruit there, Boog. But yeah he sure has made it look easy so far. Mullins intrigues me. But as you outlined, this may not be the year.

• Wade Miley. He'll pitch well enough to get that team option picked up so he can be a giant h

  • giant bust next year....

  • Sorta Bud Norris, 2014 (2015)?

• Already seen a glimpse of it. First rookie of the year for the O's since Greg Olsen. You know of whom I speak.

  • Asher? I'm kidding.

• I find myself thinking it's going to be Wade Miley as well. It just seems like he's found something that works and he's had success in the past. Of course, I thought Gallardo was set for a big comeback year, so...

  • He has had success in the past. The stuff is there. It just has been so spotty.

• I'm going to say Mike Wright - I think eventually the O's are going to realize he's better off in the bullpen where his stuff will play way better and he'll become a usefull bullpen piece for the big club

  • I like it, DP. Drink chip. I understand why you'd exhaust all avenues as a starter first. But he has not been able to harness the obvious talent he has as a starter. I've been pushing for the pen for two years. And not as a long man, either. One, two innings max.

• Seeing as I made the prediction Gausman would be a Cy Young finalist, Ill be pretty surprised if he turns into a train wreck like last night.

  Sort've wandering off topic, but as a man who grew up watching the 80's era game when guys like Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman and Tim Raines caused untold havoc on the basepaths, did we not get a reminder just what was lost when MLB became too scared to steal? Kevin Gausman turned into a spastic mess when Billy Hamilton was on base and collapsed before our eyes. Damn I miss that style of game, before everyone decided they were too smart to "waste outs" and produced the boring bludgeon-ball we see today.

  • Off topic perhaps, but you're spot on regarding the effects small ball can play on a pitchers concentration.

• Late to the saloon here, so it's difficult to come up with something original. My first instinct, naturally, was Mancini, the obvious choice. Then I was gonna go Mullins, as I've been closely monitoring his progress - via the box scores anyway. Boog's point about the crowded outfield is valid however, and it may simply be too soon for a guy that was in low A last year. Miley? Maybe. My favorite one was Wright. Talk about your dark horse candidate! Not feelin' that one though...

  I'm gonna go off the board here and say Jayson Aquino. It's not for nothing that he's become a Buck guy, and his recall today makes me feel lots more comfy about long relief than the tandem of doom that has been Wilson/Nuno. Does Aquino stay in this role, does he get some starts, some high leverage innings? It's up to him to prove he's got what it takes. Based on what little I've seen and absorbed via stats, I think he just might.

  • Could be a great call. Aquino starts Saturday. Maybe that's when the Aquino Era begins.

• Gentry wont be here that long so I pick Castillo

  • Sounds good. But that means Castillo will have to be excellent all around. We already expected him to be solid.

• Tjink it's gonna be Bundy. Think he gonna live up to all the earlier hype and be in Cy Young talk with low ERA

  • If he's in Cy Young conversation in September, you win and so do the Orioles.

• I'm split between Welington Castillo and Seth Smith.

  Castillo has done a very nice job at the plate (I'm looking forward to his first HR as an Oriole), and he's done better than expected behind the plate as well.

  Smith, while the numbers don't really show it, has been a pleasant surprise as well. He's made some nice catches in RF and has done a good job getting on base. Plus, he's knocked a couple homers as well.

  • I think they both have held their own so far. My concern with Smith is the obvious one: hamstring injuries linger. Especially in your mid-30s. But he has looked pretty solid otherwise.

• Mancini is real, he will have a ROY type season. Bundy is real, he will be in the Cy Young talk. Asher will get to pitch more than the master plan intended, for one reason and another, and will impress.

  • Wow. A triumvirate. I like the optimism.

• I say Asher. If he gets a shot and pitches the way he did in his first start that can only mean that the Orioles will be soaring to an AL East title and more. With a premium placed on starting pitching that kind of surprise ca have a ripple effect on the team and the whole organization.

  • Agreed. We shall see. But why not, right?