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Should Orioles bat Mullins or Mateo leadoff? /MAILBAG

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.

Question: Should the Orioles put Cedric Mullins or Jorge Mateo at leadoff?  Gunnar Henderson is too much of a run producer to have him bat leadoff. From: Kevin Shindel

Answer: Kevin, the Orioles should keep Gunnar Henderson batting leadoff. His on-base percentage is more than 100 points higher than Mullins’ or Mateo’s. Henderson’s power at the top of the order is disruptive and his speed is excellent, too. For years, speedy players often led off but having a powerful player with speed at the top of the order with a high on-base percentage makes the Orioles more dangerous.

Question: With all the different statistics there are today, I was wondering what the cutoff is for an excellent OPS vs. a good one. From: Jim Fickel

Answer: Jim, I would say an .800 OPS, which is the combined on-base and slugging percentage, would be the equivalent of a .300 batting average. Whenever I’m looking at stats, an .800 or higher OPS always catches my eye.

MORE ORIOLES COVERAGE BELOW

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Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

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