masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgHere is a pretty fair and accurate statement, both simple and true: The Orioles offense was inconsistent during the 2016 season.
As the team’s season came to an end Tuesday night at Rogers Centre, the Orioles produced just four hits in 37 at-bats (.108 average) and two runs. They didn’t score after the fourth inning and went 0-for-16 at-bat to end the game. No O’s runner even touched second base in the last six innings.
But that is just a one-game sample. Yes, the wild card game was one…

Here is a pretty fair and accurate statement, both simple and true: The Orioles offense was inconsistent during the 2016 season.

As the team’s season came to an end Tuesday night at Rogers Centre, the Orioles produced just four hits in 37 at-bats (.108 average) and two runs. They didn’t score after the fourth inning and went 0-for-16 at-bat to end the game. No O’s runner even touched second base in the last six innings.

But that is just a one-game sample. Yes, the wild card game was one game, but there was more than one game when it came to the struggles of the offense. The 2016 Orioles ranked 11th in September in runs scored and 14th in the second half out of 15 American League teams.

The same team produced an offense that was prolific in the month of June when the Orioles hit .300 as a team with an OBP of .357, a .888 OPS and averaged 6.6 runs per game. All four of those stats led major league baseball.

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How did they go from the best in the major leagues in June to near the bottom of the AL in several categories after the All-Star break?

Did some players get tired? Was the offense not built for the long haul? Was it too reliant on home runs? Was it all of the above and more?

Well, yes, probably some of all of that and more. Inconsistency.

The Orioles scored three runs or fewer in 12 of their last 16 and 15 of the last 22 games. Coming down the stretch they scored eight runs in a four-game series versus Boston, 11 runs in three games against Arizona, eight in three games versus Toronto and 16 in three at New York.

June now looks a bit like an outlier as several players maxed out or came close to it on the stat sheet. Manny Machado hit .370 with an OPS of .996 that month. Adam Jones went .314/.982, Jonathan Schoop .355/1.009, Chris Davis .284/1.020 and Mark Trumbo .281/.881.

Those numbers will produce some runs. So will homers, as the 2016 Orioles finished with 253 (St. Louis was next closest in the majors at 225). That total ranked second-best in team history and was the fifth-most by any team in major league history.

Once again the Oriole struck out too much (fifth in the AL) and stole too few bases (easily last in the majors). We’ve been saying it for years, but the Orioles could use more balance to their lineup. Perhaps fewer sluggers and more speed and on-base guys.

When outfielder Michael Bourn joined the team and stole a few bases, it felt like the Orioles had added Ricky Henderson. It was a refreshing change. Do the O’s re-sign Bourn? How about playing Hyun Soo Kim every day? Those two changes alone could have an impact on the 2017 offense. The Orioles failed to sign Dexter Fowler when it looked like they had him last offseason. They missed out on a player that this year produced a .276 batting average and .393 OBP.

Some fans often complain that the Orioles don’t work the count well enough or see enough pitches. But as a team they saw an average of 3.86 pitches per plate appearance and the AL average was 3.87.

Captain Obvious says it would be nice for the 2017 Orioles to produce an offense featuring more variety, more speed, more on-base capability and fewer ups and downs. It would be nice to produce a team that doesn’t score 6.6 runs per game one month and then so few at the end of the year.

So how do the Orioles go about doing just that?