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We’ve reached the point in the offseason when we still don’t know who’s playing in the World Series, we don’t know who’s managing the Orioles and we don’t know how far along they’ve gotten in the interview process beyond a couple of reports linking them to Luis Rojas and Albert Pujols.
Rojas had an interview. Pujols might get an interview.
Ryan Flaherty might be among the favorites or he might not.
Here are a few facts from the 2025 season, on another slow day, that we do know:
* The Orioles posted a .235 average this year, 24th in the majors, compared to .255 in 2023 and .250 in 2024 – seasons that concluded with a division title and the first Wild Card, respectively.
You say that average doesn’t matter? The .305 on-base percentage also ranked 24th and the .699 OPS was 21st.
Making contact would be a solid recommendation. The Orioles struck out 1,457 times, fourth most in the majors, to break the club record of 1,454 in 2021.
Jackson Holliday led the Orioles with 140 in 586 at-bats, followed by Gunnar Henderson with 137 in 577. Colton Cowser fanned 128 times in 327 at-bats.
Setting the franchise record by using 70 players probably increased the odds of an inflated strikeout total. Thirty different players whiffed.
* The Orioles wanted to run more and they finished with 121 stolen bases, the most since swiping 144 bags in 2007.
This is the eighth time that the Orioles stole at least 121 and only the fourth since 1977.
Henderson led the team with a career-high 30 steals, making him the youngest Oriole to reach that total. Twenty of those stolen bases came after the All-Star break, second most in the American League behind Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s 21 and fourth most in the majors.
Colton Cowser stole 14 bases without being caught to set an Orioles record. The previous mark was held by Al Smith with nine in a row in 1963.
Smith went 2-for-11 with the Indians in 1954 and was 70-for-113 in parts of 15 major league seasons. He played in 120 games with the Orioles in ’63.
I didn’t know much about Smith, but he was included with Luis Aparicio in the trade with the White Sox. The Orioles dealt him to the Indians for Willie Kirkland prior to the 1964 season.
But back to Cowser.
He joined the Twins’ Byron Buxton (24) as the only players in the majors to steal at least 14 bases without being caught.
The Orioles have had a player with 30 or more stolen bases in six consecutive full seasons, the longest streak in team history. The previous high was four in a row from 2006-09 with Corey Patterson and Brian Roberts (three times).
The current streak is the second-longest active stretch behind the Royals with nine in a row.
* Henderson and Jackson Holliday are the fifth second base/shortstop duo under 25 years old in major league history to each reach base safely at least 200 times in the same season, per STATS.
The other four had at least one future Hall of Famer: second baseman Tony Lazzeri and shortstop Mark Koenig from the 1926 Yankees), second baseman Ray Mack and shortstop Lou Boudreau from the 1940 Indians, second baseman Bobby Doerr and shortstop Johnny Pesky from the 1942 Red Sox, and second baseman Joe Morgan and shortstop Sonny Jackson from the 1966 Astros.
* The Orioles became the first team in major league history with six or more players hitting at least 15 home runs in a season without anyone reaching 20, per STATS.
The only other team with five was the 1961 Dodgers, led by John Roseboro’s 18.
I wrote this recently but it’s worth repeating: Henderson, Holliday and Jordan Westburg tied for the team lead with 17, marking the first time in team history that three players tied for first.
