Ever since the Orioles left New York without playing their final game, a soaked tarp providing a wrap on the 2026 season, the focus has shifted to finding solutions to another sub-.500 finish.<\/p>\n
Minor league deals with right-handers Jackson Rees and Gerald Ogando was separate business. Don\u2019t sweat the small stuff. More impactful moves must and will be made, with teams having to work around an anticipated lockout on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n
With the NFL and college football seasons in full swing, let\u2019s tackle one of the many questions surrounding the Orioles.<\/p>\n
What are they doing with third base?<\/p>\n
The days of having one primary third baseman are gone. Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr. aren\u2019t walking through that door.<\/p>\n
Well, Ripken has access to it as part of the ownership group and with his frequent appearances at Camden Yards and expanded role, but it doesn\u2019t come with a uniform and glove.<\/p>\n
Robinson played the most games at third base in franchise history with 2,870. Melvin Mora is next with 807, followed by Doug DeCinces with 792 and Manny Machado with 715. Ripken played in 675 because of his 2,302 games at shortstop.<\/p>\n
Coby Mayo led Orioles third baseman this season with 76 games, followed by Blaze Alexander (56), who made two trips to the injured list and played six positions, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (50), who didn\u2019t arrive until July 16.<\/p>\n
Weston Wilson was fourth with 17 and he stayed with the Orioles for less than two full months. Jackson Holliday made four appearances, and Leody Taveras, Jeremiah Jackson and Luis V\u00e1zquez one each.<\/p>\n
The most glaring number is next to Jordan Westburg, a zero placed there because of his Tommy John surgery. He\u2019s expected to be ready for spring training after beginning a hitting progression last week.<\/p>\n
On the list of concerns and problematic issues, third base doesn\u2019t even register for the Orioles. Too many candidates for Opening Day? No one is losing sleep over it. But it\u2019s still got to be addressed.<\/p>\n
Westburg\u2019s torn elbow ligament created opportunities for Mayo and Encarnacion-Strand. Mayo avoided the Triple-A shuttle, tied Gunnar Henderson for second-most home runs on the team with 24 and batted .322\/.393\/.712 against left-handers. He could be platooned next season, but he went 14-for-55 (.255) with four doubles and four home runs against right-handers after Aug. 30 and shouldn\u2019t be restricted at this early stage of his career.<\/p>\n
Encarnacion-Strand was a highly ranked prospect with the Reds, went into a steep decline and resuscitated his career in Baltimore. He provided power and reliable defense at third. He\u2019s also a right-handed hitter who can play first, which makes him perhaps too similar to Mayo, but the .838 OPS should fit on any roster.<\/p>\n
Over his last 29 games, Encarnacion-Strand slashed .323\/.376\/.566 (32-for-99) with nine doubles, five homers, 17 RBIs and 17 runs scored after an 0-for-16 stretch.<\/p>\n
Westburg is one of the key reasons why the Orioles floundered again, as we fish for more explanations.<\/p>\n
A variety of injuries have conspired to limit Westburg to 260 games in parts of three seasons, but he\u2019s accumulated a .768 OPS and 5.1 bWAR. He hit 18 home runs in 107 games in 2024 and made the All-Star team as a substitute, and 17 in 85 games in 2025. The at-bats are grindy and smart, which manager Craig Albernaz would embrace if he had Westburg on the active roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s on track,\u201d president of baseball operations Mike Elias said on Sept. 28. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to overly plan around him, just given that he\u2019s still early in a Tommy John rehab, but he is doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does that make him the guy who\u2019s going to play the most at third? He could be eased back and rested more often in an attempt to keep him healthy, with stints at third, second and on the bench or at designated hitter.<\/p>\n
Alexander shouldn\u2019t pause too long at any position because his versatility is a big selling point, but he might be playing more in the outfield. It\u2019s easier to envision spots for him on the grass. However, the Orioles need an impactful signing or trade to improve their lineup and defense. Alexander can\u2019t be viewed as the solution, just a key component of the roster with multiple ways to make a difference.<\/p>\n
Orioles third basemen posted a .784 OPS that ranked fifth in the American League, and a .460 slugging percentage was third. The only position for the Orioles with a higher OPS, of course, was first base at .871, which led the AL and ranked third in the majors.<\/p>\n
Pete Alonso does the heavy lifting at first. The Orioles might stick with a group effort at third. They\u2019ll need to figure it out. <\/p>\n
They don\u2019t need to stress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since the Orioles left New York without playing their final game, a soaked tarp providing a wrap…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[255658,108398,831,108397,363,48262,148834,99],"class_list":["post-875165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-christian-encarnacion-strand","tag-coby-mayo","tag-featured","tag-jordan-westburg","tag-mlb","tag-orioles","tag-roch-kubatko","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}