From farm to the majors, O's are making gains in plate discipline stats

When it comes to scoring runs, the Orioles were slightly below American League average in 2022 – due in large part to a scoring drought late in the year.

The AL average for runs per game last season was 4.22 and the Orioles were at 4.16. They ranked 10^th in the league in runs scored, up from 2021, when the Orioles were 14^th.

And for much of last season they were about league average in runs, or just above. They were scoring 4.20 runs per game at the All-Star break and were at 4.24 per game at the end of August. But when they scored just 3.97 per game in the last month that brought the final season average down.

So there is progress to make here.

And yes, some of it, maybe much of it, can come from full seasons of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson. They combined for 559 plate appearances last year and they could double that this coming season.

That would be a good thing for more team production on offense, but also to improve some of the club's plate discipline stats. For years O’s fans have implored their hitters to “work the count” and “walk more,” and this team may be on the verge of doing it.

The 2022 Orioles averaged 3.84 pitches per plate appearance. They ranked 10^th in the league but the gap to get to first is not large. The New York Yankees were No. 1 in the AL at 3.95 and the O’s were about league average, which was 3.85.

And the talented Rutschman-Henderson duo were among the best on the team in seeing pitches. Here is how the O’s with 132 or more plate appearances ranked last year in pitches per plate appearance. You have to use the 132 standard to include Henderson.

4.31 – Tyler Nevin

4.27 – Adley Rutschman

4.08 – Gunnar Henderson

4.04 – Anthony Santander

Nevin has been traded to Detroit, but the others return to help the plate discipline cause.

The Orioles' walk rate last year was 7.9 as a team, just below the AL average of 8.0. They ranked seventh in the AL in that stat, so they made some progress, but were far off the leaders of New York at 10.0, Seattle at 9.7 and Houston at 8.7.

O’s leaders in 2022 walk rate (minimum 100 plate appearances)

13.8 – Adley Rutschman

12.1 – Gunnar Henderson

11.7 – Terrin Vavra

10.9 – Tyler Nevin

Santander’s walk rate jumped to 8.5 last year – a career best – showing that even a player with a couple of years under his belt could make some nice gains here.

The Orioles may be an organization turning a corner in this area. The heavy emphasis on making good swing decisions in the minors seems to be taking hold with many young hitters.

On the farm we saw some solid walk rates for prospects too, with Colton Cowser at 15.0, Jordan Westburg 11.3, Kyle Stowers 11.1 and Heston Kjerstad 10.2. Even up and coming international talent Frederick Bencosme, who just turned 20, was at 9.7.

In November I wrote this story about the 2022 O’s draft class. The club selected 10 position players and signed nine of them in that draft. Collectively, those nine fared well last summer when compared with every other organization’s draft classes.

As a group of nine players, the Orioles class produced a collective .400 OBP to rank second only to Seattle's draft class. The Mariners also gained nine players in the draft, and those players produced a collective .405 OBP.

But the Orioles did rank No. 1 in the majors with a draft class walk rate of 17.3, with San Diego (also nine players) second at 16.2.

Jackson Holliday, in a small sample, led them all with a 27.8 walk rate. And five of the nine drafted O’s position players produced walk rates of at least 19.2. Pretty strong stuff.

So the Orioles are getting better in this area right now, and the young guns Rutschman and Henderson should help that in the present. Looking to the future, the last draft class produced strong starts to the careers of several players in stats including on-base percentage and walk rate.