Let's talk about the longball and O's homer totals

Let’s take a look today at the longball. Hitting homers was something the 2024 Orioles did quite well, about as well as any team in the majors last year and they were among the best power-hitting teams in 71 years of Orioles baseball.

The Birds hit 235 home runs to rank second-best in the American League and in the majors to the Yankees, who hit 237.

In the 2023 season there were a whopping 13 teams that hit 200 or more home runs, led by Atlanta that led MLB that season hitting 307. That Braves team with 307 tied the 2019 Minnesota Twins for most homers in a single-season in MLB history. The only other club ever to hit 300 or more was the 2019 Yankees with 306.

In 2024, there were six MLB teams hitting 200 or more:

237 – Yankees
235 – Orioles
233 – Dodgers
213 – Braves
211 – Diamondbacks
207 – Mets

Baltimore’s 235 homers is the third-most ever hit by an O’s club behind the club record of 257 in 1996 and behind the 253 hit by the 2016 O's club.

In 2023, the Orioles had just four players hit 18 or more home runs and no one hit 30 or more. The team hit 183 to rank ninth in the AL. No one quite saw 235 coming or that the O’s would be second in the majors in home runs.

But then Anthony Santander hit 44, becoming the eighth Oriole (ninth occurrence) to hit 40 home runs in a season and the first MLB switch-hitter to do so since 2006. His 44 longballs was the seventh most by an Oriole and the most by a switch hitter in O’s history. To that total, Gunnar Henderson added 37 homers, Colton Cowser hit 24, Adley Rutschman 19 while Cedric Mullins and Jordan Westburg added 18 each.

Baltimore led the majors in homers through the end of July but ranked tied for 11th in MLB from the beginning of August until the end of the season. With Jordan Westburg’s solo home run in the second inning on June 22 at Houston, it marked the 21st consecutive game in which the Orioles had homered, the longest such streak in team history. The streak ended at 22 games.

O’s team homers the past four years:

2021: 195 (10^th in AL, 17^th in MLB)

2022: 171 (8^th in AL, tied for 15^th in MLB)

2023: 183 (9^th in AL, 17^th in MLB)

2024: 235 (2^nd in AL and MLB)

It might be hard to get 235 again. That was a big number. How will the O’s replace the 44 homers Santander hit? Well, Tyler O’Neill did hit 31 in 113 games and actually averaged a homer every 13.26 at-bats while Santander hit one every 13.52. And Heston Kjerstad, who seems likely to get significant at-bats this year, surely could help the O’s get longballs from right-field and the DH spots when he’s there.

Moving in the left-field wall could help both left and right-handed hitters. The O’s offense will need to do a lot well beyond just hit homers of course, like take walks, steal some bags, run the bases intelligently and take part in good situational hitting when it's called for.

But the team, even without a 44-homer player, should be one of MLB’s top homer-hitting clubs again in 2025.