The comparisons will be coming for these shortstops

Even though anything he does good or bad for the Los Angeles Angels in 2021 won't help or hurt the Orioles, no doubt O's fans will still be quite interested in the performance of former shortstop José Iglesias. After the O's traded Iglesias to the Angels, they signed Freddy Galvis to replace him.

So the comparison of the two and how well or not they do this coming season is an obvious one. But it is only a one-season comparison since both players were signed by their respective clubs just for this year. Also, Galvis was signed for $1.5 million and Iglesias for $3.5 million. I guess the $2 million saved factors in, but who knows how to quantify exactly how that would ever be used.

But years from now the Orioles still could gain benefits from the deal with the Angels that also brought minor league pitchers Jean Pinto and Garrett Stallings. Pinto is a 20-year-old right-hander from Venezuela. Stallings, 23, drew praise from O's executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias for his work over three years in the Southeastern Conference at Tennessee. He grew up in southeastern Virginia in the Chesapeake area and attended Grassfield High School. He's already spent a lot of time inside Triple-A Norfolk's Harbor Park. So that should be factored in over a long-range comparison of these players.

But back to Galvis, who batted .220/.308/.404 with seven homers, 16 RBIs and a .712 OPS for the Cincinnati Reds last summer in the shortened year. In the last full season of 2019, he played in 147 games between Toronto and Cincinnati and batted .260/.296/.438 with 28 doubles, a triple, 23 homers, 70 RBIs and a .734 OPS. He posted career highs in homers, RBIs and OPS.

"Looking at our teams this year, especially in light of the moves at the beginning of the offseason, we wanted to target some proven veteran middle infield presences, and I think that Freddy Galvis is an ideal solution for us to that end with what he brings to the table with his accomplishments," Elias said of the addition of Galvis, 31. "Being a proven commodity and how we feel that he's going to fit in with young lineup, both as a defensive presence behind our young pitching staff, but also as a switch-hitter with the blend that we have lefty-righty up and down the lineup. We think he's a really good fit.

"On top of his on-the-field credentials, we've done our background work on Freddy and he's got an exemplary reputation as a human being, as a teammate and most recently as kind of a veteran mentor, so we're looking forward to those contributions, as well. We feel that signing Freddy brings us a big step closer to having the club that we want to see in Sarasota this spring completed."

Galvis was a finalist for the National League Gold Glove at shortstop from 2016 through 2018. Then in 2019 he ranked ninth among all major league shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved. He's made 779 career starts at short. He led the NL in fielding percentage in three straight seasons 2016-2018, and his .989 fielding percentage in 2017 was tops in the majors. Since his debut in 2012, his .984 fielding percentage as a shortstop ranks second-best among active players.

"He's had a track record of being a plus defender, he's gotten Gold Glove votes," Elias said during a Zoom call with O's media. "I think he's a very steady presence and we're expecting very consistent major league quality shortstop defense from him. He's very slick, he's got a really good clock. I think his experience kind of comes through. He's got a real easy, smooth throwing stroke. He's one of the better shortstops in baseball at coming in on a ball, the slow roller, and timing the body control that that entails.

"I think the challenge for him, as it is with any shortstop in his 30s, is maintaining lateral range and staying healthy, and we're going to do the best we can to assist him with that with our strength and infield coaches and training staff. But he's been very durable. He's a loose guy, kind of plays the game easy, so we feel really good about his ability to hold up."

The Orioles are hoping that Galvis can bridge the gap to their homegrown shortstops. Over his first two drafts, Elias has drafted five shortstops. In 2019, three of his top six picks were shortstops, and in 2020 two of his first four selections were. Elias has also acquired two shortstops the club likes via trades for the farm.

MLBPipeline.com has five shortstops ranked in its current O's top 30 prospects list and all are in the top 20. There is Gunnar Henderson (No. 6), Jordan Westburg (No. 7), Terrin Vavra (No. 13), Adam Hall (No. 16) and Anthony Servideo (No. 20).

There are five others we could list that the O's have hopes for, and some of those players were previously ranked. Of these 10 total shortstops, five are 21 or younger. Of that group of 10 players, eight were drafted by the Orioles since 2017. Of that group, six were taken among the first 74 picks in the draft.

While the O's wait to see who will emerge as their shortstop of the future, Galvis is the shortstop of the present. And he will be compared a lot this year to Iglesias.