ARLINGTON, Texas - New Orioles infielder Jonathan Villar, acquired Tuesday from Milwaukee, is making a nice first impression.
He's batted leadoff and played second base in both games here at Texas to begin his O's career and will again tonight. Thursday he singled on the second pitch he saw his first time up and had two hits. Last night he went 3-for-5 and drove in his first run. He's 5-for-10 with five singles over his first two Orioles games.
Last night his three hits matched his season-high, done for the fifth time. Villar is batting .371 (23-for-62) this season in 17 games versus American League opponents. He's enjoying his new team so far.
"I feel good as this was a new opportunity to play every day here and I'm happy to come here to a new team," said Villar. "I am here to play whatever position they need, second, third or short. Ready for anything."
That could include producing some stolen bases. He was 14-for-16 this year with Milwaukee and his 62 stolen bases in 2016 led the National League. O's manager Buck Showalter was asked about giving Villar the green light to run.
"What's greener than green," Showalter quipped.
Said Villar: "I love to run the bases. If they need a steal, I can steal. That's my game."
Villar was batting .261/.315/.377 this season for Milwaukee. The Orioles would love to see him recapture his 2016 production when he hit .285/.369/.457 with 38 doubles, three triples, 19 homers and 63 RBIs.
Meanwhile, new Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero will throw out the first pitch here tonight. Guerrero played for the Rangers in 2010 and his career ended as an Oriole in 2011.
Guerrero had a .318 average with 449 homers and 1496 RBIs in 2147 games with Montreal (1996-2003), the Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels (2004-09), Texas (2010) and Baltimore (2011). He was a nine-time All-Star and captured eight Silver Slugger Awards while winning the 2004 American League Most Valuable Player Award with the Angels.
Adam Jones was his teammate in Baltimore in 2011.
"It was good playing with him then," said Jones. "I miss his Mom's cooking. He brought us big bags of food. He was the ultimate veteran. Commanded respect and got respect. Just a prime example of what to do between the lines. Came to work every day. It was a tremendous honor to be able to play with someone of that stature."
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