Will the Orioles improve against left-handed pitching in 2017?

The Orioles struggled to hit left-handed pitching last season, ranking last in the American League in batting average, slugging and OPS against southpaws. At a time when they could see a few lefties in the AL East starting in April, they will need to improve those numbers.

As a team, the Orioles hit .234/.301/.391 against left-handers last season, ranking 15th, 14th and 15th among all AL teams, respectively, in average, OBP and slugging.

The Orioles fared much better against right-handed pitchers, batting .263 (third in the AL) with an OBP of .322 (sixth) and a slugging percentage of .461 (second). The club's OPS against right-handers of .783 ranked second in the AL.

The good news is that the club will see many more plate appearances against right-handed pitching. Last year they took 75 percent of their plate appearances versus right-handers.

This has actually been a two-year issue, since the 2015 Orioles also ranked near the bottom of the league. That group hit .240 against left-handers (14th in the AL) with an OBP of .292 (15th) and a slugging percentage of .372 (13th).

You have to go back to the division championship season of 2014 to see an O's club that fared better, ranking ninth in batting average (.253) and fifth in OPS (.738) against lefties.

Several Orioles struggled against LHP last year:
.083/.108/.083 - Caleb Joseph
.173/.223/.385 - Mark Trumbo
.183/.267/.298 - Nolan Reimold
.216/.313/.398 - Chris Davis
.218/.268/.313 - Adam Jones
.229/.302/.343 - Matt Wieters
.243/.276/.412 - Jonathan Schoop

Interestingly, the removal from the lineup of Trumbo and Wieters (should they sign elsewhere) and the addition of catcher Welington Castillo could be a plus against left-handed pitchers. Castillo last season hit. 278/.346./.522. His career numbers are strong against lefties at .287/.354/.485 for an OPS of .840. Trumbo has hit much better against lefties in his career than he did in 2016 with a .787 career OPS, which was .608 last season.

Jones and Davis both hit better against lefties in 2015 and also throughout their careers than they did last year, providing the possibility of an improvement for the lineup overall this year. Jones is a career .264/.314/.415 hitter, while Davis is a career .235/.295/.442 batter.

The Orioles could see as many as two or more left-handed starters from three of their four AL East opponents in a look at early rotation projections. Boston could send out four lefties, with Chris Sale and David Price topping its rotation, possibly joined by Drew Pomeranz and Eduardo Rodriguez. So the O's will see some lefties from the defending division champs, but they also play 143 games against teams that are not Boston.

Toronto could have J.A. Happ and Francisco Liriano in its rotation, Tampa Bay could feature Drew Smyly and Blake Snell, and CC Sabathia returns to the Yankees as their only projected lefty starter at this point.

The 2016 Orioles went 23-23 when facing a left-handed starter and 66-50 when the opposing pitcher was a right-hander. Manny Machado slugged .526, with Castillo at .522 and J.J. Hardy at .452. Getting similar numbers from that trio, along with some hitters producing closer to career track records against lefties, could put the Orioles in better shape for the 2017 season.

Back with the Birds: A pitcher that was drafted in a round that doesn't even exist anymore has returned to the Orioles. Left-hander Tim Berry announced the news via Twitter last night.

Happy to be back where I started. #birdland @ San Marcos, California https://t.co/1x3pEZfCVK

-- Tim Berry (@xTimBerry) January 9, 2017

The Orioles' 50th-round pick in 2009 from San Marcos (Calif.) High School, Berry was ranked among the Orioles' top 20 prospects five times by Baseball America. His highest ranking was No. 7 after the 2014 season when he went 6-7 with a 3.51 ERA for Double-A Bowie. Now he rejoins the team on a minor league contract that does not include an invitation to major league spring training.

He was lost to the Marlins via a waiver claim on Dec. 23, 2015 and the Marlins dealt him to San Diego for cash considerations last July. Berry, who turns 26 on March 18, went 3-7 with an ERA of 6.32 over 88 innings for four different minor league clubs last season.