A few notes on home runs, exit velocity, Tanner Scott and more

A few notes and random thoughts on the Orioles while we await that first spring win:

* I'm not sure exactly what to make of this stat, but the Orioles homered in the same exact number of games both in 2014 and 2015. But they won a higher percentage of those games both with and without homers in 2014 on their way to the American League East championship.

The 2015 Orioles went 70-42 when they homered, a winning percentage of .625. In the same number of games the year before, they went 79-33 (.705) when hitting at least one home run. They failed to homer in 50 games each season. In 2015, they went 11-39 (.220) in those games and two years ago they went 17-33 (.340).

It was probably the better pitching that made the difference in wins there as they won nine more games with a homer and six more without one in 2014.

* In this article from MLB.com's Richard Justice, he predicts that Pedro Alvarez could have a big year for the Orioles. Justice notes the pressure that was on Alvarez as a high draft pick in Pittsburgh where he was taken No. 2 overall in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. Lower expectations in a lineup filled with sluggers could lead to even better production, he reasons.

Justice writes: "There are questions about the rotation, but every AL East team has a question or two. The Orioles will be picked to finish fourth or fifth, but that's the kind of doubt (Buck) Showalter and (Adam) Jones thrive on.

"Don't be surprised if Alvarez feeds off this setting, settles into the next chapter of his career and has a monster season. The Orioles got better on Thursday when his signing became official, and they got more interesting as well."

* According to this Statcast list from last season, the Orioles are the only team with four of the top 40 players from 2015 in a ranking of average exit velocity off the bat. They will sport some players that can hit the ball hard.

Miami's Giancarlo Stanton rated first at 99.1 mph with Miguel Cabrera of Detroit second at 95.1 mph. Mark Trumbo averaged 94.3 mph to rate a tie for seventh. Manny Machado ranked 23rd at 93.2 mph and two Orioles were tied for 24th with both Chris Davis and Alvarez at 93.1 mph.

Also, the 2016 O's combined for an average velocity of 90.5 mph last season, ranking highest among any current major league roster:

90.5 mph - Orioles
90.1 mph - Toronto
89.7 mph - Seattle
89.5 mph - New York Mets
89.5 mph - Los Angeles Dodgers

* Outfielder Hyun Soo Kim picked up his first hit yesterday, an infield RBI single in the seventh, and is now 1-for-24 (.042) this spring. He must be feeling some pressure as he tries to impress his new teammates and fans while at the same time learning all about baseball in the major leagues. In addition to that, he has media from South Korea detailing his every move. That cannot be easy. The Orioles are trying to do their part to make his adjustments as easy as possible.

In his move to the majors from the Korean Baseball Organization last year, Jung Ho Kang of the Pirates hit .200 (9-for-45) with 17 strikeouts during spring games. In the regular season, he hit .287/.355/.461 with 15 homers, 58 RBIs and an OPS of .816.

* Orioles minor league pitcher Tanner Scott struck out the side in the eighth inning in yesterday's game against the Yankees at Ed Smith Stadium. He touched 100 mph on the stadium radar gun. I recently wrote this profile on the 21-year-old lefty.

Scott averaged 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings last year when he fanned 60 over 42 1/3 innings between short-season Single-A Aberdeen and Single-A Delmarva. He then fanned 10 over nine frames in the Arizona Fall League and was named to the AFL's Top Prospects team.