A look at the importance (or not) of spring training games

The Orioles play the Tigers today at 1:05 p.m. in Lakeland, Fla. With this contest, their 35-game slate of exhibition games begins. It will include a game with the Dominican Republic's World Baseball Classic team on March 7 and an exhibition finale at Triple-A Norfolk on March 31.

We should know all too well by now that the club's win-loss record in spring training is meaningless. It pretty much will tell us nothing.

The 2016 Orioles, who won 89 games and made the American League playoffs, played to a tie in their first exhibition game last spring and then lost nine in a row. After 12 games, the O's record was 0-10-2. The Orioles allowed 52 runs in their first six games last March. Did it mean anything at all? No, nothing. And the record this year won't mean a thing either.

But for individual players, spring training stats are certainly not created equal. While a spring batting average for a veteran player who is a regular in the lineup may not matter, the same can't be said of a player trying to win a roster spot. Manager Buck Showalter and his staff have to make judgements on which players win the final roster spots. They'll have more than the spring games to make those judgments, but for some players, these games could make the difference.

It did last year for outfielder Joey Rickard, who was trying to win a spot on the team as a Rule 5 pick. He hit .397/.472/.571 in spring training and then was in the opening day starting lineup.

The competition in this Orioles spring training camp is somewhat limited - it could be for the backup catcher spot, playing time in the corner outfield spots or for the final spot (or spots) in the bullpen. A lot is set with this club, but not everything.

Outfielder Craig Gentry's play in these games, for instance, will be much more scrutinized than Mark Trumbo. Players like Gentry, Michael Bourn, Gabriel Ynoa, Vidal Nuño, Richard Bleier, Francisco Peña, Audry Pérez, Rule 5 outfielders Anthony Santander and Aneury Tavárez, and an out-of-options Oliver Drake have 35 games to make an impression, and it all starts today.

Just for fun, here are some player career averages and OPS stats for spring training games. The stats, from MLB.com, date back to 2006, which makes them career numbers for most players.

Jonathan Schoop: .331 and .923
J.J. Hardy: .311 and .890
Chris Davis: .298 and .874
Mark Trumbo: .294 and .861
Caleb Joseph: .281 and .677
Adam Jones: .265 and .789
Ryan Flaherty: .260 and .780
Manny Machado: .248 and .692

The king of spring last year was O's minor leaguer Garabez Rosa. Called over to join the roster for several spring games, Rosa went 12-for-21 (.571) with a homer, eight RBIs and an OPS of 1.400. In his career, he is a .556 hitter (15-for-27) in spring training games.

Yesterday in this space, we took a look at some of the pitchers providing starting rotation depth for the club. The Orioles need to start to sort that out, too, in terms of which pitchers could win a long-relief/spot-starter role on the club and which ones might be in line to come up to Baltimore during the summer.

The first five starting pitchers for the Orioles' Grapefruit League games beginning today are, in order, Tyler Wilson, Ynoa, Wade Miley, Ubaldo Jiménez and Mike Wright.

It is probably no coincidence that Wilson, Ynoa and Wright will start. They are also starting in road games where they will see better opponent starting lineups as the Orioles begin to sort out the final spots on their pitching staff. Jiménez and Miley, already slated to make the starting five, start home games. Probably no coincidence it is set up that the three pitchers trying to win jobs will face the toughest lineups.

The spring training games are here as camp hits its next checkpoint. The final results of the games won't mean much, but for certain players, a lot will be riding.

Links:

* FanGraphs is not sure that the addition of Matt Wieters makes the Nationals better.

* USA Today checks in with some players not on board with potential Major League Baseball rule changes.

* Bleacher Report looks at a slimmer Pablo Sandoval of the Red Sox.