Clevenger keeps climbing the lineup

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

May 03, 2014, 9:56am

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The Orioles' lineup for today's game in Minnesota includes catcher Steve Clevenger hitting in the fifth slot against Twins right-hander Kevin Correia.

His name jumps out at me each time I see it listed so high. I'm just glad it's not in a dark alley.

That's not to say Clevenger is unworthy and should be lowered. It's just odd for me to find an Orioles backup catcher in the middle of the lineup.

In case you haven't noticed, they've employed a lot of catch-and-throw guys over the years. You weren't going to find Taylor Teagarden, Luis Exposito or Chris Snyder hitting fifth. Nor would you find Craig Tatum, Paul Bako or Raul Casanova.

Clevenger is 6-for-23 this season, with four doubles, a triple, four RBIs and five runs scored.

When is the last time before this season that an Orioles' reserve catcher batted fifth? Try Ronny Paulino on June 10 and 27, 2012.

(Hat tip to MASNsports.com's Pete Kerzel for doing the research. And if it's wrong, well, you know where to find him.)

Paulino wouldn't have been my first choice. That one caught me by surprise.

See what I did there?

According to STATS, the last Orioles backup to make five or more starts in the middle of the order was Javy Lopez in 2006, when he batted cleanup twice, fifth in five games and sixth in three games.

Lopez technically was the backup to Ramon Hernandez, but I'm placing an asterisk next to that one.