Matt Kremnitzer: Despite O's crumbling season, Adam Jones still raking

When it comes to the Orioles, there's a lot to be negative about right now. They just lost yet again and they've dropped 12 of their last 14 games. They ended August with only 11 wins in 29 games. Hisashi Iwakuma fired a no-hitter against them in Seattle. The Twins took all four games in a crucial series at Camden Yards. They were also swept out of Texas to complete a dismal road trip.

Considering what they've done since the day Buck Showalter arrived on the scene, this horrendous stretch of baseball is hard to imagine.

Once a serious contender for both the American League East title and a wild card spot, the Orioles have essentially played themselves out of the playoffs. Only a ridiculous string of wins would vault the O's back into the race. If that weren't enough, the O's also face an uncertain future with a handful of key players eligible for free agency after the season.

But let's try to stay positive, at least as much as possible. And let's do that by taking a closer look at Adam Jones, who is again putting up very good numbers. Jones has always been known as a free swinger, and he isn't about to change his ways. Actually, he's swinging at more pitches this season (60 percent) than in any previous year while posting the highest contact percentage (79 percent) of his career. He's also doing so while pitchers throw him only 44 percent of pitches inside the strike zone, which would be tied with 2013 for the lowest of his career. He's seeing fewer pitches in the zone and swinging at more pitches anyway, and he's doing just fine. Among all qualified center fielders, Jones's 119 wRC+ ranks seventh.

With his contact rate improved, Jones has unsurprisingly cut down on his strikeouts. Jones, who has a career strikeout rate of 19 percent, is striking out 16 percent of the time this season while posting a walk rate (4.4 percent) right at his career average.

Since Jones is swinging a lot this year, even for him, maybe it's not shocking that he's not smashing the ball as hard as previous seasons. His current hard-hit percentage of 30 percent would be his lowest since 2011 (26 percent). However, Jones is hitting the ball in the air more often than he has in years. Plus, he's both pulling the ball more often while also hitting the ball farther.

Jones's average fly ball distances:

2008: 281 feet
2009: 302 feet
2010: 292 feet
2011: 292 feet
2012: 294 feet
2013: 297 feet
2014: 289 feet
2015: 301 feet

Jones is on pace to hit about 30 home runs, and he's hit between 25 and 33 homers each season since 2011. He's also posted a wRC+ of no lower than 117 since 2012. So, no, Jones is not Mike Trout. He's certainly not better than Trout and it's not close. But there's only one Trout, and there's only one Jones. At least the Orioles have one of them.

In between the winning - and the winning should never, ever be overlooked - the O's did some things that don't look so fantastic right now. They traded Jake Arrieta to the Cubs, which looks worse every time Arrieta pitches. They parted with Eduardo Rodriguez, who they clearly would still like to have in the organization. They've traded away draft picks and given away international bonus slots instead of pursuing more avenues to improve the team's farm system. They didn't re-sign Nelson Cruz, whose bat would come in handy. There have been many other decisions and moves that didn't pan out - some more justifiable than others (except for the selling draft picks part). And obviously hindsight is 20/20 and winning is extremely difficult.

But one move the Orioles will never regret is signing Jones to the largest contract in club history in the middle of the 2012 season. Jones's six-year extension worth $85.5 million looks smarter every day. He is signed through 2018 and has about $50 million left on his deal, making him one of the few O's with a guaranteed deal beyond 2017. Jones is a leader. He plays hard, rarely misses games, and isn't afraid to be blunt and say thought-provoking things. Oh, and he's a very good baseball player. That's pretty important, too.

Matt Kremnitzer blogs about the Orioles at Camden Depot. Follow him on Twitter: @mattkremnitzer. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.