Showalter talks sabermetrics

There were terms like UZR (ultimate zone rating) and wOBA (weighted on base average) mentioned today during Buck Showalter's pregame press session with reporters. This will come as welcome news to some readers of this blog. The fans that are into sabermetrics and some of the new statistics in the game are well aware of these terms and what they represent. But Showalter today mentioned that some people that may have been in the game for 30 years may not be up on the terms and stats. They haven't been taught sabermetrics. To make sure the Orioles coaches and O's minor league coaches were familiar with some of the stats, he actually had some members of the O's front office do a presentation to the coaches on sabermetrics. "We are always kind of pushing things aside that we don't understand instead of kind of embracing it to see where it can help us be better," he said. No one will confuse Buck with Billy Beane, but it was interesting to hear that the Orioles have interest in some of the same stats that the fans do. You can listen to Buck talk about this in the audio below. By the way, when Buck takes a fun shot at Ole Miss in this audio you need to remember that he is a Mississippi State guy. Buck talks sabermetrics by smelewski By the way, Jonathan Schoop did not start today for Double-A Bowie against Harrisburg. I am told that the knee injury that limited Schoop in camp is the reason. It's not that he had a setback, just that the Orioles are taking it a little slow with him right now and he is not quite ready to play every day.