The latest hint that O's offense is getting tweaked and not overhauled

When it comes to the Orioles offense, a much, much discussed topic in Birdland since the 2024 season ended, there are a variety of opinions.

Holding the one that counts most, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias expressed his take on the Baltimore offense last Friday – the same day he announced the left-field wall was being moved in for next season.

That should help the team score more runs, but they were never lacking in homers actually, finishing second in the AL and MLB last year with 235.

Maybe the closer wall will help the O’s pursue a right-handed hitter via free agency, although Elias said that was not the reason for the move. This was more about the long-term and a continuing effort to get the home park to play more neutral with offense.

On a related matter, will the O’s offensive philosophy be changing, Elias was asked.

“Overall, we have an offensive philosophy and a group of hitting coaches throughout the organization that are at the top of their field,” Elias said. “We had a top-five offense in a lot of ways this year despite the funk that the team went into and the lineup went into in the second half with a lot of injuries. We still rate among the very top offenses. As you can see, there are teams very eager to hire hitting coaches from us, and this is something generally that remains a strength of this organization.

“But as I said as soon as the season ended, and just like I’m doing here with this press conference about the park, we’re always improving, modifying, adjusting. This is a game of evolution. I think there are areas that we can emphasize better, that we can find a better blend, and we’re doing that. We’re going to have discussions and meetings throughout the organization all winter on ways in which we can retain the best aspects of our current program, but refine and tweak areas where we think we can be a little bit smarter and a little bit better.”

So there is likely no overhaul here as some fans have called for. To me that is the exact correct reaction and response to an offense that ranked fourth in the majors since the 2023 season, scoring 4.92 runs per game.

Considering just six teams averaged five runs per game in 2023 and just three last year, to be close to that over 324 games tells me no overhauls are needed.

Through July 31 last year, the O’s offense was third in the majors at 5.07 runs per game. From Aug. 1 on, the Baltimore offense ranked 13^th in the majors at 4.40 runs per game. The MLB average for the full season last year was 4.39 so their down period when according to some “they were terrible” they were actually league average.

I think the critics of the O's offense are concerned that 2025 will just be a repeat of the final months of the 2024 season. But what if it's more like the first four months, or more like most of the last two years?

The Orioles will have new hitting coaches next year with Cody Asche, 34, Matt Joseph, 33 and Sherman Johnson 34.

Those ages tell me what we need to know here. Just like with the 2024 coaches, they are young, forward thinking, and well versed in all the current data, analytics, approaches and techniques. They are not bringing in the next Terry Crowley or Charlie Lau at this point. They are staying more new school with elements of old school. 

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. But go ahead and tweak the approach and go ahead and try new voices if that could be helpful and productive.