The scoop on Schoop: He could be headed for stardom

Is second baseman Jonathan Schoop an emerging star for the Orioles?

Schoop, who turned 24 on Oct. 16, had 455 at-bats in 2014 and just 305 last year. But after the big improvement he made last season, you would have to be encouraged by the numbers Schoop may be able to put up with 600 at-bats over a full season.

First, here is a look at how Schoop improved last year:

Schoop in 2014: .209 average, .244 OBP, .354 slugging, .598 OPS, 65 OPS+
Schoop in 2015: .279 average, .306 OBP, .482 slugging, .788 OPS, 110 OPS+

Schoop suffered a sprained right knee in April and that limited him to 321 plate appearances. But if you project his 2015 power stats over 600 at-bats, he would have hit 29 homers and driven in 77 runs. Not bad for a player who just may be scratching the surface with his considerable talents.

Schoop's 2015 left-right and home-road splits were rather interesting. Schoop hit just .232 with an OPS of .573 against left-handed pitching, but those numbers were .301 and .892 versus right-handers. In 2014, Schoop hit just .212 with a .625 OPS off right-handed pitching. The improvement is further evidence he could be in store for even bigger things in 2016, since he will face more right-handers.

At home last season, Schoop hit .331 with a .977 OPS, but those numbers were just .240 and .647 away from Camden Yards. In 2014, he hit just .196 with an OPS of .546 at home.

Schoop is probably always going to be somewhat of a free swinger, but he seemed to chase fewer pitches last year and he hit more balls to right field, per FanGraphs.com stats. He went from putting 18.6 percent of balls in play to right in 2014 to 25.8 last season. Conversely, his percentage of pulling the ball dropped from 49.7 to 43.2 percent. Take the singles when you need to and turn on the ball to drive it when you can.

Schoop is a player with clear emerging power. Isolated power is a measure of a hitter's raw power and tells you how often a player hits for extra bases. In that stat last year, Manny Machado was at .216, Adam Jones at .205 and Schoop at .203. In slugging percentage, Machado was at .502 with Schoop at .482 and Jones at .474. In some of the power stats, he already can hang with the big boys.

After the 2013 season, Machado had 21 homers in 858 big league at-bats for a homer every 40.8 at-bats. After last year, Schoop has 32 homers in 774 at-bats, or one every 24.2 at-bats. Machado grew into more power and Schoop is doing the same.

So what's not to like? Schoop is just 24, still getting better as a hitter and is already an above-average defender with an outstanding arm. Plus he has a great attitude and brings youthful enthusiasm to a clubhouse, where he has already earned much respect from the veteran Orioles.

What kind of season is realistic for Schoop in 2016? If he hits his ceiling as a player, how good can he be?