Other MLB teams need to start paying attention to Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop

Can we talk about Jonathan Schoop for a minute? Somebody needs to, because the guy is quietly becoming one of the most impressive second basemen in all of baseball.

Heading into last night's matchup with Seattle, the 23-year-old from Curacao was slashing .314/.341/.576 with eight home runs and 20 RBI over just 37 games and 118 at-bats. Though it is in an injury-affected campaign, Schoop leads the O's in slugging percentage. As a whole, Baltimore ranks seventh in all of baseball in that category. On top of that, Schoop's number is tops in the MLB for second basemen who have at least 100 at-bats.

Someone who has most certainly taken notice of this performance is Orioles manager Buck Showalter. Schoop has slowly risen in the batting order from eighth and ninth to begin the year up to sixth the last three nights.

Showalter would be wise to maintain this spot in the order against right-handers especially. Schoop is hitting .342 with six of his home runs against same-sided pitchers. That's tasty.

Defensively, the statistics are a mixed bag based on where you look this season. Baseball Reference paints him as an OK fielder, being worth 0.3 dWAR. On the other hand, Fangraphs says he has struggled with his range in 2015, earning a UZR/150 of -5.5.

I think it is fair to say that his knee injury has not been a help to him in the glove work department. Ya know, knees are important for things such as, uh, moving and stuff. Just last year, Fangraphs gave him a UZR/150 of 7.6 and BR attributed him with a dWAR of 1.8. I would imagine that a full off-season to recover from the injury could lead to some marked improvement in that area, having hime back to his 2014 form.

No matter what the case, Schoop has a cannon, especially for a second baseman. The "Fans Scouting Report" on Fangraphs attributes him with a 78/100 arm. Back in 2012, Baseball America gave him the title of "Best Infield Arm" in the Birds system. I'm not sure if there is a statistic that calculates how quick one turns a double play, but if there is I feel as though Schoop has to rank high on that list.

On the negative side, Schoop doesn't come anywhere near walking enough. He has 18 career base on balls over 587 at-bats. You have got to be kidding me! That needs to change if he is going to strike out 122 times like he did in 2014.

If we are nit-picking, you could say that he isn't the most fleet of foot. I wouldn't say he is slow either. He is just an average base runner. Granted, that is par for the course if you're an Oriole. Few of them run well and virtually all of them avoid stolen base attempts at all costs.

But let's go over this one more time. As a second baseman, Schoop has a 162-game average of .232/.266/.402 with 25 home runs, 66 RBI and 25 doubles. He doesn't run much or especially well. But he has the ability to be a well above-average fielder once he is completely healthy.

It is an exciting time for second basemen in baseball. There are a lot of guys playing at a high level. Dee Gordon is having a breakout year. Jose Altuve is the best player on an exciting Astros team. Brian Dozier has hit 24 bombs for the surprising Twins. Howie Kendrick, Brandon Phillips and Ian Kinsler continue to produce. Gone is the light-hitting, defense-first second baseman of old that tipped the scales at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds.

Now, someone like Schoop is the prototype; 6-foot-1, 225 pounds. Simply put, a one man wrecking crew who can be the run producer rather than the table setter. If his development stays on its current trajectory, he could be a fixture in both the middle of the order and the middle of the infield for many years to come in Charm City.

That's it for me. What do you think of Schoop's performance in 2015? Is it sustainable for the long run? What do you view his ceiling and future as for the Orioles? Let me know in the comments section or tweet me @_tyyoung. Thanks for reading!