FanPost

2019 Jake Fox Award Candidates



Spring Training brings hope and promise to many teams, including the hapless Orioles. Every year there are players who absolutely rake in spring training, but fail to continue that success in the regular season and it seems to happen every spring for the Orioles. A memorable example of this was in spring of 2011 when Catcher Jake Fox mashed Grapefruit league hitters hitting 10 homers with a .297 average and 15 RBI's, in doing this Jake Fox earned a spot on the Orioles roster. However unfortunately for Fox and The Orioles, he would not replicate his spring success and in 27 games he only bat .246 with 2 homers and a .332 wOBA which isn't terrible, but that's nowhere near what he was doing in spring. Fox would never see MLB playing time again and last played in the Phillies minor league system.

Fox's 2011 spring is a great lesson to not get hyped for players who are raking in spring, but it seems the Orioles have not learned that lesson yet, as they repeated themselves in 2012 with Endy Chavez, 2014 with Evan Meek and Josh Stinson. and 2015 with Jimmy Paredes. So anyway with that being said let's look at this years Orioles camp and let's see the possible candidates for the Jake Fox Award!

Austin Hays

As much as i don't want to put one of my favorites Orioles prospects on this list, he is playing very well in spring and can't be left off this list. Anyways Hays is currently batting .364 this spring with 4 homers and Brandon Hyde has been very impressed with him throughout camp. At this point i'd see him in the starting lineup on opening day, as long as he keeps up the good work in spring. Hays is proving a lot in spring, but one concern for him is his health. when healthy(At least in the minors) Hays is a extremely good bat, and he showed in 2017 putting up 32 homers while putting up a .wOBA near .420 on all minor league levels that lead him to a less then stellar MLB later that year. Now what about 2018?, you may ask, well he was riddled with injuries and his power declined(12 HR)he also only put up a .308 wOBA in AA. However even while i say this, i still think he can be a great hitter in the MLB, but like i said dominant springs can bring you hope only to fall apart in the regular season. While i hope that doesn't happen, it's very possible.

Chance Sisco

Sisco has since cooled down a little since his very hot spring start, but he's still hot and he's currently batting .333 with 4 homers and it looks like he's pretty much locked down the starting catcher job. But you know who also was a catcher who mashed for the Orioles in spring? As previously mentioned Jake Fox, so don't get too excited. Another note of interest is that Chance Sisco was flat out terrible last year. i'm not too concerned about last year though and i'll think he'll be somewhat decent this year. Sisco has lots of potential to be a great hitting catcher but he really needs to improve his defense.

Mike Wright

Finally we have Mike Wright, who has been on the Orioles for a bit too long then he should have been. Through 91 career games he's put up a terrible 5.21 FIP. This spring he has been pitching great though and he has a real shot to be in the rotation as he has posted a 1.42 ERA in 12.2 innings. As long as he keeps this up he's looks set on taking that 5th spot in the rotation. This does not have me excited due to his career history. If he makes the rotation this year and keeps up his spring dominance, then awesome, but i don't see that happening. But since Karns seems to not be healthy, he's really our only option to replace him since Yefry Ramirez isn't having a good spring. So in conclusion don't be fooled by these hot starts by these players because it could very well blow up in the Orioles face. Hoped you enjoyed the blog and have a nice day Birdland!

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