The Orioles didn’t lose on Sunday because of their defense, but it certainly didn’t help. In the top of the ninth inning the middle infield duo of Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday combined for three errors in the span of two batted balls. That set the table for the fifth and final Padres run of the day to score and made a comeback effort against Mason Miller even more daunting.
This team was not built with defense at the forefront. Their plan was to mash homers and be just good enough at everything
else to make the playoffs anyway. The problem is that the offense has not been nearly as potent as hoped for, which has left the underlying “strategy” of building this roster exposed. That includes the skimping that was done on gloves in certain areas.
Let’s be clear that the Orioles are not among the handful of worst defenses in baseball. Unlike some teams, they have several bright spots. But they are consistently below average as a unit. Statcast’s Fielding Run Value puts them at -2 overall, which is 18th in MLB. Their -10 outs above average is 22nd in MLB. Old school fans might care to know that the Orioles 41 errors are the 10th most in MLB and their .984 fielding percentage ranks 21st. It’s not great!
The outfield has been particularly bad. Their -8 defensive runs saved (DRS) as a group is 23rd in MLB, and their -9 outs above average (OAA) is 27th. Some of that is the result of Colton Cowser—their best fielding outfielder—being so inconsistent at the plate that he goes through stretches of being unplayable. That pushes other members of the roster into more playing time, and that hurts the defense.
Leody Taveras has been worth -3 OAA and is now seeing less time in center field because of it. Blaze Alexander has been swinging a hot stick, so Craig Albernaz has pushed him into the outfield on occasion. That has not gone well as he has been worth -2 OAA. Tyler O’Neill’s glove (-2 OAA) has been almost bad as his bat, but him and his contract play anyway. Taylor Ward is an odd case because visually he looks quite poor on the grass, and his -1 OAA backs that up. But he has also been worth three DRS, according to Fielding Bible. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between and he is simply average.
You get the picture. Cowser is the only outfield glove that the team has any real confidence in. They just have to cross their fingers that he is hitting well enough in any one week to justify his spot in the order.
The other big problem area for the team is third base. Coby Mayo started the year looking solid enough at the hot corner, but those early good vibes have quickly evaporated, and he has regressed back to where he was in 2025. His -6 DRS and -4 OAA are among the worst in baseball, and his bat is yet to come around in the way that the club would have hoped for.
To be fair to the Orioles, they planned on having Jordan Westburg, who has Gold Glove upside, to man third base this season. That would have been a fine solution. But they knew about his elbow injury right before spring training started. While that is not the easiest time of year to make roster moves, it would have been nice to see them scour the league for an upgrade rather than praying Mayo would work out. Maybe they can still find someone by the end of July. They just have to hope they are still in contention by then.
As mentioned, it hasn’t all been bad. Pete Alonso, surprisingly, has rated well at first base, which has not been the case for much of the slugger’s illustrious career. Second base wasn’t in great hands with Jeremiah Jackson as the starter, but things have improved with Holliday healthy and looking better at the position than he did a year ago. Henderson is having the best defensive season of his career. And Adley Rutschman has himself back in the conversation for best catcher in baseball, glove work included.
For those those successes, the players and coaching staff should be congratulated. Those are four players with enough of a track record to suggest they were set on a certain downward path. Something happened between the end of 2025 and now to have all of them improve, in some cases dramatically. Maybe it’s positioning. Maybe it’s advanced scouting reports. But something shifted, and it has been a net gain for the Orioles. Unfortunately, it has not been a universal truth for the entire team.
So, what can be done? At this point in the season, very little. The Orioles roster is flawed. It has to rely heavily on several players that are both bad fielders and bad—or at least, inconsistent—hitters. Triple-A Norfolk doesn’t have any obvious solutions either. For now, the team just has to hope the bats rebound and make up for the gaps in defensive acumen.
This front office, after a disastrous 2025 campaign and an expensive offseason that is yet to yield much success on the field, should be feeling pressure to make this team into a winner. If the roster can limp along near .500 as trade season arrives, we should expect them to pursue upgrades at third base and right field. At the same time, they would likely want one more starting pitcher and a bullpen upgrade. That’s a lot of business to get done for a team that isn’t even a concrete contender, but it all feels necessary.
