All Orioles team 1965-2017, position players

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The Orioles have had some truly great players over the 50+ years. It's to the point where some outstanding players didn't make this team. So, here we go.

Catching: Matt Weiters While the Orioles have seen a lot of great positional players since 1965, their catching corps hasn't been a position of particular strength. In eight seasons with the Orioles. Weiters put together a WAR of 16.2. Not great, but pretty good. From 2011-13 Weiters hit 22-23-22 home runs. Matt also put up some nice defensive metrics in his prime. Mickey Tettleton had a nice three year run as a bat first catcher from 1988-90, running up a WAR of .800, based primarily on an OPS of .800. Rick Dempsey gets a note here because he spent 12 years in Baltimore, was good defensively, and was a lot of fun in rain delays.

First base: Eddie Murray Eddie is a pretty easy choice here, despite the Orioles having a lot of depth at this position. From 1980-85 Eddie had 100 RBIs each season, with the exception of the strike shortened 1981 season. Eddie led the AL in RBIs that season with 78. In his 13 years with the Orioles, Eddie had an OBP of .370 and a slugging percentage of .498. Throw in three gold gloves as part of a hall of frame career, and you have the Orioles first baseman. Boog Powell also gets recognition as a power hitter who spent 14 years with the O's. Boog had four seasons with 30+ home runs. His 14 seasons in Baltimore resulted in an OPS of .822. Defense was not his strength. Rafael Palmiero had some nice seasons in Baltimore, which have been forgotten because his name is associated with PEDs. In 1996, Rafael hit 39 homers and 142 RBIs. He had three other similar seasons with the Orioles. Sadly for Rafael, they are largely forgotten.

Second base: Bobby Grich Bobby was a hard nosed player who was a winner. His offensive stats were okay, but his defensive stats were outstanding, as was his WAR. In 7 seasons with the Orioles, Bobby put up an OPS of .777 but a WAR 36. From 1973-73, Bobby's WAR 22.9. Excellent. Roberto Alomar Jr. put up three nice seasons with the Orioles, but Grich gets the nod. Davey Johnson gets a mention here, mostly by virtue of his glove work.

Shortstop: Cal Ripken Jr. Was there any doubt? Cal spent 21 seasons with the Orioles and had a WAR 95.5. In 1984 he had a WAR of 10 and in 1991 he was even better with a WAR of 11.5. Oh, yea, there's that iron man thing. Cal answered the bell more consistently than any other player in MLB history. He showed up every day, and performed at an all star level. He was an easy choice. Before Ripken, there was Mark Belanger. Mark manned the shortstop position for 17 seasons in Baltimore and was one of the greatest defensive shortstops baseball has ever seen. His defensive WAR for those seasons was 39.3. The dude could pick it. He had three seasons with a defensive WAR of 4.0 or more. We'll not talk about his hitting.

Third base: Brooks Robinson Yet another Oriole who stayed in Baltimore for an eon of time, Brooks played 230 seasons with Orioles. Brooks' defensive is legendary. He won 16 gold gloves. He was also the AL MVP in 1964. While Brooks is known for his glove, he put up an OPS of .723 during a period dominated by pitching. As great as Brooks was, Manny Machado could soon surpass him. Machado is also a great fielder, and has one of the best infield arms I've ever seen. I thought he had an off year in 2017, but still hit 33 home runs with 95 RBIs. Last season was the third year in a row where Manny has hit 30+ homers. He's probably one of the best five players in baseball now, and seems to be working on a hall of fame career.

Left field: Ken Singleton I might be cheating here a little bit. Singleton played most of his games in right field, but he did play some in left, and his offense was too good to ignore. In 10 seasons with the Orioles, Singleton's OBP was .388. He also had some power, with four seasons of 20 or more home runs. Defensive metrics aren't kind to Ken, but he still gets this slot. Ken had three seasons with a WAR of 5.0 or more. Don Buford had a run from 1969-71 where he scored 99 runs each season. Don was a nice leadoff man for the O's during that stretch. The Orioles had seasons where they got nice production from left field, but it was done a platoon basis, so individual players don't stand out as much. John Lowenstein and Gary Roenicke come to mind.

Center field: Paul Blair I give the position to Blair by a slim margin over current Orioles center fielder, Adam Jones. Paul was one of the better defensive center fielders baseball has seen since 1965. Blair wasn't a great hitter, but wasn't a sure out. He did have an excellent season in 1969 when he hit 26 home runs to go with a .285 batting average. His OPS that season was .804. That was the only season that his OPS was over .800. Adam Jones is generally good for 25-30 home runs a year, with an average of around .285. Jones is held back by a low on base percentage and underwhelming defensive metrics. Brady Anderson draws a mention here for a 50 home run, 100 RBI season in 1996. He never approached those numbers again.

Right field: Frank Robinson After coming over to the Orioles in a trade for Milt Pappas, Frank put up a MVP season in 1966 with 49 homers, 122 RBIs and a batting average of .316. Those stats were also good enough to win the AL triple crown. While Robinson never again matched those numbers, he finished with 179 home runs in six seasons in Baltimore. Nick Markakis spent nine seasons with the Orioles and was a good on base guy, but didn't hit with a lot of power. He was a solid, but not spectacular performer.

DH: Harold Baines I had forgotten what a good run Harold had as the Orioles DH. Harold spent seven seasons with the Orioles and hit .301 with 107 homers and an OPS of .881. That's good enough to be the Orioles DH.

There's my list. Comments are welcomed. Where would you make changes?

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