Are the Orioles unusually unlucky hitters? | MAILBAG

Question: Is it my imagination, or are the 2026 Orioles unusually unlucky in having their hard-hit balls go directly to infielders for outs? Are there any metrics that measure this? From: Steve McCardell

Answer: Steve, according to Baseball Savant, Gunnar Henderson is the unluckiest Orioles hitter. Entering Monday night’s game, he had a .220 batting average and his expected batting average was .242.

Pete Alonso’s batting average was .266, and his expected batting average was .283.

Among batters with the most plate appearances, Samuel Basallo (.241 vs. .250) and Coby Mayo (.210 vs. .218) could also be classified as slightly unlucky while Colton Cowser (.217 vs. .216) and Leody Taveras (.226 vs. .217) had higher batting averages than expected batting averages.

Overall, the Orioles have been a bit unlucky, but not dramatically so.

Question: Can you please tell me the last time the Orioles have promoted a pitcher from Double-A?  Do you think the Orioles will promote any of there new people in Double-A to the majors in 2026. From: Ricky Shaw 

Answer: Ricky, the last time the Orioles promoted a pitcher from Double-A to the majors without major league experience was Tanner Scott in 2017. Mychal Givens and Donnie Hart were also promoted directly from Bowie as were Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman.

I don’t expect the Orioles to promote any of their top prospects from the Baysox to the Orioles this year. That hasn’t been done under Mike Elias, and I would be surprised if that happened this year.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.