Midday Mailbag: What’s Urías’ value to the Orioles?

Every weekday, 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.

Question: Why do the Orioles keep Ramón Urías around? Surely, one of the lads in Norfolk has earned a shot.  From: Dwight Wanken

Answer: Dwight, Ramón Urias can play all four infield positions, something that no one else on the team can do. While Jorge Mateo can play shortstop, it’s nice to have another alternative should Gunnar Henderson need a day off.

Not every player is going to be a starter, and invariably, one player isn’t going to play much, particularly on a good team like the Orioles.

That’s not to say that Urías will remain with the team the entire year. Jackson Holliday, who plays second and shortstop, hasn’t taken off in his second stint at Norfolk this year, and Connor Norby plays second and the corner outfield positions. Both are possibilities for later in the season, but I think if an infielder got hurt, you’d be happy Urías was around.

Question: There are a lot of comments about how special this Orioles team is.  How does this team compare with the Orioles of the late 1960s, early 1970s? From: Doug Tomlinson

Answer: Doug, I didn’t move to Baltimore until 1980, but I watched those teams on television and a few times in person. I think those teams were wonderful, but the game has changed so much since then it’s hard to make a good comparison.

There will never again be a team with four 20-game winners like the 1971 Orioles, and those teams had many excellent players who played just about every day. The current team’s position players are nearly two years younger on average, 27.0 for this year’s team to 28.9 for the 1970 team.

The 1970 team had three future Hall of Famers — Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson. I have no idea if that will be case with this team. Check back in about 25 years.