Who should lead off for the Orioles? / MAILBAG

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.

Question: I’m confused by the O’s ever-changing lineup.  They’ve struggled to find a genuine leadoff hitter all season and appear to have settled on Colton Cowser. His batting stats don’t justify hitting leadoff, especially as he has the team’s highest K-rate Holliday stole 24 bases in 2023. Has he ever batted leadoff?  Is this too much pressure for a new rookie?  What quantitative or non-quantitative metrics are considered when establishing a major league lineup? From: Dan Rodgers

Answer: Dan, the Orioles have used Cowser as the leadoff batter 19 times since July 28^th, and on Monday night led off with Austin Slater for the third time.

Jackson Holliday batted leadoff for Norfolk this season, and I wouldn’t rule him out as a possible leadoff hitter in the future, but now isn’t the time. The Orioles don’t share their metrics, so I can’t answer what factors go into their lineup construction. 

Question: With all of the rule changes of late, in regard to protecting players’ health …  have you, or any of your colleagues, heard any discussions about increasing the penalty for batters being hit by pitch?

While I have no access to the statistics, I’m pretty sure I remember someone saying on one of the daily MLB recap shows that HBP numbers have been rising drastically over the past few years, as teams seem to covet velocity over control. From: Tom W.

Answer: Tom, through Sunday’s games, there have been .428 batters hit in each game about the same as last year’s .434 rate. If you go back to 2014, it’s a bit lower about .34 batters per game.

I have not heard any talk about increased penalties, and I don’t like to see players like Mookie Betts, Austin Riley or Jordan Westburg miss significant time, but if there are others, perhaps that will be discussed between MLB and the players.