Why did Orioles demote Jeremiah Jackson? | MAILBAG

Question: What possible rational reason was there to option Jeremiah Jackson rather than Tyler O’Neill?  What does the batting (against lefties, righties) and fielding data say? From: Steven Salop

Answer: Steven, manager Craig Albernaz said that the Orioles wanted to keep three catchers for the time being since Adley Rutschman is returning from a concussion. I was surprised that the Orioles decided to keep three catchers and play an infielder short.

Albernaz said that Jackson had done nothing to merit the optioning to Norfolk, but he had an option remaining. He can return after 10 days in the minor leagues, sooner if he’s replacing a player who goes on the injured list.

Because of service time, O’Neill can’t be optioned to the minor leagues and he could refuse an assignment if he passed through waivers, which he would do.

I don’t expect for Jackson to be at Norfolk for very long. He can do things to help the team, and I think they’re not ready to make the decision to release O’Neill, who has 1 ½ years left on his three-year, $49.5 million contract.

Question: It happened again Saturday night. Runner on third, one out, infield in, ball hit to third, runner on third is running on contact, runner is out at home. Over and over again this happens to the Orioles. Is this normal MLB playcalling or something the O’s overuse? Should the player be advised to watch where the ball is hit? Are there alternative approaches in that situation? It NEVER works. From: Alan Reister

Answer: Al, I got a similar complaint from Hubert Greene. I remember last year, Tony Mansolino defending the contact play, saying that it’s something that every major league team uses because I’ve noticed, like you, the times when it doesn’t work, and we’ve seen several instances of this not working for the Orioles.

The third base coach tells the runner ahead of time to run on contact, and my friend and colleague Peter Schmuck is even more insistent than you that it’s bad baseball.

I think the Orioles have been overusing it because it hasn’t worked.

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.