Jones named Most Valuable Oriole again
Outfielder wins honor for 3rd time; Davis benched for final series
Orioles outfielder Adam Jones marked what could be his final homestand in Baltimore by receiving the Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award.
Jones, a pending free agent, entered Friday batting .281 with 15 home runs this season as one of the lone remaining veterans on a team that traded away many of its top stars midseason. He’s wrapping up his 11th season with the club, and has carried a much more significant role around the team as it got younger in the second half, and managed to perform through that.
“I have so much respect for people that do things from a team standpoint when they’re expected to do them, delivering the expectations,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Adam’s such a consistent effort guy. He always is firing. He told me the other day in the dugout, we were talking the other night during a game, he said, ‘What makes me good is also what makes me not good sometimes.’ And he’s right. There’s been a lot more good than the other. He’s deserving for a lot more than just statistical stuff.”
Jones, 33, won the award previously in 2011 and 2012. In 2012, he was part of the team’s return to the playoffs after 14 straight losing seasons, and he’s been part of three playoff teams since the Orioles acquired him ahead of the 2008 season as part of the Erik Bedard trade with the Seattle Mariners.
Only players currently in the organization are eligible, which is voted on by local media, and the following players also received votes: Richard Bleier, Dylan Bundy, Andrew Cashner, Alex Cobb, Mychal Givens, Trey Mancini, Cedric Mullins, Mark Trumboand Jonathan Villar.
Jones will receive the award Sunday at Camden Yards before the season finale against the Houston Astros. Adam Jones Davis benched for final weekend: Despite declaring before Wednesday’s doubleheader in Boston that first baseman Chris Davis, in the midst of a miserable September slump, would play on the team’s final homestand this weekend, those plans have changed.
Davis is unlikely to play in any of the final four games against the Astros this weekend, Showalter said Friday, solidifying that his .168 batting average this year will be the lowest ever among qualified major league hitters.
It’s a dramatic change from earlier this month, when Davis was in one of the hottest stretches he’s had this season as the calendar turned from August to September. A19-game stretch where Davis hit .292 beginning on Aug. 14 saw him bring his average up from .158 to .180 in 19 games. He said at the time he had a good feeling, and Showalter said at the time Davis had been in a good place for a while.
But that was the peak for Davis, who has one hit with 21 strikeouts in the ensuing 40 plate appearances over a 10-game span. He is hitless in his past 21 at-bats.
Had Davis started sitting earlier — he hasn’t played since Saturday at Yankee Stadium — then he might have been able to avoid the ignominy of the worst average in history. By the standard of requiring 3.1 plate appearances per team game to qualify for the batting title, Davis’ 522 plate appearances just beat the threshold of 502.
By weighted runs created plus (wRC+), Davis’ mark of 45 is third-lowest among qualifiers since 2000.
Davis has four years remaining on the seven-year, $161 million contract he signed after the 2015 season. Sunday starter not named: The Orioles will need to get through Friday’s game and Saturday’s doubleheader before determining who will start the season finale Sunday, Showalter said.
“I won’t have one until probably post,” Showalter said. “I’m hoping things go well enough that I can tell you one before the second game [Saturday]. But I’m not counting on it.”
With David Hess, Dylan Bundy and Yefry Ramírez starting the first three games of the series, options are limited. Jimmy Yacabonis threw 82 pitches Wednesday — one short of his career high set May 2 for Triple-A Norfolk — and would be on three days’ rest, and all of Miguel Castro (knee), Andrew Cashner (knee), Alex Cobb (finger), Luis Ortiz (hamstring), Evan Phillips and Josh Rogers are not available.