With Opening Day less than a week away, we’ll take a look at a member of the 2015 Orioles every day as they try to defend their American League East title this season.
March 9 – Adam Jones
March 10 – Chris Tillman
March 11 – J.J. Hardy
March 12 – Zach Britton
March 13 – Chris Davis
March 14 – Wei-Yin Chen
March 15 – Jonathan Schoop
March 16 – Travis Snider
March 17 – Kevin Gausman
March 18 – Alejandro De Aza
March 19 – Tommy Hunter
March 20 – Manny Machado
March 21 – Brad Brach
March 22 – Steve Pearce
March 23 – Darren O’Day
March 24 – Caleb Joseph
March 25 – Wesley Wright
March 26 – Delmon Young
March 27 – Miguel Gonzalez
March 28 – Ryan Flaherty
March 29 – Ubaldo Jimenez
March 30 – Everth Cabrera
March 31 – Bud Norris
C Matt Wieters
Opening Day age: 28
Contract status: Becomes a free agent after the 2015 season
Minor-league options remaining: None
2014 stats: .308/.339/.500, 5 HR, 18 RBI, 13 R, 0 SB, 112 PA
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Why to be impressed: Before developing elbow tendinitis that will force him to begin the season on the 15-day disabled list, Wieters’ rehab from Tommy John surgery was going perfectly in trying to work his way back to pre-injury form. Though he’s always provided good offense for the catcher position, his .839 on-base plus slugging percentage — in a small sample size — last year suggested his shorter swing from the left side had the potential to be a breakthrough.
Why to be concerned: The organization has been very quiet about Wieters since he was shut down after catching only one game in the Grapefruit League on March 17. Even if the tendinitis will only cost him a couple weeks in the regular season, there’s just no way of knowing what kind of defensive player Wieters will be after throwing out an impressive 33 percent of runners trying to steal in his career before the surgery.
2015 outlook: Whenever Wieters is able to return, you’d expect him to receive much more rest than he did in the past when he’d catch 80 percent of the 162-game schedule. With such a long layoff, it’s tough to expect much more than the .704 OPS he produced in 2013. If he can be close to the same defensively, the Orioles will be happy, but anyone projecting what to expect from him in 2015 and beyond is purely guessing right now, making his upcoming free agency all the more intriguing.
