The Orioles’ depth took another hit Tuesday, with the club placing infielder/outfielder Blaze Alexander on the 10-day injured list because of low back discomfort and bringing up Jeremiah Jackson to fill the roster spot.
Alexander has carved out a useful first season in Baltimore. He has played in 93 games and logged 289 plate appearances, hitting .303/.358/.414 with a 121 wRC+.
That marks him as 21% better than league average at the plate. His .385 batting average on balls in play has helped fuel the production, but he has also trimmed his strikeouts sharply, going from a 32.3% strikeout rate last year to 21.8% this season.
He’s added value in other ways too. Alexander has stolen 10 bases and moved all over the diamond, seeing time at all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base. FanGraphs has him at 1.5 wins above replacement on the year.
The timing matters because the Orioles have only a little more than two weeks left in the regular season and are still four games out of a playoff spot. That leaves little room for injuries, even to a player in Alexander’s role.
Baltimore is also dealing with another health issue in Gunnar Henderson. He left yesterday’s game with left knee discomfort and is not in tonight’s lineup. Jackson Holliday is starting at shortstop, while Jeremiah Jackson handles Holliday’s usual second base spot.
Henderson’s season hasn’t been dominant by his standards, but it’s still been productive in key areas. He’s batting .219/.303/.395, which works out to a 97 wRC+, but he also has 22 home runs and a 9.4% walk rate.
Much of the batting average and on-base drag comes from a .251 BABIP, well below his .303 career mark and the .289 league average this year. Even with that downturn, he has been worth 3.0 fWAR thanks to his speed and defense.
Holliday hasn’t been an upgrade at the plate, hitting .235/.310/.354 for an 88 wRC+. Jeremiah Jackson has posted a .226/.255/.359 line, good for a 69 wRC+. Baltimore will keep trying to piece together wins, with the hope that Henderson and Alexander can return before the season slips away.
In Other News...
Orioles Long Term Core Is Taking Shape And Some Bats Wont Survive
The Orioles have spent much of this season trying to sort out not just whether they can reach October, but which parts of this roster are actually built to last. Under Mike Elias, the front office has spent years assembling a younger core, and the current stretch is starting to clarify which bats fit the long view and which ones may end up being more temporary solutions as the organization keeps pushing toward sustained contention.
That sort of sorting-out period tends to come with hard choices, especially for a club balancing playoff hopes against contract realities and roster flexibility. Baltimores ownership stance and the possibility of labor uncertainty only add another layer to the equation, making the next stretch less about filling out a lineup card and more about deciding which names still belong in the teams future plans. [Read more 🡒]
Why Orioles Fans Still Wonder What Happened To Merv Rettenmund
Merv Rettenmund gave Orioles fans a brief but vivid reminder of what a polished left-handed bat could look like in Baltimore. In his early seasons with the club, he hit well enough to earn a place in World Series lineups and looked like a player who could stick as part of the core, even as the roster around him kept evolving.
What makes Rettenmund such a lingering question for Orioles followers is how quickly that promise began to fade after 1971. A changed swing, injuries and mental challenges all played a role, and the once-promising outfielder never fully got back to that early level before moving on to the Reds, Padres and Angels. He later earned respect as a hitting coach, and his death in 2024 at 81 only sharpened the sense that Baltimore never quite got the full story of what might have been. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Infield Depth Suddenly Matters More Than Fans Wanted
With Gunnar Henderson nursing a sore left knee and Blaze Alexander sidelined by back spasms, the Orioles had a clear need to shore up their infield options. Baltimore answered by adding Jeremiah Jackson to the major league taxi squad, giving the club another versatile glove in case the current injury situation lingers.
Jackson, signed to a minor league deal in November 2024, has not yet appeared in the majors for Baltimore, but his ability to handle multiple positions makes him a useful insurance piece. For a team already trying to keep its everyday alignment intact, the move is a reminder that depth can become a daily concern fast when the middle of the diamond starts to thin out. [Read more 🡒]