Question: While O’s fans hope that our core players will have a bounce-back year in 2026, do you think the drop-off in offensive performance might be mostly because other teams figured out the weaknesses of our young hitters in 2025? If that is the case, expecting a big rebound by all of them next year might be overly optimistic. What is your view? From: Glenn Fuller, Laurel
Answer: Glenn, I think it’s pretty clear that opponents made adjustments, particularly on Colton Cowser and Adley Rutschman. The key is for Cowser and Rutschman to make adjustments themselves.
Players continually have to adjust as more and better information is available, both on pitchers and hitters.
If you think that Cowser and Rutschman, in particular, can adjust, that would be a good sign for the Orioles in 2026. They also need Jordan Westburg to play an entire season. His stats were fine for barely half a season. They also need Gunnar Henderson to step up, and for Jackson Holliday to continue to improve.
Question: I’m 83 and still think hitting stats boil down to the batting average, RBIs, and home runs. Why are you young guys so enamored with WAR? It seems so Microsoft to me. Please explain what it is and why it’s the new stat. From: Mike DeLuca
Answer: Mike, first, thanks for the compliment. It’s been a while since I was called a young guy. WAR is Wins Above Replacement, and it measures a player’s value by figuring how many more wins he’s worth to his team than a replacement-level player.
Let’s take Gunnar Henderson. He has a 5.4 WAR. That means he’s worth 5.4 more wins to the Orioles over a season than if he was replaced by an average player.
I like WAR because it’s been retroactively calculated so that you can compare players from this era with earlier eras.
Cal Ripken Jr. has a 95.9 WAR, which means he was worth nearly 96 more wins to the Orioles over his career than if an average player had replaced him.
I don’t think that home runs, RBIs and batting average are useless stats. I use them, too, but I think WAR can help show more value over time than just relying on those three stats.
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.