Every weekday, 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.
Question: Young stars Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson have been praised — and rightfully so — for their patience at the plate and their refusal to chase bad pitches. But there is another side to that patience: looking at strike three. Last season, how did Adley and Gunnar compare to others in terms of frequency of being called out on strikes? From: Jerry Langbaum
Answer: Jerry, last year, Henderson was called out looking 40 times while Rutschman was punched out 28 times. The major league leader was Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber with 75. Shohei Ohtaini was caught looking 31 times. So far this year, Henderson has struck out looking six times and Rutschman hasn’t yet.
Question: Most home teams seem to have their dugouts on the first base line. However, some teams choose the third base line. Is there any reason you know of why they would want it down the third base side? From: Tom McLaughlin in Massachusetts
Answer: Tom, there’s no reason why teams choose the first or third base dugout. Eighteen teams use the first base dugout while 12 teams use the third base dugout. Both Los Angeles teams as well as both Bay Area and Chicago teams are among those that use the third base dugout.
The Orioles used the third base dugout at Memorial Stadium. They changed to the first base dugout when they moved to Camden Yards.