Many Orioles are struggling so far, several key players among them.
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Baltimore Orioles fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The 2025 Orioles season so far just ain’t it. There are a number of players who have been contributors, in a bad way, to what the team has done so far. Some of these guys are more worrisome than others.
If a player who’s only signed for this year – like Charlie Morton – is bad, that’s a problem until Mike Elias admits the mistake and gets rid of him, but that doesn’t carry over into next year. There’s a whole different group of players who the Orioles and fans were counting on to be good for this year and at least a couple more, and those guys haven’t been doing too hot either.
This week’s survey asks you to think about which of the longer-term Orioles who are struggling is concerning you the most. Vote just below. Results will be shared on Friday.
I could have probably had at least a couple of other Orioles on this list, but I had to draw the line somewhere.
For Adley Rutschman, he’s not in the kind of desperate offensive funk that he was over the second half of last season, but he’s not hitting well either. His defensive numbers are grading increasingly poorly, especially his ability to throw out runners.
Gunnar Henderson missed a month of spring training with an intercostal strain. Maybe he rushed back in an overeager manner or maybe the team tried to ignore that he was rushing back out of desperation. Maybe he needed a longer rehab assignment to ramp back up to game speed. Maybe there’s something else going on entirely to explain where he’s at so far.
Jordan Westburg is on the injured list now, but before that, he endured an 0-30 slump and he hadn’t fully broken out of that before his hamstring started bothering him.
Also in this group is Ryan Mountcastle. He doesn’t have as long of team control remaining with the Orioles, so in some sense him being bad is the least problematic. But also, for the time being, he’s here and he’s even occasionally batting cleanup (including Tuesday night) despite hitting .198/.250/.279 so far this season. It’s bad!