The Orioles Flashback Friday Player Profile is a series featuring obscure, mediocre and infamous Orioles players from their last "rebuild" era that spanned 14 years. An article will be released every Friday spotlighting a former Orioles from the disappointing days of our past.
With Spring Training starting, it's important to remind ourselves of one thing: Good Spring Training stats usually don't translate into good regular season stats, especially for journeyman players. For example, in 2012 the great Nick Johnson put up a .851 OPS with a .393 OBP during his Grapefruit League campaign. It was good enough for him to earn a spot on the Orioles 25 man roster...where he promptly went hitless in his first twenty six at bats.
The most legendary Orioles spring training performance belongs, however, to Jake Fox. In 74 at bats, the utility man and back up catcher hit 10 homers and drove in 15 runs. By the end of the spring he had an astounding 1.122 OPS and was the talk of Major League Baseball. It was all good enough for Fox to secure a roster spot.
But it was all a mirage. In 48 at bats with the Orioles, he hit .188 and provided subpar defense behind the plate. Fox was designated for assignment in May and never played baseball in the Major Leagues again.
So what went wrong? How was Fox so good in Spring Training yet so terrible when the team went north?
The answer to that is simple: quality of competition.
As Paul Folkemer of baltimorebaseball.com points out, all of Fox's spring training homeruns came against pitchers who were not MLB quality. For example four of Fox's homers came against pitchers who had never pitched above double A or would never reach the majors. Two more were hit off past their prime veterans playing in their last seasons, though they didn't realize it at the time. When forced to face MLB quality pitching, Fox struggled mightily.
So whats the lesson here?
Don't read too much into spring training statistics, especially for hitters, but also don't let the warm sun of Florida fool you. If a player has never had major league success and is entering his age 29 season, one awesome spring training probably doesn't mean he's going to be awesome under the bright lights. Don't overreact.
Unless its Chris Davis who has struck out FIVE times in seven at bats already and whose batting stance looks the exact same...Only four more seasons...
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