Most Surprising, Most Impressive, and Biggest Disappointment

[TuckerBlair89]

Who are the most surprising , most impressive and biggest disappointment of the Orioles 2012 season for you?

All three of my selections are pitchers

Most Surprising Player- Darren O'Day
I thought he was a decent pickup for the Orioles, but absolutely did not expect him to be one of the better RP in the entire American League. He has a 2.49 ERA, 2.88 FIP, and 3.49 xFIP in 50.2 Innings with a 9.06 K/9. That is pretty damn good for a guy picked up to fill out one of the last spots in the pen.

Most Impressive Player- Pedro Strop
I'm not sure anyone can argue that he has not been one of the most impressive players in BASEBALL. It was known he had an electric arm, but he has been absolutely dominant all year. Easily one of the best pickups for the Orioles in a while. He has a 1.49 ERA, 3.28 FIP, and 3.75 xFIP in 54.1 innings. But the thing about Strop is that he can be unhittable at times. Literally there are outings where the hitters have no chance with that fastball jolting around. He's the epitome of effectively wild.

Biggest Disappointment- Brian Matusz
It was hard picking between Jake Arrieta and Matusz, but when you consider that Matusz was a top 5 pick in the draft, had much more hype (whether warranted or not), and had some legit success already, it's a little disappointing to see what's happened this season. He has time to turn it around in his career, but it's been a rough go in 2012.

[Matt P]

Most Surprising Player - Miguel Gonzalez
Minor league free agent, wasn't in the big league camp at Spring Training, started off as a reliever, and is now arguably the O's #2 starter. He was doing great in Norfolk as a reliever, looked okay in Baltimore as a reliever, but since he has become a starter and came to Baltimore he has only had 2 bad outings on the season (and one he had the flu).

Most Impressive Player - Pedro Strop
Nothing really more to add than what Tucker wrote. I tried to put someone else here but just couldn't put anyone above him.

Biggest Disappointment - Jake Arrieta
When you have the type of stuff Arrieta has and your manager loves you as much as Buck loves Jake it is just embarrassing to be demoted to AAA. Bad outing after bad outing after bad outing and they continued to give him more chances. He had that 3 game stretch against horrible NL lineups and some people thought he turned it around but when the lineups got better he went back to being Jake Arrieta. He was my favorite pitcher and it's very disappointing to see him struggle so mightily in MLB. I picked him over Matusz because I had no expectations for Brian Matusz coming into the season. I thought Jake would at least be a #3 type pitcher.

[osforlife]

Most Surprising Player- Jason Hammel
Yes, he got hurt. But did anybody predict he’d be in the contention for the AL starter for the all-star game, legit all-star candidate, our #1 pitcher? I was predicting 180 innings, high 4’s ERA. Other picks: Wei Yen Chen, Adam Jones, Miguel Gonzalez

Most Impressive Player- Jim Johnson
He’s been one of the best closers in baseball after accepting the job full-time. He’s had one blunder against Oakland. That’s it. He blew the 8-6 lead against the Sox in Fenway on a controversial homerun by Salty, only to come into the 10th and shut them down. He blew one in Detroit where he gave up 4 runs(3 earned) not his fault. This is the first time in a while where if we have the lead in the 9th, I feel comfortable with JJ on the mound. Other picks: Pedro Strop, Adam Jones

Biggest Disappointment- Robert Andino
C’mon, who else was expecting a breakout year from Andino? First full year in the Bigs and he performs admirably, coming into his age 28 season, former 2nd round pick with lots of potential. With all the trade rumors swirling about him in the winter meetings, at this point I would have rather swapped him. Other picks: Mark Reynolds, JJ Hardy, Jake Arrieta, Brian Matusz.

I would not pick Brian Matusz for dissapointing because I did not expect any good to come out of him. He did nothing to deserve to be in the rotation, and coming off the worst year by a pitcher ever. He did not pitch well in Spring Training. Personally, I would have started him from the ground up, just like the Jays did with Halladay. But at least put him in AA. He can't even get AAA hitters out. I would not pick Darren O'Day for suprising because he's been an effective reliever his whole career. 2011 was injury plagued and 2008 was his rookie year. I was expecting him to come back to form and loved his claiming off of waivers.

[goorioles33]

Most Surprising Player - Miguel Gonzalez

His start against the Angels was crazy. We needed that game and that performance in a big way. Miggy isn't perfect, but he pitches with a confidence that Arrieta and Matusz haven't shown. He flat out looks like he belongs.

Most Impressive Player - Wei-Yen Chen

Strop is freaking awesome, but his job is to get 3 outs. Chen is the best pitcher on a staff that at times resembled a who sucks least contest. Chen is the guy that we could count on every fourth or fifth day to at least give us 5 innings and some sense of hope. KC and DET got to him in recent first innings, but the guy is 12-7. He should win 15 or 16 games this year...for a team that leads the league in errors and can't score consistently. That's incredibly impressive. If not for Mike Trout, could have a shot at ROY.

Biggest Disappointment - Mark Reynolds (but in 2 different ways)

1. The 37 homer guy was never to be found. Huge disappointment early in the season. I wanted him gone.

2. You can't hate a guy who plays as hard as Mark, but my frustration with his performance was in that vicinity. Before I could really start to embrace the negative feelings, he moved to first base and actually became a good defensive player. Now he's actually hitting reasonably well.

So he disappointed me by not being good initially and then disappointed me by turning around his season and not letting me wish him to be released (or buried in the desert). Double whammy.

[Adam Wolff]

Most Surprising Player - Miguel Gonzalez
This is a guy that nobody was expecting anything from. If I had told you 6 months ago that we would be giving the ball to Miguel Gonzalez every 5th day, some of you would have said, 'Who?!', and the others would have said a few expletives about how bad things must be that Miguel Gonzalez has cracked the rotation. While Matusz, Arrieta, and Britton have continued to mystify us and underwelm, Gonzalez continues to surprise.

Most Impressive Player - Adam Jones
I'm impressed by Jones statistically, but the reason I chose him is more because of how impressive he is in the other facets of the game of baseball. He's a vocal leader, as well as a leader on the field, leading by example. He's become a legitimate middle of the order bat and should be a perennial all star moving forward.

Biggest Disappointment - Jake Arrieta/Brian Matusz
Honestly, I'm just sick of these two at this point. I have no idea why they can't succeed anymore and it's not fair to speculate, but for one reason or another, these two look nothing like the guys we were fawning over a couple years ago. I'm still hoping one or both of them can establish some value and help the team going forward, but I wouldn't be surprised if neither make an impact in the majors anytime soon.

[Oriole85]

First of all, I'm only using players who have been on the 25-man(and DL) most of the season...

Surprising- Despite the DL stint, i'll give it to Hammel. I was expecting worse than Guthrie, not a #1 pitcher(even if it is for us). Honorable mentions: Wei-yin Chen, Chris Davis, Miguel Gonzalez, Markakis(great in the leadoff spot after the DL).

Impressive- Earlier in the season, I would've told you Jonesy. I'm going with Jim Johnson, I'd give the whole 'pen a collective one, but one player has to be chosen. Other honorable mention: Pedro Strop

Disappointment- This stretch notwithstanding, Mark Reynolds. Honorable mention: Jake Arrieta.


Edit: Upon further review after reading Osforlife, I'd add JJ Hardy as a nominee for the Disappointment column -- just his hitting though and I'd add I think he's gotten a bit a unlucky. Still I expected better, although not what he did in 2011.

[Oriole85]

Biggest Disappointment- Brian Matusz
It was hard picking between Jake Arrieta and Matusz, but when you consider that Matusz was a top 5 pick in the draft, had much more hype (whether warranted or not), and had some legit success already, it's a little disappointing to see what's happened this season. He has time to turn it around in his career, but it's been a rough go in 2012.

While I'm disappointed that Jake has significantly regressed, I can't say as if I'm as upset with Matusz performance given his 2011 performance. Sure, I expected better since he went on the Brady Anderson workout plan but you hardly know at all, he had made any strides for 2012 if you didn't read an O's blog or the Sun. I think Matusz was the answer in 2011, but Jake is more so the answer to this in 2012. That being said, I think you present a very good case why Matusz is the answer to this question.

[TuckerBlair89]

While I'm disappointed that Jake has significantly regressed, I can't say as if I'm as upset with Matusz performance given his 2011 performance. Sure, I expected better since he went on the Brady Anderson workout plan but you hardly know at all, he had made any strides for 2012 if you didn't read an O's blog or the Sun. I think Matusz was the answer in 2011, but Jake is more so the answer to this in 2012. That being said, I think you present a very good case why Matusz is the answer to this question.

Yea it's really just flipping a coin on those two for me.
Some could throw Britton in there too with them, although that last outing probably made it easier to forget!

[ofahn]

Most Surprising Player- Wei-Yen Chen
I had expected him to be a competent SP; however, he has become one of the better SP in the AL. His ERA has been inflated by a few clunkers but, even in those, he shows resilience and often keeps the game close enough to have a chance to win. If Mike Trout would not have been called up from Planet Krypton, Chen could be the Rookie of the Year.

Most Impressive ORIOLE- Buck Showalter
I accept that I'm outside the box on this but I can't think of any player that has made more of a contribution to this team's success than Buck. He has achieved results that far exceed the sum of the talent on his roster. THAT'S impressive.

Biggest Disappointment- Nolan Reimold
This is NOT a knock on Nolan, and I understand the cause of my disappointment is an injury; but I honestly thought that he was going to establish himself as one of the better hitters in the AL this year. He certainly started out that way. When I read that he had "back spasms" I had a sick feeling, and now I can only dream of what might have been. I feel so bad for him because this season the stars had lined up to give him his big chance and now that opportunity may be gone.

[birdwatcher55]

I'm going to say the Orioles as a group have been the biggest surprise. They and the Pirates have really made this for a fun, interesting season.
My disappointment is headed by Arrieta, a guy who looked like ace material early on this season and then just came unglued. I never had much hope after Matusz collapsed and burned last season

[Matt P]

Is anyone else not surprised at all that as soon as some of us pick Miguel Gonzalez as most surprising he has a bad game?