Manny Machado is only 26 years old. Let it sink in for a moment…that’s young. Maybe that’s why it seems like only yesterday that Machado was being called up to the big leagues to play third base for the O’s.
For the first two-thirds of the 2012 season, former Oriole Wilson Betemit got the majority of the starts at third base. Then the team decided to promote Machado from Double-A Bowie, where he was hitting .266/.352/.438 with 11 home runs and 59 RBI in 402 at-bats.
At the time of his promotion, Machado only had two games (18 innings) worth of experience at the hot corner, which makes his seamless transition to the position at the major league level that much more impressive.