Over the years, Orioles manager Buck Showalter has made a point of reminding everyone how young a certain player is. The media heard that Delmon Young was “just 28” so many times last year that we were secretly thrilled when he finally turned 29 last September. Same with Mark Reynolds back in 2012.
Showalter’s new thing over the past couple of weeks is to remind us just how few at-bats second baseman Jonathan Schoop has had this year. Schoop was out of action from April 18 to July 4 with a sprained right knee.
With roughly six weeks left in the season, Schoop has just 164 plate appearances.