When there are few Oriole stories to grasp onto, there was a time when I held onto Dwight Smith Jr.’s the tightest.
Smith Jr., more conveniently known as “DSJ”, was acquired in the middle of March and essentially hit well enough to earn a role in the Orioles opening day lineup. Over the course of the first two months, that notion mostly remained true.
Between April and May, DSJ posted a slash line of .246/.290/.467, enough for a 95 wRC+ and a surprising .221 isolated power. The wRC+ number isn’t entirely worthy of praise, but by June 4, he’d already surpassed his ZiPS-projected amount of home runs (11) and was on track to outpace much of his mediocre at-the-plate prognosis.