On Sunday afternoon, Delmon Young recorded his first plate appearance since going 0-for-3 on April 22 in Toronto. Young, pinch hitting for J.J. Hardy in the bottom of the ninth, doubled to deep left field field moving Nick Markakis from first to third.
The 28-year-old slugger didn’t see any action in the Orioles series against KC prior to that double. Though, in hindsight, perhaps he could have played in left field for the struggling David Lough who went just 1-for-11 against the Royals. On the young season, Lough has played in 18 games and is slashing a cool .172/.226/.241.
So why no Young? O’s skipper Buck Showalter says he isn’t injured. Here’s what he told the media, via MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko:
“He’s good,” Showalter said. “Not real good matchups for him if you look at it right now. It will be. There will be some times when he plays three…like he has already. Same way with Lombo (Steve Lombardozzi). I don’t want Lombo to sit too long.
“I don’t really look at any of our guys as some extra player. They’re going to be called on a lot. Delmon, anytime I see a good matchup, he’s going to play.”
Young vs. Jeremy Guthrie: 4-for-27, 1 BB, 0 K
Young vs. James Shields: 3-for-14, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Young has just 40 at-bats this season, but has looked good over that small sample size. He’s hitting .324/.375/.486 with three doubles, a homer and 4 RBI. Sure defense is important to the O’s, I mean, if David Lough wasn’t playing who would have made this incredible catch when the team was down 8-2 in the eighth inning?
But I personally would like to see Delmon Young get some more playing time.
Image Credit: Keith Allison
Delmon needs to get more ABs. Lough is killing them with the stick.