In my opinion, Jonathan Schoop has no business being in the major leagues. At one time or another, every Oriole fan has had this thought enter his or her mind. A mere eyeball test tells you Schoop is often overwhelmed at the plate. Now before I go any further let me concede that yes, Schoop is good defensively and yes, he can turn a really good double play; however, one does not get to and stay in the majors on his ability to turn double plays. But you have to be able to hit and right now, Schoop is not hitting.
So how bad is it for Jonathan Schoop? In all of baseball among every day second baseman Schoop ranks dead last in batting average, on base percentage, walks (he has walked seven times in 75 games, seven!), slugging percentage — need I go on? Okay, to be fair he is first among second baseman in one category — he’s grounded into a double play 12 times this year. Yay.
Jonathan Schoop also strikes out a lot. On the Orioles only Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz, and Chris Davis have struck out more times than Schoop. It appears as if Oriole fans have given Schoop a bit of a pass on the strikeout stat. Fans know quite a bit about cheering for hitters who strikeout a lot. For two years we watched the strikeout king Mark Reynolds whiff his way through the summer. Last year Chris Davis struck out 199 times. Yet Mark Reynolds and Chris Davis could do something Schoop currently cannot do and that’s hit a lot of home runs.
In the current age of baseball it’s okay to strikeout, but if you strikeout a lot you better hit homers. Strikeouts with power have become an acceptable thing in baseball, but strikeouts without power is and will always be unacceptable. I mentioned that Schoop is fourth on the team for the most strikeouts, the three guys ahead of him (Jones, Cruz, and Davis) all hit homeruns.
No matter what statistic you look at, it is hard to make a case not just that Jonathan Schoop should be are starting second baseman, but it’s even hard to argue he should be in the majors. His offensive WAR is -0.2, which is to say he negatively impacts the Orioles offensively. David Lough is the only other Oriole player with a negative offensive WAR (even Ryan Flaherty has oWAR of 0.3). I don’t claim to understand all the advanced statistics, but when you check out Schoop’s advance offensive stats on Fangraphs and the advance stats show up as negative numbers, surely that is not a good thing.
So what to do with Jonathan Schoop? I am not proposing sending Schoop to Triple-A. I think that’s underestimating the seriousness of his struggles. I propose sending Schoop to single A. Here he would still be playing with players around his same age and I would give him specific instructions and goals on what to improve upon in order to move his way back up the ranks. Very simply to swing less at balls out of strike zone (he currently swings at over 40% of balls out of the strike zone), walk more and be a higher contact hitter.
This solution would be better for the Orioles in the long run as next year or the year after he would presumably join the club as a better hitter, and it would also be best for Schoop as he would learn how to be better hitter which would set him up better for a long successful career in the majors.
Johathan Schoop is only 22 and in all likelihood will turn out to be a very good player for the Orioles for a long time. However this is not your 2008 Orioles in rebuilding mode. Currently the Orioles are attempting to win the pennant and Jonathan Schoop is a detriment to the Orioles achieving that goal. Now if only the Orioles had a player at Norfolk to replace Schoop at second base; a player who can steal the occasional base and has an OBP over .400…
Image Credit: Keith Allison
Damn, a rookie can’t get a break. Who did Schoop piss off? Is he taking too many ABs from Flaherty? A lot of rookis struggle. Davis looks overmatched send him down. This may be the most ludicris article ever on BSR. I just lost all respect for you Sroka! Go back to driving taxis…
Couldn’t have said it any better Mr. Sroka. Schoop sucks and belongs nowhere else at Camden Yards than in the crowd cheering for the Orioles with the rest of us.
Here is your homework assignment, look up your boy Cal Mr Selfish Ripken’s 1981 stats, albeit 40ABs, nearly the same strikeout rate as Schoop, a WAR of -0.5, 0 HRs. Now what if we based those ABs on his future? You got my blood boiling Sroka. Rookies have to get a chance at the big league level and to say send him down to Single A is a slap in his face. I need to take your place at BSR, at lest I would see things in a more objective way, even with my lazy eye!
9inchnails, you asked who Schoop pissed off? He pissed me off for being so terrible.
Gausman’s stas, 5.66 ERA, 8 HRs allowed in 5 starts, 20 games played, 51 hits in 47 innings, 3-5 record 5 blown saves…yeah send his ass back to Single A too. What a POS article!
Thanks Bill, you can add me to the list of people run off….I will go hang out with my boys Sp and Jim from Dundlak, Dude and Mystery Man in Sue Creek with some crabs and Natty Bohs…
I always thought Spy and Jim from Dundalk were the same person? I miss having him on this site…miss him as much as I miss having hemorrhoids!
You an idiot. You don’t even offer an alternative at 2nd. Flaherty? Yeah he’s been so awesome at the plate. Schoop will figure it out. I trust buck knows what he’s doing.
I offered Weeks as an alternative, whom I subtly mentioned at the end of my article. I will be more open and direct next time for my less careful readers.
This might be the wost article I’ve read from the BSR. Schoop is a rookie, wtf do you expect? What other options do we have? Let’s see, let Schoop develop or play Flaherty. I’m not going with the latter. Also, unless there is less than two outs and a guy on third, striking out doesn’t matter. Everyone on here who says Schoop sucks shows their miserable baseball IQ and should just stop watching baseball because you’re an embarrasment as an O’s fan. As for Sroka, you should keep your opinions to yourself because sending a Major League player back to Single A is just moronic. That doesn’t happen much, bud. Just give up on sports journalism, you don’t really have much insight to bring to your audience. They should send you to the Single A of writing, so you can develop before your embarrass yourself any further.
Ed, sorry for the late reply; responding to you was not at the top of my ‘to do list’. You seem to be saying two things: 1. My opinions are moronic, and 2. My writing skills are lacking (“Single A of writing”). To the first, you are fully within your rights to disagree with my opinion. It is after all, just an opinion. However, to discount my opinion as simply ‘moronic’ is to discount an opinion that is well-respected among hundreds of knowledgable sports fans. Secondly, my writing skills are above reproach, so I would just stick with the first argument about my opinions being terrible. As far as Schoop goes… well clearly you do not want to have an intelligent debate about Schoop, you are just looking for a fight.
Ed – You wrote a completely incoherent message. Please stick to crayons from this moment forward assclown! Don’t take it out on us, just because your life sucks and isn’t looking good for you right about now. Look Dingo, you have a job working for McDonalds at their outside Jungle Gym. I understand 5 year old, little Tommy Barnes, is making your life miserable every Friday night as he keeps shitting in the ball pit. But you don’t have to take that Dingo. Just tell the little bastard to stop shitting in your ball pit.
This is Sroka isn’t it? Did I hurt your feelings? Your response is very poor since you never referenced anything to do with baseball. I’ll let you get back to writing horrible articles that portray your low baseball IQ. Enjoy the rest of the season.