Jake Fox Has Aspirations To Play Everyday…And For Good Reason

By , on March 15th, 2011

Quick.

Who’s leading the Orioles in home runs this Spring?  Is it Vlad Guerrero? Nope. What about Mark Reynolds? Wrong again.  Luke Scott?  Negative. Believe it or not it’s a guy defying all the MLB Odds, Jake Fox.

Fox cranked his fourth ball over the fence in yesterday’s win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, giving him the lead over slugger Vlad Guerrero.  Though Jake Fox is hitting .333 with four doubles and six runs scored this Spring, he finds himself in a heated battle for a roster spot filling in for catcher Matt Wieters.

As mentioned in BSR’s roster preview of the 28 year old utility man, Fox was drafted by the Cubs and brought to Baltimore from Oakland via a trade last season.

Between June 22, 2009 and Aug. 2, 2009, Fox hit .314 in 29 games with the Cubs.  He homered 8 times and drove in 22, scoring 13 runs in 96 plate appearances.  Small sample size?  Maybe.  But Fox thinks that a starting job would show teams that he can consistently put up those types of numbers. “Ultimately, hopefully, I will have a chance to be an everyday player someday, but at this point, to get my foot in the door, I have to move around,” Fox told Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.
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Orioles 40 Man Roster Preview – #15 Craig Tatum

By , on March 2nd, 2011

The position of back-up catcher for any team is not the most glorious spot on any roster.  The same can be said for the position on teh Baltimore Orioles, but it is also one position that seems to be up for grabs in 2011.  In the spring of 2010 C Craig Tatum managed to outplay veteran Chad Moeller, and somewhat surprisingly won a roster spot with the Orioles.  Tatum showed similar offensive skills as Moeller, but his defensive ability behind the plate won him the job.  While Tatum did well as a receiver in 2010, his bat may have slightly outshown his ability to control opposing running games.  Tatum finished 2010 with a .281 batting average, not a world beater with the bat by any means, but he only threw out 7% of opposing base stealers.

Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
2009 26 CIN NL 26 77 68 3 11 1 0 1 6 0 0 7 10 .162 .250 .221 .471 26
2010 27 BAL AL 43 126 114 11 32 4 0 0 9 1 0 12 21 .281 .349 .316 .665 83
2 Seasons 69 203 182 14 43 5 0 1 15 1 0 19 31 .236 .312 .280 .592 61
162 Game Avg. 162 477 427 33 101 12 0 2 35 2 0 45 73 .236 .312 .280 .592 61
CIN (1 yr) 26 77 68 3 11 1 0 1 6 0 0 7 10 .162 .250 .221 .471 26
BAL (1 yr) 43 126 114 11 32 4 0 0 9 1 0 12 21 .281 .349 .316 .665 83

The 27 year old Tatum was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2004 draft by the Cincinnatti Reds and debuted in the big leagues in 2009.  Tatum played in 26 games for the Reds in ’09.  He did not show much with the bat but threw out 36% of base stealers in limited duty.  Tatum was claimed off of waivers by the Orioles in November of 2009.

Tatum’s main competition for the back-up cather role comes from Jake Fox.  While Tatum did well to hit .281 last year, he only slugged .316 and drove in just 9 runs in 114 at bats.  Tatum has more experience as strictly a catcher, but Fox can play more positions defensively and has more power in his bat.  The desicion may come down to whether Buck Showalter considers Fox’s bat and versatility more valuable than Tatum’s ability behind the plate.  It seems unlikely that the Orioles will keep both players to start the season.  Tatum will have to show tha the is more capable of throwing out runners than last year this spring and also prove that his ability with the young Orioles pitchers is too valuable for him to be left off the opening day roster. 

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The latest from Sarasota

By , on March 30th, 2010

It’s getting to be crunch time for the Orioles down in Sarasota. We’ve got news and opinions on Kevin Millwood, Koji Uehara, Jeremy Guthrie, the utility catching position and the Chris Tillman/David Hernandez shake up.

Unfortunately, Jeremy Guthrie struggled again last night in his start against the New York Yankees. His control was shaky, he plunked Mark Teixeira in the elbow, he walked four and allowed four earned runs. The long ball hurt Guthrie last season and it doesn’t appear to be getting much better going into 2010.

Brad Bergesen also had a difficult start today against the Detroit Tigers. He gave up four in the first inning, two of which were put on by walks. “I caught myself a couple of times working too fast,” Bergy told Roch Kubatko.

The only thing more shocking than the Ricky Martin news last night was the news that Baltimore planned to go with Kevin Millwood for their Opening Day starter on the road against Tampa Bay. A move that was much expected, but it’s official now. I expected this move and wasn’t at all alarmed with the delay in the official announcement. Dave Trembley doesn’t post line ups any earlier than he has to, so why share his Opening Day starter earlier than he has to?

Some bad news for Koji Uehara and the Orioles, though also not too shocking. The club announced last night that Koji will begin the season on the disabled list. (Sigh) When will we see the real Koji?

Baltimore also opted to give their utility catching job to Craig Tatum over Chad Moeller. A move that had Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun a little concerned. “I think we’ll end up looking back on the decision as a mistake, but Dave Trembley and Andy MacPhail obviously think that Wieters is mature enough to take care of himself and Kevin Millwood can provide leadership for the young pitchers,” Schmuck said on his blog. “I think what Moeller brings to the table is worth more over the long run than the runner or two that Tatum will throw out this year playing once a week.” I wish I had an opinion on this, but honestly I’ll have to just watch it play out. I’m not too concerned about a guy who will play once or twice a week though.

And finally, as Expatriate reported, the Orioles have sent Chris Tillman to AAA Norfolk to begin the season, which means that David Hernandez has won the final spot in the rotation. Hernandez is 1-1 with a 3.0 ERA this spring and out pitched Tillman for the job. There’s some concern because Tillman is viewed as a highly touted prospect, but I like that the Orioles decided to go with the guy that won the job and not the bigger name. This means that Hernandez will work harder to keep that spot and you can guarantee that Tillman will be lighting up AAA to try to get back up to the bigs.

It reminds me of Brad Bergesen in Spring Training last year. Alfredo Simon got the job over him, but when we went down, Bergy came up and pitched well.

Busy day for the O’s in Spring Training. What do you of the moves and the team has finally come together?

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