70 greatest Orioles vote: Who were the best Orioles from 2014 to 2023?
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Baltimore Orioles franchise, the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum is creating an exhibit on the 70 greatest players, managers or coaches in Orioles history. Baltimore Sun readers can help the museum choose who to feature through a series of online votes. Scroll down to vote for your favorite Orioles from 2014 to 2023. This is the final poll; it closes 11:59 p.m. Feb. 27.
Meet the 2014-2023 nominees
Nominees were chosen by the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum in consultation with Sun staff. Each nominee was limited to appearing in one poll. The museum sought to place a nominee in the poll for the decade of his greatest impact on the Orioles.
Félix Bautista
The electric start to closer Félix Bautista’s career has been paused after an elbow injury sidelined the 2023 All-Star and later prompted him to have Tommy John elbow reconstruction that’s expected to keep him out for all of 2024. Debuting with the Orioles in April 2022, the 6-foot-8 right-hander was the 2023 American League Reliever of the Year. Overall, he has a 1.85 ERA over 126 2/3 innings with 48 saves, 0.924 walks and hits per inning pitched and 14.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
Brad Brach
Right-handed reliever Brad Brach pitched for the Orioles from 2014 to 2018 and was an All-Star in 2016. Over 327 2/3 innings with Baltimore, he had a 2.99 ERA, 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings and 32 saves.
Kyle Bradish
Kyle Bradish was the Orioles’ best starting pitcher during their 101-win 2023 season, finishing fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting. Pitching 168 2/3 innings across 30 starts, the right-hander went 12-7 with a 2.83 ERA, the fourth lowest in the majors. Boasting strong command of five pitches — fastball, sinker, changeup, curveball and slider — Bradish debuted a year earlier and posted a 4.90 ERA over 117 2/3 innings.
Yennier Cano
Coming to the Orioles in August 2022 via the trade that sent then-closer Jorge López to the Minnesota Twins, right-handed reliever Yennier Cano broke out in 2023, making the All-Star team while pitching to a 2.11 ERA with 65 strikeouts over 72 2/3 innings. Spending most of the season setting up fellow All-Star Félix Bautista, Cano filled the closer role after Bautista got hurt down the stretch, accumulating eight saves.
Nelson Cruz
For himself and the Orioles, Nelson Cruz made the most of his one season with Baltimore, helping lead the team to the 2014 AL Championship Series while parlaying his All-Star year into the large, long-term contract he coveted. An outfielder and designated hitter, Cruz led the league with 40 home runs and drove in 108 runs. In the postseason, the right-handed batter homered twice in and ALDS against the Detroit Tigers.
Chris Davis
For a few seasons, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis was one of the more imposing hitters in the American League. With the Orioles from 2011 to 2020, the left-handed batter led the majors in home runs (53), RBIs (138) and total bases (370) in his 2013 All-Star season and again out-homered everyone with 47 long balls in 2015. An offensive decline followed, however, and, according to advanced metrics, for his last four seasons, the recipient of the richest contract in Orioles’ history cost his team wins.
Austin Hays
The longest-tenured homegrown Oriole, 2023 All-Star Austin Hays debuted in September 2017. Spending all of 2018 injured or in the minors, Hays became an everyday outfielder for Baltimore in 2021. Despite slumping in the second half of 2023, Hayes finished last season with a .275 batting average, 36 doubles and 16 home runs while providing above-average defense in Camden Yards’ cavernous left field.
Gunnar Henderson
A second-round draft pick of the Orioles in 2019, infielder Gunnar Henderson skyrocketed to the top of the organization’s prospect rankings in 2022, when he made his major league debut in late August at 21 years old. The next season, he lived up to his billing as all of baseball’s top prospect, posting a team-best .814 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, stealing 10 bases and playing plus defense at shortstop and third base en route to American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Oriole awards.
Brandon Hyde
Hopping on at the ground floor of the Orioles’ rebuild, manager Brandon Hyde led with consistency and confidence, even in the depths of 100-loss seasons, to emerge with his team last year at the top of the American League. Hired before the 2019 season in large part for his ability to develop young, inexperienced players, the 2023 AL Manager of the Year proved himself a deft dugout decision-maker as the Orioles became more competitive. He tactfully deployed his bench and bullpen en route to 101 victories last year — almost half of them decided by two or fewer runs — to become the only Orioles manager other than Earl Weaver to reach 100 wins in a season.
Manny Machado
A decade before Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, Manny Machado was the Orioles’ hyped prospect. Debuting with Baltimore at 20 years old in 2012 and traded away during the teardown of the club in 2018, the third baseman met those lofty expectations. During his Orioles tenure, Machado was on four All-Star teams and won two Gold Glove Awards. With Baltimore, Machado had 197 doubles, 162 home runs and 471 RBIs. His 11.1 defensive wins above replacement — a category he led the league in his first full season — are the eighth most in franchise history.
Trey Mancini
A fan favorite who was the Orioles’ longest-tenured player when he was dealt to the Houston Astros at the 2022 trade deadline, Trey Mancini batted .270 with a .334 on-base percentage, 137 doubles, 117 home runs and 350 RBIs in six seasons with Baltimore. Colon cancer caused the outfielder, first baseman and designated hitter to miss the entire 2020 season. Returning to hit 33 doubles and 21 home runs over 147 games in 2021, Mancini was named AL Comeback Player of the Year.
John Means
The Orioles’ ace for a time, starting pitcher John Means has a no-hitter, All-Star selection and two opening day starts to his name, but, because of injuries, has appeared in only six games over the past two seasons. Means had Tommy John elbow reconstruction in April 2022, and last season a back strain delayed his return. Beginning in 2019 with the Orioles after appearing in one game the season before, Means has pitched in 74 games overall with Baltimore, starting 69 of them. Across 380 1/3 innings, he has a 3.74 ERA, 1.06 walks and hits per inning pitched and 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
Andrew Miller
A 2014 trade deadline acquisition who appeared in 23 regular-season games and five postseason games for the Orioles that year, reliever Andrew Miller pitched every bit like the dominant left-hander the team sought for its pennant chase. Over 20 innings down the stretch, Miller had a 1.35 ERA and 34 strikeouts. In 7.1 innings across the ALDS and ALCS, he didn’t allow a run.
Ryan Mountcastle
First baseman and designated hitter Ryan Mountcastle has been with the Orioles since August 2020. Also a left fielder early in his Orioles tenure, Mountcastle has a .775 on-base-plus-slugging percentage across 1,805 plate appearances with Baltimore, averaging 29 home runs and 98 RBIs per 162 games.
Cedric Mullins
The best defender among the Orioles’ veteran starting outfielders, center fielder Cedric Mullins has been with Baltimore since August 2018. An All-Star Game starter and Most Valuable Oriole in 2021, Mullins has 105 doubles, 17 triples, 68 home runs and 93 stolen bases over 546 games.
Darren O’Day
A relief pitcher with the Orioles from 2012 to 2018, sidearm-throwing right-hander Darren O’Day was a key member of the Baltimore playoff teams of the era, though his best year was the Orioles’ .500 season of 2015, when he was an All-Star and finished with a 1.52 ERA in 65 1/3 innings. Overall, O’Day was 28-14 with a 2.40 ERA, 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings and 19 saves with the Orioles.
Ryan O’Hearn
Quietly acquired before the 2023 season and beginning the year at Triple-A, first baseman, outfielder and designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn had a career year last season, hitting 14 home runs and 22 doubles and driving in 60 runs in 368 plate appearances.
Cionel Pérez
Entering his third season with the Orioles, left-handed reliever Cionel Pérez has a 2.43 ERA and 99 strikeouts over 111 innings with Baltimore, winning 11 games, losing three and saving four.
Grayson Rodriguez
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was the Orioles’ top pitching prospect when he made his major league debut on April 5, 2023. Overall, the starting pitcher had a 4.35 ERA over 122 innings with 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings while allowing 16 home runs as a rookie. But, after a demotion to Triple-A in June, he is coming off a stellar second half. Over 13 starts for the Orioles from July to August, Rodriguez had a 2.58 ERA and allowed three homers.
Adley Rutschman
One of the most highly regarded catching prospects ever, Adley Rutschman has so far played up to the hype, both with his own performance and work with the Orioles’ pitching staff. His arrival on May 21, 2022, synchronized with the team’s turnaround. Since the switch-hitting Rutschman’s debut, the Orioles have the second-best record in the American League. Over his first two seasons, the 2022 Most Valuable Oriole and 2023 All-Star has an .808 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and 122 RBIs over 1,157 plate appearances.
Anthony Santander
With the Orioles since August 2017, switch-hitting right fielder Anthony Santander has played in 591 games for Baltimore, hitting 111 home runs, scoring 292 runs and driving in 333 runs in 2,450 plate appearances. He had his best season in 2023 when he drove in 95 runs and had a .797 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
Buck Showalter
Leading Baltimore to three playoff appearances starting with the 2012 team that ended a 14-year streak of futility, manager Buck Showalter was 669-684 in eight-plus seasons with the Orioles from 2010 to 2018. Regarded as one of the best managerial minds in the game, Showalter embraced Baltimore’s blue-collar mentality and the Orioles’ proud history. He was AL Manager of the Year in 2014 when the Orioles won the AL East.
Ramón Urías
An Oriole since Aug. 2020, infielder Ramón Urías has played his entire major league career with Baltimore, batting .264 and averaging 14 home runs and 27 doubles per 162 games. An elite defender, Urías is mostly a third baseman while also spending time at second base, and, earlier in his career, shortstop. In 2022, he won a Gold Glove Award at third base.
Tyler Wells
With the Orioles since 2021, right-handed starting pitcher Tyler Wells is 16-16 for Baltimore with a 3.96 ERA and 8.3 strikeouts per nine innings over 279 1/3 innings. Pitching exclusively as a reliever in 2021 and exclusively as a starter in 2022, Wells was one of the game’s best pitchers in the first half of 2023 before running out of gas and spending some time in the minors. He returned to make five relief appearances down the stretch, including Sept. 28 when his save against the Red Sox gave the Orioles their 100th win and clinched the AL East.
Delmon Young
Getting into 135 regular-season games for the Orioles across 2014 and 2015, outfielder and designated hitter Delmon Young authored one of the loudest hits in Camden Yards history. Putting the Orioles ahead 7-6, his three-run, bases-loaded double in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the 2014 ALDS against the Detroit Tigers changed the tenor of the contest — and potentially the series, which the Orioles went on to sweep. In his two regular seasons with Baltimore, Young batted .288 with 17 doubles and nine home runs.
