With one major offensive acquisition, outfielder Taylor Ward, and still more than two months until spring training, it’s too early to contemplate 2026 batting orders, but that won’t stop us.
Ward, who was acquired by the Orioles last week from the Los Angeles Angels for starter Grayson Rodriguez, has batted first and fourth more often than anywhere else in the order. This past season, the 31-year-old hit 36 home runs and produced 103 RBIs.
After he became interim manager on May 17th, Tony Mansolino declared that Jackson Holliday would be the Orioles’ leadoff hitter for the next five years.
It’s now Craig Albernaz’s decision on where to bat Holliday, Ward and everyone else.
Holliday wasn’t a roaring success as a leadoff hitter, with a .236 average with a .677 OPS. He struck out 110 times in 113 games but did walk 47 times for a .311 on-base percentage.
That was slightly higher than the Orioles’ cumulative .305 OBP but not enough to assume he’ll be the Orioles’ leadoff hitter in 2026. One of the good things about Albernaz’s hiring is that he’s coming from the outside and providing a fresh look after the Orioles lost 87 games this past season.
Former manager Brandon Hyde wanted Holliday to bunt and steal more in 2025. The 21-year-old attempted only one bunt base hit and wasn’t successful. He was aggressive on the bases but was 17-for-28 in stolen-base attempts. That 61 percent success rate is 17 points lower than the league average.
Albernaz’s previous team, the Cleveland Guardians, stole only seven more bases than the Orioles did (128/121), but they did bunt more often. The Guardians’ 28 sacrifices were fifth most in the major leagues. Baltimore had just four sacrifice bunts, fewest in the majors.
It will be interesting to see how much spring training work the Orioles do on bunting and how often Albernaz will encourage his faster players to use the bunt as a weapon.
Ward’s a pure power hitter with little speed. He stole four bases in five attempts last year and doesn’t bunt. His two sacrifices came in 2021.
In his career, Ward has batted first and fourth most often. In 183 games batting fourth, Ward’s hitting .256 with an .821 OPS, 36 home runs and 125 RBIs. His leadoff stats are remarkably similar, .259 with a .783 OPS, 32 homers and 81 RBIs in 174 games
When batting third, Ward hit .228 with a .746 OPS, 24 home runs, 70 RBIs in 141 games.
Last season, he hit cleanup in 99 games, hitting .224 with 18 homers, 70 RBIs and a .767 OPS but was most productive bating third, with a .248 average, .913 OPS, nine homers and 18 RBIs in 30 games.
If Albernaz wants Holliday to continue to bat leadoff, he might want Gunnar Henderson to bat third to alternate his left-handed hitters. Historically, Henderson has hit better leading off (.276 average, .880 OPS, 42 home runs, 103 RBIs in 173 games) than third (.275, .796 OPS, 19 homers, 79 RBIs).
Last season, the Orioles had only two spots — Holliday batting leadoff and Henderson third — where a player appeared in even a third of the games.
Albernaz will have to decide where to bat Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman. Westburg and Rutschman both played in barely half the games in 2025 because of injuries. They were also the batters who hit second in the order most often (Westburg 51 games, Rutschman 45).
Decisions on the batting order come late in spring training, and Albernaz will want as many looks at his new hitters as possible.
With Samuel Basallo, Beavers, Colton Cowser, Henderson and Holliday left-handed hitters and Adley Rutschman a switch-hitter, Albernaz should be able to spread his left-handed hitters throughout the lineup.
Perhaps Albernaz will discuss some of what he’s thinking at the Winter Meetings in early December.
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