Five Baltimore Orioles stats that stand out this week

Each Wednesday, blogger Matt Vensel will highlight five statistics that really mean something for the Orioles.

zero -- runs allowed by Pedro Strop in six games for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

Orioles position players Adam Jones and Jonathan Schoop produced mixed results at the World Baseball Classic -- each had some big hits but put up underwhelming numbers overall -- but reliever Pedro Strop was of the most unhittable relievers in the tournament. Pitching for the Dominican Republic, which won the tournament Tuesday night, Strop went 3-0 and was credited with two holds in six appearances. He did not allow a run in 6 2/3 innings. He gave up just three hits, walked no one and struck out seven batters. The Orioles would certainly like to see him pitch like that in the later innings once the season begins in early April.

1.118 -- slugging percentage for Matt Wieters through Tuesday's Grapefruit League play.

The Orioles catcher entered Wednesday's game on a hot streak, having collected at least one hit in eight straight games. Against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, Wieters went 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs batted in. His five total bases in two at-bats brought his spring slugging percentage to 1.118, tops among Orioles regulars. Of course, he won't be able to sustain that once the games start to matter, but it's a good sign that Wieters, who had a career-high 23 homers last season, is rolling right now.

three -- stolen bases for Brian Roberts in four tries this spring.

There continues to be positive news coming out of Sarasota when it comes to Roberts. He hit the road Tuesday for a game for the first time this spring. And he has been given the green light to start stealing bases. He stole one base head-first against the Boston Red Sox last week and stole two more against the Red Sox on Tuesday. His three steals in four attempts are tied with Trayvon Robinson for the most among Orioles this spring. The Orioles don't steal bases often -- they were last in the major leagues with 58 in 2012 -- but maybe they will try it more if Roberts continues to stay healthy.

nine -- base runners allowed by Zach Britton in Wednesday's start.

Britton had been making a push for the team's fifth and final spot in the starting rotation, recording a 2.08 earned run average in his first four Grapefruit League appearances. But the lefty got rocked Wednesday by the Toronto Blue Jays. He gave up five runs on seven hits in just 1 2/3 innings. He walked two batters and allowed a home run to Emilio Bonifacio. Britton's ERA has ballooned to 5.42, perhaps putting him behind Jake Arrieta, Brian Matusz and Steve Johnson in the battle for the final spot in the rotation.

five -- position changes for Nate McLouth and Robinson on Tuesday.

For the first six innings of Tuesday's game against the Red Sox at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Orioles manager Buck Showalter shuffled the pair of outfielders between center field and left field. He had McLouth and Robinson switch places after each inning. Why? The ballpark has a replica of the Green Monster in left field and Showalter wanted to give each player a little bit of experience playing caroms off the high wall (no balls hit the wall, though). It's not a relevant stat, per se, but I thought it was a fun factoid.

Bloggers note: Have a nifty stat you want to share? E-mail me at matt.vensel@baltsun.com or contact me on Twitter at @mattvensel. If I end up using it, I'll be sure to give you a nice plug on the blog.