Nick Markakis spent the first week of his offseason on a bear-hunting trip in New Brunswick, Canada, miles removed from any lingering debate about his play during the 2010 season.
In an uneven six months, Markakis joined Hall of Fame company, yet established career lows in homers, RBIs and slugging percentage. The Orioles' normally mild-mannered outfielder earned his first career ejection, publicly called out his teammates about their offensive approach and aired his concerns in a meeting with team owner Peter Angelos.
If it was not the most difficult season of Markakis' young career, it was certainly the most scrutinized as his declining power numbers made him the target of mounting criticism from Orioles fans for the first time.
"If you are trying to find something wrong with Markakis, I mean, wow," Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said. "If you are trying to find problems with him, there are way more things that you should be worried about. He's the most consistent player that we have. He's the face of the franchise, our franchise player."
That designation — along with the six-year, $66.1 million deal Markakis signed before the 2009 season — brings certain expectations. The 26-year-old met some of them, batting .297 with a .370 on-base percentage, smacking 45 doubles to join Hall of Famers Joe Medwick and Tris Speaker as the only players in history to post four consecutive seasons of 43 doubles or more, hitting .361 against left-handed pitching and playing a Gold Glove-caliber right field.
But he hit just 12 home runs, four fewer than he had in his rookie season in 2006 and a total that ranked him 25th among American League outfielders. He also drove in just 60 runs, fewer than unheralded AL outfielders such as Ryan Raburn, David Murphy and Franklin Gutierrez.
"I think the doubles and the batting average speak for themselves. He's had a good year for us," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said. "The power numbers haven't been what they have been in the past, but there is a lot more to it than just hitting home runs. We're delighted to have him. We're delighted to have him locked up for several more years. I'm not worried about him. It's just that simple. He's the least of our concerns."
Markakis would concede only that his fifth big league season was an up-and-down one. He was satisfied that he increased his walk total (73) and on-base percentage after big drop-offs in those categories in 2009. He was happy to flirt with a .300 batting average until the final day of the season. He was also pleased that he never changed his approach even as many baseball pundits questioned why he was content to rack up opposite-field singles and doubles rather than trying to yank more pitches into the right-field seats.
However, he also acknowledged that the absence of leadoff hitter Brian Roberts for much of the season, along with the struggles of the lineup, forced him to press at times and ultimately took him out of his comfort zone.
"It's just been a tough year, not only for me, but as an organization," Markakis said. "The first half was probably the toughest thing I've ever experienced in the big leagues. But at the end of the season, my batting average was there, I got my doubles like I usually do and I got on base as much as I could. You look at RBIs and homers, there's always an answer and a solution to that. It was just one of those years. You have to take what they offer you, and you look forward to making those adjustments and coming back strong next year."
Markakis made no excuses for his disappointing home run and RBI totals, though there have been plenty of people to weigh in with explanations, most concerning the absence of a proven leadoff hitter, such as Roberts, ahead of him and a legitimate slugger behind him.
With Roberts out of the lineup for nearly 3 1/2 months and the Orioles unable to find a suitable replacement in the leadoff spot, Markakis had 31 fewer at-bats with runners in scoring position than he had in 2009. That — and the fact that he had only nine extra-base hits in 139 at-bats with runners in scoring position — contributed to his RBI total being what it was despite his having a .338 average in such situations.
"In his entire five-year career, he had never played without his leadoff hitter, and [Roberts] makes a big difference," Jones said. "When I was hitting up there in that lineup, I wasn't getting on base for him. He was getting his hits, but there was nobody on base so he was just getting singles and doubles. There was nobody to drive in. Even if he hit 40 home runs, he wasn't going to have all that many RBIs."
Asked specifically about his home run total and why an inordinate number of his hits went to the opposite field, Markakis said he was fed a steady diet of outside pitches, forcing him to settle for singles or walks. He said he saw very few fastballs on the inner half of the plate, his favorite pitch to drive.
"If you're going to get pitched away, away, away, there are only a handful of guys who can go up there on a consistent basis and hit home runs out of the park," Markakis said. "I think that's the biggest thing people miss. Power numbers are down, but you have to look at how a certain hitter has been pitched all year. You just have to take what they're giving you. At times, guys are going to come in to keep you honest, but for the most part, they're going to pitch you away and they are going to hold you to no worse than a single. Obviously, I haven't seen as many pitches inside as I'd like, but that's baseball, and as a hitter, you got to make adjustments."
Still, several Orioles, including veteran hitting coach Terry Crowley, acknowledged there are times when they would like Markakis to be more aggressive, specifically in hitter's counts. Jones joked that players regularly encourage Markakis to "fall down swinging so hard," but the outfielder never sways from his approach.
Few doubt, however, that he has the power and strength to be a legitimate 25-to-30-home run player. Ty Wigginton, who finished second on the club with 22 homers, pointed out that no Oriole hits more home runs in batting practice than Markakis. Wigginton believes that Markakis will learn to sit on certain pitches he can drive but, ultimately, he is still growing as a hitter. That's a sentiment with which Crowley agrees.
"He's a confident hitter and he's got good makeup and good habits and he never wonders too far from his mechanics," Crowley said. "Sometimes, I think, he is a little too patient. But it's proven to be good for him. He's still young. … I still think Nick is one of the top 10 hitters in the American League, and he does it against the toughest pitching in baseball, which is in the East. If we get ourselves in a situation next year where we have a more balanced lineup and we have some thump surrounding him, all his numbers that he did in the first couple of years will come out again."
Markakis, who acknowledged his approach would probably change if the Orioles added a legitimate slugger, said he has no doubt that he could regularly hit 20 or more homers, but he vowed to do what the team needs, fearing that if he became too home run conscious, then his batting average and on-base percentage would drop significantly.
"A perfect example is Ichiro [Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners]," Markakis said. "You watch that guy take [batting practice] and he hits just as many balls out as anybody else, but he knows what type of player he is, he knows what best benefits the team. His game is to hit .300 every year, get on base, getting 200 hits. If he wanted to hit 20, 25 home runs, I know he can.
"It all depends on the situation of your team at the time. If you need to get on base and try to make things happen, that's what you are going to do. If I wanted to go up there and just sit on fastballs inside and give up on the outside corner, sure, anybody can do that and they're going to run into 20, 25 home runs. But you have to look at the overall big picture."
New manager Buck Showalter has, and he believes people are largely missing the point in debating Markakis' low homer and RBI totals.
"The greatest accolade I could say about the guy is he's a baseball player," Showalter said. "He equates whether or not he's had a good day at the park to whether or not the Orioles win. Very seldom do we play nine innings where he hasn't impacted our team. You can count on him, you trust him. He cares. He's driven. It's not about statistics with him. You're not always going to get the full appreciation of what he does by looking at the stat sheet. He's a part of our solutions."
jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com
Markakis by the numbers
Some baseball pundits and fans have questioned the progress Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis has made since he burst onto the scene with a solid rookie season in 2006. Here is a look at his career numbers:
YearG Avg.2B HR RBIBBs Ks SBs On-baseSlugging
2006 147 .291 25 16 62 43 72 2 .351 .448
2007 161 .300 43 23 112 61 112 18 .362 .485
2008 157 .306 48 20 87 99 113 10 .406 .491
2009 161 .293 45 18 101 56 98 6 .347 .453
2010 160 .297 45 12 60 73 93 7 .370 .436
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