Overlooked Ryan Flaherty One of the Most Valuable Utility Men in Baseball

Upon a thorough search through individual statistics for every player who played an MLB game this season, it is uncovered that only five players saw at least 20 games worth of playing time at three or more positions, excluding the DH spot.

One was Pittsburgh breakout star Josh Harrison, who hit .315 and almost won the National League batting crown.

Another was the predictably consistent Ben Zobrist of Tampa Bay, who has put together a career of being one of the best utility men in the business.

The third was Mike Aviles, who played every position this season for the Indians, except catcher, first base and pitcher.

Alexi Amarista also accomplished the feat, getting at least 21 starts at four different positions, for the San Diego Padres.

And last, but certainly not least, Baltimore's own Ryan Flaherty.

Games Played By Position
	C	1B	2B	SS	3B	LF	CF	RF
Harrison	-	-	17	8	72	26	-	26
Zobrist	-	-	79	31	-	38	7	19
Aviles	-	-	33	15	36	27	3	2
Amarista	-	-	21	73	22	6	21	-
Flaherty	-	3	30	29	43	1	-	-

Flaherty doesn't get much love from, well...anyone, at least not outside his own clubhouse.

That tends to happen when one owns a career .221 batting average. Still, few players are more revered by their manager than Flaherty. Here are a few quotes from O's skipper Buck Showalter about Baltimore's super-utility man.

Each were told to MASN Sports' Roch Kubatko. Here's the first.

"

But Ryan was big today. I think everybody pulls for him. We all know how hard he works and how much it means to him to win, to contribute, in that order. It was good to see something come back to him.

"

And the second.

"

Ryan's been a contributor all year, sometimes by not even playing, the things that he allows us to do with some other players, that safety valve there. He's going to end up with close to 300 plate appearances and he played six positions for us at a level that doesn't make you hesitate playing him, and it's allowed us to keep a lot of our guys healthy this year, where he can spell them now and then, as you've seen.

"

I suppose the largest testament to Showalter's view on Flaherty is that he's remained on the Orioles' roster for all but a month since coming over to Baltimore via the Rule 5 draft in 2012.

Despite a tepid bat, despite the presence of several big-name prospects (Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop), and despite the front office's never-ending attempts to bring in veteran utility men (Omar Quintanilla, Kelly Johnson, Jimmy Paredes, Alexi Casilla, Danny Valencia and Yamaico Navarro) to replace him, Flaherty has survived.

And while his regular season stats may say different, Flaherty has had a huge impact on this team. Just check out his postseason numbers.

	GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Nelson Cruz	6	25	5	10	1	0	2	7	1	4	0	.400	.423	.680
Alejandro De Aza	5	21	4	7	3	0	0	3	1	1	0	.333	.391	.476
Delmon Young	3	5	0	2	1	0	0	4	0	2	0	.400	.400	.600
Caleb Joseph	2	6	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	.333	.286	.333
Ryan Flaherty	6	18	3	5	0	0	0	3	4	6	0	.278	.409	.278
Nick Markakis	6	27	4	7	1	0	1	3	1	2	1	.259	.286	.407
Adam Jones	6	25	6	5	1	0	1	3	1	7	1	.200	.259	.320
Jonathan Schoop	6	20	3	4	1	0	0	2	2	3	2	.200	.273	.250
J.J. Hardy	6	21	3	5	1	0	1	3	3	5	0	.238	.333	.429
Steve Pearce	6	23	4	4	1	0	0	1	2	3	0	.174	.269	.217
Nick Hundley	5	15	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	5	0	.067	.067	.067
Kelly Johnson	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
David Lough	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
Jimmy Paredes	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	1.000	.000

He's more than held his own against the likes of David Price, Justin Verlander and James Shields. He's posted better offensive numbers this postseason than Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, J.J. Hardy or Steven Pearce, all the while providing a stabilizing presence at third base.

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Postseason aside, Flaherty was tremendously valuable to the Orioles this year.

While the regular-season stat line listed above may not look entirely impressive, consider that he only had 281 at-bats to prove his worth. Spread out over 102 games, that equates to 2.8 at-bats per game, which is considerably lower than the AB/G marks of his fellow super-utility-mates. Aviles saw 3.0, Amarista 3.1, Harrison 3.9 and Zobrist 3.9. 

If Flaherty had been given the same 570 at-bats that Zobrist was afforded, chances are he would have had a season line more closely resembling this: 126-for-570, 30 doubles, 14 home runs, 65 RBI. Aside from the low batting average, that would have given him a better stat line than anyone except Harrison.

And don't kid yourself for one second if you think his average wouldn't have risen given regular playing time. It's hard to get on track when going at least three days without playing, as Flaherty did on nine separate occasions in 2014.

Still, would it surprise you to know that of the five super-utility men, Flaherty had the second-highest batting average (.293) with runners in scoring position? Or that he was the best first-strike hitter (.442)?

Much has been made, this year, of Flaherty's ability as a first-pitch hitter. The numbers, do in fact, bear out that he is tremendous when swinging on the first pitch.

This year, in 43 at-bats in which he swung at the first pitch, he hit an astounding .442 with six doubles, two homers and eight RBI. Not even slugging teammates Nelson Cruz (.362) or Adam Jones (.371) could match those numbers. In his other 238 at-bats, he hit a paltry .181.

In 100 career at-bats, he's a .330 hitter with a .550 slugging percentage when swinging on the first pitch.  

In the end, however, Flaherty isn't valuable to the Orioles because of his bat. It's his steady glove work that has kept him on the roster, while the Quintanillas and Navarros of the world have moved on. 

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Flaherty spent 258.2 innings at second base this year, 255.1 at third base, and 204.1 at shortstop. 

He committed a combined 10 errors at the three positions, giving him a .968 fielding percentage to go with a defensive WAR of 0.7, a number higher than that of Nick Markakis (-0.5). According to Baseball-Reference.com, he saved the Orioles four runs at third base and three at second base. 

So the big question on everyone's mind, especially now that the Orioles' season is over, is does Flaherty warrant a spot on the 2015 roster?

Keep in mind that the team has only eight players from their 40-man roster under contract for 2015: Nick Hundley, Dylan Bundy, Darren O'Day, Ryan Webb, Suk-Min Yoon, Ubaldo Jimenez, Adam Jones and J.J. Hardy.

The starting infield seems set with Manny Machado set to return at third, Hardy plugged in at shortstop and Jonathan Schoop manning second. At first base, there are even more questions. Do the O's look to re-sign Chris Davis? Do they part ways with Davis and re-sign Steve Pearce to man first? Either way, there are still likely two bench spots available to players with infield experience. 

For the money—Flaherty made just over $512,000 in 2014—it's hard to find a better option than the 28-year-old veteran.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com