Final Predictions for Baltimore Orioles' Key Spring Position Battles

Spring training is just over halfway through, and while the Baltimore Orioles are struggling in terms of their overall Grapefruit League record, many individual players have done well during the exhibition season.

Every team in MLB enters spring training with competition for roster spots between multiple players. And while the Orioles have the majority of their spots set, there are still a few things that need to be sorted out before Opening Day rolls around on April 6.

The players vying for these spots have done a great job of making things interesting, and manager Buck Showalter (pictured) will have a tough job trying to decide who deserves to crack the 25-man roster to start the season.

Let's take a look at the open spots on the roster, and I'll take a stab at predicting who will be heading to Tampa Bay when the regular season begins.

Backup Catcher

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After the O's All-Star catcher went down last season due to an injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery, they called up longtime farmhand Caleb Joseph and traded for Nick Hundley to fill the void.

Hundley has since moved on, signing with the Colorado Rockies, and the O's have brought in a couple of other catching options—J.P. Arencibia and Ryan Lavarnway—to make camp more competitive.

With those two, Steve Clevenger and Joseph all competing for the backup catcher position on the roster, Showalter will have plenty to consider when making his decision.

However, Joseph will be given the roster spot due to his superior defense. Showalter loved the catcher's defensive ability last season, as he remained on the team despite his poor .207 batting average.

The funny thing is, Joseph wasn't known for his defensive ability in the minor leagues and was at one point a touted prospect due to his bat, which produced a career .268 average and .327 OBP in seven minor league seasons.

Joseph has tallied four hits in 10 at-bats this spring, and while that's an extremely small sample size, it's possible he's becoming more comfortable with big league-caliber pitching after the jitters of his first season in the bigs have passed.

When it comes to backup catchers, defense is more important than offense. Joseph is the best defensive catcher of the group the O's possess. Therefore, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be given the backup catcher job.

Fifth Starter

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The Orioles have six starters for five rotation spots.

The team has Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Miguel Gonzalez, Kevin Gausman and Ubaldo Jimenez (pictured) all competing to be in the Opening Day starting rotation.

Tillman, Chen and probably Norris are guaranteed starting slots, realistically breaking the competition down to three starters for two spots.

Gausman is a young pitcher with a bright future, so the O's will likely want to give him a spot to make sure he develops as opposed to putting him in the minors and bringing him up when he's needed. And all Gonzalez has done since his rookie season in MLB in 2012 is post a career 3.45 ERA in 75 games (69 starts).

That leaves Jimenez, who after signing a four-year, $50 million contract with the O's last offseason proceeded to go 6-9 with a 4.81 ERA and 77 walks in 125.1 innings pitched.

In four spring starts, Jimenez has posted an ERA of 8.74. He's pitched 11.1 innings, allowing 14 hits, 12 runs (11 earned) and six walks, and he's also hit three batters and thrown three wild pitches. He did have a better start this past Wednesday, though, when he went four innings, allowing two runs and striking out four while walking just one batter.

Logic says the best Orioles rotation is the one that excludes Jimenez. However, the pitcher's contract value says he belongs in the rotation.

When it comes down to it, Showalter will go with his best available starting rotation, and that means Jimenez will start the season in the bullpen with Gonzalez and Gausman rounding out the back end of the starting rotation.

Utility Infielder

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The Orioles don't exactly have a need for a new utility infielder, but a little competition never hurt.

After selecting him in the Rule 5 draft prior to the 2012 season, Ryan Flaherty has been the team's utility infielder for the last three seasons. He's become one of the best defensive infielders in the league, something Showalter loves about him.

The team signed switch-hitting shortstop Everth Cabrera (pictured) in February with the idea of having him become more of a utility player and creating competition and depth in the organization. And though he's a player with high upside (44 stolen bases in 2012, 37 stolen bases and .283 BA, .355 OBP in 2013), he's had something of a lackluster spring when it comes to defense and baserunning.

Other options the O's have to break camp as the team's utility guy include Jayson Nix (.120 BA in 41 games, 91 plate appearances in 2014, .273 BA this spring) and Paul Janish (hasn't yet played this spring due to a surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow).

Realistically, the competition to unseat Flaherty as the team's utility man is pretty weak. The Flare-Dog just possesses defensive ability that is hard for most major-leaguers to match. And because Showalter values strong defense as much as he does, he'll want to go with the man he's most comfortable playing at any infield position.

The only way Flaherty loses his spot on the 25-man roster is if he has health issues after being hit on his helmet by a pitch during Tuesday's game, though it appears that he'll be all right.

Outfielders

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I'm not exactly sure how to classify this, whether it's a competition for a starting job or a backup job, but this is essentially the state of the O's outfield: The only sure thing is that Adam Jones will be playing center field all season, barring injury. That leaves two spots that need to be filled on a day-to-day basis, and the team has plenty of options to go with.

Alejandro De Aza (lefty-hitting) and Steve Pearce (righty-hitting) appear to be the most likely options to play left field and right field, respectively, as close to full time as the team will get.

However, what's even more likely is that the team will go with a bit of a platoon, as it also has David Lough (lefty) on the roster and traded for Travis Snider (pictured, lefty) over the winter, a move that was easily its biggest of the offseason.

On top of that, Chris Davis (lefty) and Delmon Young (righty) can play the outfield if needed, and the team has prospect Dariel Alvarez (righty) stating his case this spring (.333 BA in 17 PA, two homers, six RBI), though it's unlikely he breaks camp with the team considering how many other options the O's currently have at the big league level.

As I said, Showalter will likely be mixing and matching throughout the season depending on which hitters are on hot streaks, the opposing pitcher, etc. Therefore, it's hard to determine who will break camp in what roles, especially when you consider that Davis has to sit out the first game of the season to finish the 25-game suspension he was handed last season.

Because of that, Pearce appears to be the team's Opening Day first baseman, further complicating how the roster will look when the season starts.

With that said, it's next to impossible to try and predict who the O's outfielders will be come April 6. If I had to guess, I'd imagine the team would have De Aza in left, Snider in right, Pearce at first and Young as a designated hitter with Lough on the bench as the backup outfielder.