What can we make of Melvin Mora? Here's a guy who didn't get his first real taste of ML ball until he was 28 years old. Brady Anderson was a late bloomer, having his breakout year at age 28, but he had over a thousand ML AB by then. Melvin would appear to be headed for a marginal career when he hadn't even performed poorly in the majors until he was 27.

But still, the parallels are there, though with a later timeline. Anderson had put up some pretty sad numbers his first few years, but had a breakthrough year at age 28, and basically didn't look back, posting OWP from .514 to .731 over the next nine seasons before falling off the table at age 37. Mora had been a mediocre, though interesting, offensive presence his first two seasons in the majors, posting OWP around .450 both years, though with long stretches of effective play punctuated by long slumps ending both seasons.

In 2003, he started out in LF early on, replacing the injured Cordova/Surhoff platoon, and moved over the CF some when Gary Matthews slumped early, until Luis Matos arrived and started hitting. Mora ended up moving into the #3 slot after Jerry Hairston went down and Luis Matos moved into the #2 slot, and the fans held their collective breath and waited for Melvin to wilt under the pressure of being counted on. But he didn't. He demonstrated to Orioles fans that it was more difficult to go home to a house full of babies, and to have an entire family depending on you for financial support, than to deal with fastballs and catcalls.

He hit .294 in April. Then he hit .379 in May, and .355 in June! AND he was walking. AND he was playing good defense. AND he was hitting the ball hard, all the time. AND...he ended up at the All-Star Game.

But, there was a dark side to the season, one that still clouds his accomplishments going into next year. He took a pitch hard on the wrist in a game we were watching during Belfry Week, as we sat in horror and watched the pitch bounce off his wrist again and again on the big screen TV. Kerry mentioned then that it was probably broken. It wasn't, but Melvin was never really effective afterwards. He shut the wrist down a couple of times after a long initial stint on the DL that invoked whispers that Mora really didn't WANT to play any more, since he could protect the golden half-season he had already put up, but certainly could not maintain.

We're not going to know the real story for awhile. Not that Melvin was slacking...that story was patently absurd. But whether or not his .188 batting average in the second half was a reflection of his injury, or a reflection of his game returning to earth. Only time is going to tell.

We do know this much; it's not likely that Melvin will post numbers that kept him among the top ten offensive players in the AL for most of the first half. But he may put up numbers that will surprise a lot of people. He has managed sustained excellence for reasonably long periods of time in the past (unlike, say, Gary Matthews' fluke closing of 2002, which would have probably been exposed as what it was if he had not been injured, a la Mora), so it says here that a better-than-average performance may still be forthcoming from Melvin this year.

Some "late bloomers' like Bill Robinson, Brady, and Randy Milligan have shortened careers, because age takes more of a toll on their games (Though Brady lasting till 37 wasn't bad at all, his sudden loss of skills was certainly spectacular.) Still, I'll bet with Melvin Mora this season, rather than against him.

There is another facet to Mora's 2004 performance. He is probably going to be the Opening Day third baseman, after the departure of Tony Batista. How this may effect his offense remains to be seen. We expect him to be representative at third, if not really solid. Regardless, he will probably be an improvement over the statue-like Tony Batista.

We predict a solid season from Melvin in 2004, adding to the team's offense and defense, while providing some quiet class and intensity.

To Contribute to the Orioles Next Season, He Should:

(1) Stay Healthy. This has been a problem for Melvin. He's missed 40, 15, and 66 games in the last three years. He was hit by a lot of hard pitches last year, as pitchers bore in on him.

(2) Don't Take Defensive Concerns with Him to the Plate. The Orioles could be much better defensively next year, but Melvin at third is an unknown. He needs to relax and not take footwork, arm slot, and positioning issues with him to the plate.

NOTES: Melvin posted a .413 OBP leading off innings, which he did 64 times...He hit .337 in the #2 hole, .283 hitting third...he didn't let playing the infield affect his hitting this year; he hit .311 at shortstop.