Focus on Wieters as 2012 Season Begins

The Baltimore Orioles open their regular season at Camden Yards on Friday against the Twins. 

After his , including , the team is looking to Stratford grad and starting catcher Matt Wieters to provide some much-needed early momentum in 2012.

ESPN.com noted last week that Wieters is 69th in its top 500 MLB players. And they've got some science to back that up.

Against left-handed pitching, in which all but four of his plate appearances from the right side came, Wieters’ OPS ranked third among 226 players who had at least 100 appearances against lefties, with his slugging percentage ranking second. 

Of note is Wieters’ .459 difference in OPS against lefties and righties; that’s by far the largest by any hitter who accumulated at least 400 plate appearances last season. 

ESPN.com has much more on Wieters' strong showing at the plate.

During spring training, Wieters has hit at .289 overall, and his batting average is at .393 in the last 10 games.