How a group of Orioles prospects leveraged their bond to excel on the field this summer
Orioles prospects Darell Hernaiz, TT Bowens, Hudson Haskin, and Jordan Westburg have grown particularly close, and believe their productive seasons stem from how they support each other.
An entire generation of Orioles prospects experienced the longest baseball season of their lives this summer, making the idea of consistent success over six months all the more challenging. Across all four full-season levels, one group of Orioles prospects achieved just that thanks to a meaningful boost from each other.
Over the last two years, Orioles prospects Darell Hernaiz, TT Bowens, Hudson Haskin, and Jordan Westburg have grown particularly close, and their near-daily postgame calls are credited within the group for helping shorten the down spells, pick each other up, and encourage them to keep up the good times at the plate.
“It definitely helps because we’re all going through it, and not just us – everybody in baseball goes through ups and downs,” Hernaiz told me earlier this month in Bowie. “So, it’s about knowing you’re not the only one. When you’re going through a bad stretch, it feels like it’s [really] bad. Just knowing you’re not the only one, and being able to call your friends – some things that they’ve been through will help you, and some things that you went through will help them. It’s awesome to have.”
Though they only overlapped slightly this year, the group represents a strong subset of Orioles offensive performers in the minors this year. Hernaiz began 2022 back at Low-A Delmarva, and thanks to committing to enjoying the game and embracing his talent without being so hard on himself at Bowens and Haskin’s urging jumped two levels to end in Double-A Bowie. He had an .853 OPS in Delmarva, and an .832 OPS in Aberdeen, joining Bowens at the latter stop.
With the Ironbirds, Bowens was awarded the team’s MVP award for a consistent season in which he had a 117 wRC+ with a .768 OPS and seven home runs in 434 plate appearances. A level above, Haskin had an .821 OPS with a 126 wRC+ and 15 home runs in 466 plate appearances at Bowie. And Westburg, who began there with him, was promoted quickly with an .817 OPS in two months at Bowie before elevating his game at Norfolk. Entering Sunday, he had 17 home runs there with an .884 OPS.
To hear them explain why is to hear about a group that has bonded over the last two years and, in many cases, helped remove the daily stressors and doubts from each other and allowed natural talent to shine through.
Haskin said that he and Westburg, both 2020 draftees, got to know Hernaiz that fall at the team’s instructional camp. Bowens, an undrafted free agent that year, was set up next to Hernaiz in the spring training clubhouse the following year, helping to bring him into the fold. They continued to form their friendships at Delmarva to begin 2021, and solidified it in instructional camp last fall.
“We would hang out every day,” Bowens said. “Instructs, we’d work out, we’d hit, we’d get all of our work done and after we’d go to dinner, go to the beach, do kind of everything – just a tight-knit group. We all just have similar personalities, I’d say, and we mesh together well.”
They’re all outwardly quiet, but each laughs at the idea that anyone is able to remain reserved in the group setting. Bowens said if the group chat had a name, it would be something making fun of Haskin.
Haskin said: “We like to give each other a hard time, and a lot of that comes down on me.”
The reasons are manifold, his buddies say.
“The dinner is usually us making fun of Huddy, and him just taking it and trying to come back,” Hernaiz said. “Let’s just say he doesn’t handle some foods well sometimes. Not a spicy guy, that’s all I’ll say. … I would say him and TT [are the chattiest]. Me and Westburg are more there for the ride, and we’ll throw little comments in there, but it’s pretty much TT and Huddy going back on each other.”
Bowens said: “Hudson loves to dance to Latin music – he tries his best to learn from the Latin guys. He’s a little slow-learning with the rhythm of it, but he’s making progress, to say the least.”
Haskin’s story is the same as the rest of them. Quiet at first, but once they’re together, the walls breaks away.
“Once you get him out of his shell, we always tell him he should be a comedian,” Bowens said. “He tries to say people won’t laugh at him because they don’t know him.”
The dynamic isn’t always jest though. It seems there’s rarely a day when they aren’t hitting each other up to either seek guidance or provide support after a tough day at the plate. And in their second professional seasons, the simple understanding that those days will happen is part of the whole deal.
“I think it helps having a support system, especially in this environment where things don’t go your way a lot of the time,” Bowens said. “You’re failing a lot more than you’re succeeding in this game, so it’s always good to bounce ideas, bounce thoughts, bounce anything off each other. Now it’s to the point we’re so close we can bounce anything off each other.”
He spent most of this season with Hernaiz, so those conversations happened in the clubhouse or on the road while he was with Aberdeen. He estimates he called Haskin to talk through whatever on-field issues they might be dealing with four times a week.
Both Hernaiz and Haskin, who were younger and in their first full season last year, had to learn not to ride the proverbial wave of pro ball and get down on themselves. They see in each other a steadier, more confident player this year, one that doesn’t let a bad night turn into a bad week simply because they’re trying to enjoy the game more and constantly reminded by each other that they have the talent to succeed.
The in-person experience of watching the steady, consistent Westburg work helped that as well.
“I think I’ve definitely grown a lot as a player over the last year,” Haskin said. “I owe a lot of that to just having at-bats under my belt, and being around some very good players, and seeing what they do well and how I can incorporate those things into my game. Jordan is a great example of someone that I look towards, just on how to be a professional, how to show up every day and compete, and I’ve learned things from TT and Darell as well that have helped me become a better player.”
Their dynamic could be different next year. This summer, the group in Bowie and Aberdeen would meet in Baltimore on the off-days to catch up on every Monday they could. Bowens will likely be joining Hernaiz in Bowie, where the latter will be back firmly on the prospect radar and looking to learn from a tough end to the season there. Haskin will be in Norfolk with Westburg, one step from the majors.
But before that, there will likely be offseason hitting camps in Sarasota, some downtime, and months of encouragement to help everyone reach their ultimate big league goals. Maybe a little ribbing, too.
“I think one of my favorite parts about baseball is the opportunity to build relationships with people,” Haskin said. “Those three guys, I’m going to be close with for the rest of my life.”
Really neat to read about their great comraderie. Nicely written, Jon.