How did the Orioles' swing decision emphasis play out with some notable big leaguers?
Anthony Santander, Austin Hays, and Ryan Mountcastle seemed to have plenty to gain from the Orioles' new batting philosophies. The extent they actually benefited varied.
Swing decisions.
Since the phrase came onto the scene with the installation of a new set of minor league hitting coaches for the Orioles ahead of the washed-out 2020 season, it’s been the singular message delivered to their hitters as they climb to the majors.
The idea is if you focus your swings on pitches you can do the most damage on and let go even the fringe strikes that are difficult to drive in the air, the tradeoff will be worth it and productivity will increase.
All it took was the promotion of Adley Rutschman — who already boasted an elite batting eye before he embraced their training and methodology—to see what that looked like at the big league level. But on the farm, it became clear over the course of the season that there are some pupils more willing than others to embrace it, or equipped to embrace it, than others. And that seemed to be true at the major league level as well, where there’s a full season’s worth of information on what it looked like before and after Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte became hitting coaches for this season to help install that at the highest level.
There, as in the minors, some cases went better than others.