Inside how the Orioles are helping new pitching prospects Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott acclimate to the organization

Getting traded midseason can be a challenge. The Orioles' new pitching prospects are managing by slowly getting acclimated to their new organization and honing what they already do well.

Before they could get to the work schedules and the attack plans and the pitch design, the new Orioles pitching prospects acquired this month and assigned to Aberdeen had to hear a comforting truth.

Manager Roberto Mercado and pitching coach Forrest Herrmann met with each of left-hander Cade Povich and right-hander Chayce McDermott to let them know the Orioles “brought you here for a reason,” Herrmann said

“Here’s what we think you do really well. You shouldn’t be surprised you’re where you are.”

Then came the fun part.

“We went through that process early on with them, listening but also trying to educate them on what we value, how do we help them further, and day-to-day, just really learning their routine and continue working on what they’ve already been working on, and make sure that’s a good goal-line,” Herrmann said.

The Orioles acquired six pitchers in their trades with the Houston Astros for Trey Mancini and Minnesota Twins for Jorge Lopez. The process of bedding them into the organization and acclimating them has fallen on coaches at every level of the organization. Both Povich and McDermott started at Aberdeen, and Hermann outlined the “two-way street” of learning on both sides that has led each to refine their understanding of what they do best and one to even add a new pitch.

“We were able to hit the ground running,” Herrmann said.