The Orioles still have plenty of slugger lottery tickets in camp. What are they doing to help these players improve?
For a hitting program looking to make its mark in the majors, unlocking the power potential in their group of camp sluggers would be a coup for them and the organization.
The Orioles’ backup first base competition, for those who even want to call it that, was never meant to be.
One by one, be it in free agency or on the waiver wire, players whose batted ball data and hitting characteristics seemed like a match for what they like and, more importantly, what they can improve on, came onto their radar this offseason. Come the start of spring training, a half-dozen of them ended up in camp, all coming into a still-nascent major league hitting program that the Orioles believe can improve those players and provide cheap, controllable power down the line.
In Ryan O’Hearn, Franchy Cordero, Lewin Diaz, Nomar Mazara, Josh Lester, and Curtis Terry, the Orioles have a half-dozen cracks at trying to unlock the clear-as-day power potential each hitter possesses, though the way to achieve those advances for each is unique.
Last week in Sarasota, co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller outlined the work each is doing to potentially be the kind of reclamation project that can show the world what their program can be — Justin Turner is a high bar, but smart teams with the right approach can unearth a Max Muncy or Luke Voit with the right plan and the right player. Their hope is they have that player in camp right now.
“When guys come here, we want to maximize their capabilities, we want to make sure they’re training at an elite level and feel absolutely prepared,” Fuller told me. “It’s been cool already to have James McCann, a really established big leaguer, and All-Star, a little bit more of a veteran to come in and say, ‘Man, I feel extremely prepared. This has been great work.’ The humility we have as a hitting department, where we aren’t telling you what to do, we’re just presenting you with options and from there you get to pick and choose, we see what works and we just continue building off it. To have Ryan O’Hearn, Franchy Cordero, Lewin Diaz come in and excel this year, that would be really nice for us to be able to attract other guys coming in.”
Here’s what he had to say about each player’s work this camp, and where the Orioles feel they can strengthen their game at the plate to get to their power more often.