Jonathan Schoop on homering off a 58 mph pitch

With Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop, we might be seeing the continuation of a player maturing and getting better before our eyes.

He did something pretty impressive last night, hitting a nearly 400-foot homer off a pitch that was recorded at just 58.4 mph. You won't see a batter hit off one much slower this year. Not only did he have to generate the power on the pitch, but he was off balance when he did it.

Boston knuckleballer Steven Wright, trying not to repeat his earlier start, in which he allowed four homers and eight runs to the Orioles in Boston, was throwing his knuckleball even slower than usual Saturday night, He made an adjustment and the Orioles hitters had to adjust to him. They did.

Schoop followed Trey Mancini's two-run shot in the fourth inning with a solo blast on an 0-2 pitch. It was so slow that Schoop was out on his front foot and basically had to start his swing twice. He still got plenty of that pitch for his fourth homer.

"I think in BP (batting practice) you see a pitch 50-something (mph). It was really slow. It caught me off balance, but thank goodness I could put the barrel on it and the ball went out. I stopped and then I lifted a little (my foot) again a bit. Thank God I have a little bit of power in me, so the ball went out."

Click here to take a look at Schoop's home run.

After giving up eight runs to the Orioles in just 1 1/3 innings on April 12, Wright took something off an already slow pitch to try to beat the Orioles this time.

"He was throwing slower this time, and this time he changed it up a little bit. It was a lot slower than before," Schoop said. I think it was natural ability (that allowed us to adjust). You know he will throw a knuckleball and you hope you catch it. It will dance. But we squared some up and we won."

That they did, hitting two more homers off Wright. In two 2017 starts versus the Orioles, Wright has allowed 17 hits and 12 runs with six homers over just five innings.

Meanwhile, Schoop's bat is hot after a start in which he was batting .105 after six games. In his past 10 games, Schoop is batting .389 (14-for-36) with four homers, seven runs and nine RBIs.

As he continues to learn and improve, Schoop said he can better handle going through rough stretches like he did to start this year.

"I've got like two years (of experience) now. I've got some experience now. I remember, in my first year, if I would go 0-for-4, I would go home and think about it. What I did wrong. I learned you have to flush it and come back tomorrow. Don't think about yesterday. I learned from that. There will be days like that. J.J. (Hardy) told me, 'Hey, buddy, I've got 11 years in already and there will be days like that. Just flush it out and be better tomorrow.'"