Another round of this, that and the other

The shakeup of the major league coaching staff, particularly on the hitting side, isn’t leading to a massive change in philosophy, instruction and reliance on analytics and data.

It’s more about self-examination and perhaps some tweaking. Evolve rather than overhaul.

Cody Asche is the lead hitting coach after serving as offensive strategy coach for two seasons. Upper-level hitting coordinator Sherman Johnson also will serve as an assistant hitting coach, and the Orioles hired Tommy Joseph for the same role.

“I think we’ve always had an attraction to what is described as a modern coach,” said assistant general manager Sig Mejdal. “That’s someone who inspires the players, has their respect, but also doesn’t shy away from questioning convention, looking at data, looking at technology, and that describes Cody and Sherm very well.”

The Orioles have been swept in the playoffs in the last two seasons and managed only one run in 18 innings against the Royals in the Wild Card round. They went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, a continuation of their struggles over the second half.

Figuring out how to take the next step is a group effort.

“If I had the answer of how to win one-run playoff games or hit with runners in scoring position in a two-game or three-game sample, I would be the most valuable person in baseball. So I’m not sure,” Mejdal said.

“I do know that the disappointment we’ve experienced in the playoffs and especially 2024 has inspired us to revisit and take a fresh look at most everything we do. So that could be something positive coming from something so disappointing.”

Speaking yesterday at his media scrum, manager Brandon Hyde said the club will hold meetings to discuss ways to improve offensively.

“We're getting the hitting coaches together,” he said. “We scored a ton of runs, especially the first half, and a lot of that came from homers and slug. We had some guys with their walk totals that were down from the normal years. I think you're going to see that go back up.

“We still believe in creating runs with our speed and contact, but also, we have the ability to hit a home run. If you look at our lineup, it's not a ton of experience in there, and I think that as guys get … Year after year, I think they're going to continue to improve. We also were injury plagued a little bit the second half. Losing (Jordan) Westburg and (Jorge) Mateo, with his run-scoring ability, losing those two guys, right-handed bats, lost some versatility on the team. But also, Westy was arguably our best RBI guy in the first half and the ability to hit the ball to all fields. Hopefully, he can stay a little more healthy next year.”

* The Orioles have moved up or traded players who were ranked as top prospects and made the system No. 1 in baseball. However, the belief in the industry is that they retain enough young talent to pull off a significant trade for a starting pitcher if willing to surrender it.

Anthony Villa, the director of player development, still views a system led by corner infielder Coby Mayo and catcher Samuel Basallo as “very strong.”

“It’s certainly cool to see a lot of players graduating to the big leagues, and that’s the fun challenge of it is making sure that we continue to restock,” Villa said this week. “But we’re very excited about the prospects that we continue to have in the minor leagues and feel like initiatives are going well and players are continuing to show promise.”

Jackson Holliday was the No. 1 prospect in baseball before batting .189/.255/.311 with 69 strikeouts in 60 games. He’s expected to make the Opening Day roster. Mayo will try to win a job after experiencing his own growing pains, going 4-for-41 with 22 strikeouts.

“As far as confidence goes, they’re confident kids and they should be. They’re really good baseball players,” Villa said.

“I think this young core that we have that’s going up to the major leagues, sometimes it’s not always instant success. They do a good job of leaning on each other and learning from each other, going through those growth experiences. Where improvements can be made, every player has their profile. Why the major leagues is so hard is because you’re going up against the best players in the world. They’re trying to exploit what those weaknesses are. But I know that they’re working hard at it, and with more time and repetition, we’re very confident in those players.”

Asked about Mayo yesterday during his media session, executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said, “Coby can play third, he can play first, he can DH. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for him. He’s still a young guy, he has yet to really establish himself in the majors, so he’s not somebody that we wanna put too much of a burden on right out of the chute, but there’s so many ways for him to fit into this lineup. And his bat could explode this year, or at least take a step forward from his debut, and if that happens, we’ll be sure to get him in the lineup.”

Young players scuffling to varying degrees early in their careers isn’t unique to the Orioles. They just roll out their own examples, including Colton Cowser, who matured into a Rookie of the Year runner-up this year.

“That’s certainly the challenge, and I think it’s the challenge that every organization is looking into. How can we get our guys to go up and be impact players right away? It’s really tough and the majority of prospects don’t fulfill that immediately,” Villa said.

“We’ve seen some guys go up and do some really cool things right away, but the majority of them go up and struggle and have to make adjustments. We’re looking to see what each player’s individual weaknesses are and how they’re being exploited and how we can make sure and try to get ahead of that in the minor leagues before they go up to the big leagues. But that projection game can be pretty hard to play.

“Colton had his struggles, Gunnar (Henderson) had his struggles in the first half of the 2023 season. It’s very rare that anyone goes up there and just lights the world on fire and stays that way. We’re very confident. We’ve seen these guys perform in the minor leagues, we know their talent and what they’re capable of, and we’ve seen them be quick learners and make these adjustments. So, with a little more time and experience and being a part of the scene a little longer, we’re very confident in them.”

Hyde added: “Sometimes adversity is not a terrible thing, and you've got to learn how to deal with it and understand how hard this game is and how good major league pitching is, adjustments you have to make. Once guys get a little bit of a taste and have the ability to make adjustments, they're going to improve.”

Hyde also said he’s keeping his second base options “open.”

“Talked to (Holliday) yesterday,” Hyde said. “He feels great. He loves the swing adjustments he made. He's in a great place physically and he's really excited to go in spring training.  He's going to get every opportunity to get as many at-bats as possible. Love the defensive work he's done also. He made huge strides defensively there for us. Tough in your first year changing positions, 20 years old, trying to hit in the big leagues. I thought he handled everything extremely well last year and he's just going to benefit from that.”

* Heston Kjerstad will get a chance to become an established major leaguer and stay off the Triple-A shuttle.

Good health would make it easier. The concussion interrupted a hot stretch.

"I think this is lining up to be a really good opportunity for him this season, and it's something that we've been hoping to do for him," Elias said. "He's a second-overall pick, great minor league resume despite a ton of adversity in terms of his injuries over the years. And then you look at his major league numbers, too, and they're pretty good.

"I think we've got a scenario now where he's got an opportunity, but we're not gonna have to overexpose him. If there's a tough lefty that day, whether it's him or Cedric (Mullins) or Colton, we can give somebody a break. So I think our Tyler O'Neill signing is something where we were keeping Heston in mind."

* The Rule 5 draft is scheduled for this afternoon and the Orioles will see whether they can avoid losing a player for the third year in a row.

The major league portion of the 2021 draft was cancelled due to the lockout. The Diamondbacks selected reliever Zach Pop in 2020 and the Cubs took pitcher Gray Fenter, who was returned to the Orioles in March.

The Orioles have protected pitchers Luis González, Brandon Young and Kade Strowd. Young was the only anticipated choice. No. 8 prospect Juan Nuñez is available, but he hasn’t risen above A ball and he made only seven appearances this year due to a shoulder injury.

The more vulnerable pitcher is right-hander Alex Pham, the No. 25 prospect taken in the 19^th round of the 2021 draft out of the University of San Francisco. He made 27 starts at Double-A Bowie and finished third in the Eastern League with 138 strikeouts.

Pham’s fastball climbed into the mid-90s. He’s got an intriguing arm. The Orioles would hope that a team selecting Pham eventually chooses to offer him back.

Reliever Keagan Gillies, a 15^th-round pick in 2021 out of Tulane University, made 42 relief appearances with the Baysox and struck out 54 batters in 47 1/3 innings. The walks (25), ERA (4.94) and WHIP (1.415) would need to be overlooked.

The Orioles hold the 24^th pick today and could pass again.

“There’s a couple players that we like in the draft, but I think it’s more, do we wanna devote a roster spot to a pick,” Elias said. “When you do make one, you’re not able to remove that pick from the roster until the middle of spring training, so it’s a bit of a commitment. And whether we ultimately do that is something that we’re debating. And we may not.”