Britton on move to Triple-A, thoughts on Rutschman and Rodriguez

He is a talented young minor league manager on the rise. At just 35, Buck Britton is not too far away from his playing days on the Orioles farm. But coming up in the 2022 season, he will manage at Triple-A Norfolk as a first-time skipper at the game's highest minor league level.

In their 28-year history, the Double-A Bowie Baysox have played for a league championship three times. They did that twice in two seasons under Britton. His 2019 team had a terrible 7-23 start, but still played for the Eastern League title. His 2021 team had an amazing 21-5 start, but needed to win 12 of its last 14 games in September to make the postseason and that club played for the Double-A Northeast championship.

The Baysox came up short in the final both times, but played .573 ball (149-111) in those two years under Britton.

Now he's ready to embrace the next step in his quick rise up the managerial ladder, which began at low Single-A Delmarva in 2018 when the Shorebirds went 68-66.

"Yeah, obviously it's super exciting," Britton said during a Zoom interview Thursday about his move to Triple-A. "I've been very blessed to be in situations that I've been put into, whether it was being hired by the old regime as quickly as I was and then when Mike (Elias) and them came in, entrusting me with that assignment at Double-A in 2019. And now we're here. It's kind of been crazy, but I'm super blessed and ready for the challenge for sure."

Britton played in the O's minors from 2008 through 2014, so he's seen a lot happen within the organization and seen the leadership in baseball operations change. How has it been different under Elias and his staff?

"Well, I think the first thing that jumps out is the amount of talent we have," said Britton, the older brother of former O's lefty Zack Britton. "The types of players we have targeted in the draft, our Latin American program that is kicking off and I got to see some of those kids at a hitting camp earlier in the offseason. Lot of physicality. Lot of guys advanced for 16 or 17 and that was really impressive.

"But also the influx of technology, the data we are able to use to help these players along. Proof of what we are saying. It makes it more of a challenge. You can't just throw something off the cuff as a coach, because players can look at the data and see if it supports it. But there is a lot more data that has helped these guys coach and we've brought in a lot of really smart coaches. It's very different than it was a couple of years ago."

Britton tries to keep growing and developing as a young manager.

"The biggest thing is creating that culture in the clubhouse, right, to get guys through 140, 150 games in a season," he said. "When you step off the playing field where all the focus has been, how do I get myself better? And now you're in charge of 28 or 30 guys on a roster. You need to make sure everybody is doing what they need to do to get themselves in position for success, it's definitely a challenge. It's fun building those relationships with players and seeing them grow.

"The preparedness - thinking way ahead in the game as a manager is a challenge. I like to coach third base, so I've got to make sure when we are coming to bat that we have things set up for the next couple of innings so I'm not out there doing jumping jacks or trying to signal into a coach for a move."

The Bowie team last season was filled with some of the organization's highest-rated prospects. Britton managed catcher Adley Rutschman for 80 games before his move to Triple-A. Britton said baseball's No. 1 prospect brings a lot to a pitching staff beyond just his physical skills and tools.

"Adley is very in tune with what is going on, situation to situation," he said. "He understands the strengths of a pitching staff. I mean, this guy studies the game. He studies his teammates. He is such an inviting guy to talk to that pitchers will seek him out for his opinion, for his advice, which is very rare. A lot of times at that position, maybe if a pitcher gives up a home run, there could be a thought, maybe the catcher led them in the wrong direction.

"But these guys seek him out whether they are having success or struggling. I think it's just a testament to the character this guy has. He's a positive leader. But he has a knack for saying the right things when he needs to say them.

"I can give you tons of examples where I went out to the mound to take a pitcher out and we were struggling on defense. It took four seconds for Adley to say something and everyone to nod their head and understand that we need to tighten it up and move on. This is a special character kid."

Britton, like with Rutschman, saw a lot to like about he O's No. 2 prospect, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, beyond the physical talent and tools that helped him go 9-1 with a 2.36 ERA between high Single-A Aberdeen and Bowie. He saw Rodriguez bring more than just several plus pitches.

"Saw it 100 percent. In my playing days I was able to go to enough major league spring trainings and be around some really good players and there are some guys that stood out that I compare him to," Britton said. "One of the guys is (Clayton) Kershaw, how and this is just on reference to game day. It's a different man that steps into the clubhouse on game day than that's been there the last three or four days.

"He's been preparing, but when it comes to game day, Grayson kind of flips a switch. He's a great clubhouse guy, tons of energy. But I think the focus kind of really ticks up on game day and he's out to prove something.

"But he's a great teammate, huge energy, roots for his teammates to succeed and that's another special quality in somebody."

Here is the full Zoom interview with Britton. I'll have more with him in coming entries.