Buck Showalter and Chris Davis talk about Manny Machado's improvement on offense

As he continues to deliver hit after hit recently for the Orioles, third baseman Manny Machado is showing his growth at the plate. His manager and one of his teammates say we are seeing a situation right now where experience, concentration and smarts are combining with huge physical talent to produce impressive numbers.

Machado will take an 11-game hitting streak hitting into tonight's game. He is batting .426 (20-for-47) during the streak, with six doubles, two homers and 10 RBIs. He has seven multi-hit games in that stretch. In 27 games in June, Machado is batting .369 with seven homers, 21 RBIs, a .622 slugging percentage and a 1.038 OPS.

Manager Buck Showalter said today that Machado's improved ability to take close pitches has been a real key recently.

"This whole period where he has been really good offensively he has spit on (taken for balls) a lot of pitches that he had trouble staying off of," Showalter said. "He is on a pace to score 100 runs, so every time someone talks about moving him down in the order, that is tough to mess with.

"If he can continue that selectiveness, he is going to have one of those years we all know he is capable of. But that takes so much discipline. It is really hard to maintain that for a long period of time. He's been locked in for a long period of time, I think, concentration-wise as much as anything."

Right now, Machado ranks sixth in the American League with a .307 batting average.

"I think he is really starting to come into his own as a hitter," Chris Davis said. "He is still so young, but he is starting to figure some things out. He realizes he doesn't have to do everything all in one swing. Defensively he's played well since he got here. I've really enjoyed watching him grow as a hitter and he's been huge in the leadoff spot for us."

Machado has batted first, second, fifth, sixth and seventh this year, but most of his at-bats (74 percent) have come in the leadoff spot, where he is batting .321/.376/.546 for an OPS of .921.

Machado had 30 hits and 16 RBIs over 16 games from June 6-23. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marked the first time in his career that Machado had that many hits and RBIs over a 16-game span. The last Orioles player with at least 30 hits and 16 RBIs over a 16-game span was Melvin Mora in 2008.