Coolbaugh on Davis: "I look for great things from Chris this year"

SARASOTA, Fla. - New Orioles hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh was scheduled to fly back home this afternoon, but he's staying an extra day at the minicamp to meet third baseman Manny Machado. Coolbaugh didn't have much work to do today beyond getting acclimated to his new surroundings and checking out a few position players who took their cuts in the batting cage. "Get around some of the kids that are here for the minicamp, introduce myself and start building that rapport, relationships with the people that work here and understand the surroundings," said Coolbaugh, who was hired as Jim Presley's replacement on Dec. 19. "It hasn't been since 1994 that I've been here, in Florida. I spent a lot of time in Arizona, not only as a player but as a coach. It's interesting to come back and see the dynamics of the complex and how it's changed since I've been here in '93 when I came and played for the Orioles in the minor leagues in Twin Lakes." Coolbaugh, formerly the Rangers hitting coach and minor league hitting coordinator, referred to the past month as "a humbling experience" and "a roller coaster." "It's been unexpected all in one," he said. Coolbaugh met with manager Buck Showalter and vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson in Dallas and was hired later that day. "The reason that I say that is I'm humbled to be in a tradition-rich organization like the Orioles," Coolbaugh said. "Buck obviously has set a high standard and a great culture that I'd love to be a part of. And secondly, I think you get into December and you start interviewing for a job like this, it's a little late, so it's unexpected. And then, obviously, the roller coaster of making that transition, not knowing anybody to come over to Florida, get new surroundings, introduce yourself to new people and things like that. "It's an exciting time. I'm looking forward to it, bring it on every day. That's what my thing is. I want to bring it every day." The Rangers wanted to keep Coolbaugh and offered him a three-year deal to remain as minor league hitting coordinator. "We've had a lot of things going on there," he said. "We had some young players that are coming through that system that we were really excited about and really excited about being a part of that in the one year that I did the job. If it didn't work out here, I was going to continue that. "Having this opportunity, like I said, was very humbling and I'm looking forward to getting an opportunity to do it again. This is what I want to do. I'm all about challenging yourself. I want to challenge myself at the highest level." Coolbaugh said he's already supervised a couple of Chris Davis' workouts in Dallas, reuniting after their days together in the Rangers organization. Davis put up huge numbers in the minors and he welcomed Coolbaugh's addition to the Orioles coaching staff after he batted .196 last year and his home run total dropped from 53 to 26. "It's like anything else," Coolbaugh said. "I think it's getting back to the mental focus of where you want to be, where you come from, get back to that Chris Davis that we know. I think he's going to have a great year and I'm looking forward to spending time with him this year." Asked if he noticed anything missing with Davis last year, Coolbaugh replied, "Sometimes it's more of the mental thing, that you try to do too much, try to live up to what he did in 2013. You try to chase what you're doing and those things happen because of a process, not based on chasing results. I think he just got away from that probably a little bit and lost himself. "Every player goes through it, so it's a great learning experience. He did it as a young player, got an opportunity to come over here and play every day and go through those things, and now it's a matter of learning and going, 'You know, I can't afford to do that again.' So, I look for great things from Chris this year." Coolbaugh doesn't want to give the impression that he's been hired to work strictly with Davis. He's the Orioles hitting coach. Davis doesn't sit alone in the classroom. "No one player is going to get me to take a job, and again I want to emphasize that I'm not Chris' personal hitting coach," Coolbaugh said. "I don't mean to be rude about saying that, but at the same time there are a number of players in the organization and at the big league level that I want to be hands-on with and be able to help them grow as players. For me, it was about the challenge of getting back to the big leagues and being a hitting coach at that level and trying to be successful and take the Orioles to a world championship." Coolbaugh said he wasn't surprised that Davis belted 53 home runs in 2013 and placed third in Most Valuable Player voting in the American League. "You know what? Anything he does on a baseball field is not really overwhelming to me because I've seen a lot of things that he did," Coolbaugh said. "It was like a video game when he was in Triple-A when I was with him for a couple years when he got sent up and down. There were times when he hit 20 home runs in a month and hit .360 and it was like, this guy's like Babe Ruth compared to Triple-A. "I know it's the minor leagues, but I've seen it on the baseball field, so when he hit 50-plus home runs, it wasn't like, 'Wow.' And I don't expect it every time, either, but at the same time it's something he's capable of doing." Note: Showalter said South Korean pitcher Suk-min Yoon won't be invited to major league camp next month. Yoon went 4-8 with a 5.74 ERA in 23 games, including 18 starts, at Triple-A Norfolk last season. The Orioles signed Yoon to a three-year deal in February worth a guaranteed $5.575 million that also contained incentives and escalator provisions that could increase its total value to $13.075 million. He was removed from the 40-man roster, which allowed the Orioles to keep him in the minors this season without his consent.