David Hess made gains with his secondary pitches last year (plus other notes)

Orioles pitching prospect David Hess, a 22-year-old right-hander, will be interesting to watch this year. Can he carry over his great finish to 2015 to the 2016 season?

Hess was struggling early last year at Single-A Frederick, but then he got on a tremendous roll. That led to a late-season promotion to Double-A Bowie where he pitched two big games in the playoffs for the Baysox as they won their first Eastern League championship.

Over his last 16 starts of 2015 - including 12 for Frederick and four for Bowie, with two in the playoffs - Hess went 10-1 with an ERA of 1.58. Over 91 innings, he gave up just one homer, walked 33, fanned 78 and gave up a batting average to opponents of just .177.

During that strong second-half, his secondary pitches - a changeup, curve and slider - all got better. They were a nice compliment to a solid fastball that often sat between 91 and 94 mph. Did the secondaries improve in quality or his command of them?

"I think a little bit of both," Hess told me in a recent interview. "As the season went on, my main focus for the year was developing my changeup. I switched grips from a two-seam changeup to a four-seam changeup because I throw a four-seam fastball. The beginning of the year, I wasn't as comfortable with that, but I got more comfortable as the year went on and it became a good weapon. The changeup was a big pitch for me when I got to Bowie.

"Also, I was able to tighten my slider up a little bit and get better command of it. My curveball, I just started throwing again in pro ball. My sophomore and junior year of college, my curveball was kind of put to the side. That made some big strides last year, too."

A fifth-round draft pick out of Tennessee Tech in 2014, Hess was among the young pitchers invited to the O's pitching mini-camp in January at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla.

"It was nice to get some face time with Dave (Wallace) and Dom (Chiti) and some with Buck (Showalter) as well. Kind of get to hang out with them and see how they operate on a day-to-day basis. It was fun to see them and be around the guys. There was a high quality group of guys there. Just helps to get the year off on a good foot.

"It was nice to get invited to go there. It shows they believe in you and see something in you. It was a really cool opportunity," Hess said.

For more on Hess, here is the larger profile published on him here a few weeks ago.

Quick takes:

* When Jimmy Paredes' left hand and wrist hit the outfield turf and got bent the wrong way on Thursday, his chance to make the Orioles' opening day roster took a hit as well.

Already somewhat on the bubble to make the 25-man roster, it is hard to make the club if you can't get on the field. The hope is Paredes, who suffered a sprained left wrist, can return before spring games are over.

He had a great first half last year, one where he hit .299 with 10 homers, 39 RBIs and a OPS of .807 in 261 at-bats. He was batting .340 in late May. But then Paredes hit just .216 with no homers in the second half and struck out 42 times in 102 at-bats. He was chasing pitches often and struggled to hit the breaking ball. The struggles carried over to winter ball, when he hit just .205 in 21 games in the Dominican.

Ironically, being hurt might help his cause in one strange way. If he started the year on the disabled list, at least he would still be on the roster. He is out of options and that would be one way to keep him past opening day. Of course, that is just buying time to eventually make another decision on Paredes.

* Christian Walker has already made three starts at first base for the Orioles. Probably nothing to read into that beyond they were three road games. But he has gotten those starts and Trey Mancini has not had a start yet for the Orioles.

Walker is 2-for-6 and homered with three RBIs in the opener against Atlanta. I've mentioned several times now that I think some readers have overlooked his strong second-half at Triple-A in 2015. While his overall numbers for the season were modest, after the All-Star break Walker hit .257/.342/.515 in 206 at-bats with 13 homers, 44 RBIs and an OPS of .856 for Norfolk. Yes, Mancini has moved ahead of Walker on those prospects lists, but Walker's second half showed both that he improved and his power potential.

* The Orioles are now 0-3-1 in exhibition games. Anyone nervous yet?