Dwight Smith Jr. on new coaches and team, his power and more

When the Orioles acquired outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. on March 8 from Toronto, it looked like a relatively minor move by the club to add some outfield depth. They gave up international bonus pool slots they likely were not going to use anyway.

They added a still young player at 26, one that was taken No. 53 overall in the 2011 draft. They added a lefty bat and a player that had hit .293/.365/.467 with an .833 OPS over 104 big league plate appearances in 2017 and 2018. The Blue Jays had designated Smith for assignment March 5 to make roster room for pitcher Clay Buchholz.

The Orioles made them an offer and Smith was soon headed for Sarasota, Fla.

Neither the Orioles nor Smith could have figured this would work out so well. But 30 games into his Baltimore career, Smith is batting .276/.325/.486 with an OPS of .810. Smith has batted third 11 times and hit fourth twice. He went 2-for-4 last night in the series opener at Chicago.

Smith was initially a little taken aback by the trade, but quickly realized it might be a very good thing.

"I just looked at this as a new opportunity for me and a breath of fresh air, honestly," he said.

With Baltimore, he quickly started bashing spring training homers and became a regular once the season started. Here he also found a kinship with other young players.

"I'm having a blast right now," Smith said during a weekend interview. "I'm getting my opportunity and enjoying this clubhouse. Enjoying these guys and this team. The coaches and everyone have been great to me since I got here on the first day.

"That makes this an awesome environment to be in. Everyone wants the same goals and to do great. You know everyone will play hard every day and not take a play off. It is awesome to see 25 guys in the same room trying to achieve the same goal."

Smith said he quickly learned that manager Brandon Hyde and the coaches would have his back. That meant a lot.

"I felt that the first day I talked to him," Smith said of Hyde. "He was asking me when I wanted to play (after arriving after the trade). And he said, 'Take your time. We're here for you. Whatever you need.' So my first encounter I was like, wow, that's pretty huge coming from the manager. When you hear that from your manager, you have all the confidence in the world as a player. That means a lot."

Smith hit .429 with the Orioles in 12 spring games after the trade and hit five homers in 28 at-bats in Florida. He now has five homers and 19 RBIs since the season began in 27 games.

His best power years on the farm totaled 15 and 12 homers. His career minor league slugging percentage is .402, and it is now .486 for the Orioles.

"Well, I got stronger since the minors," Smith said. "Every year, I've gotten stronger with my offseason program, the workouts I've been doing. And really just been learning my swing more. Every year, you keep working and you can get better. Honestly, I just cleaned up a couple of things in the offseason and it is good to see it paying off right now.

"The past couple of offseasons, I did a lot of explosive lifts to help with strength. Did other work too, everything you need to play the game. I did that five days a week."

Another in the loss column: The O's remain winless on their road trip, losing 5-3 last night in Chicago to start a three-game series against the White Sox. They are 0-4 on this trip and have been outscored 24-7 and outhomered 14-2.

The Orioles began the year going 4-1 but are 6-19 since that point, are 10-20 through 30 games and have fallen 10 games out of first place.

Lefty John Means allowed four runs over five innings last night to fall to 3-3 with an ERA of 2.81. Orioles starting pitchers have thrown 5 1/3 innings or less 24 times.

Chris Davis drove in two more runs. Over his past 11 games, he is batting .343 (12-for-35) with three doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs. But he made a baserunning mistake on his single blooped just inside the left field line in the sixth and was thrown out between first and second base.

Catcher Pedro Severino hit another homer last night, his fourth. Over his past eight games, he is batting .318 (7-for-22) with four homers and five RBIs.