Former O's minor league slugger settles in as hitting coach (plus Orioles notes)

He was once a big, strong power hitter on the Orioles farm who played in 95 big league games for the Orioles and three other teams in parts of five seasons.

Now 38-year-old Calvin Pickering is back in the Orioles organization. He was hired this year to serve as hitting coach at short season Single-A Aberdeen, where he is currently working with top draft pick DJ Stewart and other IronBirds batters.

It was not that long ago that Pickering flew from his California home back to Maryland for some autograph signings. It all led to his getting the job with the Orioles at Aberdeen, he told me yesterday at Ripken Stadium before the New York-Penn League All-Star Game.

"I went down to Delmarva for a signing and went to Baltimore for a signing," Pickering said. "I was able to talk to a few guys there - Brady Anderson, Tripp Norton and Brian Graham. I found out there was an opening, got a phone call to interview and everything went well."

Pickering put up some big numbers as an Orioles minor leaguer. In 1998 with Double-A Bowie, he was Eastern League MVP when he hit .309 with 31 homers, 114 RBIs and a 1.000 OPS. Now he hopes to pass on some of what he learned along the way in the minors and the majors to the kids on the O's farm.

How can he help?

"A lot of ways," Pickering said. "Just from the experience and grind I went through my whole career. I know what it takes to get to that next level. Hope to pass on some knowledge to these guys, get them comfortable and to have confidence in themselves. I'm loving this. Grateful to be back in the game and do what I love to do."

Pickering was coaching his son's travel team in California. Now he is coaching pro ballplayers for the first time and he said he wants to make this coaching gig a career.

"This is definitely what I want to do as a career," he said. "I love coaching. This is what I want do. I love to teach. Nothing makes you happier than seeing kids you work with succeed. I love giving back and teaching what I learned in my career from guys I played with like Brady and Cal Ripken."

In the New York-Penn League All-Star Game last night, the North team beat the South 4-2 in front of 3,622 at Ripken Stadium. There were some strange things going on in this game. They used a 25-pitch count limit per inning and two innings ended before three outs were recorded. The home team, while trailing by two, did not bat in the last of the ninth. I believe that had something to do with the North team running out of pitchers. It was just a strange night.

Aberdeen shortstop Ricardo Andujar got the start for the South batting second and went 1-for-2 with an infield single. IronBirds reliever Ryan Meisinger pitched the top of the ninth, retiring the side 1-2-3 on nine pitches.

As for the Orioles, they lost again to the New York Mets, 5-3 at Camden Yards. The Orioles are 0-3 against the Mets this year, scoring six runs with a team average of just .223 in the games, going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

More notes on the Orioles:

* J.J. Hardy did drive in a run last night. It was just his second RBI over his last 17 games. He is 4-for-37 (.108) over his last 10 games.

* The Orioles have scored three runs or less in 18 of their last 36 games. On the season, they are 9-41 when scoring three runs or less.

* The Birds have now lost nine consecutive games against the Mets with the last victory coming June 18, 2009. New York has swept three straight series against the Orioles and can make it four tonight. The Mets lead the all-time series 22-9 (.710) and that is their best winning percentage against any team.

* Outfielder Gerardo Parra extended his hitting streak to five games (.478/.500/.913). He hit his third home run over his last four games and is now batting .290/.338/.507 in 16 games with the Orioles. Since June 11, he is batting .360/.406/.583 (82-for-228) over 59 games.

* O's starting pitchers have now recorded four consecutive quality starts with an ERA of 3.46 in those games. They have seven quality starts over the last 10 games, pitching to an ERA of 4.03 and going seven or more innings five times.