Graham on new minor league hires, Davis on spring plan and last year's injury

The Orioles crossed another item off their to-do list yesterday by announcing their camp roster, which included 15 non-roster invitees. Manager Buck Showalter counts 59 available lockers at the Sarasota complex and he uses that number as his cutoff while constructing the roster. There's room for three more players if the Orioles want to occupy the entire space. The group of instructors includes Kevin Bradshaw, who replaces Dave Anderson as minor league infield coordinator. Anderson was hired as manager at Triple-A Salt Lake in the Angels organization. "Kevin is outstanding," said director of player development Brian Graham. "He reminds me a lot of Dave Anderson. They worked together with the Tigers. Kevin has been an infield coordinator for a number of years. He just does an outstanding job. He's a really good teacher, a really good instructor. He spent a lot of time with (Miami's) Perry Hill, who is one of the best infield instructors in the game. He's just really good. "Kevin has a nice way about him. Good teaching methods and a really good instructor. I'm very excited about Kevin Bradshaw." Another member of the spring staff, Sean Berry, has replaced Denny Walling as hitting coach at Triple-A Norfolk. "Sean is a tremendous hire," Graham said. "He's a former big league hitting coach, a former big league player. He was hitting coordinator with the Astros and Padres. Sean Berry is going to be a tremendous asset to that Triple-A team." Graham also spoke in glowing terms about two other hires this winter - Keith Bodie as Double-A Bowie hitting coach and Howie Clark as Single-A Delmarva hitting coach. "Keith Bodie has got tremendous baseball experience and tremendous baseball knowledge," Graham said. "To have him as Double-A hitting instructor is a huge plus for the organization. He's been the Double-A manager for the Astros the last few years. He's been a Triple-A manager and hitting coach and he's been a Double-A hitting coach. He's got great experience. I'm really excited about him. "Howie Clark is a former Oriole and he's got as much energy, enthusiasm and knowledge as anybody in the game. This guy loves to work and loves to teach. He really wanted to get back into professional baseball and I'm really glad we hired him. His energy, enthusiasm and work ethic are all off the chart. He's a really good hire. "The exciting thing about all these guys is they wanted to come here, wanted to come work for the Orioles. I'm very excited about what we have. Very excited." Paco Figueroa moves up from Delmarva to Single-A Frederick as hitting coach, "which is great because he'll be with the same kids we have last year in Delmarva and they all performed so well," Graham said, rattling off names that included Chance Sisco, Trey Mancini and Drew Dosch. "It's the best fit for Paco and the best fit for the organization to have him with all the guys who performed so well for him." Short-season Single-A Aberdeen doesn't have a hitting coach. Scott Thomas is changing roles and will serve as third base and position player coach. Meanwhile, first baseman Chris Davis told Showalter that he wants more at-bats this spring. He went 15-for-37 (.405) with three doubles, four home runs, 13 RBIs and 10 runs scored last spring, but he hit .196/.300/.404 during the regular season. "I think last year, I was not playing it safe, but we kind of eased into it and I really didn't feel like I had that sharpness when the season started," Davis said in an interview on the "Hot Stove Show" on 105.7 The Fan. "And then obviously with the injury early on, I wasn't the same hitter that I was in the past. I think that's going to be big for me this year, getting started off on the right foot." He'll be in step with new hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh. They've already been working out in Dallas. "Cooley obviously coming aboard is huge for me because he's a guy that really knows me and a guy that I've hit with for a number of years," Davis said, "but the biggest thing for me is just making sure that I'm ready once the season starts, and I think getting some more at-bats and playing a few more games down in Sarasota will definitely benefit me." The oblique injury robbed Davis of his power to left and left-center field, where the ball often traveled during his 53-home run season in 2013. "I think early on in the season, guys were really pounding me in, really attacking me inside," Davis said. "I was still having productive at-bats, I was driving in runs, and once the weather starts to warm up a little bit, as a power hitter you want to see the ball fly. And for me, there were balls I hit to left-center and to left field that I really didn't have that finish on. "I didn't notice how big of a deal it was until this offseason, until I had a chance to take a little bit of time off and then get back into my routine and start hitting again. It kind of bothered me looking back, just the way I handled things. One, I foolishly tried to play through it, which just made it worse. And two, everybody told me, 'Don't come back too early. Make sure you take the time, make sure you're healthy,' but the competitor in me just wanted to get back out on the field. I felt like I was healthy enough, and really I just played the rest of the year with a nagging injury. "It really wasn't as evident how bad it affected me until this offseason, but I'm completely 100 percent healthy right now and actually a little bit stronger than I was at this point last year."