Hard work and good health rescuing lost season for Bannon

Rylan Bannon has been hearing the same message from his hitting coach upon returning to the dugout after launching another home run for Triple-A Norfolk.

"This is who you are."

This isn't how Bannon played earlier in the season, but the turnaround has picked up speed like a tornado.

Bannon came to the plate yesterday with the bases loaded in Game 1 of a doubleheader against Memphis and cleared them with a double. He had two hits and was 7-for-11 with five home runs and nine RBIs in his last four starts with the Orioles' top minor league affiliate.

His average rose from .133 to .168 and OPS from .495 to .665 before he went 0-for-3 in the nightcap. Still a long way from where he wants to be, but more recognizable as the player he's been in the past.

This is who he is.

"It's no secret that I've been going through some struggles the past month or so," Bannon said over the weekend, "so to see some hard work paying off, trusting the process of going through all those struggles and learning from it, it's been awesome."

Bannon has been spending a lot of hours with Tim Gibbons, who was supposed to be Double-A Bowie's hitting coach last summer before the cancellation of the minor league season. The Orioles assigned him to Norfolk, another big bump after he spent six years as director of hitting at Be Elite Sports Training academy in Chicago prior to his hiring in 2019.

"Kind of working on my mindset a little bit, taking it each game and having a positive outlook," said Bannon, 25, acquired from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado trade in July 2018. "It's really cool to see some of the hard work paying off and it's definitely been fun to contribute in that way."

The mechanical side of it is much more detailed.

"He comes in with the same attitude and effort every single day. You would not know by his demeanor and his cage work ethic and everything he does hitting-wise that he's having that type of season with those numbers," Gibbons said.

"It's been a grind for us. Obviously, he went through some struggles. But the biggest thing we've been focusing on is contact point. Rylan had a tendency early on in the year to kind of overextend and come around balls using too much arms and upper body, so really just trying to get his sequence right from the ground up. We'll do some short-bat routines and just really try to close himself off.

"He rotates extremely well. He's such a good athlete that he was landing a little bit open and kind of letting the front side leak, if you will. So really just honing in on being more square, right-center approach, right-center mindset. Just trying to do the little things right. So the short bat has been a big part of his routine, really controlling that contact point, letting the ball get deeper so he can be a little bit shorter to it. That's the work we've put in recently that I think has really helped him."

Bannon can't recall a stretch where the home runs kept coming - five in three days. He had a three-homer day with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on April 18, 2018 in Lancaster. But what happened last week was startling.

"This is kind of unprecedented, expanded over a few games," he said, "but it's been fun."

It's also more easily explained than it may appear.

"The home runs are coming just from a really good approach," Gibbons said prior to yesterday's doubleheader. "His approach right now is not to be pulling the ball in the air. That's a byproduct of a really good right-center mindset, really trying to stay inside the ball, and then he's gotten some pitches to hit. Really just working inside the ball but catching that ball out in front a little bit has allowed him to elevate and do some damage pull-side. But that's definitely not his approach right now, thinking pull-side in the air. I think he's really just trying to focus on staying inside the ball and staying short and sweet and really work that right-center field gap. But a good approach like that is going to lead us to have more success in the air pull-side.

"I think earlier in the year, thinking pull-side, we were rolling over and not really hitting balls flush and pure pull-side. It was when he was really trying to be closed and square and really work that right-center gap that the pull-side power has shown up."

Bannon hit a combined 22 home runs in 2018, with 23 doubles, six triples, 72 RBIs, a .275 average and .895 OPS. He climbed into the top 20 in the organization's prospect list.

The power isn't necessarily the first tool that gets a scout's attention.

"I think that's something that just kind of comes along with my game," he said. "I don't think (the Orioles) view me as a huge power guy. They might, but I don't really see myself as a huge power guy. I see myself as somebody who's going to contribute with the bat, be able to handle the bat and hit the ball to all fields and contribute that way. I think power's just something that comes along with it."

Nothing was happening for Bannon during a month spent recovering from an oblique injury. He came out of a May 27 game and didn't begin his rehab assignment until June 29 at Single-A Aberdeen, unable to fix a .175/.233/.313 line.

"It's definitely been one of the more frustrating seasons that I've had," he said. "I started off the year, I was hitting pretty well, and kind of hit a skid. And then things weren't going my way. Ended up getting injured and was down in Florida for a month. And then I came back and I actually started pretty well again, and I hit another skid and it was tough, it was definitely really frustrating each and every day.

"Just going through the motions, it felt like. I got into that rut of kind of feeling like I wasn't getting out of it. It was definitely a struggle. But at the end of the day what I learned from it is you're going to go through times like that. It's definitely something to learn from. If you can take all the positives away from each and every day when you're struggling, it's crucial. It's definitely something I learned."

The cruelty of being hurt also came from the impression he made in April at the alternate site in Bowie.

"He was absolutely tearing the cover off the ball like he is now," Gibbons said. "This to me, and I keep reminding him in the dugout every time after he comes back from a home run, 'This is who you are. This isn't a shocker, this shouldn't be a shocker to anyone. When you were going through that struggle, that wasn't you. You're a way better hitter. This is who you are now.'

"He had an awesome spring training and an awesome alternate site, so that oblique injury, he wasn't putting up great numbers up to that point in the season, but the numbers weren't reflecting. He caught a ton of barrels, he had a tough luck stretch a little bit. Even before he just got hot, he was having 0-for-3s with a walk and a barrel. He was smoking the ball right at somebody. So, I'm happy for him because he wasn't having as bad of a season as his numbers reflected and this is who he is.

"I'm not surprised at all that he's on a stretch like this. But that oblique injury definitely was killer. It really interrupted the work that we had started this spring."

The injury was unusual in that it didn't occur on a hard swing, which is typical of oblique strains. He was playing third base, not standing at home plate.

"I had some minor tears," he said. "It happened on a tag the inning before. My mindset is I never want to be hurt, so I felt it on the tag and didn't think anything of it. I said, 'Oh, I'm sure I'm fine.' And I run in the next inning and I kind of felt it on my side a little bit and then my next at-bat I felt it. That sharp sensation, it got me pretty good and that's when I walked off the field. I knew something bad happened.

"The guy stole third and I slapped the tag on him and felt kind of a pop in my side."

The reaction was pretty much the same when people learned how it happened.

"That's an interesting one," he said.

"Definitely flukish," Gibbons said. "I remember him coming in from third base like, 'Something doesn't feel quite right.' Definitely derailed him in terms of the work that we were putting in, so I'm just happy he's back at it and having the success."

Bannon could be forgiven if he began to press, his inability to get hot perhaps costing him a promotion. The Orioles have used 53 players. Fourteen have made their major league debuts, one short of the club record in 2018.

"I'm sure that definitely goes into it," Bannon said. "It's no secret where the Orioles are at right now. It's definitely a good time for all of us to be here and that puts some pressure on you to perform, and me being on the (40-man) roster, as well, adds a little bit more pressure. But at the end of the day this game is full of that kind of stuff, so you've got to learn how to overcome and that's something I definitely feel like I've learned throughout all of this.

"That pressure's always going to be there. There's always going to be the pressure to perform and play well and then have the results, but you can't really look at it that way. You've just got to trust the process and take it one day at a time."

There's still a chance that the Orioles could recall Bannon by September's roster expansion, knowing that Maikel Franco is re-entering free agency and third base is wide open. Bannon also has been playing second base, but his lack of experience at shortstop - two games at Xavier University - eliminates him as a utility candidate.

"I feel really good at both positions," he said. "I don't think I'd necessarily just stick at third base if I got called up."

Note: The Orioles are expected to announce more minor league promotions today, including pitcher Tyler Burch going from Aberdeen to Bowie and third baseman Coby Mayo going from the Rookie-level Florida Complex League to low Single-A Delmarva.

Burch was acquired from the Phillies at last month's trade deadline for infielder Freddy Galvis. The Orioles drafted Mayo in the fourth round in 2020.

Update: Here are the promotions:

Bowie to Norfolk: RHP Blaine Knight and RHP Cody Sedlock.

Aberdeen to Bowie: RHP Tyler Burch, INF Andrew Daschbach, RHP Morgan McSweeney, INF J.D. Mundy, RHP Garrett Stallings, INF Jordan Westburg.

Delmarva to Aberdeen: INF TT Bowens, INF Jean Carmona, OF Cristopher Céspedes, RHP Noah Denoyer, RHP Griffin McLarty, INF Ryne Ogren, OF Lamar Sparks, RHP Adam Stauffer.

FCL to Delmarva: INF Collin Burns, OF Billy Cook, OF Colton Cowser, RHP Daniel Federman, RHP Conor Grady, INF Coby Mayo, INF Connor Norby, C Connor Pavalony, RHP Preston Price, OF John Rhodes, RHP Carlos Tavera, INF Jacob Teter, OF Reed Trimble, RHP Peter Van Loon, OF Donta' Williams.