Luis Pujols and staff work with young players at Aberdeen on situational hitting and more

With a roster that features 14 players from the Orioles' 2015 draft class, short-season Single-A Aberdeen is playing good baseball after a slow start.

The IronBirds started the new season 2-7, but now have won three in a row and seven of nine to get to 9-9 for the season.

Aberdeen manager Luis Pujols - with help from coaches Calvin Pickering and Shawn McGill and pitching coach Justin Lord - is trying to teach the young players how to play the game at the pro level.

For the players coming out of the 2015 draft, this is their first exposure to professional baseball and for some, the first time they are playing games pretty much every day.

"Our goal is for them to learn the way we play at the professional level," Pujols said. "Some of them we've seen slide directly into the base, because that is the rule in college I guess. But in the pros we have four or five feet we can go either way. So we see mistakes or things they don't know, we go over that. But so far the whole group that is here is adapting very well to the Orioles way. They are picking things up pretty well."

Pujols said they want to teach the new players about situational hitting and to always be cognizant about looking to advance runners on the bases. He said so far his team overall, and particularly the 2015 draftees, has scored well here.

"This organization is big on advancing the runner and getting the runner in from third base. We don't want to change anyone in how they hit, but they need to learn what the pitcher is trying to do to them. We talk about it, so when they go to the plate, they have a plan.

"We had a game recently where we went 7-for-8 in situational hitting chances, and we scored 12 runs that night. Those things are huge. We keep track of all that and everyone in our organization reads about it. We keep a plus and minus (system) on the players. It's good that they can see how the game is played at the pro level," Pujols said.

"I won't take anything for granted and will assume they don't know. It's better to talk about it and teach it. The guys from this draft are all doing well with situational hitting."

Pujols mentioned outfielder Cedric Mullins (round 13), second baseman Drew Turbin (round 14) and first baseman Steve Laurino (round 25) as 2015 draft picks excelling at situational hitting.

"Laurino had a game where he went 0-for-3, but twice he had chances to advance a runner to third base and he did it. Sometime you help the team and your teammates," Pujols said.

"I tell our guys that every pitch the pitcher throws has a purpose. So as a hitter, it is the same way. You have to have a plan and a purpose. So far, so good," he said.

Pujols, who is a cousin of Albert Pujols, knows what it takes to play in the majors. He had a nine-year big league career as a catcher. He also served as interim manager of the 2002 Detroit Tigers when Phil Garner was fired after six games. He was the Giants first base coach from 2003-06 and was the bench coach for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

He managed at Single-A Frederick last year. He said at that higher level there can be less of a need to be always teaching about something as situational hitting.

"They were a little bit older and there were guys there that went through this process here and they were at a point where they have to do something to stay in the game or move on (to higher levels). Some of those guys had some good years there last year," Pujols said.