Manto's big praise for Mountcastle, plus other notes

ABERDEEN, Md. - To say the least, Orioles minor league hitting coordinator Jeff Manto is a big Ryan Mountcastle fan. He has seen the kid show off an impressive bat pretty much since the day the organization drafted him No. 36 overall in 2015.

The 20-year-old Mountcastle has seen big power emerge this season and he has had a Player of the Year type of season so far on the O's farm. While scouts indicate his defense at shortstop has been a challenge, his bat has been a huge challenge for Carolina League pitchers.

Mountcastle hit 28 doubles and 10 homers in 455 at-bats for Single-A Delmarva in 2016. This season he is approaching the first total and has exceeded the second in only 265 at-bats.mou

Over 66 games with Single-A Frederick, Mountcastle is batting .313/.345/.545 with 24 doubles, a triple, 12 homers and 41 RBIs. His slugging percentage has increased from .426 to .545. His OPS, which was .745 last season, is now .888.

Yep, that power increase is evident. Manto concurs. He is in Aberdeen to check in on the short-season Single-A IronBirds, and he spent a few minutes talking about Mountcastle on Tuesday afternoon.

"I tell you what, he has really cleaned up his mechanics," Manto said. "He has taken it upon himself to clean up some mechanics. I'll tell you what - he gets after it. I am probably the most impressed with him. To see a 20-year-old kid swing the way he does.

"I've never seen a potential impact hitter like him. He is probably the best young minor league hitter I've ever seen. What he can do with a ball. How he stretches out the strikezone. The aggressive approach he takes. It's not flustered at all. He's just a phenomenal talent."

Did Manto expect that Mountcastle, already a solid hitter for average, could see his power come so fast?

"I did not," he said. "A lot of young hitters learn how to hit first and the power comes later in their career. Historically, home run hitters in the big league have lower homer totals in the minors and then start to figure it out. There is something special about this kid. I don't know what it is, but he sure gets after it every night.

"You could tell in the GCL (Gulf Coast League) two years ago. You could see this is special. You don't see this all the time. What he has is unbelievable. It's phenomenal."

So, yes, some high praise. And maybe Mountcastle, ranked as the Orioles' No. 3 prospect by Baseball America, has stardom in his future.

"It has come fast. I'm sure there will be bigger tests as he goes up (in the system). There will be some things that will change in his swing and approach. But if this is what is to be, it's going to be something special."

If you want to really nit-pick here, you could mention Mountcastle's low walks total. Just 25 for Delmarva last season and just 10 drawn so far in 66 games for the Keys.

Is this of concern to Manto?

"Not at all. Not for me. He's not getting the walks because he's swinging. He's an aggressive young hitter. We like to see aggressive young hitters. Sometimes they get so passive. For him, the walks are not there because he's hitting everything. The more he swings, the more he'll learn his strike zone," Manto added.

Another Ripken plays in the organization: He has been in the stands before, watching games at Ripken Stadium. But now a Ripken is playing for the Aberdeen IronBirds inside Ripken Stadium. The son of Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., Ryan Ripken batted fourth for Aberdeen last night. He was 1-for-4 with a single in his debut in the O's organization.

The younger Ripken was drafted by the Orioles in round 20 in 2012 but went to college at the University of South Carolina. He later transferred to Indian River State (Fla.) Junior College and then was drafted in round 15 by the Nationals two years later.

He hit just .205 in three seasons before being released in March and signed by the Orioles about two weeks later. He won't make any excuses, but he had two seasons affected by an ankle injury that required surgery in April 2015.

The younger Ripken deals with a famous name daily. He is learning how to handle himself in pro baseball, where everyone knows that his father is in the Hall of Fame.

"No matter what, I will never escape it, for sure. I just try to focus on what I can do to prepare each day. Once the game starts, you try to focus on one at-bat, one pitch at a time, one play at a time.

"Obviously, there are a lot more pressures from the outside, but what I've come to learn is I can't control any of those. Just like with the name. That is never going to go away and hide, and I'm not going to shy away from it. But my job is to focus and is to play and whatever way I can help us win, that is what I try to focus on," he said.

Aberdeen lost its season opener 11-2 last night. O's closer Zach Britton started that game and pitched a scoreless inning to begin his minor league rehab assignment. Read more about that here.