Zach Wilt: Orioles offense showing a different look

The Orioles are atop the American League East with an undefeated record. They're on pace to finish the 2016 season with an historic 162 wins. The Birds haven't lost a game in months. What a great time to cheer on the orange and black.

That's always a fun exercise when you're team starts the season 2-0. Feel free to use that first paragraph for your Facebook status today. In all seriousness, my biggest takeaway from the early part of the 2016 season is that the Orioles offense looks different. I have been impressed with the way in which the O's have scored their first seven runs of the season. The sample size is microscopic, but at least through two games, the Orioles offense appears to be improved upon from its struggles a season ago.

At times, it could be agonizing to watch the O's offense last year. This team seemed to have so many chances to drive in a late tying or go-ahead run, but struggled mightily to do so. As a result, the Orioles went 25-26 in one-run games. The boom-or-bust Birds, who relied so heavily on the home run over the past three seasons, finished third in homers in 2016 with 217. They were also in the top five in strikeouts. It should come as no surprise that as a team, the Orioles ranked second in out of the strike zone swinging percentage, behind only the Brewers. None of the teams that finished in the top 10 on that list played in the postseason.

Through two games, it's felt different. Maybe it's that opening day optimism in me or maybe hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh has actually implemented a more patient approach for this offense. The first score of the season was set up by a Joey Rickard double, a Manny Machado single and an Adam Jones two-run double in the bottom of the fifth. How many times did we see leadoff doubles go to waste in 2015?

Rickard has quickly become a fan favorite in Baltimore and why shouldn't he be? The guy is a great story and a welcome addition to the bottom of the order. Not only does he have four hits, but he's done a fantastic job turning the lineup over for the 1-2-3 hitters to do some damage.

While Rickard has been setting the table, it's Chris Davis' approach that has made the biggest impression on me so far. After signing the biggest contract in franchise history, Davis hasn't shown any early signs of feeling the pressure to carry this club. You would think that on opening day he would want to launch a ball into orbit to prove to the fans, the team and himself that he's worthy of the contract. He proved it to me in a totally different way.

With two outs in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth, the O's best home run hitter drew a key walk. It was actually his second of the day. Despite nearly three hours of rain delays in the first game of the season, Davis was patient enough not to go up to the dish hacking, but instead had faith in the two guys behind him to bring him home. Mark Trumbo pushed Davis to third with a single to center field, then Matt Wieters delivered the walk-off. How about that? A manufactured walk-off win.

Don't expect Davis to look for free passes in key situations all season. He's going to get his pitches to drive and I expect quite a few to leave the ballpark. We saw last night that he's still more than capable of crushing homers.

Manufactured runs have been the story of the O's first two games. Davis picked up his first homer of the season on Wednesday, but the other three runs the Orioles scored came on a Jonathan Schoop RBI double, a Rickard sac fly and a Wieters RBI double. Against the Twins pitching staff, the O's have done a fantastic job of putting the ball in play, striking out just 16 times over the first two games. By comparison, they've gotten the Twins to strike out 23 times.

I still expect that the Orioles are going to mash and think that there will be stretches where they swing and miss a lot. There is some serious power potential on this ballclub, but you can't deny that the offense has done a great job of bringing in runners to score through in the first two games against the Twins. If they can find the balance between that power and the ability to manufacture runs, the Orioles could be a scary offense to go up against in 2016.

Zach Wilt blogs about the Orioles at Baltimore Sports Report. Follow him on Twitter: @zach_wilt. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.