How new-school data and old-school communication are helping Orioles hitters jump on starters

Austin Hays remembers a time when iPads weren’t in the Orioles’ dugout.

Hays made his big league debut in 2017, one year after MLB began allowing teams to access the devices during games. But the Orioles, under the previous regime, didn’t have iPads containing vast amounts of data available for players to use during the game, Hays said.

Now, though, the days of simply asking fellow hitters coming back into the dugout questions about the pitcher’s velocity, movement and release point are mostly in the past.

“We actually have numbers and diagrams for that now,” Hays said. “We don’t have to ask those questions anymore because we’re totally prepared.”

The data on the iPads — which MLB in 2021 broadened to include in-game video recordings — is just one tool, co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller said, that has allowed the Orioles to jump on starting pitchers earlier than the club did in 2022 and better than any other team in baseball so far this year. The key, Fuller said, is “connecting” the hitters’ in-game experience with the immense amount of information available on the iPad.

“We might have a feel in the dugout, but we’re gonna confirm it with numbers,” Fuller said. “We’re gonna make sure everything we’re doing in terms of game planning matches up with what the game’s telling us out on the field.”

So far this season, the Orioles are the best hitting team in baseball against starting pitchers after the first time through the batting order, reaching base, barreling balls and scoring runs at elite rates.

Through Friday, the Orioles rank first in the sport with a 1.029 OPS in those situations compared to just .671 (23rd) the first time through the order. For reference, three-time American League Most Valuable Player Mike Trout’s career OPS is 1.002.

“The more you see a pitcher, the more you have an advantage as a hitter,” Hays said. “You’re just starting to pick up the spin of their ball, the speed of their pitches, if they have something quirky in their delivery that you haven’t seen before.”

In those situations, Baltimore also boasts the No. 1 slugging percentage (.628), second-best on-base percentage (.401), fourth-best walk (13%) and strikeout (16.7%) rates and fifth-best batting average (.307). While it’s still early in the season, those numbers are all significantly better than how the team performed last year. In 2022, the Orioles slashed .243/.303/.413 after the first time through the order.

“We’ve got some pretty good hitters,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Our guys are doing a good job with their approach, staying with their approach even if their first or second at-bat doesn’t go their way. I think they’re doing a good job of staying locked in.”

Of course, performing better against a starter the second and third time is not a surprise. The recognition of that league-wide trend — in which pitchers get worse the more times they turn over the lineup — has changed the way the sport functions over the past decade. Teams are more reluctant to allow their starters to go deep in games, and some clubs in recent years have used an opener to pitch the first inning.

“We want the pitcher out before the fifth inning, getting to that bullpen,” Fuller said. “Last year, one of our focal points was not waiting until the seventh inning to score. We were really waiting to get into that bullpen. But, man, jump on that first pitcher, get into that bullpen, keep scoring runs. That’s a focal point for us this year, and we’re doing a good job with it so far.”

The difference is most notable when a starter is facing a lineup the third time. The Orioles aren’t waiting that long.

Just against starters the second time through the order, Baltimore’s .686 slugging entering Saturday is more than 100 points better than the second-best team. In 105 at-bats in those situations, the Orioles have 35 hits — 10 doubles and nine home runs — and 15 walks versus just 17 strikeouts with a league-leading 26 runs. Their 1.105 OPS is 88% better than league average.

Anthony Santander, who broke out of his slump Saturday with a solo home run, said the Orioles’ success the second time through the order is indicative of a young club coming into its own. The players who braved the rebuild — like Cedric Mullins, Ryan Mountcastle, Santander and Hays — are all becoming veterans, while former top prospects like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson are continuing to grow. That dynamic, he said, is why it’s still important to talk during the game about the pitcher’s tendencies and repertoire.

“The communication has been a big key of that success,” said Santander, who has a .267 OPS in his first at-bats and a .962 in his second ones. “That communication is part of being a good teammate.”

Santander said one in-game adjustment hitters can make is recognizing what pitches the opposing pitcher is able to command. Ramón Urías said knowing where a pitcher is spotting his pitches is what’s most important for him after his first plate appearance. Henderson wants to see the pitcher’s arm angle, while Hays likes knowing where a pitcher is throwing his hard pitches versus his soft stuff.

All that information is available to the players in the report Fuller and the rest of the Orioles’ hitting staff put together before each game. A “macro” report is given to each player every day with an “attack plan” against that pitcher, Fuller said. But each player — based on his handedness and strengths and weaknesses — has an “individualized plan” as well.

But the reports and video available to players before the game, Urías said, are nothing like actually being in the batter’s box.

“It’s not the same as watching video,” said Urías, who has a .282 OPS in his first at-bats and a .919 in his second ones. “We watch video before the game, but it’s different when you’re at the plate. Seeing the ball coming out of the hand, I think that helps me the most.”

“That first at-bat you want to get as much information as you can,” said Henderson, whose three extra-base hits and two RBIs this season came when facing the starter a second time.

Henderson said learning what information from the iPad to utilize is “trial and error.” For Hays, once the iPad was put in the dugout in 2019, the first season under the new regime, it took him time to learn the “fine line” between staying present in the game and looking at the screen.

“You just can’t get too caught up in the iPad to where you’re not watching the game,” Hays said. “At first, I was probably looking at the iPad too often when it first came out because it was new. It took games and at-bats for me to figure that out — what you’re looking for and what you’re trying to accomplish.”

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