[Baltimore Sun] The Orioles aren’t trying to hit home runs. They keep coming anyway.
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The Orioles have wasted no time getting into the swing of things.
With three home runs in their 4-2 walk-off victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, Baltimore became the first MLB team to reach 30 homers this season just three weeks after opening day. Since 2019, 11 of the past 15 teams to hit at least 30 home runs over their first 18 games have reached the playoffs.
The Orioles (12-6) have jumped out to an early tie with the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East behind the power of their offense, which has tallied the fifth-most runs in baseball (104) while posting an AL-best .459 slugging percentage. They’ve hit three home runs in each of their past five games, tied for the second longest such streak in MLB history behind only the 1987 Orioles (six).
Shortstop Gunnar Henderson leads the club with six long balls, building on the success he enjoyed in 2023 when he hit 28 to tie Cal Ripken Jr. for the second-most home runs by a rookie in Orioles history. Center fielder Cedric Mullins ranks second on the team with five homers followed by four players tied with four: outfielders Colton Cowser and Anthony Santander, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and infielder Jordan Westburg.
“I think as a whole, we still have a pretty balanced lineup in terms of being able to steal bags, put pressure on guys on defense,” Mullins said after his walk-off home run Wednesday. “But hey, home runs going up, I think that’s a matter of how our offseasons were and how we prepared for the season in the spring.”
After ranking 17th in baseball with 183 home runs last season, the Orioles came out crushing the ball in spring training by hitting the second-most long balls in the Grapefruit League. They’ve carried that over into the regular season; Baltimore is on pace for 270 home runs, which would’ve ranked second in MLB last season behind only the Atlanta Braves (307).
While the home runs have carried the offense so far, they’ve come at the expense of walks. The Orioles wrapped up play Wednesday last in all of baseball with 44 bases on balls. They still have one of MLB’s 10 lowest strikeout totals, but their lack of walks is a big reason why half of their home runs have been solo shots.
The long balls have been an encouraging surprise for the Orioles. Twenty-six of them have been hit by players age 30 or younger — also the most in baseball — a trend that bodes well for years to come as their core of young position players establishes itself. Yet while the 2023 Orioles used their power to attack the outfield gaps, the 2024 iteration of the club is muscling those balls into the seats — even if they’re not trying to.
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Hitting coaches Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte preach making quality contact, putting the barrel on the ball enough to keep the line moving without swinging for the fences. Both Mullins and Westburg, after hitting their respective walk-off homers this season, said they were only looking for singles to keep the rallies alive.
It’s a formula that works even better when the players are strong enough to lift those singles into home runs.
“We love those long innings and we’re looking to have more of them, but as simple as possible, control the [strike] zone,” Fuller said Sunday. “When we control the zone, we put really good swings, put balls in play that are hard and at good angles and then pass it to the next guy and trust that what we did last year — hitting with runners in scoring position so well — we don’t have to do too much and make it as simple as possible.
“Where am I trying to look for the pitch out of hand? Where does it have to end up to be in the spot I want to hit it? Take my best swing out, and if we do that collectively, we’re going to be in a really good spot.”
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