A look at Jordan Westburg's early season breakout at the plate

Gunnar Henderson is having a remarkable start to his season for the Orioles and is second in the American League with an OPS of 1.022. One of his teammates is fifth and it's not Adley Rutschman or Anthony Santander, Ryan O'Hearn or Ryan Mountcastle. It's not Colton Cowser, who has an OPS of 1.139 but not enough plate appearances to qualify for league leaders.

It is Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg, who like his friend and teammate Cowser, has sure taken his game to a higher level this season. And with an OPS of .941, it is Westburg that ranks fifth-best right now in the AL. He is keeping company with some great hitters as the Yankees Juan Soto is one spot ahead of him while Mike Trout and Bobby Witt Jr. are behind Westburg.

After waiting his chance to get to the bigs – he had 714 plate appearances combined in 2022 and 2023 at Triple-A Norfolk – he finally got his first big league opportunity late last June.

He’s been running with it ever since.

And this is a high draft pick, but not a 1/1 like Rutschman or Jackson Holliday or the No. 2 pick in the draft like Heston Kjerstad or No. 5 like Cowser. He was taken No. 30 overall out of Mississippi State in the 2020 MLB Draft.

After a solid rookie year where he posted a .715 OPS for the Orioles but hit just three homers in 228 plate appearances in 2023, we are seeing a breakout now from Westburg. A big one. 

In 23 games he’s batting .310/.370/.571/.941 with five doubles and homers and 18 RBIs. He has a .762 OPS versus lefty pitchers and 1.009 OPS against right-handers.

He is among the O's leaders in several stat categories. And in addition to his lofty OPS ranking, he is ninth in the AL in RBIs, 11th in batting average and tied for 16th in home runs.

Like Henderson, he's been doing it all at times for the team, playing solid defense, he's scored 15 runs and he's stolen four bases. 

Westburg said he made a few batting adjustments over the winter and took them into this season. The results so far are, well, pretty special.

“Less bat wiggle (from last year)," he said of one adjustment. "Just watching some film of last year, I don’t know really what to call it other than bat wiggle, but there was just a lot of movement with the barrel when I wanted to make my forward move. So, I made a conscious effort in the offseason to keep that bat-head still. Make it one fluid motion to the baseball. I wanted to stand up a little bit taller too, cover the top of the zone. There were some fine lines that I played with and toyed around with in spring training and we’re here now. So, feel pretty confident about it.”

Westburg said he studied a teammate in making his adjustments.

“Gunnar Henderson. Not going to lie,” he said. “I had a conversation with (co-hitting coach) Ryan Fuller this offseason – he was checking on me and I sent him some video. Trying to blend Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson almost. I was a little crouched out wider. I was probably a little more loose and Gunnar is you know, up tall, super athletic in his stance. Little bit more tight with his hands and I liked that. I felt I was too loose at times. Like I said with the barrel wiggle, it just wasn’t timing itself up.

“With Gunnar, it always seems like he is ready to hit. I just think the way velocity is right now, you need to be able to swing when you want to swing. You need to be able to cover the top of the zone. O’Hearn and Gunnar do that very well and I was trying to model a little bit after them.”

So a few tweaks after a very good run on the O’s farm have turned Westburg into a solid major league hitter and one that may well prove better than that. We may now be seeing the beginnings of that. 

Westburg said things that were preached on the O’s farm helped him then and continue to be big now.

“That is right on. As soon as you get drafted, positive swing decisions (is preached), swing at the right pitches," said Westburg. "Hitting the ball at good angles like your five-to-30-degree launch angles, balls that are on a line. They have a chance to leave the yard. And then hitting it hard, finding the barrel. Those are the three disciplines I guess as a hitting group that you kind of know as soon as you join the organization.

"Working on those in the minors and getting up here and learning and failing and then having success, it's just a process. But it's a good one and one that we focus on."

Westburg has been a big run producer with his RBI count (second on the team behind Henderson) and is hitting .292 with a .954 OPS when batting with runners in scoring position. He is 20th in the AL in RISP OPS. He said it was in college where he learned how important it is to cash in runs when the ducks are on the pond as they say.

“Starting in college, when I played at Mississippi State, the offensive philosophy was be a tough out. Focus on your two-strike hitting. And when there is a chance to score a runner, score him no matter what it is. Whether it’s a groundout or pop up, shoot a sac bunt, anything. You have to push that run across.

“I have kind of made that or tried to make that a part of my game since being drafted. I took a lot of pride in the year (2022) when I drove in 100 runs (he had 106 RBIs) in the minors. Took a lot of pride in that – probably more than the homers and batting average. When I get those chances, I want to be laser focused, I want to have a plan and at least give us a shot to score that run," he said.

O's return home: The Orioles (16-8) begin a seven-game homestand tonight at the Yard with three games versus Oakland followed by four with the New York Yankees in what will be an AL East first-place showdown.

The Athletics beat the Yankees 3-1 yesterday and they took two of four games in that series in the Bronx. They are 10-16. And because they won yesterday the Orioles today lead the AL East by percentage points over the Yankees at .667 to .654 with the teams even in the games behind standings.