masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles have had a decent year on the farm at the plate. Several players and a few of their minor league teams have had success on offense this season.

Jeff Manto is nearing the end of his first season as the Orioles coordinator of minor league hitting. A former Oriole and former big league hitting coach with Pittsburgh and the Chicago White Sox, Manto was hired Nov. 5.

In this question and answer session he talked about his first year in his new role.

Q: What has your first year been…The Orioles have had a decent year on the farm at the plate. Several players and a few of their minor league teams have had success on offense this season.

Jeff Manto is nearing the end of his first season as the Orioles coordinator of minor league hitting. A former Oriole and former big league hitting coach with Pittsburgh and the Chicago White Sox, Manto was hired Nov. 5.

In this question and answer session he talked about his first year in his new role.

Q: What has your first year been like?

A: “It’s been great. More than I expected. Above my expectations. The people I work with and report to are great. It’s been a real good experience.”

Q: Has it been a summer where you have bounced around from team-to-team?

A: “Yes, that is the call of this job. But a lot of the teams are close, so it’s been a great experience.”

Q: A broad question. But give me a sense of some things you want to put in place and get going with your program. I know you emphasized when we talked before this is not necessarily just about what you want to do. You are part of a larger process working with hitters and the individual team coaches.

A: “When I got to spring training I wanted to look at each hitter and identify strengths and weaknesses. We put some drills in place to maintain the positive things and help things that need to get better.

“It’s a hands-on program in a fun way. It’s not where we sit there berating players. It’s a hands-on program where the coaches and players have dialogue and everybody is learning each other and learning the players especially.

“People have responded to it. The players and coaches love the fact that each player has taken ownership of their program. If you ask each player what their program is, they go to the cage and it’s not monotony. They are allowed to change their program, as long as it’s change for good and not just for the sake of change.”

Q: So the players themselves seem to have a lot of input into what they do?

A: “Exactly and that is the way it should be. They are solely responsible for their careers. We’re here to help them get to the big leagues. Some need more help than others and we coach accordingly. Some guys are move advanced, some need more guidance and we are here to do all of that.”

Q: You made the point to me before that you may coach an 18-year-old player differently than someone that has played five years. In what ways?

A; “The younger kid, we want to make things simple for him. Our most important thing for the young hitters is to make sure they have balance and that everything is in place throughout the swing. That is our focus.

“Yes, statistics would be great. Everyone wants to hit .300 and we understand that. But we also make the player understand at a young age that it is a process. You can’t show up out of junior college or high school and say you are going to hit in pro ball where it’s an All-Star Game every night

“The older guys, they know what they are doing and we teach them to maintain mechanics, but it can change at higher levels. It changes at higher levels where pitch selection, on-base percentage, when to take your walk, when to take a pitch, who is hitting behind you come into play. As we move up the ladder those are the kinds of things we explain to a hitter, but certainly not in Aberdeen.”

Q: What about the mental part of the game, which is so big at any level. How to deal with an 0-for-10 and so forth?

A: “What we try to do is simplify it. Simplify each at-bat. The one thing we try to get away from is swinging your way out a slump. There is a purpose to each at-bat when you are not feeling good. Let’s have a plan.

“It’s just not go out there and start swinging. It might be where we look to get on a fastball and fastball only. It might be a situation where there is a lefty and we look for the changeup only.

“The reason being, it is not about just looking for a pitch but we want the player to really narrow down a game plan. If you are not good right now, let’s have a plan and that is what we do.”