Orioles’ Christian Franklin has shown a knack for getting on base. His unique approach helps.

As the final minutes ticked down on the trade deadline, the Orioles swung a deal to add a unique player to their outfield equation. They acquired Christian Franklin, a 26-year-old who can play all three outfield spots and is best characterized by his ability to reach base.

Franklin isn’t an everyday player for Baltimore. The right-handed batter has appeared mainly against left-handed pitchers. But since making his major league debut this month, his ability to get on base — and make things interesting once he does — has translated immediately from the minors.

Being an on-base-oriented player was not Franklin’s goal. Don’t get him wrong: He wants to reach base at a high clip. But Franklin said he mostly hears about that aspect of his game from observers.

“That’s never been something I felt like would be the thing I’m going to be really good at,” he said. “It’s just like, I like to swing at strikes and take balls. And I guess that’s something I’m just good at.”

He’s right. Franklin’s good at that. According to Prospect Savant, Franklin swung at pitches outside the zone at a 19.8% rate in Triple-A this year, which ranked in the 90th percentile. That turned into a strong walk rate.

And it has carried over into his limited time in the majors with Baltimore. Franklin has only had 28 plate appearances, but his 18.4% chase rate so far would be among the best in baseball. His 17.9% walk rate is also near the highest in the league. His .357 on-base percentage helps make up for an early .182 batting average.

Franklin can also hit for power; his first major league knock was a double to right field. In the minors this year, he notched six homers, two triples and 17 doubles. That could be a bonus on top of his on-base skills.

How he reaches base is a layered phenomenon — a combination of his good eye, efficient movement and swing path, and unique approach.

Franklin targets pitches that are up and in. That’s not because he necessarily wants to hit all up-and-in pitches, but because those require the fastest reaction time. From there, he is confident in his ability to adjust to other pitches and locations.

“I’m going to tell you my whole approach,” Franklin said, realizing that opposing pitchers may read this and learn his approach, too. “But it doesn’t really matter, honestly.”

What Franklin gathers from looking up and inside trickles down to what pitches he actually hits. Let’s hear it in his own words.

“The lefty, I’m good at seeing a fastball in that lane, or a changeup, if it starts in that lane, it’s going to go back over the plate,” he said. “And if there’s a breaking ball pop out over that, I can adjust to that.”

OK, that’s lefties. How about his matchups against righties?

“Everything is moving away from you, for the most part, unless they have a sinker,” he explained. “But I trust my eyes enough to be able to lay off a sinker if I see it moving in, and if they hang a changeup, I feel like that’s just a slower fastball and I can adjust to that. That’s just what works for me.”

How it works for Franklin is different than how it works for many hitters.

Generally, professional pitching at any level — but especially in the majors — is so difficult to hit that with fewer than two strikes, batters predict (a nicer way to write guess) which pitch may come and where it may be located. When they’re right, batters have a higher chance of doing damage.

Franklin said he used to look for the pitch out over the plate. When he got it, he could drive it. But “then I would swing at a bunch of breaking balls that start in the same lane,” he said. Soon enough, when pitchers realized he was susceptible to breaking balls, that’s all he’d see.

Franklin, whom the Chicago Cubs selected in the fourth round of the 2021 draft out of Arkansas, is still young but has had an interesting journey to the Orioles. The Nationals acquired him last year when they traded right-hander Michael Soroka to the Cubs at the trade deadline. Then the Orioles shipped minor league pitcher Joe Glassey to Washington this deadline to add a right-handed-hitting outfield option.

In flashes, Franklin has shown what his game is all about. In his debut early this month, he walked and stole a base. And on Monday, in a loss to Tampa Bay, Franklin recorded two singles in two plate appearances and swiped another bag.

“You can see what he can do, just causing chaos on the bases,” manager Craig Albernaz said Monday. “The stolen base, the two-infield hits, that’s a skill set that we value, too.”

This first month of major league life has been “a lot,” although Franklin said he has tried to shut out any distractions so he can focus on playing the same game he always has. Still, he has time to be grateful each time he arrives at the field.

And while the last year has been equally disorienting — featuring three organizations and two trades — Franklin is eager for the simplicity of a game.

“Any way that I can help the team,” he said, “whether it’s hitting lefties, whether it’s stealing a base, getting on base, playing good defense, I’m going to go out there and play as hard as I possibly can for this team.”