Jon Meoli: Inside the Orioles’ midseason pinch-hitting surge and what’s fueling it

For many current Orioles, a day off during their climb through the minors was truly that. If they were called on to pinch-hit late in games, they usually just loosened up and headed to the batter’s box; some stadiums didn’t even have cages they could hit in during the game.

Their lives are different now.

With the expectation that manager Craig Albernaz is going to use his bench aggressively once the other team’s starter leaves the game, Orioles bench players have been forced to develop a more methodical approach to their pinch-hit at-bats.

The Orioles are benefiting from learning to pinch-hit on the fly, with the club’s pinch hitters batting .295 with a 1.077 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and 192 wRC+ since July 1 after hitting .188 with a .482 OPS and 40 wRC+ to that point.

After Tyler O’Neill went deep off the bench for the third time this year Aug. 4 against the Angels, Albernaz said he usually tells O’Neill before the game when he might be used to allow him to get ready, but that “all of our guys on the bench, they’re always ready to come in and make an impact.”

“It’s not easy, but they do a great job of getting in a routine and getting ready for that reliever they’re about to face,” he said.

That takes different forms for different players. In most situations, as most of the bench bats are getting ready in the middle innings, a coach will run down to the cage and highlight who is up in the other bullpen and how the pinch hitters may be deployed.

As righties, O’Neill and Coby Mayo typically have to prepare for only one or two left-handed relievers in the opposing bullpen. Mayo said he typically goes into the weight room in the third inning to warm up and stretch, activating his core with medicine ball tosses before getting back into the cage in the fourth or fifth inning to do his typical routine. Once he sees a left-handed reliever get up and warming, he’ll ask batting practice pitchers Nick Floyd and Ruben Francisca to set the pitching machine to replicate what he might see.

“I’ll look into his report or, if I already know what he throws, I’ll have a machine set up to his best pitch and what he’s going to attack me with,” Mayo said. “I’m already hot before that, so it’s like, all right, this guy throws a lot of sliders or has a really good fastball, let’s get the machine going to that specific pitch. And then just looking at some video, looking at the report, obviously, then knowing the situation, when they come in with guys on base, what does he throw with guys on scoring position?

“You’re trying to study as much as you can before that at-bat but also not trying to do too much, just trying to take an at-bat like I usually do and not overthink it.”

Mayo has had only six pinch-hit opportunities this year, but no one has had more chances than Colton Cowser, who has come off the bench 23 times to hit. He’s 2-for-20 in the initial pinch-hit at-bat, but his success in subsequent at-bats after entering the game means he’s hitting .229 with a .350 weighted on-base average in games he doesn’t start.

Having been an everyday player in 2024 and mostly starting last year when he was healthy, Cowser said, the adjustment was stark. He wouldn’t typically hit on days he wasn’t in the lineup, but now he knows he needs to get his work in every day, given he’s probably going to come in at some point.

Once the game begins, he’ll start getting his body moving in the third or fourth inning — or earlier, if the starter’s pitch count is climbing. There are more right-handed options to consider than left-handed ones, and once Cowser sees one up in the bullpen, he’ll either set the spin-ball machine to start seeing the pitch shapes he’ll mostly likely face or, if time allows, fire up the Trajekt machine that displays a pitcher’s delivery and replicates his pitches out of the exact slot.

Dylan Beavers said he starts getting loose in the second inning and will start hitting in the fifth, with the ability to prepare for distinct pitch shapes being an advantage.

“You have all the resources you need to do it,” he said. “The hardest part of is, you didn’t start the game, so you’re not in the rhythm, you haven’t seen any pitches, but you get every resource you can.”

The rhythm and timing of pinch hitting has gotten more comfortable, with help from the ongoing communication with the coaching staff, but these platoon bats also know when to look for pinch hitters because they’re often replaced on the days when they start.

No big leaguer wants that to be the case, and the practice of pinch hitting challenges the path to everyday, consistent opportunities for some. Cowser and Beavers have 41 and 34 plate appearances off lefties, respectively, representing around 15% of their total plate appearances.

So, while Cowser has learned how games typically go around here, he’s also been heartened at the opportunities to face lefties late in games and improve that aspect.

“As the year has gone on, sometimes when we have a lead, I’ll end up having to stay in there and face a tough lefty, which is something that I want to do and I want to continue to do,” he said. “I feel like it helps me against righties, when I’m in there against lefties. But it’s just one of those things where you get familiar with the staff and continue to play, you start to see when those opportunities might pop up during the game.”