Orioles hitting coach Dustin Lind analyzes Henderson, Alonso, Rutschman, Mayo, Holliday, Cowser

Orioles hitting coach Dustin Lind, who’s in his first season with the team, spoke with the media on Sunday about the batting adjustments the Orioles have made. Here are excerpts:

Question: How do you explain Taylor Ward, who hit more than 30 home runs last year, but has only one this year, but lots of walks?

Dustin Lind: “It’s early-season baseball, a little bit. You get those fluctuations, but he’s been really prepared, been really keyed in on what he wants to do. The damage opportunities just haven’t presented themselves yet. He’s been really focused and the work he’s done has been awesome. It’s really exciting to see that added to his skill set with the understanding that there’s probably going to be a lot more power on the way as we get down the road.”

Q: What do you make of Gunnar Henderson’s first quarter?

Lind: “I think there are some really encouraging signs with Gunnar, He’s hitting the ball really hard. The biggest thing with him is just expanding the zone and not controlling the zone quite the way that he has in his best years, and for him to get back to a more patient and stubborn approach and really keying in on the pitch that he’s trying to drive, I think is going to really give him the results that we’ve become accustomed to seeing in the past.”

Q: What’s your message to Henderson, particularly with two strikes?

Lind: “I think the biggest thing with him is to stay stubborn and focus in on what pitch he’s trying to get and really just be willing to fail with that. A lot of guys expand with two strikes just  because they’re trying to cover the whole plate, and we just want him to be laser focused on whatever he’s hunting for in that particular moment.”

Q: Why do you think Adley Rutschman is going to be able to recapture the form he had in 2023 and the first half of 2024?

Lind: “I think the big thing with him, obviously, is he’s healthy this year, which is huge. He’s able to go out and post and do all his catching responsibilities, and then he did a lot of work this offseason, so he’s going to be able to put his body in position, similar to what he was in 2022 and 2023. He’s done a great job focusing in on what made him a special player and leaning into those strengths. The floor is really high just given the contact and the locked in capabilities, and so for him to get a little bit of slug back, especially with the doubles that he’s been hitting lately, that’s been huge for him.”

Q: Pete Alonso has been putting in extra time in the batting cage and worked with younger players as well. How much of an extension of the coaching staff has he been?

Lind: “He’s been huge because he’s the guy in the box. We can see and watch everything. We can observe, but we’re not in the arena, and so for Pete to be in there and feeling those things and to have gone through a tough stretch earlier this year and to pull himself out of that, it’s great to have him as a veteran mentor, and to be able to be an extension of what we do. He’s been great. I mean his veteran presence and leadership in the clubhouse has been really huge for us.”

Q: The Orioles are 0-9 against left-handed starters. Do you have an explanation for that?

Lind: “We’ve faced some pretty good lefty starters. We’ve had some tough ones. That tends to even itself out over the course of the year. The nice thing is that we’ll get to see a lot of these lefties a second, third time when we’ll be able to make adjustments based off the previous outings we’ve had against them.”

Q: What do you make of Coby Mayo’s struggles?

Lind: “I think he’s a young player that’s getting adjusted to by the league and now he’s starting to work through that process of adjusting back to what the league is doing to him. It’s really about focusing in on the daily work habits and just showing up and continuing to grind.

“It’s really tough, and you’re obviously in there with them every single day, and the work has been incredible. He’s done a really good job with that. For him to have that mental fortitude to keep pushing forward, leaning on those veteran players around him that have gone through this as well. We’re excited that he’s a really talented player and he has the capability of turning this thing around in a hurry.”

Q: How confident are you that the team is a week or two away from having Jackson Holliday back?

Lind: “Each player responds differently to those surgical procedures, and for him to have soreness and some lingering symptoms is not terribly uncommon even though we’ve had players that have made it back in a shorter amount of time. We feel really good about some of the treatments that he’s gotten over the last two weeks here, and he’s reporting a lot more relief from his symptoms and his swings have looked great.

“He’s done a really nice job in the live BPs. He’s starting to get some more at-bats, and it’s going to be getting the time. It’s going to be getting time on the field to be able to come out and play every single day like we need him to. We feel really confident where he’s at. I like the progress that he’s made, especially in these last two weeks.”

Q: Is Colton Cowser getting closer to getting back to the player he’s been?

Lind: “Definitely, we’ve seen some very encouraging signs. I think the at-bat quality is a lot better. It was pretty good to start the year. He was really tough putting balls in play. Then things slid a little bit, but he started to work back out of that. He’s a really good athlete. We’re betting on that upside.”

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