SARASOTA, Fla. \u2014 One day, while watching his daughter learn the intricacies of tennis, it dawned on Jason Bourgeois how similar it is to prepare for a serve and a fly ball. As his daughter, now 11, learned how to do a split step for tennis, an idea was born in Bourgeois\u2019 mind.<\/p>\n
So a tennis racket and tennis ball are now part of the Orioles outfield coach\u2019s repertoire.<\/p>\n
In tennis, the split step technique is a vital part of preparation. It\u2019s a small hop, and when timed correctly, it allows the defender to land on the balls of their feet and then react in an instant \u2014 a necessary skill when facing serves that travel well over 100 mph off a racket.<\/p>\n
Bourgeois, a former major league outfielder who transitioned into coaching with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox before joining manager Craig Albernaz\u2019s staff in Baltimore, saw an opportunity for a drill to enhance the reaction times of the outfielders under his purview. He stands in the outfield and hits the tennis ball to the fielder from about 15 yards away, making them do a short sprint to catch it barehanded.<\/p>\n
Albernaz joked that Bourgeois was just doing it to practice his tennis, because his daughter is now so much better than her dad. But in reality, the drill could help Baltimore\u2019s outfielders move a fraction of a second more quickly \u2014 which could make all the difference when attempting to reach a fly ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can get ready almost like we\u2019re about to face a 115 mph serve, a 140 mph serve in men\u2019s tennis, I think we\u2019ll be in a good spot,\u201d Bourgeois said. \u201cReaction is king. That is something that we\u2019re preaching around here. That\u2019s been a model for us in the outfield. I figure, if we can get off the ball quickly enough and leave the angles to themselves, we\u2019ll be in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennis ball drills are nothing new in baseball. Outfield coaches have run their fielders through barehanded tennis ball drills for years as a way to encourage soft hands and concentration. But when Bourgeois first brought the tennis racket to Dodgers camp, Mookie Betts became a believer in how the racket can elevate the drill, Bourgeois said.<\/p>\n
In Orioles camp, Bourgeois has run his outfielders through their paces with that racket.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big thing is reactions,\u201d said center fielder Colton Cowser. \u201cSometimes, when you do little tossing drills, you can read where it\u2019s going to go and whatnot. The racket, you can kind of manipulate it, and I think the big thing, too, is just catching it soft with your left hand and putting your body in the right spot. But the big thing is just reactions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Orioles have room to improve their first steps, and that has been the central pillar of Bourgeois\u2019 spring training drills. According to Statcast data, Cowser graded as the best Orioles outfielder last season in terms of initial reaction (which measures how many feet in the correct direction a player moves in the first 1.5 seconds of the ball\u2019s flight).<\/p>\n
But Cowser was merely league average, with a reaction of 0.3 feet less than average (60th in MLB), per Statcast, indicating he will sometimes make an initial move in the wrong direction before righting himself. By comparison, Washington Nationals outfielder Jacob Young, considered one of the best defensive center fielders, led the majors with 4.6 feet more than the average outfielder.<\/p>\n
The entire outfield unit, as a result, has been charged with improving their first steps.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really cares a lot about jumps, getting good jumps,\u201d outfielder Dylan Beavers said. \u201cThat\u2019s what he emphasizes a lot, at least to this point, which is good for me because I need to work on jumps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bourgeois said that many of the top defensive outfielders rank highly in initial reaction time, and even if they aren\u2019t as precise in their angle to the ball, the quick jumps enable them to make standout plays. <\/p>\n
The Statcast metrics reinforce that. The Chicago Cubs\u2019 Pete Crow-Armstrong and Boston Red Sox\u2019s Ceddanne Rafaela led all outfielders in outs above average. But their routes fell below the league average in terms of efficiency.<\/p>\n
Part of improving reaction time is to understand the hitter\u2019s tendencies. Beavers said he knows which players slow their bat speed with two strikes, and he can adjust accordingly. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in a good spot pre-pitch\u201d is imperative, Beavers said. \u201cAnd getting a good jump, that extra foot, maybe, may make all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a sense, Bourgeois can thank his daughter for inspiration. The tennis racket in Bourgeois\u2019 baseball bag is unconventional, but if it works, the Orioles don\u2019t care how conventional it seems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SARASOTA, Fla. \u2014 One day, while watching his daughter learn the intricacies of tennis, it dawned on Jason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,147,182,4635,4,12212,125,151,594],"class_list":["post-628623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-detroit","tag-florida","tag-grapefruit-league","tag-mlb","tag-os","tag-orioles","tag-spring-training","tag-tigers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116246068737465728","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}