Skid squashed: Why O's were never worried about Westburg

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- In the center of the Orioles’ clubhouse shortly after Thursday night’s game at Camden Yards, Jordan Westburg sat at a table next to assistant hitting coach Sherman Johnson. The two ate their meals and carried out a quiet conversation.

At the time, Westburg was mired in an 0-for-24 slump, a stretch spanning seven games back to April 6. The 26-year-old infielder had been laser focused on trying to break out of it.

So surely, that’s what Westburg was talking with Johnson about, right?

“We didn’t talk baseball at all. We didn’t. We just talked life, man,” Johnson said. “We talked about how the fam’s doing.”

Prior to Saturday’s game, Johnson struck up another conversation with Westburg during batting practice -- again, nothing pertaining to baseball.

“We were talking about football. I was like, ‘Hey man, you play football in high school?’ And he kind of lit up,” Johnson said. “We started talking about football, and he was like, ‘I liked basketball a lot growing up, and I played that, too.’

“It’s not to get his mind off of [his slump], right? I know for a fact that, more than anything, he wants to play well, and it’s going to consume his brain. But we get to share a meal, we get to talk and kind of understand like, ‘Westy, it’s going to be all right. We believe in you. Everybody in this building knows you’re working really hard and we have all the faith in the world in you.’”

Westburg’s hitless drought reached 0-for-30 before he slugged a solo home run in the seventh inning of Baltimore’s 9-5 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. He could breathe a sigh of relief.

The talks with Johnson -- as well as those with other members of Westburg’s support system, such as his wife, Anna Claire, the other O’s hitting coaches and his teammates -- have been positives for the 2024 All-Star on the mental side of the game.

“It's always good to have people around you who keep a good perspective and not let you get lost in thoughts and the negatives of what's happening,” Westburg said. “It can be hard because, for me, I want to help this team win so badly, and if my name’s in the lineup, I expect a lot out of myself. I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform.

“So when that doesn't happen, it can be hard to kind of push baseball aside because I'm the kind of guy who wants to get it fixed so that tomorrow I can help a team.”

Better results are now coming for Westburg, who has three hits in his past six plate appearances after hitting a pair of doubles in Sunday’s 24-2 loss to the Reds.

The Orioles always believed Westburg -- who was hitting .303 (10-for-33) nine games into the season -- would return to form. He put in a lot of time watching video, and he was also the victim of some bad batted-ball luck, often striking hard-hit balls directly at defenders.

“He’s got a whole group of guys in there pulling for him,” assistant hitting coach Tommy Joseph said. “So yeah, I think he’s headed in the right direction.”

Manager Brandon Hyde said he could see Westburg “pressing” for much of his skid. He was getting into bad counts, swinging too far in front of pitches, expanding the strike zone and not trusting his hands to do the work, all from Hyde’s point of view.

But when Westburg’s at his best, he has the potential to be one of the top hitters in Baltimore’s lineup. That was the case during the first half of 2024 season, when he hit .271 with 22 doubles, 15 home runs and an .814 OPS over 89 games to earn his first nod to the Midsummer Classic.

Considering how Westburg has looked at the plate the past two games, it appears he may have figured out how to get back to that level of offensive production.

“Maybe. I wouldn’t say ‘figured out,’ just made some adjustments. I’m trying to work hard and stay positive and just getting back to where I feel like myself is kind of how I would put it,” Westburg said. “