Rival scout reveals Orioles' secret recipe for developing hitters

The Baltimore Orioles have established themselves as one of the best teams in the MLB over the past two seasons, and a big reason why is because of their ability to continually develop star hitters at the major league level. Guys like Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, and Jordan Westburg have emerged as stars over the past few years, and Jackson Holiday is leading the charge of young prospects who are knocking on the door behind them.

Simply put, no one is developing young hitters at the rate that the Orioles are, and the rest of the league is trying to figure out what they are doing that is yielding such great results for them. According to one rival scout, he believes that Baltimore is prioritizing a metric called Vertical Bat Angle, also known as VBA, to help their prospects develop the best possible swing before they make it to the majors.

“'They draft for VBA,' said a rival scout about the Orioles.” – Brittany Ghiroli & Eno Sarris, The Athletic

Have the Orioles figured out the key to developing star hitters?

In the day of advanced analytics completely taking over the MLB, stuff like VBA may seem quite complex, but it isn't too tough to understand. VBA measures the angle that a hitter's bat takes in relation to the ground, and is measured from directly in front of or behind the hitter. A steeper angle typically results in balls getting hit with more loft, while a more flat angle results in balls getting hit as line drives or on the ground.

Taking a good angle to the ball isn't a revolutionary concept for hitters, but when developing their prospects, the Orioles are prioritizing VBA. Whether it be drafting or trading for prospects who already have a solid VBA , or working it into their development program in the minors, it seems like Baltimore has found a way to get pretty much all of their guys taking the proper angle with their swing whenever they are at the plate.

It's obviously not as simple as this, but the first step to being a good hitter involves having a good swing, and Baltimore appears to have found the metric that will allow them to help their hitters in the best possible way. As a result of this revelation, it wouldn't be a surprise to see teams begin to prioritize similar metrics in an effort to copy what has worked for the Orioles.