Heston Kjerstad begins third Orioles stint with two hits and a dramatic out
Heston Kjerstad hopes he's in Baltimore to stay this time. The top outfield prospect began his third Orioles stint with a standout performance.
Heston Kjerstad downplayed his desperation to return to Baltimore.
Of course, it’s where the 25-year-old wants to swing his powerful bat, but he “wasn’t sitting on the edge of my seat” waiting for his next call-up from Triple-A Norfolk to the Orioles.
Perhaps this studied calm was simply a means of steadying his nerves as he prepared to bat fifth Monday against the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians and their strikeout artist, Tanner Bibee.
Kjerstad was back in the majors, and he wasted little time making an argument that this time, he should stay. In the bottom of the first inning, he lined a Bibee slider down the first-base line for a two-out double. Two innings later, he smacked an opposite-field single, again with two outs, off a 95 mph fastball. In both cases, he jumped on Bibee’s first pitch.
“I got what I was looking for. I put a good swing on it,” he said. In two at-bats, he had the second multi-hit game of his career.
Kjerstad had the chance to play hero in the eighth inning. With two outs and Anthony Santander on first, he worked the count to 3-2 and proceeded to foul off five straight pitches from one of the league’s best relievers, Hunter Gaddis. The crowd at Camden Yards rose and roared as Kjerstad prepared for Gaddis’ 13th offering of the at-bat, a 96 mph fastball, but his fly ball to center had too much air under it. As outs go, it was impressive.
“He took a great at-bat there,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Fouling off some tough bunch of pitches, and he just missed one.”
This is Kjerstad’s third stint with the Orioles. He slashed .233/.281/.467 in 32 plate appearances in September and .143/.294/.143 in 17 plate appearances earlier this season. In each case, he found consistent at-bats hard to come by.
He’s hoping this call-up will be the charmed one while understanding that the daily competition to appear in Hyde’s lineup is as robust as ever with the club leading the major leagues in runs per game, home runs and slugging.
“You want to play every day,” Kjerstad said before the game, while acknowledging he has only so much control over his usage.
He added that “everybody that makes that decision in this [organization], they’re really good at what they do. and there’s a reason for their madness and I stand behind it.”
Baseball America recently ranked Kjerstad the No. 23 prospect in the sport, and there’s little question he has mastered Triple-A, where he has a .998 OPS and 16 home runs in 56 games this season.
Hyde said he’s optimistic that with few off days ahead, he’ll find ample chances to rotate Kjerstad into his lineup.
“These are good team problems,” he said. “I’ve got [Colton] Cowser and [Austin] Hays sitting on the bench tonight. [Ryan Mountcastle] isn’t playing. You have a bunch of talented players, and it’s tough to get everybody the playing time maybe they want or that on 20 other teams, maybe they’d get. It’s a little bit of wait your turn, and everybody understands it. It’s not easy, but they’ve all handled it extremely well.”
Even on a roster brimming with home run threats. Kjerstad’s raw power stands out. During batting practice Monday, he blasted a ball over the flag court in right field and off the top of an iron fence protecting Eutaw Street.
“It’s a unique swing,” Hyde said, “but there’s a lot of damage in there.”
Now, Kjerstad must show he can build on his good work from Monday.
“I definitely felt good, controlled the zone. When I got my pitch, I hit it pretty well,” he said. I “just [need to] keep showing up every day and trying to put up consistent at-bats like that and be competitive. Just take care of the pitch when I get it.”