Sedlock looks to put poor 2017 in past

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Cody Sedlock, the Orioles’ top draft pick in 2016, takes the mound Saturday to kick off a second season with the High-A Frederick Keys with something to prove. His full debut season, marred by elbow soreness and the general ineffectiveness that came with it, took a lot of the shine off his prospect status.

But with a healthy offseason and a new outlook on how to repeat his delivery, Sedlock hopes to erase the bad taste left in everyone’s mouths with a fresh start this year that could get him back on track for 2018 and beyond.

“It’s great — especially when something’s been taken away from you, to be on the same program as everyone else and building up for a long season, it feels great,” Sedlock said this spring in Sarasota, Fla. “I’m just happy to be healthy and I’m happy to be able to play the game I love to play. I’m going to take it one step at a time. I know, with my ability and who I am really as a pitcher, all that stuff will take care of itself and hopefully, everything will work out great.”

As a first-round pick out of Illinois in 2016, Sedlock carried high expectations into the Orioles system — and delivered. He showed an advanced four-pitch mix for Short-A Aberdeen that summer, and skipped Low-A Delmarva to start the 2017 season.

But he never quite felt right that spring, and his delivery looked off to those in the organization. Some with the team believed he’d changed his delivery at home that offseason to add velocity, but Sedlock staunchly denies that.

Sedlock, 22, said any changes in his delivery happened because of his elbow problem, which was ultimately diagnosed as a strained flexor mass.

“My elbow was bothering me pretty much all offseason last offseason — not with throwing, but with working out, shaking hands, stuff like that,” he said. “I knew something was off, but it didn’t hurt when I threw, so I didn’t think anything was wrong. I’ve never been hurt before. I don’t know if that was just because I was compensating from that or what, but I really didn’t feel right even coming into spring training.”

Despite that, he had a 1.64 ERA through his first four starts, and even with a rough final start in April, ended the first month with a 3.71 ERA. It all went downhill from there.