Spring star Kjerstad grateful to focus on baseball
SARASOTA, Fla. — Heston Kjerstad’s offseason was shorter than a typical player’s. He still felt it lasted too long.
“I was getting pretty bored,” Kjerstad said, “itching to get back out here to play again.”
Much of Kjerstad’s time in the Orioles’ farm system has been spent with that itch. Drafted second overall in 2020, the outfielder went two years before taking an at-bat for a Baltimore affiliate, developing the heart condition myocarditis shortly after the draft and suffering a severe left hamstring strain last spring.
He’s spent this one showing “what kind of hitter he can be,” manager Brandon Hyde said. Kjerstad has eight hits in his 17 spring at-bats, homering the other way in the first two and lacing a 107.2 mph triple Thursday in Clearwater. Entering Friday’s exhibition — in which he went 0-for-2 but hit the ball hard twice — only four players throughout the league had as many plate appearances as Kjerstad with a higher OPS.
“That’s what you want,” Kjerstad said. “To be able to kind of execute things at a level that you think you can, it’s enjoyable, and it also proves to yourself, ‘OK, I’m capable of this.
Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad, pictured Feb. 23, entered Saturday with eight hits in 17 Grapefruit League at-bats. He was the second overall pick in the 2020 draft.
I need to hold myself to this standard and this level.’ ”
Kjerstad’s run of success extends beyond a handful of exhibition at-bats. He dominated at Low-A Delmarva and bounced back from struggling at High-A Aberdeen by earning Most Valuable Player honors in the Arizona Fall League, with his participation stretching his season into November. His output there, a .357/.385/.622 slash line across 104 plate appearances, landed him in MLB Pipeline’s rankings of baseball’s top 100 prospects.
Kjerstad had little more than three months between the end of the AFL and the start of spring training, and although it “flew by,” he
said, that was only because he has experienced a much longer break between action. He’s grateful the focus, internally and externally, is on baseball.
“That’s all I want to do,” Kjerstad said. “Showing up every day, just being able to do that, it’s really enjoyable.”
Hyde said Kjerstad is among the players making the strongest impressions this spring. In recent days, Kjerstad has started working with infield coach Tony Mansolino at first base, a position he briefly played at Arkansas. The added position would increase his versatility and possibly widen his path to Camden Yards.
It might not be long before the Orioles try to create space for a swing Hyde said “can fit anywhere because he can hit the ball out of any ballpark, anywhere in any ballpark.”
“He hits the ball so hard,” Hyde said. “He’s got as much raw power as anybody in camp. … This guy’s gonna grow into a really good hitter. Potential huge power guy, just because he’s looking to do damage at the plate.
“What he’s been through to what he is right now, it’s really, really impressive.”
That power is what prompted the Orioles to unexpectedly take him with their first pick in 2020 when he was projected to go later in the first round. The team believed he was the best left-handed hitter available and that he could quickly rise through their system to be in the middle of their major league lineup.
Two lost years prevented that, but Kjerstad has shown the potential to catch up. His performance in the AFL and this spring have him poised to open the year at Double-A Bowie, where a strong season could end in the majors.
Of course, it would also have to be a healthy season, and after what he’s been through, Kjerstad is very much looking forward to one.
“That sounds awesome,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s the case this year. Knock on wood that it goes that way. That’s what you look forward to, you know, being able to go out there the whole season because then it gives you more time to improve, more time to get better. You’ve got to be out there playing to get better, for the most part, so it’ll be good to be able to hopefully get in a whole season, as long as I stay healthy, stay on the field and see how much I can learn and how good I can become.”