Via BBTF, The Orioles are using minor league batting practice to challenge their hitters with mixed pitches.

“Especially being able to throw those different types of pitches to give these guys reps, to see those off of an arm where guys struggling off of sliders, being able to replicate that for him or especially changeups to our left-handed batters, that’s really, really something that’s hard to simulate off a machine,” he said. “There are ways we can do it but being able to see it out of an arm is one of the best things you can do for those guys who really struggle with a change of speeds.”

Ambler said it can be a challenge for lower-level hitters to embrace the failure that comes with such practices, but it helps for the Orioles to have so many success stories atop their farm system when it comes to players who embraced it.

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The story also goes into how the coaches are competing with each other to be the nastiest pitchers they can be. Many are learning new pitches to challenge the batters more.