Unsatisfied with natural gifts, O's prospect Willems focusing on all facets of his game

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Creed Willems had a chance to play hero, coming to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning and two out, the score tied, 6-6. Instead, he beat one into the ground to end the inning and send Saturday night’s Peoria-Surprise Arizona Fall League game to extra innings.

Even though he didn’t create the storybook ending, the Orioles catching prospect had a productive all-around game as he continues to try to prove he can be a big league regular behind the plate. On Saturday, the organization’s No. 22 prospect went 3-for-6 with a double, an RBI and a run scored in the Saguaros' 10-inning, 7-7 tie.

Willems entered the action swinging a hot bat and it didn’t cool off against Peoria. After kicking off the fall with a seven-game hit streak, he went 0-for-10 in a two-game stretch. Since then he’s hit in five straight, going 10-for-25 (.400) with four consecutive multihit games.

“The approach is the big thing, just trying to stick with the approach," said Willems, who is now sporting a .313/.362/.469 slash line over 14 games in the desert. “I feel like whenever I get to the point where I get outside of my approach, I get myself into situations I don’t want to be in. You have a couple of bad games, whether it’s you’re hitting the ball right at people, or in my case, it was poor at-bats, it’s big to hit the reset button on the approach side of it.”

Much of the 21-year-old left-handed hitter's approach has been to keep striving to use the big part of the field. While all of his hits on Saturday came to his pull-side -- including a 106.2-mph RBI single in the second and a 103.8-mph double in the fifth -- he’s continued to work on going the other way in his pregame work, hoping it will help him not open up too much and rely only on where his power has mostly shown up (lacing the ball to right field).

“My approach has been to try and think about the left-center gap,” Willems said. “Even though, naturally, my bat path wants to be a pull-side bat path, I really try to focus on that approach of sticking that way, because there are going to be times and there are going to be pitches you need to hit that way and pitches you aren't able to pull.

“I’m making sure I’m working on using both gaps during BP, in the cages. Whenever the game comes around, it’s one of those -- where the ball goes, it goes.”

Willems didn’t just have his bat on display on Saturday. His other standout tool is his arm strength, as a former two-way player who sported a 90-mph fastball in high school. He used it efficiently on Saturday in throwing out Luis Lara (MIL No. 17) attempting to steal in the sixth inning. But much like not being content to rely on his natural pull power, Willems has also worked hard on his mechanics behind the plate to maximize his arm.

“Arm strength has always been there,” said Willems, who recorded a 1.90 second pop time on the caught stealing. “Growing up, it was always that the transfer to release was slow because I knew I had the arm strength to get it there. …The last couple of years, I’ve really been trying to speed that up. It’s one of those things that it doesn’t matter how fast it is, if you can get guys out, that’s what really matters.”

Willems even had the chance to show off his wheels. Now, he’s never going to be confused for a burner, having earned 30 grade speed, but after his double in the fifth, Willems noticed Javelinas third baseman Brock Wilken (Brewers No. 8) playing well off the base. When Collin Price (Astros) hit a ground ball to Wilken, Willems knew what he wanted to do -- showing that even slow-footed catchers can be aggressive on the basepaths.

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“I think that’s the big thing; if you’re not fast, you have to be a good baserunner,” said Willems, who used his 25.5 ft/second foot speed to scamper to third once Wilken threw across to first. “That’s one thing I really try to be smart about. You need to know when you can and when you can’t go.

“As soon as he made the throw, I had my mind made up before the throw even happened that if the ball was hit to him, I was going as soon as he threw it. It was one of those things, instincts, trying to get every 90 you can.”