Often, the gym was empty for Dylan Beavers’ late-night winter workouts. One particular part of his routine probably worked better without an audience.

First, the 6-foot-4 Beavers would hunch down and sit on a rolling, spinning stool, the kind found in a doctor or physical therapist’s office, and try to push himself laterally with his left foot clear across the middle of the gym floor. He tried to make it 20 feet, but it’s harder than it looks. After 10 of those pushes, he pushed himself the other way using his right foot, this time adding a half-rotation.

Next, he’d combine them, pushing off the left foot — his back foot when addressing the pitcher — then sticking the landing with his right foot and pushing back the other direction. Adding a bat to the mix, which he did for the last round, made it the most challenging of the four.

The drills might seem elementary. The source was anything but. A biomechanical analysis broke Beavers’ swing down into granular detail this winter, and the resulting information was used to accelerate the swing changes of a player whose appetite for such work is only matched by the perceived need for it.

“He’s a perfectionist,” Orioles minor league hitting coordinator Anthony Villa said. “He’s eager to try new things. He has the courage to try new things. And he’s a continual worker, so it’s really cool for him to get such a thorough motion capture and get some information in place and be able to use the resources at TPI [Titleist Performance Institute], use the resources of our coaches with the Orioles, and build an action plan for him to continue to develop.”

Beavers, the Orioles’ No. 11 prospect according to Baseball America and the 33rd overall pick in last year’s draft thanks to a prolific career at Cal, came to the Orioles knowing that a rather unorthodox swing had taken him far but that adjustments would be required to reach the majors. The Orioles knew that too, and both the scouting and player development departments agreed on drafting Beavers, even knowing the project it would be.

He quickly made changes in his post-draft summer, with a notable difference at Delmarva in his hand placement and posture at the plate, as well as a reduction of his leg kick paying off. In pro ball, he posted better contact rates, chase rates and high-end exit velocity than he did at Cal, suggesting the changes were paying off.

The process of overhauling his swing continued in December when he and Villa took a trip to Titlelist Performance Institute in California, where they outfit Beavers in a motion capture suit to create a comprehensive 3D image of how he moved in his swing and used force plate technology, which measures how much force he’s transferring to the ground as he swings.

“They basically tell you everything about your swing that you can’t see with your eyes,” Beavers said. “It’s like watching video, but a lot more in-depth.”

There, he worked with TPI co-founder Greg Rose, a Maryland graduate, who Beavers said provided information on what he could “improve on mechanically in my swing to increase consistency and even power, and on top of that, he gave me the explanations and told me how I’d be able to do that.”

“That’s an aspect of it I never really thought about — on top of being able to get into certain positions you have to be mobile enough to do certain things,” Beavers said.

Villa said the assessment both confirmed some deficiencies the Orioles’ scouts and analysts identified on video in the draft process, and also identified some new areas for them to work on.

The force plates revealed that Beavers’ transition from his back foot to his front foot was both weak, and backwards — his back foot was moving toward the catcher, not the pitcher. The solution, he said, was to coil his hips when he started his swing move as opposed to just swaying onto his back heel, a change he believes helped him better tap into his raw power and consistently barrel the ball in his spring swings.

That’s where the spinning stool comes in. He had one in his Florida apartment in spring, too, so instead of just the gym owner watching security cameras and wondering what exactly was happening, his Sarasota neighbors got to watch, too.

“I have the blinds open, so some people might see me do it and be a little concerned,” Beavers said.

Another priority issue to address — Beavers called it his biggest problem — was how his hips moved as he swung. The average major leaguer keeps his hips completely still or moves slightly backwards as he rotates. Beavers’ pelvis was moving forward 9 inches, which explained one of the challenges that emerged last summer.

As a left-handed hitter, Beavers traditionally saw fastballs and change-ups that move away from him from right-handed pitchers in college. He struggled as pro pitchers worked inside with cutters and sliders that moved toward him, and while he worked constantly on those pitch shapes pregame, the biomechanics analysis revealed a root cause.

“Part of the reason I was struggling with cutters and sliders is because I was giving myself no space,” he said. “I’m still working on that alone. It was a really hard habit to break.”

Training back home in California, where he hit with Villa on occasion, they focused on maintaining that hip hinge for longer in the cage. Once they got to Florida, major league co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte suggested hitting with a hurdle behind him in his stance so Beavers could feel the connection.

“If I’m jumping forward toward the plate, I’ll feel it because I won’t be on the hurdle,” he said. “It’s immediate feedback.”

The study, and all the work that has come from it, has potentially accelerated what both Beavers and the Orioles believe might be a never-ending, ever-evolving process of refining what will always be a unique swing. He believes the work entering his return to High-A Aberdeen brought more consistency on the barrel, helped him close up some holes in his swing, and better adjust to off-speed pitchers.

“You’re never the finished product,” he said. “New things will pop up day-to-day.”

Even from the start of spring to this week’s season opener in Aberdeen, Villa said Beavers swing evolved “because he’s continuing to grow into his body and learn how to move and with that just comes these continued adjustments.”

Beavers may never have “this picture-perfect swing that might fit in the biomechanics textbook, but that’s fine,” Villa said.

“There’s plenty of hitters who are able to be successful without that one, perfect grooved swing, that textbook swing,” he said. “Dylan is an incredible athlete with really good pitch recognition and controls the strike zone and makes good decisions, and because of the combination of those skills, I think he’s going to set himself up for success and be able to have one of these unique swings that other guys in our organization have as well and still be able to be a productive offensive player.”

jon.meoli@thebaltimorebanner.com