In the early months of the Orioles’ season, Anthony Santander and his dad, Roger, sat and talked one night, late, after a game. They do this frequently — Roger and his wife, Yoleida, are at almost every game to watch their son — but this night sticks out to Anthony Santander because what his father said rang so true.
“Having that conversation about the team, how the team’s doing and all that,” Santander said. “My dad is like, ‘Nobody talks about this guy, but this guy is the man right now.’”
That guy was Jordan Westburg.
The infielder didn’t have a bobblehead night. He wasn’t a first overall pick. He isn’t the loudest man in that clubhouse, and yet, despite it all, Westburg could be the straw that stirs the drink. Without Westburg during the second half of the season, as he recovered from a fractured right hand, the Orioles’ offensive production dipped. Worse, there was an absence of “mojo,” as executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said last month.
To pin that all on Westburg’s absence would be to miss the bigger picture — there were more injuries than just Westburg’s, and a teamwide slump hurt — but Westburg’s return brought an air of certainty back to the team. Baltimore finished the season strong with Westburg as part of it.
To ask Westburg’s teammates to describe the 25-year-old New Braunfels, Texas, native brings out a series of adjectives: steady, calming, hardworking, tough. They say he leads by example rather than words. They look to him in key moments.
They’ll look again Wednesday, when Westburg leads the Orioles onto the field hoping to avoid elimination in the American League Wild Card Series against the Kansas City Royals. By his own admission, Westburg isn’t 100%. His aching hand, he said, will have to deal with it — he’s a gamer, and he’ll be nowhere if not in the thick of things.
“I had that conversation with my dad,” Santander said. “We know about the game; we see the guy do his job. The guy, in f---ing clutch situations, he’s ready to do the job. Some players are not ready for that. But he’s been the man.”
It’s true. Westburg’s wRC+ (an advanced statistic that measures a batter’s success, with 100 as league average) with runners in scoring position this season is 160, the highest among Orioles hitters with at least 100 plate appearances in those situations. Gunnar Henderson is the next closest at 135; Adley Rutschman follows at 118.
Those two, Rutschman and Henderson, are frequently Baltimore’s cover stars. That’s just fine to Westburg. He is more comfortable avoiding the attention, although the better he performs, the harder that is to accomplish.
Right-hander Corbin Burnes said he’s the same way — “I would prefer if no one knew my name,” he said — but those in the clubhouse recognize the presence Westburg brings just by arriving early, preparing the right way and producing in big moments.
“He gets kind of overlooked, because you’ve got Gunnar, you’ve got Rutschman,” Burnes said. “Pitchers might look at him as a guy who they can attack and pitch around Santander and Gunnar and Rutschman, and if you give him a good pitch to hit, he’s not going to miss it.”
Westburg finished his first full season as a major leaguer with a .264 average and a .792 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He made the All-Star team as an alternate — a sign that some people are paying attention, at least — and on Tuesday morning, when Westburg contemplated how he became this symbol of consistency, he pointed to his father.
Paul Westburg, Jordan said, is “a blue-collar, gritty guy.”
“I wanted to be like my dad,” Westburg said. “So that’s where I think my work ethic comes from.”
He wasn’t always so even-keel, though. At Mississippi State, where Westburg starred as part of consecutive runs to the College World Series, the volatility of baseball dictated his moods. He was high or low when his performances were great or bland. And, to begin the 2020 season, before it was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, a slow start to the season left Westburg in his head.
“I wore my emotions on my sleeve a lot when I was a younger player, especially in college,” Westburg said. “I would ride the ups and ride the downs and realized that didn’t work out for me.
“I think COVID year, like, having that shortened season helped me,” he continued. “Honestly, I was like in the middle of a slump when the season kind of got cut. Probably helped that teams didn’t see the full thing of that slump because then I got drafted later that year. But it gave me some time to reflect and decide who I wanted to be as a professional baseball player.”
He thought of New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and Texas Rangers infielder Michael Young. “How do they carry themselves?” Westburg pondered.
The answer: sort of how Westburg now carries himself.
“You look at him, you know he’s leading by example,” Henderson said. “He’s obviously not going to go out there and be really rah-rah and stuff, but he’s going to go out there, put his head down and go to work. You know what you’re going to get from him every night, and that’s hard, consistent work, and that’s what you want, especially at this time of year.”
Added Fredi González, the Orioles’ bench coach: “He’s not as recognized, but we recognize him. And when I say ‘we,’ I mean the team and the coaching staff. It’s a blue-collar at-bat, you know? It’s a blue-collar game that he plays.”
That is what the Orioles need. There are other players whose names carry more weight nationally, but in Baltimore — and particularly in the clubhouse — Westburg is as big as anyone.
“I mean, Gunnar and Adley are superstars,” Santander said. “On another level. But sometimes, a guy like Westy, you need to give a little bit of love because the guy is doing it. The guy comes to the field, and he shows up between the lines.”
