Slumping Orioles catcher Chance Sisco commended for not bringing struggles behind the plate

When Orioles catcher Chance Sisco’s major league struggles hit him hardest last year, it was the confluence of the tough times both at and behind the plate that made a return to the minors necessary.

Sisco’s bat has cooled significantly since the All-Star break, which he entered batting .283 with a 1.061 OPS and six home runs. He has just seven singles in 53 plate appearances since.

But manager Brandon Hyde is encouraged by how Sisco has separated those struggles from the work that’s required to keep him in the majors behind the plate — an important step for a young player who in the minors sometimes failed to keep the two apart.

“I haven’t even talked to him about it, but I know that me and [major league field coordinator and catching instructor Tim Cossins] are on the catchers quite a bit,” Hyde said. “I think that Cos has done a great job reinforcing how important your job is behind the plate, and to make that really, really important.

"I feel like Chance hasn’t taken it behind the plate. I feel like Chance is as frustrated in a bad defensive inning as he is when he has a bad at-bat. It matters to him that our pitchers throw well to him, it matters that he’s trying to get guys through innings. He’s not a selfish guy at all, and his defense is really important to him. I think he’s separated the two really well.”

Statistically, at least, all of Sisco’s defensive shortcomings are on display. He’s in the bottom 10 in pitch-framing metrics according to Baseball Prospectus, and has thrown out four of 25 would-be base-stealers. Hyde excuses the latter, though he notes it’s “something he can improve on."

“But there’s a lot of catchers who aren’t throwing guys out in the big leagues right now,” Hyde said. “It’s obviously an area where we’re going to continue to improve, and he’s still a young catcher learning his way in the big leagues. There’s some footwork/arm stuff that we can help clean up and get better.

"It’s tough to do during a major league season. It’s tough to do while you’re catching guys. A lot of the stolen bases were, for me, weren’t on him, where there were big jumps or I feel like he didn’t have a chance on anyways. But it is an area where we will continue to work with him to improve.”

All the defensive problems can be mitigated at times, however, when he’s showing the pull power and plate discipline that kept his OPS over 1.000 for the first month of his season after he was summoned to the majors in early June. Between the first two months at Triple-A Norfolk and his time with the Orioles in the first half, Sisco’s power stroke was his signature and got him back to the big leagues.

Hyde has seen him pressing to get back to that since the All-Star break.

“He’s in one of those modes right now, where we had a few guys a couple weeks ago, where he’s kind of chasing hits,” Hyde said. “What I’ve loved about Chance so far is the strike-zone discipline. I think the last couple games, you see him swinging a little bit early, chasing some stuff out of the zone, which he wasn’t doing the first few weeks. More being selective-aggressive, getting on pitches that he could drive.

"Now, I just feel like he’s showing some frustration. But last night, a couple really good at-bats. Smoked that ball to left, was a click away from hitting a homer to right-center. Even though the results weren’t there, I thought he had a couple of really good swings last night.”