Contract complete, Kjerstad now waits

Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad (18) is congratulated by hitting coach Nate Thompson after hitting a home run during a game against Texas on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, during the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

FAYETTEVILLE -- On his first full day as a professional baseball player, former University of Arkansas All-American Heston Kjerstad sported a full Baltimore Orioles uniform and cap for a Zoom conference with reporters Wednesday.

Depending on how the Orioles choose to manage their 60-man roster, which began assembling in Baltimore on Wednesday to start training for the upcoming shortened season, it might be the last time Kjerstad puts on the Orioles gear for a while. The minor-league season officially was canceled throughout baseball Tuesday.

The Orioles announced 44 training camp invitees as of Wednesday morning, leaving 16 spots (barring injuries) for other players in the organization to fill.

"With the pool, that's something we're assessing and deciding as we go with any candidate for that pool," Orioles General Manager Mike Elias said on the video conference. "Our analysis of the rules and the season and the way it's structured is that bringing up young minor-leaguers for player-development purposes has some risks in terms of your roster flexibility and potentially if you have to tap into the depth on your roster."

[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDoiXY6C2L0]

But make no mistake, the Orioles have big plans for Kjerstad, the left-handed power hitter who was a preseason All-American and No. 2 pick in the Major League Baseball Draft last month. Kjerstad signed his first professional contract Tuesday, with the bonus reported as being $5.2 million by Jim Callis of MLB.com.

"What we saw that led us to select Heston with this pick was a rare combination of power and the ability to hit for average, and what we feel is a swing and approach that will convert that production to the professional game and ultimately to the major leagues," Elias said. "He's also a good athlete and a good defender in right field. Throws well. Some of our scouts think he's got an above-average-plus arm.

"It's a really strong profile for a corner outfielder in today's game. Ultimately, he's a player that we're just very excited about on a number of levels, particularly the fact we feel like he's got the potential to be a middle-of-the-order left-handed bat is something that's hard to find."

Kjerstad has been conducing video conferences from his parents' home in Amarillo, Texas, unable to report anywhere during the virus lull.

"It's definitely tough not being able to go out and play games, because me personally, I think that's the best way to improve as a player, is to be playing every day and facing high-level competition," Kjerstad said. "It's definitely something you're going to have to work with.

"Every minor-leaguer is struggling with the same thing. Nobody's getting to face competition. So we need to be a little creative in training and also making sure that you're getting live at-bats wherever you're at, with a group of guys or doing a lot of machine work to simulate real at-bats. Things like that. Just stay prepared. You've always got to keep improving."

Orioles area scout Ken Guthrie, who coached Kjerstad's older brother Dex in summer ball years ago, talked about knowing the family and seeing young Heston develop.

"As far as what attracted me to Heston initially was just his ability and his knack for squaring up the baseball routinely," Guthrie said. "He can do damage with pitcher's pitches. He shows power to all fields.

"He has a natural hitter's instincts. He profiles well in right field, as Mike said. And the best part is he'll maximize his potential and his tools with his hard work, and what I think is his genuine love for the game."

Kjerstad has gone out of his way during his career to credit everyone he could for his development, but he threw some laurels his own way Wednesday.

He said his somewhat unique left-handed swing was developed from years of batting cage work with his father Dave, and he perfected it through his college years.

"It's a naturally developed swing," he said. "I didn't grow up really going to lessons or anything like that. It was just me and my dad, we would go up to the cage practically almost every day and he would just throw me BP, and I would just hit and try to hit the ball as hard and as far as I could to all parts of the field.

"It just slowly developed, and that's what worked for me. I take all the credit for it because I was the one who mastered it. It's kind of like playing the guitar. It's my form of art, and you kind of have your own unique rhythm or whatever you want with it."

Kjerstad, a natural right-hander, had tinkered with switch-hitting in high school before finally deciding his left-handed stroke was dominant and he could handle left-handed pitching with it.

"My senior year of high school, I started realizing I was able to hit left-handed pitching real well, and my left-handed swing was more advanced," he said. "So it was time to just focus on one side and make one side as good as it could be."

Elias, who is credited with helping build the Houston Astros into the World Series champions in 2017, has been trying to work his franchise-building skills in Baltimore since November 2018. The Orioles have bolstered their farm system with top college talent in recent years, adding former Arkansas pitcher Blaine Knight in 2018, and former Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft.

Kjerstad will join an Orioles' farm system that includes players such as ex-SEC standouts in Mississippi State's Jordan Westburg and Ole Miss' Anthony Servideo when baseball gets back into full swing.

"We're trying to accumulate as much impact talent as we can," Elias said. "The high draft picks we've had the last couple of years are a big part of that, and the draft picks in the year's prior are out pitching well in the minor leagues. Or they were until the shutdown, I should say."

Elias pointed out the level of talent accrued at Arkansas and other SEC schools.

"Coming from Arkansas, as Blaine Knight did, you know that these players get a tremendous coaching experience," Elias said. "It's a first-rate program. They're used to the rigors of a competitive environment.

"The SEC ... I say this a lot, but it's the best conference in college baseball. It's a very difficult conference to succeed in. So similar to how Heston's dominance in that conference means a lot for his success going forward, I think what Blaine Knight did there as well helps prepare him for pro ball."

Kjerstad doesn't know exactly what's coming his way in the coming weeks and months, other than he knows he will begin a development process with the Orioles.

"They're planning on getting in touch with me with the hitting coach ... and stuff like that," Kjerstad said. "They'll develop a plan for all of us minor-leaguers as a group on what we'll do going forward and how we can start preparing for this offseason and getting ready for the next minor-league season, too."

Guthrie related a story about seeing Kjerstad, who had been about 5-10 during his senior year in high school, in the Arkansas clubhouse during his freshman year with the Razorbacks. Kjerstad had undergone a growth spurt that led to him reaching 6-3, 200 pounds.

"In high school, he was much smaller," Guthrie said. "He was actually switch-hitting in high school when I first saw him. When I was in the clubhouse prior to his freshman spring season, I was sitting down with [pitching coach Wes Johnson], and Heston walked in and he looked like a completely different person.

"I knew right then and there that I probably underestimated what his power tool was going to be. And immediately going into that spring of his freshman year, he proved my notion right that day."