Orioles catching prospect Creed Willems has gotten off to a great start to the season with Triple-A Norfolk.
Willems is currently batting .277/.372/.487 with 13 home runs and 38 RBIs in 231 plate appearances heading into play on June 16. The 5-foot-11, 225-pound catcher is on pace for career bests across the board.
The 23-year-old ranks No. 17 among Orioles prospects, according to MLB Pipeline. He is in his sixth minor league season after being drafted by the Orioles in the eighth round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Aledo High School in Texas.
So what’s the reason of all this recent success? Willems credits hitting coaches in the Orioles organization for helping him out.
“I think a lot of it just has to do with my approach now,” Willems said on Glenn Clark Radio June 4. “Talking to our hitting coaches and stuff like that — just thinking about basically going up there with the intent every time of I’m just going to hit a backside single, which sounds really weird but that’s kind of my approach. I feel really relaxed and I’m a little bit more focused on the ball and everything else just comes naturally.
“Whenever I start to get to that point where I’m trying to hit home runs and swinging out of my shoes, that’s when stuff goes south. More times than not, that’s where the swing and miss comes into play. But if I have the mindset of driving a hard line drive over the shortstop’s head, it just allows me to kind of stay through the ball a bit better.”
As a catcher who has occasionally played first base, there is discussion about Willems’ future in the majors. Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo have catcher locked down, although ailments to both led to Sam Huff seeing playing time recently. Pete Alonso plays first base. The DH role has often gone to whoever doesn’t start at catcher between Rutschman and Basallo.
How does Willems potentially fit in?
“I think it’s more of a we’ll-deal-with-it-when-we-need-to type thing,” Willems said. “Honestly, whatever keeps me in the lineup is what I’ll do. Wherever I have to play, I’ll go out there and play it. At the end of the day, I played a little bit of outfield whenever I was younger, did what I needed to do.”
While it is something that complicates Willems’ path to the majors, it’s not all bad being behind two good catchers. He’s had an opportunity to learn from both.
“It’s just about being consistent with it and being confident in your pitch-calling or whatever you’re doing and just having that relationship with your pitchers that whenever you call a pitch they have trust in you and whenever you call a pitch you have trust in them to throw it,” Willems said. “I think more so just being confident in yourself is what I picked up from them.”
Music plays a role in Willems’ life. His love of old country music is evident in his walk-up song, “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” by Johnny Cash. However, one band that gets mentioned to Willems often because of his first name is Creed.
“In all honesty, I hear it at home, I hear it on the road and I love it,” Willems said. “I really like listening to the band Creed, but for me a walk-up song is something that whenever I go up there, it kind of relaxes me. It’s something I want to sing along with as well. I’ve never been someone to use crazy rap or something like that — it’s something to more so get me excited and get me going.”
For more from Willems, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Norfolk Tides/Mike Long