Vavra's MLB career off to memorable start
Aug. 5—Terrin Vavra's career in the major leagues may be just over a week old, but the Menomonie native already seems to fit right in at baseball's highest level.
Vavra has been an immediate contributor since the Baltimore Orioles called him up to the majors on July 26. The 25-year-old infielder has three hits in his first nine at-bats, and drove in the go-ahead run with a double in Wednesday's 6-3 win over Texas. It was his first RBI with Baltimore.
Perhaps most impressively, Vavra owns a .571 on-base percentage with five walks through six games. He's a difficult player for pitchers to put away, something he takes pride in as he works to get established in the majors.
"It's something you have to kind of learn about yourself: what you're good at, what you're not," Vavra told the Orioles' broadcast team after Wednesday's victory. "That's something, going into last offseason, something I wanted to work on is just be a pest. Make the pitchers work and grind every at-bat, set up the guys behind me."
Vavra, the son of longtime MLB assistant Joe Vavra, has drawn a walk in four of his last five games. That includes a three-walk performance against the Rangers on Tuesday.
"I want to make the pitchers work," he said on Wednesday's broadcast. "Obviously I want to get myself a good opportunity, a good pitch to hit. If they're not in the zone, I'm going to try to be disciplined and get a good pitch to hit."
His eye might be what's set him apart early in his stint with the Orioles, but his bat made the headlines on Wednesday. Vavra came to the plate with two outs in the eighth inning with Jorge Mateo on second base and the game tied at 3. Facing an 0-2 count, the former Menomonie star laced a double into the left-center gap to plate the go-ahead run.
"It's a win, that's the most important thing," Vavra told the broadcast team.
"Obviously, every time I'm up at the plate I'm trying to work a good at-bat and get on base and set up the guys behind me. Mateo was able to get on and steal a base, get into scoring position, and I was just trying to drive him in."
It's the kind of play that will leave an impression.
"We had a lot of guys contribute today, and that's what it takes," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told the media after the game. "The good teams, they win differently. I'm really happy with our at-bats the last three innings of the game. ... Our at-bats the last three innings were outstanding."
Vavra is on a three-game hit streak as Baltimore opens a three-game series against Pittsburgh this weekend. The Orioles are 54-51 and are within a couple of games of a wild card spot.
Baltimore is playing meaningful baseball into the late summer months, a good spot for a rising prospect to step into.
"It's been fun. We've got a good group," Vavra said. "Obviously, the last couple days we've had some changes (during the trade deadline), but that's something we've talked about in our meetings. It doesn't matter who's in this clubhouse, we're going to go out and battle. We're just going to battle and try to get in the win column."
