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Minor League Podcast: DJ Stewart discusses his game, his stance and his famous buddy

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There may be no more intriguing prospect in the Orioles’ system than outfielder DJ Stewart.

Because it’s difficult to know exactly what the club has in him.

There’s an impressive pedigree – he was the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year.

There’s the investment. The Orioles selected him with their first-round pick in 2015 and gave him a signing bonus of more than $2 million.

There’s the high expectations that he didn’t meet initially – he hit .218 at Low-A Aberdeen in 2015 and was struggling offensively in Low-A Delmarva last year before he received a surprised promotion to High-A Frederick.

And then there’s the promise he’s shown in the last year, batting .279 with six homers in 59 games with the Keys to end last season and then jumping out to a .258/.346/.471 with seven homers and 24 RBIs in his first 41 games at Double-A Bowie in 2017.

If Stewart’s star faded a little bit previously, it seems like it’s starting to regain its luster now.

In this podcast with Adam Pohl, the voice of the Bowie Baysox, you’ll likely get an appreciation for the 23-year-old Stewart. He talks about his struggles, his aggressive nature – offensively and defensively – his change to his batting stance and his goals for the future.

Stewart also talks about one of his college buddies at Florida State University, who is a big-time pro athlete now.

In the second part of our “Minor League Podcast,” Pohl speaks with BaltimoreBaseball.com’s minor league writer, Dean Jones Jr., about Stewart’s progression as a minor leaguer. And they take a more in-depth look at this year’s Baysox.

If you’re intrigued by Stewart – and most around the Orioles are – give this a listen.

Dan Connolly

Dan Connolly has spent more than two decades as a print journalist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate first covered the Orioles as a beat writer for the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record in 2001 before becoming The Baltimore Sun’s national baseball writer/Orioles reporter in 2005. He has won multiple state and national writing awards, including several from the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013 he was named Maryland Co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And in 2015, he authored his first book, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." He lives in York, with his wife, Karen, and three children, Alex, Annie, and Grace.