Jud Fabian knows he has what it takes to be a big leaguer.

Fabian, a top 10 Orioles prospect, has speed. He’s a steady outfielder with a good arm and the ability to play all three spots. And he’s one of the best power hitters in Baltimore’s farm system.

But to get there, the 24-year-old also knows there’s one aspect of his game that he needs to improve. Simply put, Fabian has swung and missed too much, so he spent all offseason working on a swing change that might be making a difference.

“Everyone knows what they need to work on to get to the big leagues. It was definitely a talk with some guys in the organization like, ‘If we can cut down these swings and misses, that’s the main thing we need to work on,’” Fabian said in a phone interview. “I’ve worked extremely hard on that, knowing that’s a part of my game that’s probably one of the worst.”

In his minor league career, facing pitching inferior to what he’d see in the majors, Fabian has struck out 31% of the time. That number rose to 33% at Double-A and 40.8% in a small sample at Triple-A last year. No matter how hard someone hits the ball — and Fabian sure does hit it hard — those strikeout rates are unsustainable in the big leagues. MLB hitters struck out an average of 22.6% of the time in 2024.

So between watching video of his swing, talking with the Orioles’ hitting coaches in Sarasota, Florida, and working at the Maven Baseball Lab in Atlanta, the right-handed-hitting Fabian made a noticeable change to his batting stance aimed at whiffing less often. Instead of having his hands in a normal position behind his right ear, Fabian is starting them much lower, in front of his sternum. It’s not the first time he’s changed his hand positioning, but he said this is easily the lowest they’ve been.

“Trying to keep everything in the middle of his body has been the big emphasis,” Norfolk hitting coach Mike Montville said in a phone interview. “It’s about the way he creates tension. It’s a sequencing thing.”

In his load, as he engages his mini leg kick, Fabian has ditched his traditional load for one that puts his hands in a more “comfortable” and competitive position. He lowers his hands — almost so his left elbow touches his left knee at the apex of his leg kick — and then he loads from there. Fabian said he was getting beat with high fastballs when he reached Triple-A last season, and this adjustment helps him compete better with those pitches. One hitter he watched to learn from was Mookie Betts, who starts his hands higher but has a load similar to Fabian’s new one.

“It’s about how my swing path plays,” said Fabian, the 67th pick in the 2022 draft. “This offseason was big on just cutting down on those swings and misses at the top of the zone and getting to where I can foul ‘em off or hit a line drive.”

It’s a small sample, but so far, so good for Fabian.

In 30 games with the Tides last year, Fabian hit .159 with a .489 OPS — the worst stretch of his professional career. Through 18 games this year, Fabian is hitting .238 with an .876 OPS. While still high, his strikeout rate has fallen 13 percentage points to 28.6%, and his walk rate has doubled.

Fabian did wonder during the offseason whether he would lose power as a result, but his exit velocity and launch angle readings during batting practice sessions assuaged that concern. So far this year, his average exit velocity is 89.9 mph — up more than 4 mph from his time in Triple-A last season — with a maximum of 111.6 mph. The former University of Florida standout hit 20-plus homers in each of his final two college seasons and did the same in the minors in 2023 and 2024. Fabian already has five homers this year to lead all Orioles minor leaguers.

“It’s been kind of awesome to see. I made all these changes that were going to help my swing play better but without losing my power,” he said.

Fabian’s path to the show is unclear, given the Orioles have plenty of outfield depth. Baseball America ranks him as the No. 4 outfield prospect in the system (and No. 9 overall) behind Vance Honeycutt, Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Dylan Beavers. But if Fabian can build off this strong start to the season, he could become an option for Baltimore in the future.

“I think he’s got all the right intangibles and the talent to do it,” Montville said.

(Editor’s note: Each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down three of the top performers in the Orioles’ prospect ranks and hand out superlatives for those who didn’t make the cut.)

1. Triple-A Norfolk outfielder Dylan Beavers

Beavers, who Baseball America ranks as Baltimore’s No. 7 prospect, got off to a slow start this season with a .208 average and .568 OPS through 14 games. But he broke out last week, going 5-for-17 with a two-homer performance. The two long balls on Wednesday were his first of the season. Beavers, the No. 33 overall draft pick in 2022, hit .241 with a .756 OPS in Double-A last year, and this season is his first true taste of Triple-A pitching.

2. High-A Aberdeen right-hander Michael Forret

Entering last season, Forret wasn’t inside Baltimore’s top 30 prospect list and had never pitched a professional inning. Now, after another dominant performance last week, Forret is proving why he’s put himself on the map as the Orioles’ No. 8 prospect. Forret, 21, struck out nine across five hitless innings Thursday, and the run he allowed (the result of a hit by pitch and a sacrifice fly) was his first in three starts this year. In 14 2/3 innings this year, the 2023 14th-round draft pick has a 0.61 ERA and 19 strikeouts.

3. High-A Aberdeen shortstop Griff O’Ferrall

O’Ferrall, a contact hitter, tallied only eight homers in 186 college games and then went homerless in his first 32 professional contests after the Orioles drafted him 32nd overall in 2024. After the middle infielder blasted his first professional homer Saturday, he doubled it Sunday with another long ball. O’Ferrall, 22, is hitting .220 with a .776 OPS at a level where Orioles prospects have traditionally struggled.

The top prospect not featured so far

With Samuel Basallo injured, this section will be occupied by Coby Mayo most weeks. The corner infield prospect — ranked as Baltimore’s No. 2 prospect — cooled off slightly from his scorching-hot pace, going 5-for-22 with two doubles and a homer last week. Mayo, who is looking to get back to Baltimore, is hitting .239 with an .835 OPS for Norfolk this season.

International acquisition of the week

Anderson De Los Santos, a corner infield prospect the Orioles signed for $350,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2021, struggled between Delmarva and Aberdeen last season with a .197 average and .633 OPS. The 21-year-old is off to a strong start this year, though, with a .910 OPS after going 5-for-15 with three extra-base hits last week for the IronBirds.

Time to give a shout-out to …

No Orioles minor league starter posted a better strikeout-to-walk ratio last season than Bragg, who struck out 30.1% of batters and walked only 5.4%. The 24-year-old right-hander has been even more dominant this season, opening the year by allowing no earned runs in 16 1/3 innings to go with 18 strikeouts for the IronBirds. Bragg, who isn’t a top 30 prospect, was promoted to Chesapeake on Tuesday after throwing seven scoreless innings last week.

Farm files

Left-hander Luis De León opened the season on Aberdeen’s injured list. The Orioles said De León was delayed leaving spring training because of elbow inflammation, and he is scheduled to throw a live bullpen session soon. De León is the top left-handed pitching prospect in Baltimore’s farm system. … Three more pitching prospects were placed on the IL on Tuesday: Delmarva’s Keeler Morfe (No. 14 on Baltimore’s farm), and Chesapeake’s Patrick Reilly (No. 16) and Zach Fruit (No. 30). Morfe, an 18-year-old flamethrower, exited his start last week with a sprained finger on his throwing hand. Reilly was removed from his outing with elbow discomfort. Fruit’s injury is unknown.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.