Corey Patterson: finally figured it out?

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Natural hitters are born, but disciplined hitters are trained over time.
Corey Patterson's big-league progress has been stalled because he's too much of one and not enough of the other, but he prefers to keep his offensive approach simple. Now, with a new team in a new league, he finds himself trying to bounce back from a difficult season without changing what's worked in the past.

"I pretty much just stick to my strengths -- know myself and go from there," said Patterson, Baltimore's new center fielder. "Basically, what it comes down to is you wait for a pitch in your zone. If you get it, try to take advantage of it. If you swing at a bad pitch, you swing at a bad pitch.

"You can't worry about it, because if you do that, you're not focusing on the next pitch. And that's what it comes down to."

That approach is just fine when it comes to hitting for average and power, which Patterson has excelled at in the past. However, it doesn't help in the patience department, where Patterson has never really shined. The former top prospect -- selected third overall in the 1998 First-Year Player Draft -- has struck out almost five times for every walk as a big-leaguer.

He also has more strikeouts (552) than hits (549), which is partly a product of his early promotion to the big leagues. Patterson had productive seasons in 2003 and '04, but his career numbers reveal a player that gets on base at a substandard clip (.293). That stat, more than anything else, has hampered his development as an everyday player.

When asked if he needs to walk more to be successful, Patterson shook his head.

"I don't even pay attention to that stuff. I just play the game, and that's all you can do," he said. "The numbers will be there at the end. Some of the people that walk may get on base, but they can't steal and end up clogging the bases. Sure, you want to get on base, but there are a lot of different ways to look at it. The main thing is knowing yourself and knowing your strengths."

By all accounts, Patterson is fleet-footed and a plus defender in center field. And he's certainly got power, with four double-digit homer seasons and a high of 24 on his early resume. Still, with that mix of skills, the Orioles aren't sure what to do with him.

Do they waste his speed and power at the bottom of the lineup? Or do they bat him toward the top and hope he can get on base more consistently? Orioles vice president of baseball operations Jim Duquette is still undecided. He said that will play out over time, but he's not worried about Patterson's production in the batter's box.

"The game is about getting on base and scoring runs," Duquette said. "You can't have a lineup full of low on-base percentage guys, but what he provides is the ability to hit, to hit for power and to steal bases. For us, we'll take that. ... The key for us is getting him on base, because the element of speed is something we've been lacking here for the last couple years."

"I don't know him very much, and I want to stay open-minded about the kid," said Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo. "I want to be able to see what he does and make my judgment from what I see, and not what I hear."

The Orioles traded a pair of low-level prospects to get Patterson, but they did make a substantial investment salary-wise. Patterson will make $2.8 million in 2006, and playing time incentives could take his contract as high as $3.4 million. That's nearly double the salary of Luis Matos ($1.6 million), who will serve as Patterson's primary competition for playing time.

Matos is a case study in the opposite kind of hitter. He has the patience without the natural power, and he recently opined that the Orioles want him to hit more home runs. The team's hitting coach, Terry Crowley, won't commit to any lesson plans for either of his center fielders.

"We're just getting started here. I've got to see what type of player Corey is," Crowley said. "Whatever he's done in the past, especially last year, I can tell you for sure, he'll improve on that. As far as what type of player he is -- bunt-and-run, line drives, home runs and all that kind of stuff -- I have to wait to answer that a little bit later.

"We look for any outfielder, if he's in the center-field position, to be a real good defensive player. We'll see what we have to do with the offense to make him help our team."

Patterson said his former team, the Cubs, made the same effort. In fact, the 26-year-old said they fed him too much advice at times. Patterson said he wound up listening to all of it and trying to incorporate it into his game, which helped break down his batting average even further. The result was a .215 average and a change of scenery, but not a change in approach.

"If you go through a tough time, don't change anything. You've got to stick with what you're doing, and the good players do that," he said. "Everyone was trying to help me, and they were all helpful, but you have to do stuff that's natural for you as a player. Sometimes, you can't stand a certain way or hit a certain way.

"You can't clone anybody, so you've got to do stuff your own way. That's really what I spent the offseason focusing on -- being natural without telling myself I have to change this or change that."

Now, in Baltimore, he has an organization that wants him to be himself. The O's are not going to change Patterson overnight. They want his power, even if they have to take his sense of plate discipline with it.

"In terms of his approach to hitting, he knows himself better than anybody else," said Duquette. "Whatever he feels comfortable with, whatever he feels is going to get him back on track. They're going to work hard to get him back to his '04 comfort zone. And once a guy reaches a level of confidence and an idea of the strike zone, I think they get an even better idea of the strike zone."