CLEVELAND — The photo was one of the first on Ramón Laureano’s camera roll, because he checks the page so often. What it shows is an almost imperceptible change that holds the key to Laureano’s breakout success with the Orioles.

Watch how his front foot lands. To the plain eye, it would be hard to see. But the screenshot of the Statcast website Laureano showed in the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field held the solution to the problem Laureano faced in the early part of 2024 and for years prior.

“It’s the tiny details,” Laureano said.

And this one is tiny.

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In baseball, the terms open and closed refer to how a batter stands as he waits for the pitcher to start his delivery as well as where his feet are positioned after he’s made his stride during his swing. An open stance is one where the front foot is farther from the plate than the back foot. A closed stance leaves the shoulders and hips facing in toward the plate.

But Laureano realized last year in Cleveland that, for years, he had been too open. He closed his stance slightly and, just like that, Laureano went from a castaway early in 2024 to a potentially coveted trade chip this year.

“That’s it, really,” Laureano said.

A year ago, when Laureano called Progressive Field his home as a member of the Guardians, he struggled to find consistency. He hit .143 in 31 games, and Laureano was soon designated for assignment and released. The path back to regular playing time in the majors, first with the Atlanta Braves and now with the Orioles, involved a study of his best swings from early in his career.

It’s only a difference of 6 degrees — a 1-degree open stance in 2024 compared to a 5-degree closed stance this year. He’s also standing farther back in the box and farther from the plate than recent seasons. The results — an .858 on-base-plus-slugging percentage — have made him an unexpected everyday player for Baltimore.

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“When I left Cleveland, I just worked on my hitting,” Laureano said. “I was flying open. So you go forward. What I do is I close my front hip, so I just land closed. Be on top of the ball like I’ve always been. Literally, shifting my hips like that.”

The Statcast graphic Laureano keeps on his phone shows how he starts his swing closed (black) and, more importantly, lands closed (red).

This is a screenshot that Ramón Laureano keeps on his phone from Statcast. He updates it every so often. It shows that Laureano’s stance is closed. (Statcast)

Laureano’s resurgence has thrust him into trade rumors ahead of the July 31 deadline. With an affordable $6.5 million club option next season, the Orioles aren’t eager to trade him. But that additional control could mean a more lucrative return for Baltimore.

All of that, though, is out of Laureano’s mind. He said he hears about the rumors, of course. He gets messages from his parents. “But it is what it is, part of the game. It’s part of the season that we’re in, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen my name,” Laureano said.

If interest was high in him before, the power he displayed during a four-game series in Cleveland may only elevate it. The performances of late also showcase how far Laureano has come in a short time.

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In 38 home games as a member of the Guardians in 2023 and 2024, Laureano hit two home runs. In four games during this visit as an Oriole, the 31-year-old blasted three.

Before the series, Laureano’s former teammate and manager Stephen Vogt joked that he wished Laureano would “take it easy” against Cleveland. He didn’t, and Vogt wasn’t surprised.

“Ramón Laureano is a very, very good player,” said Vogt, who played with Laureano in 2022 with the Oakland Athletics before becoming his manager in 2024. “I’ve known that for a long time and seen it with my own eyes, and I’m just really happy for him. … Seeing Ramón doing well again is a really good thing.”

CLEVELAND, OHIO - JULY 24: Ramón Laureano #12 of the Baltimore Orioles hits a two-run home run during the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on July 24, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
Ramón Laureano hits a two-run home run during the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians on July 24. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

Laureano emerged in 2019, but his career has featured its share of down spells. For the Athletics in 2019, Laureano hit 24 homers with an .860 OPS. His numbers fell from there, and he received an 80-game suspension late in 2021 after testing positive for an anabolic steroid. In a statement at the time, Laureano said he assumed the “minuscule amount that was briefly in my body” likely came from “contamination of something I ingested.”

By October 2021, Laureano underwent surgery for a sports hernia. He said that operation played a role in the change of his batting stance and landing position upon swinging.

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“For some reason, I felt slower, really, and I opened my front leg and, when I landed, I landed open or straight,” Laureano said. “But I’m so fast-twitch, I was flying open, so I would be around the ball all the time.”

Laureano excels when he pulls the ball. But when he flew open, out in front of pitches, he flared too many the opposite way. Looking at 2019 as a comparison, Laureano has a closed approach. His front shoulder and hip stay tucked toward home plate. He doesn’t fly open.

Laureano got back to that after he was released by the Guardians. He said he studied his swing with his hitting coach from the Dominican Republic and they circled the way his front foot landed on swings.

“That’s it. It was super simple,” Laureano said. “I was lost in the head for a couple years, for sure.”

When he brought that swing to the Atlanta Braves, he found more success. He finished last season with a .296 average and .832 OPS in 67 games with Atlanta. And in the offseason, rather than losing the feel of a swing that suddenly felt right, he played winter ball in the Dominican Republic.

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Mostly, Laureano said, he played for Leones del Escogido because he was bored. But there was a benefit to the 17 games he played for the club last winter.

“To continue to feel the way I am feeling, instead of having a four-month break,” Laureano said. “Just continue. Everything is muscle memory in this game. Everything is repetition. So, that, but obviously too I was like, f--- it, I’m just gonna play winter ball, and I did.”

Laureano carried that swing into his time with Baltimore, and almost every day, he checks the Statcast page for how his front foot is landing. He wants to stay closed to the baseball, to avoid the sort of head-out, hip-open swings that prevented him from finding success the past couple of seasons.

Now one simple change has made him a resurgent player — and the league has noticed.