Cal Ripken Jr. sits in his front-row seat at Camden Yards and watches Baltimore Orioles players make correctable mistakes nightly. Surely, it grates him.A long time ago, in a baseball galaxy far, far away, the Orioles followed a guiding set of principles known as “The Oriole Way.” Originating in the 1950s by legendary executive Paul Richards, catcher Elrod Hendricks once described “The Oriole Way” as “never beat yourself.”Ripken, meticulous in his efforts to master every nuance of the game, came to embody the philosophy during his Hall of Fame career.Now, as a part-owner of the Orioles, he’s contributing to an effort to revive the organization’s emphasis on fundamentals. Ripken, 65, is taking a more active role in player development, according to people briefed on his involvement but granted anonymity to discuss it. This is the first time Ripken, who retired as a player in 2001, has taken such a hands-on approach within the organization.Ripken’s involvement follows the hiring last November of former big-league manager Mike Shildt, who became the organization’s coordinator of instruction in the minor leagues, a newly-created position emphasizing fundamentals.Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias sought out the expertise of both Shildt and Ripken on player development and over time has leaned more heavily on Ripken’s baseball acumen, according to people briefed on the situation.Ripken and Shildt enjoy a relationship dating back to 1980, when Ripken was at Double-A Charlotte and Shildt worked in the team’s clubhouse. Both share an affinity for the importance of cutoffs, relays and bunt plays, fundamentals the Orioles are actively trying to incorporate in development.The shift toward emphasizing small details isn’t just in the minor leagues. First-year manager Craig Albernaz, another agent of change, recently invited public scrutiny when he declined to start star rookie Samuel Basallo from June 8-10. Albernaz, according to people briefed on his reasoning, was trying to send Basallo, 21, a message about playing through minor ailments and what it takes to succeed as a major-league catcher.Albernaz, Elias and Ripken all declined comment for this story.Albernaz, who previously worked for Tampa Bay and Cleveland, two lower-revenue organizations that generally get the most out of their talent, seemingly viewed the Basallo matter as an important step toward instilling a new culture — one that will include crisper play.“The issues we’re trying to address are the small, stupid little mistakes that younger teams make,” said injured pitcher Chris Bassitt, 37, who signed with the Orioles this winter and acknowledged his 5.27 ERA as a factor in the team’s sluggish performance. “We’re a team that tends to give away outs. We’re a team that tends to give the other team extra outs with errors or mental mistakes. We need to clean up the way we’re playing the game.”The Orioles often were a strong fundamental team under Buck Showalter, who managed the club to three playoff appearances between 2010-18. They also succeeded on the margins under Brandon Hyde between 2022 and 2024, when they tied the New York Yankees for the second-most wins in the American League.But if a metric existed for teams that routinely beat themselves — call it Botched Plays Above Average — the more recent versions of the Orioles probably would be among the league leaders. The current group, 35-40, is 11.5 games back in the AL East and two games back in the wild-card race. And the pressure on Elias only will increase if the team is again unable to take a step forward.Elias, upon taking over in November 2018, aggressively modernized the Orioles in a way they sorely needed by embracing new technology and analytics. The perception, both inside and outside the organization, is that offense moved to the forefront of their position-player development, in part because of increasingly available swing data. Fundamentals were not ignored. But they weren’t emphasized, either.The Orioles, after years of tanking to secure high draft picks, rebuilt around young position players. Not all succeeded, but catcher Adley Rutschman finished second for AL Rookie of the Year in 2022, shortstop Gunnar Henderson won the award in 2023 and outfielder Colton Cowser finished second in 2024. The team made the postseason in the latter two seasons, yet failed to win a game.Elias eventually recognized that the Orioles fell behind in teaching basic fundamentals, leading to his desire to incorporate the expertise of Shildt and Ripken. People briefed on Ripken’s involvement say that in addition to becoming more visible at spring training, he is in regular contact with Elias and talking to minor-league coaches and instructors as well. He even participated last fall in manager interviews, including Albernaz’s.The Orioles rate as average or worse in many defensive and baserunning metrics. Poor fundamentals, however, are an industry-wide problem, borne in part out of the increased focus teams place on hitting and pitching metrics, starting in the minor leagues.