The Orioles announced the signing of former Twins’ right-hander Kohl Stewart. Fellow right-hander Marcos Diplan has been designated for assignment to clear 40-man space. Stewart’s deal is a split contract which will pay him $800K if he stays in the majors, reports Roch Kubatko of MASN (via Twitter). While Stewart was used primarily as a reliever/opener with the Twins, he’ll be in line to compete for a permanent spot in Baltimore’s rotation, hears Joe Trezza of MLB.com (via Twitter).
Stewart, 25, is best known as being the fourth overall pick by Minnesota out of a Texas high school in 2013. The former two-sport athlete was named Baseball America’s #52 overall prospect after that season, although he never realized his lofty upside with his original organization. In fairness to Stewart, injuries could have played a part in that, as he went on the injured list eight times as a prospect. He has been healthy the last two years, though, and he made the majors in 2018.
In 62 MLB innings over the last two seasons, Stewart has compiled only a 4.79 ERA. More importantly, his 12.7% strikeout rate and 7.4% swinging strike rate are both well below average. Coupled with a relatively lofty 9.7% walk rate, that convinced the Twins to bump Stewart from their roster last month.
That said, there’s plenty of reason for the rebuilding Orioles to take a look. Stewart has two option years, so the organizaton can shuttle him back-and-forth between Baltimore and Triple-A Norfolk for the next couple seasons. He also comes with six years of team control and just turned 25, so there’s plenty of time for him to emerge as a long-term success.
It’s not hard to see the appeal for Stewart, either. Calling Camden Yards home and facing the high-powered AL East may not be ideal, but it’s not hard to see a path toward a rotation spot. As Trezza notes, Stewart’s internal competition includes Asher Wojciechowski, prospect Keegan Akin, and Rule V selections Brandon Bailey and Michael Rucker. There are things to like about each, of course, but it’s a quartet light on MLB experience and track record.
Diplan, 23, has yet to make the majors but obviously holds some leaguewide appeal. He’s been acquired by five different organizations, four in the last six months. He made his mark as a Brewer farmhand but logged eight minor-league games in the Minnesota organization after being acquired in a minor trade. He’s been claimed (and subsequently waived) this offseason by the Tigers and Orioles, the teams with the top two waiver priorities. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some other club further down the waiver order take a chance on him, too, even if in hopes of passing him through waivers themselves. Diplan has flashed strikeout stuff in the minors but that has too often come with a high volume of walks.
Former Twins pitchers…not the well I’d go to fill up at, but ok
I mean, it’s the Orioles… I feel worse for any player DFAed by Baltimore. You gotta have thoughts that your career is over at that point.
Lance Lynn did pretty well last year, and Liam Hendriks is another former Twin pitcher:
He sucks
Print the World Series tickets now. You heard it hear first.
Orioles need to sign a bunch of bounce back relief arms and move them at the deadline. Maybe a SP or 2 in the same boat. Allan, Wood, Bailey,Walker,Kintzler, Vizcaino. They should be players for all of them as should the Pirates, Tigers & Mariners.
RP are always the most sought after position at the deadline.
If he sticks does he come with 6 years of control? Or is this a 1 and done?
probably arb eligible as well. usually that’s stipulated in contracts for players coming back to the US.
He’s not coming back from a foreign league.
that’s what im saying. typically players that have clauses to by-pass arbitration are coming back from foreign leagues, such as Chris Martin. usually split contracts are signed with guys like this who don’t have the leverage to negotiate to opt-out of arbitration.
If I was a fringe player I’d love to be in the Orioles organization right now. Best shot at making the big leagues and an opportunity to work on things with a longer leash. Contending teams can’t afford to develop at the highest level.
good deal. this guy is underrated id say.
Orioles, building their team, or as some would call it “dumpster diving”
Nothing wrong with some dumpster diving. The Yankees did that last year when they got Maybin from Cleveland and it worked out very well.
Don’t see why they’d wanna commit $ to anyone when they can draft in top 5 for a few years and scrape the bottoms of wells for pennies and hope for a few shiny ones in the meantime.
What would you assume they’d do? Go out and sign a premium free agent who is making a premium at the back end of the deal when your young core is starting to blossom? They’ll make some moves when they are closer like the White Sox or the Padres
Gary Thorne will have you believing he’s the next Koufax by opening day.
He is
The rebuild begins!
Big swing & miss for the Twins! Frazier, Dozier, Meadows, Renfroe, T. Anderson Judge, Bellinger all drafted after #4
It happens. Picks, prospects are all wildcards for the most part. Ask Philly how Mickey Moniak is doing these days? Not a Twins fan but they typically do a good job scouting, drafting and developing. They missed on one. As every team does.
Edit on Moniak—I mis spoke. Moniak still has a chance to be a good player, only 21 in AA.
Philly is terrible at developing its own talent. But it’s the Macphail/Klentak FO from Baltimore. So it’s really not a huge shock. Why they’ve aggressively promoted Moniak up to AA despite his limited success is beyond me. You usually have to master Algebra before moving on to calculus. Can’t imagine that’s doing him in any favors.
He finally showed signs of getting it in AA last year. 21 in AAA this year , maybe back down to AA if he struggles . Remember, Crawford had to repeat AA twice ..
would he be the 1-1 pick this year if he had been drafted out of college ? Probably not ….but I’ll root for him in Lehigh this year….
at least he’s not Trey Ball.
Bellinger was a 4th round pick, and Judge was a supplemental pick, nearly everyone missed on them. More than half that first round were busts, including the Astros first overall pick Appel. Fun fact about Frazier is that Stewart has a higher career WAR then him to this point.
That Marcos guy must be jumping for joy that he’s out of that dump of a team.
I wouldn’t if I was him. That was probably his best chance at cracking the 25 man roster. It’s not about winning for a dude like him at that point in his career, it’s simply making it.
If no one puts in a claim, you know where he’s gonna be? Sitting in the Orioles AAA affiliate. I’m positive Diplan isn’t happy to hear this. Strong chance he doesn’t get claimed.
I doubt that. He’ll get claimed by someone. David Stearns loves reclaiming guys he once traded.
He can’t strike anyone out, his stuff sits in the average or below average range across the board. What he had going for him, young age/hope for development he no longer has going for him. Tragic case of a kid who should have gone to college! Oh well.
Tragic case? If he went to college and became injury prone, he wouldn’t have been a high pick and gotten a 4.5 mil bonus. Guy can still go back to college and get a degree when his career’s done and still come out well ahead.
Yeah. That’s a dumb comment. Playing pro baseball was a huge plus for him. If he went to college he probably would’ve been a 10th round pick or something. Gotten a 100K bonus and would be where he is now w significantly less cash in the bank. Instead he got 4.5 million dollars—College costs a little less than that. Kohl’s really lucky he didn’t go.
He was a multi-sport athlete who could have been the QB at Texas A&M. If you told him before the draft that his signing bonus would be all the money he makes professionally, there’s NO WAY he doesn’t take that scholarship to Texas A&M.
But why?
$4.5M is significantly farther ahead than 99% of college-bound athletes. Unless you had your heart set on playing college sports, taking that money makes all the sense in the world.
He’s been making the 40 man roster pay from the Twins also. He just landed a deal that will pay him 800K in the majors. He’s only 25 years old. Not too many 25 years have banked 5.5 MM bucks. Unless he comes from some wealthy family I can’t imagine he regrets skipping college.
@Moneyballer…you are so off base with your comment that I am supporting a Jbigz12 reply.
“could have been the QB at Texas A&M”
vs
4.5M signing bonus
Signing bonus wins hands down and using all caps to write NO WAY doesn’t help your case. You have been found guilty of two horribly misinformed posts and your posting privileges have hereby been suspended immediately. You made Jbigz12 look reasonable, hard thing to do…
Go Cubs Go
Hard to believe Stewart is still only 25. He was the consensus #1 high school pitching prospect when he was drafted by the Twins, but his changeup never developed and his control / mechanics never cleaned up, either.
The Twins had long been known as a rigid “one-size fits all” pitching development organization when Stewart was drafted so I wonder if there is some issue the Twins have created or overlooked, but I suspect Stewart is just a case of a small sample size scouting.
He sucks
This comment sucks. Stewart may not be a good pitcher, but he is certainly good enough to make the roster for the Orioles. Granted, this says more about the state of the roster than his skill.
He’s not a lock to make the O’s roster either. There’s a decent chance he does but he’ll have to beat out a few guys. Theres 2 rotation spots for Stewart, Akin, Rucker, Hess, and Bailey to fight over. And that’s if no one else is brought in. His odds are decent in that group but he didn’t have any success himself last year.
Good luck to Kohl Stewart in Baltimore. Stewart should get a chance to develop as a starter in the Orioles , and should make their 2020 rotation.
The Twins Front Office has pretty much whiffed in improving their rotation this off-season..
The Twins still have Jose Berrios, and did bring Jake Odorrizzi back on the Qualifying Offer, and will have Michael Pineda after he serves the final 39 games of his suspension.
That leaves three open positions in the rotation, come April. Fortunately, internal prospects do look better than the free agents still unsigned.
The Twins have a group of 24-year-olds, lead by Randy Dobnak and Devin Smetlzer, who need to step up and demand the ball. If the Twins return Fernando Romero to being a starter, instead of his failed experiment in relief, he could challenge, along with Zack Littel, and Lewis Thorpe. Had the Twins retained Kohl Stewart, he would have slated in next behind this group, along with Jorge Alcala, in fighting to fill those three rotation spots in spring training. 21-year-old Brustar Graterol could also compete with the 24-year-old class for those 3 rotation spots open in April, but he would probably be better served logging some innings at AAA..
Who actually steps up and fills the Twins rotation is still anyone’s guess, but it was pretty clear that Kohl Stewart would have been a long shot to have his name penciled in the Twins rotation, while Stewart has a good chance of making the rotation in Baltimore..
Best of luck against the Eastern and Western AL teams, Kohl. Have a good career.
You sure are optimistic about some relatively unknown and unheralded prospects without any impressive track records (Dobnak, Smeltzer).
Then there is Fernando Romero who, despite all the lofty praise by Twins websites, has been unable to impress at any higher level of MiLB or MLB. He’s a 2 pitch pitcher and neither of his pitches have panned out as well as scouts had hoped. He’s basically Kohl Stewart, but with fewer pitches.
When it comes to Littell, he may be a back end of the rotation option, but Graterol isn’t ready to start. He’s only got 2 legitimate pitches right now and he’ll be on a severe innings limit next year. The Twins are mid-way into their experiment of trying to turn Alcala back into a starter after the Astros canned the idea.
Lewis Thorpe is the only legitimate option they have at a potential mid rotation option the 2020 Twins have in their minor league system, and even that’s quite a stretch now.
The bottom line is this. The Twins have no ace, they have a bonafide #2 in Berrios, and a potential #3 in Odorizzi (if he doesn’t regress). They have no #4 or #5 starter until Pineda returns (at best after 1/4 of the season). For a team in the weakest division in baseball, they have demonstrated no desire to make an obvious attempt at a championship run so far.
A big steamy pile of garbage added to the dump. Orioles might win 50.
More of the same-not ready for the Majors bodies who come cheap. Insulting.
@Lcaplan. Orioles team ERA was 5.59 in 2019. Kohl Stewart has a MLB ERA of 4.79.
I think this is a decent signing for the Birds. Comes with a lot of upside and at little cost. This is how Tampa did it for so many years and it worked. If Stewart can turn it around he might be a decent 4th or 5th starter.