Orioles infielder Richie Martin has a broken bone in his right wrist, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASN) this morning. It seems he suffered the injury diving into a base during an intrasquad game yesterday. There’s no timetable for Martin’s return, but Dan Connolly of the Athletic tweets that the team expects him to be “out for a while.” He’ll begin the season on the injured list, confirms Joe Trezza of MLB.com (Twitter link).
The first pick in the 2018 Rule V draft, Martin stuck with the Orioles throughout the 2019 season. As with many Rule V selections, he looked overmatched at the plate, hitting just .208/.260/.322 (50 wRC+) in 309 plate appearances. Nevertheless, the Baltimore organization was sufficiently intrigued to carry him on the active roster all season and retain his rights long-term. The club did sign José Iglesias this offseason to solidify shortstop, but Martin looked to have a good chance to break camp with the club as a utility infielder, particularly in the absence of a minor-league season. Dilson Herrera, Andrew Velazquez, Pat Valaika and Stevie Wilkerson are among the other utility options on the O’s player pool.
Hyde also provided updates on a handful of other injured players in camp. Left-hander Ty Blach has some soreness in his elbow and will go for an ominous-sounding “second opinion,” Hyde says (via Kubatko). The former Giant is in camp as a non-roster invitee. Meanwhile, right-handed reliever Dillon Tate has elbow soreness of his own, but he remains day-to-day.
Hyde also acknowledged yesterday (via Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball) the club may be without outfielders Anthony Santander and Dwight Smith, Jr. in the season’s early going. For undisclosed reasons, neither has yet participated in team workouts. Naturally, that will lead to some speculation about COVID-19 protocolos, but it’s possible one or both is dealing with some other issue. Their questionable availability helps to explain the O’s reported interest in free agent outfielder Yasiel Puig, although there’s certainly room on the rather thin roster for Puig even if Santander and Smith return to the field quickly.
lack of AAA season was not going to help him already, now this. rough go for the guy.
It sucks for Martin, but I am actually thrilled to see a story about a regular baseball injury again.
Thrilled is definitely the wrong word, but I think I get what you mean
Convulsing?
Richie isn’t livin’ la loca vida.
I get it and I loved it dude….. but bro it’s livin la vida loca…… you could have nailed it. Dang it! I still thumbs upped though. I liked it
He was able to stick around because of his superior defense but his bat seemed to be getting better too towards end of season as he gained plate experience. Shame for him
He had only 1 good season down in AA a couple of years ago. His bat has always been a problem. Utility player will be his destination since his defense is above average. If he can hit lefties he might stick as a utility player but he was just horrible against right handed pitching..
On the bright side, the Athletics received 50K dollars for Richie Martin when the Orioles selected him. That’s 50K more than they got for the Arizona Cardinals starting QB.
Still better than the Astros paying $4 million for a #1 pick that never pitched in MLB or the yankee pitcher that was paid $1.55 million and never pitched above AA.
how is that better? murray never did and never was going to play baseball for the A’s, might have been the dumbest draft pick of all time.
Bad luck for him. Hard to “make a team” when you can’t play.
Between injuries and Opt Outs, the fragility of teams becomes apparent, especially among the bottom quadrant who don’t have a lot going for them anyway!
Look at the SF Giants without Posey: they flat don’t have a quality replacement ready to go with their prime candidate barely out of Double A.
Posey not available shines a light on their situation: although well past his good years he was to be a force behind the plate and now they have nothing.
Somebody pretty prescient told them to draft the best catcher available because their cupboard, after Joey Bart, is BARE.
Went for a broken wrist, came out with covid……
Went for a laugh, came up crickets.
Ahhh I’m rooting for Richie. Love the rule 5 players
the rule five really is one of the greatest aspects of the game. its a great thing for young players and creates some unique stories.
As an oriole fan you have to like it. Seems like we get them guys all the time AND play em, that guy satandar. He’s always getting some type of playing time.