The Orioles announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably designating veteran outfielder Brett Phillips for assignment and selecting the contract of outfield prospect Kyle Stowers. Baltimore also recalled infielder Richie Martin and lefty Nick Vespi from Triple-A Norfolk, placed infielder Terrin Vavra on the paternity list and optioned right-hander Logan Gillaspie to Norfolk.
Phillips, 28, was acquired from the Rays in exchange for cash on the morning of Aug. 2, just hours before the trade deadline. He’d recently been designated for assignment by Tampa Bay, following the Rays’ acquisition of Jose Siri. Phillips received just 17 plate appearances in his nearly three weeks with Baltimore, going 2-for-17 with a pair of doubles, no walks and nine strikeouts (.118/.118/.235).
Despite the fact that Phillips carries a dismal .147/.217/.249 batting line through 225 plate appearances this season, there’s a decent chance that he’ll end up being claimed once the Orioles put him on waivers (which is the only course of action for them to take now that he’s been designated for assignment and the trade deadline has passed). Phillips is regarded as one of the game’s best gloves — a lights-out defender with plus speed who can handle any of the three outfield slots with aplomb, as evidenced by career marks of 39 Defensive Runs Saved, a 25.3 Ultimate Zone Rating and 31 Outs Above Average (in just 2136 innings of outfield play).
Phillips has never provided a ton of value with the bat, but he’s been considerably better in past seasons than his 2022 numbers would indicate. Entering the 2022 season, Phillips was a .203/.291/.381 hitter with 23 home runs and 29 steals (34 tries) through 675 plate appearances. That’s still well below the league average, of course, but paired with his elite brand of outfield defense, that blend of power and speed still made him a valuable role player.
Given the speed, defense and power, Phillips figures to hold appeal to outfield-needy teams on the waiver wire — particularly with rosters soon to expand from 26 to 28 players in September. Phillips is an ideal late-inning option to have on a postseason club, as he’s an upgrade over at least one outfielder on any team in the Majors and is a threat for a stolen base or perhaps a pinch-hit against a right-handed arm in the right scenario.
As for Stowers, 24, the outfielder was chosen with the 71st overall selection in the 2019 draft. Since then, he’s earned praise from prospect evaluators, largely because of his offensive work. Baseball America has ranked him as one of the top 30 Baltimore prospects in each of the past three years. This year, he’s played 95 games in Triple-A, hitting 19 home runs and slashing .264/.357/.527. That production amounts to a wRC+ of 131, indicating he’s been 31% better at the plate than the league average hitter. He’s also lowered his strikeout rate to 25.6% for the season, which is still higher than average but a marked improvement over last year’s 32.3% rate.
Stowers has already made his MLB debut, getting a brief two-game stint in Toronto earlier this year when a couple of his teammates couldn’t make the journey due to their unvaccinated status. Since he was designated a COVID “substitute” for that series, the O’s were able to remove him from the roster without exposing him to waivers. He has now earned a roster spot in the more traditional way and figures to get a more extended look this time around.
Stowers has played 44 games in center field this year, along with 38 in right and 13 in left. He will jump into an outfield mix that also includes Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Ryan McKenna, though Santander has been getting a lot of time as the designated hitter since the Trey Mancini trade.
The Orioles have burst forth out of their rebuild this season and are hanging around the American League postseason picture, currently just 2 1/2 games back. Stowers will have the final six-plus weeks of the season to try to help them with that race as well as trying to earn a spot on the team’s roster going forward, for a club whose future looks increasingly bright.
Will Stowers get the Vavra treatment?
Welcome to the big leagues kid, I’d like you to meet the bench.
That’s not happening. Stowers will be seeing a lot of playing time. He is part of their future OF.
Oh good now we can serve up another first career home run to someone’s top prospect
Braves going to need an outfielder soon…..
And Brett Phillips is the anti-Ozuna. Great person.
If you don’t know him personally then you don’t know he’s a great person. Don’t get me wrong- he may be – I’m just saying that going on hearsay doesn’t make it fact. Lots of people with skeletons in their closet. We truly never know, yet we carelessly throw assumptions around. Sorry for the rant. It’s just that through my career in sportswriting I’ve gotten to know quite a few guys in several sports, and without talking out of school, let me just say the cover is quite different than the book Now go get offa my lawn!!
Yep. I remember a player from when I was a kid. He was my favorite player. Did a lot of charity work. I wasn’t one of the kids in his charity when I got to meet him, not was there any cameras on. Dude was a complete jerk to 10 year old me. The only rude player on the team that day. But absolutely everyone believes he’s a great guy because of his charity work and always making sure the camera is on when he’s helping kids.
Still second hand but he had a reputation as a great teammate when he was in KC and Milwaukee which I can only assume was the same in Tampa. Watch some interviews that he’s done. He is a super jovial and lighthearted guy. Nothing is for certain but you can’t live a life being afraid of meeting an Ozuna and miss out on meeting a Phillips.
Like to see the Phillies cut Zimmer and pick up Phillips. Not much difference, I know, but Phillips brings such great energy to the game…
Agree. Phillips is the opposite of what Ozuna is. The Braves can use that too right now.
Couldn’t agree more. Don’t wait until Zimmer is 0 for his first 24 before considering Phillips. Need to act now because someone else WILL claim him in a day or two.
Wooooo lfg
Stowers has some good pop, been interested to see what he can do with some regular playing time (if the O’s give him that). Despite being a lefty, he’s actually hitting LHP better than RHP. I’ve seen folks suggest he’s more of a platoon bat, but if he hits both sides well, I think he’s got plenty of upside to be an every day corner OFer.
Swing and miss concerns have been an issue of his, but he’s been able to tone that down a bit this year, which is a welcomed improvement. He’s trended away from the “three true outcomes” player some pegged him for last year. Mashes a heck of a lot of doubles too. I don’t think he’ll ever hit better than .250 at the MLB level, but if he can chip in around 25/30 HRs and even more doubles over a season… fans in Baltimore will likely be pretty happy. Best of luck to him on his second MLB call-up.
There’s no reason to call him up to serve the same role that Phillips did. You call him up now to play him and see what he has to offer. The OF this season is doing pretty much what I figured it would do. Mullins was not going to repeat his breakout season, Hayes is doing exactly what I thought he’d do, and Santander learned to walk a bit more, but still doing as expected.
Mountcastle is also doing exactly what I predicted. .250ish 20-25HR, no walks, lots of K’s. I didn’t see the same hitter in him that everyone else did.
So if Stowers has swing and miss potential, doesn’t walk, and hits .250 20-25HR in a good year, he’ll be what most other highly hyped O’s prospects are.
I would love for them to develop some players that know how to hit something other than a fastball and can actually walk and get on base.
You should be a GM with all these correct predictions
How do you think I know so much?
Looks like you should be a GM with all these correct predictions
Looks like you should get a job as an echo chamber.
Brett Phillips has been designated for assignment more then a college student
At least they know the difference between than and then…
Twice. Nice try though…
Looks like you should be a GM with all of those correct predictions
I’ve been correct about the Orioles for the past 25 years all the while people “in the know” have argued with me and tried to prove me wrong. Every single time they hang their heads and walk away with their tails tucked between their legs.
Baseball isn’t a hard game to figure out. You get good pitching and the rest sorts itself out. You look at this Orioles lineup and they shouldn’t be winning games with how putrid it is. But they are winning thanks to some extremely fortunate pitching and a once in a lifetime lightning in the bottle bullpen which is due to start breaking down any day now.
So how do I know the Orioles will stink for the foreseeable future? Easy. They never invest in pitching. They rely on overhyped prospects and broken down reclamation projects that once in a blue moon pan out and they they use that as a ploy to build around and say, “See? We were right, you don’t have to spend on pitching!”
So when you don’t have good pitching, you need to make up for that elsewhere, by having a great defense or an amazing offense. So the Orioles load up on hitters that have absolutely no idea at the plate and just try to launch homers all the time, never walk, and strikeout nearly 200 times a year. Who cares if they can’t play defense and offer no other value as a hitter unless they are hitting homers, because they can’t run the bases if they ever do get on base.
It isn’t rocket science. All you have to do is weed out the hype and look at the facts. Then everything becomes crystal clear and you become as correct as I am.
DopeBrowniesBruh;
The Orioles are winning because they play above average defense, put pressure on opposing defenses, have an excellent bullpen and decent starting pitchers, have the next great Catcher in MLB, have a superior coaching staff, and are one of the best fundamental playing teams in MLB today.
Along with the Guardians they’re one of the two coming teams in MLB, exciting knowledgeable fans and processional baseball people that can see the next 4-6 years.
By reading your resume I expect you’re winning your rotisserie league by a large margin. Hats off to you!
I am winning more than the Orioles have over the past 25 years. I’ve also been right more often than these “experts.”
You keep watching. If the Orioles do not spend on some real pitching over the next 4-6 years while you, “knowledgeable fans” and “baseball professionals” predict they will be the next great team I will sit back and say I told you so while they continue to be a joke. They aren’t trying to win. That’s not their goal.
Just because people agree with your opinion doesn’t make them knowledgeable. These so called experts don’t know any more, and I would suggest a whole lot less, than I do.
So you go ahead and side with the hype and other chuckleheads around here and believe the O’s will be great doing business as usual. I’ll go with reality, history, trends, actual data, and my own personal knowledge of the organization and I’ll continue to be right.
Orioles need pitching? What an original and genius under-the-radar idea!
You don’t have to be remotely knowledgeable about baseball to know that pitching, literally one-third of the game, is important. Also, aside from a lot of bragging, you haven’t offered up any insight to suggest you are entitled to such bragging. You only make vague allusions to your supposed knowledge. Now I don’t know if you’re new to the internet, but people who act in this manner are generally all style and no substance. And by the way, everyone knows that the O’s don’t draft or develop pitchers. It’s a running joke in baseball. You didn’t discover this. It’s old hat.
And you have to ask yourself, what motivates a man to write lengthy paragraphs that are essentially a paean to his own abilities? Especially when it’s filled with such simple tripe as, “The Orioles can’t play defense..” Now this is odd, considering the Orioles have the 11th best defense in baseball based off of DRS. But why should anyone look at advanced metrics when they have your feelings and your years of supposedly being right?
MuleorAstroMule;
I agree with everything you wrote except the folioing sentences:
“And by the way, everyone knows that the O’s don’t draft or develop pitchers. It’s a running joke in baseball. You didn’t discover this. It’s old hat.”
Don’t make the same mistake the troll makes – The current O’s administration under Mike Elias is night and day from what went on before. He’s only been there since 2019, and didn’t immediately hire all the people now in important positions in scouting, development, and coaching. That had to be done as people became available, and even then they had to learn the techniques the new Orioles were implementing before they could add their input to the processes. This synergy thing takes a bit of time.
The Orioles were known as being the most backwards technical organization in MLB when Elias was brought in. No human being was going to turn that on a dime. I spent my career in the computer field. Buying equipment and developing software is one thing – having people using it not just productively, but in a coordinated manner, creates culture shock and takes a bit of time to iron out. We have to start with Sig Mejdal who was the person Elias brought along with him to the O’s….
Mr. Mejdal pretty much did the overall analysis for the St. Louis Cardinals drafts starting in 2005. Those drafts brought in the core of a team that was competitive for years and won the WS in 2011. Along with Elias he left the Cards in 2012 to join Jeff Luhnow in remaking the Astros, and was instrumental in those drafts – which were the base for the Astros that have been competitive since their rebuild ended and won one WS (so far). He’s run the drafts for the Orioles since he arrived. I heard him interviewed after the recent player draft. He made the comment that we wouldn’t know about the results of the 2022 draft for about 5 years – which is how long it generally takes to get a reading of the players drafted.
Mr. Mejdal’s pitching selections since he arrived in Baltimore have just begun to hit the high minors. However, what we can see is how the O’s coaches have worked with pitchers that were brought in on the cheap – via the waiver wire, minor trades, etc. (We don’t know what part Mr. Mejdal and his staffs analysis played in those acquisitions.) Obviously there have been a lot of pitchers that didn’t pan out. Currently the O’s pitching ranks 17th of 30 in team ERA. That’s an improvement over recent years. That’s all one can ask at this point. (Continuous Improvement via TQM is driving the processes.) Means should be back sometime in 2023. The O’s will probably acquire a few pitchers in the 2023 offseason via FA and trades, and it’s possible that Grayson Rodriguez will be up as well.
The pitching is on track as well as the position players.
The Os don’t draft pitchers. Look at first five rounds of drafts under Elias. It has to be a team strategy. Perhaps they are going the Jays route of developing a position player core which they will then augment with FA pitchers but I can’t speak to that.
2019: 0 pitchers in the first five rounds
2020: 1 pitcher in the fifth round
2021: 1 pitcher in the fifth round
2022: 2 pitchers. One in the third and fifth rounds.
You’re not developing a pitching staff when the pitchers you draft are going around pick 150 to 200.
Not arguing your facts.
They are going to get the pitchers.
Like the Cards and Astros, the O’s are being built on D and pitching. D supports pitching. The most important D is C, SS, CF. No team in MLB is better than what the O’s have there.
Teams have to develop pitching at the ML level, and keep it tuned. O’s are starting to show results there (what the Astros, Guardians, Dodgers, and others do).
I’ll keep any eye on the drafts. And Mr. Mejdal’s staff has to be playing a role in finding the types of pitchers the O’s turned around this year.
Also, look to the Rays. Pitching – particularly the bullpen – is volatile. You can have a small core, but have to have a constant influx of arms coming that the coaching staff works up.
I never claimed to be a genius. I am pointing out why they never are serious. They never spend on pitching.
I offered you the truth and the breakdown of how the Orioles operate. They are a flawed organization with a flawed approach. I offered evidence of that. The reason why it doesn’t seem so brilliant is because it isn’t. It is easy to see why this team fails.
I didn’t say the Orioles can’t play defense. You are reading something that isn’t there and then attacking an argument I never made. Common tactic for moron kool aid drinkers like you and your chuckle head get along gang.
I never said the Orioles don’t draft or try to develop pitchers. I say they rely on ones that they try to develop, over hype them, and then believe the hype and bet on them based on small sample sizes of success and use it as an excuse to operate with their main problem of not investing in premium pitching talent.
What have the Cardinals won, and the Astros organization won by cheating which is a proven fact. It is just lucky that Elias managed to distance himself from that whole fiasco..
You bought into the hype, too. Based on absolutely no empirical data you claim the pitching is on track.
Yeah, which cheap retreads are on the market next season, because that’s the pitching the Orioles will get. Just like Lyles this year.
DopeBrowniesBruh you’re not too bright are you? Enjoy being wrong about the Orioles for the foreseeable future you clown.
I’ve been right about them for the past 25, I’m not wrong about them now, nor their immediate future. The only variable I can’t predict is what happens after the Angelos family is no longer involved with the team.
Before this season Phillips had career 4.9 War in just under 600 at bats. In theory you should sign this guy for peanuts and spend the money elsewhere. I love the WAR stat but 26 Brett Phillips’s aren’t winning any world series.
How do you know unless you try it. 26 Brett Phillips
As a brewers fan I remember when they traded for Phillips from the Astros org. way back when. He was known for his excellent defense and acting like a clown. The baseball job hasn’t worked out, he’ll have no problem finding work as a carnival clown. That laugh of his will put asses in the stands
With how Hader is pitching maybe him and Brett can get the Wayne’s World act started back up again.
“Baseball job not worked out” yet has made more money at 28 then you will make in your life time.
Stowers getting his chance is extremely important since Mullins/Hays/Santander are all on a similar FA track so if Stowers can prove he belongs as an everyday player then another outfielder probably heads out of town this off-season.
Also, Hays has been an unproductive hitter since June.
Houston needs to pick up Brett Phillips. Jake Meyers can’t hit anymore. Brett was a 2012 6th round draft choice by the Astros. He covers a lot of ground in the outfield. At least get something back from that horrible 2015 Carlos Gomez trade with the Brewers.
The Gomez trade got the Astros to the postseason. They could have beaten the Royals, who won it all. That experience was vital to the 2017 team.
Few teams win their first year in the playoffs. I consider the trade a success.
Batting 5th in RF tonight. Organizationally we are so stacked at OF, I’d be shocked if one of our current big league OFers isn’t dealt this off-season for pitching.
Nice problem to have.
There was talk a week or so ago about having Anthony Santander learn 1B. That would be an option, as Mountcastle seems burned out and might be best sitting some against tough RH pitching.
“Stacked” isn’t the term I would use. Lots of bodies, yes. Lots of talent…probably not.
A contender will make a late claim on him.
Finally.. Phillips is terrible
McKenna so much better as a 4of, designed to come is as def replacement. Plus with stowers we need to get a look to see if he can succeed and what if we flipping in of for some sp. sadly Hayes is regressing with the bat this year
Finally. Stowers has been ready for a while now.
5 errors in RF so far….yeesh. Gonna need to work on that if he’s gonna…oh wait, it is the Orioles, so having 6 DH’s in your lineup is the norm.
Phillies South.
The Orioles have one of the best defensive OF’s in MLB.
I watched them be the most important aspect of sweeping the White Sox in a series the last time they met. Their OF’s were night and day.
“The Orioles have burst forth out of their rebuild this season…”
The Orioles are still firmly entrenched in their rebuild. The team is overachieving and this is happening by luck/accident and not by design. If they had planned it this way, they would have actually added some real starting pitchers and some relievers you’ve heard of before.
You’ll see how serious they are about “bursting forth” from it this off season when they plan to spend money. Of course they have to in order to keep these guys on the roster. Some of them are in arbitration or soon to be free agents. Keep an eye on starting pitching. If they don’t do anything to address the rotation aside from promote minor league arms, they aren’t serious.
Yeah like the Tigers did blow a ton of money and still suck or maybe the Rangers. They’re doing exactly what they had planned u can hate all u want but they have the top farm system and probably a year ahead of schedule in ths bigs. Why add before u know what u have in the prospects?? I wouldnt spend this off-season either maybe a sp but nothing splashy. Nobody saying they are world beaters you must be a Yankee or Nats fan
Lifelong Orioles fan that knows way more about this team than you do and probably even the writers for this site do.
Yeah, they are doing exactly what they planned to. Charge you premium money to watch a AA-AAA team with the veil of “rebuilding.” Then you dummies will come on here and justify the team tanking and not spending by claiming, “But, it is a rebuild, why spend money now when you are still figuring out what you have?”
You think they don’t know what they have already? If they don’t, they shouldn’t have jobs in MLB.
And sure, other teams spent money and failed so why bother trying, right? Just phone it in and don’t even try. Never mind that other teams HAVE spent money and succeeded.
So no, save your money. No need to improve the team or even try to compete. Just field a AAA team every year and watch the dopes come out and support us. Yaaaaay team.
DopeBrowniesBruh;
I can’t believe that you’re 25 years-old let alone claiming to have watched MLB that long.
Apparently you have nothing going on in your life other than to troll. That’s fine. Keeps you out of trouble.
Tomorrow you go on ‘Mute’ where you belong.
Best to you.
Lol this brown guy is so irrelevant in this world. Message board is the last thing he has to troll on.
Keep smoking the hype weed.
I’ll continue being correct.
Keep feeling good about your two internet friends that upvote you. Telling the truth is not trolling. You all just can’t accept it.
I’ll just laugh as the Orioles continue to pretend to be a real baseball team.
You may or may not be right. But you are a complete tool and blowhard.. no one is impressed or even cares what you think in your “war and peace”long rants
I don’t care what some morons like you think about me. I broke down the truth on all of you and people hate the truth when it doesn’t line up with their fantasy world.
You must care about what I post because you took the time to respond, so thanks for you hanging on my every word. You’ll come back to bask on every word later when you realize how right I am….again.
You’ve never been right about anything and are only wasting your time arguing with terrible takes that seem more like bad trolling than anything actually coherent and logical.
Do the entire world a favor and delete your account, thanks.
How about you actually sit back and watch me be right about the Orioles.
Then you can come back here and offer me an apology, admit my greatness, and don’t wonder how I knew, because I already told you so.
Thanks.
2024 is launch year for the Birds. What’s happening now is nice, unexpected and a blast to follow. Stowers is up because offense is lacking. Put him in there and let’s see what happens. He’s in no way a long term answer.
The everyday line up in 2024, outside of Mullins and Rutschman and of all people, maybe Mateo, (the defensive side of the game is played up the middle, folks), will look much different then. Come on 2024!
The Elias statement saying that payroll expansion will happen this off season, sounds intriguing. What does that mean? Will John Angelos truly pry open his wallet? If so, again, come on 2024!
Sure. Will open wallet for hookers and blow
I’m unaware of Hookers and Blow. I do know they are not in the O’s system. Are they part of this off season’s free agent class by chance? Chortle chortle, chuckle chuckle, cackle cackle.
Hopefully, at minimum, Angelos will give enough money to Elias to lock in Rutschman and Mullins long term. Hopefully.
Rutsch is in his rookie year, why would you spend money to lock him up now? Mullins is also nothing to write home about. Trade him while he has some value because his stock isn’t going up.
Ask the Braves. Works for them.
C Yards Jeff;
Stowers is up for the same reason the Orioles and other teams are bringing up some of their high minors players in August – they want to see what they have, give the ML coaches a chance to analyze and work with them, and begin to formulate an off-season strategy going into 2023. If the O’s make the playoffs, that’s fine, it not that’s fine as well.
I expect 2023 to be rocky at times, but think the Birds will be in contention at this time next year.
@Samuels; yes agreed; get a good idea of what you have with prospects now and in to 23 then settle on who you want as that part of the team you have long term monetary control over in 2024.
I sure hope Henderson is the real deal. And Cowser is an interesting cat as well. Rodriguez and Hall definitely will get their “reps” in 23 too. And of course, there’s a handful of others down on the farm that will get a call up in 2023. Exciting times in Birdland. Cheers!
@DopeBrowniesBruh; love your passion and honest takes. I think we definitely agree on one thing. Right now, the O’s have a lot of holes to fill. It’s the future we disagree on. I’m trusting ownership will spend the money to be competitive in 2024. You are suspicious if ownership will do it ever? Fair assessment? Agree to disagree on this one?
Now one thing we definitely disagree on is the value Lamar Jackson brings to the Ravens. But of course, that’s another discussion on another Chat Line for another time. Have a great weekend.
Why would you trust an ownership that has never built a team the correct way?
I will say the ownership will never do this while the Angelos family is involved. I can’t speak for a different group when one comes along.. I don’t agree to disagree with you, because the facts all line up on my side and you have absolutely no reason to believe otherwise.
Hopefully Phillips clears waivers and ends up back in the Rays organization in Durham on a minor league deal.
Brett Phillips is a guy to root for, I hope he finds success.
Toronto was looking at adding Billy Hamilton as a 6th OF, so maybe they pivot and look at Brett Phillips. They have Ramel Tapia and Jackie Bradley as their 4th and 5th currently but maybe they look at Phillips as that defensive replacement and speed guy to pinch run and steal bases late.
BP’s only issue is a giant uppercut. Level out that swing and watch him hit .250 with 15-20 HR potential.
No way Phillips would be “an upgrade over at least one outfielder on any team in the Majors.” He could be an upgrade over an outfielder on a few teams, though.
This is a perfect White Sox pickup, waivers, Reinsdorf will screw it up somehow