1:23pm: Baltimore will option top outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad to Norfolk to make room for Stowers, tweets Ghiroli.
12:50pm: The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Corbin Martin off waivers from the Brewers. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore’s 40-man roster had an open spot and is now at capacity. It seems as though this will be just one of multiple moves for Baltimore today, as Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic also reports that the O’s are calling up outfielder Kyle Stowers from Norfolk. The team has yet to announce that move or any corresponding transactions.
Martin, 28, was a second-round pick of the Astros in 2017 who went from Houston to Arizona as one of the headline pieces in 2019’s Zack Greinke blockbuster. His career trajectory has been impacted by injuries — Tommy John surgery most notably. Martin pitched in the big leagues in 2019, 2021 and 2022 but has just 57 2/3 MLB frames under his belt. He’s limped to a 6.71 earned run average in that time, fanning a well below-average 19% of his opponents against a weighty 13.6% walk rate.
Entering that 2019 season in which he was traded, Martin ranked 78th and 81st on the respective top-100 prospect lists published by Baseball America and MLB.com. He was touted as a high-probability mid-rotation arm, having just wrapped up a season that saw him toss 122 innings of 2.51 ERA ball with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate between High-A and Double-A. He underwent Tommy John surgery in early July and was included in the aforementioned Greinke trade just weeks later — a deal that was completed and filed just seconds before the deadline. Martin missed the entire 2020 season as a result and hasn’t looked the same in any of his post-surgery seasons.
In parts of three seasons since that ligament reconstruction, Martin has pitched to an ERA north of 6.00 in Triple-A. Hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League caveat notwithstanding, that type of performance simply doesn’t measure up to his prior promise. He was tagged for 21 runs in 16 big league innings with Arizona in 2021, posted a 6.08 ERA in 77 frames with the D-backs in 2022, and missed the entire 2023 season after suffering a torn tendon in his latissimus dorsi during spring training.
More concerning than the poor ERA marks was the evaporation of Martin’s command post-elbow surgery. The 7.3% walk rate he posted in 2018 feels like a distant memory. Martin issued a free pass to 11.4% of his opponents in 2021-22 (MLB and Triple-A combined). He walked a massive 13 of 50 opponents thus far in 2024 (26%).
All of those struggles aside, it’s not entirely surprising to see the Orioles claim Martin. Baltimore general manager Mike Elias was the Astros’ scouting director in 2017 when they selected Martin with the 56th overall pick in the draft and paid him a $1MM signing bonus. Elias is keenly familiar with Martin — both as the pitcher he was shaping up to be prior to his injuries and as a person.
As for Stowers, he’ll return to the big leagues for a third straight season. He hit fairly well in a small sample of 98 plate appearances in 2022 before floundering through a 2-for-30 stretch at the plate in the majors last season. The lefty-swinging 26-year-old is out to a .240/.315/.541 start in Norfolk this season and has already socked 11 home runs in 165 trips to the plate.
Contact remains something of an issue, as Stowers is still punching out in just shy of 27% of his plate appearances against a 7.9% walk rate. Nonetheless, he’ll add some left-handed pop to Baltimore’s outfield mix for the time being. Stowers has spent the bulk of his pro career in right field but has experience in all three spots and has spent more time in center this year (115 innings) than either right field (89) or left field (54).
Shameful that the wannabe thug Rob Manfred refuses to return the All Star Game to Camden Yards. 31 years since the last one,
“Thug Life!”, rob. Not.
@Trojan Toss
Selection of host cities is based on the merits of the city and ballpark, and which team and city can produce the best “All-Star experience. Not sure Baltimore qualifies for based on merits as a city or able to produce the best experience. The place looks like it’s collapsing. Even a bridge was knocked down recently.
It is qualified. You can ask anyone: Slusser, Verducci, Axisa, Blum, etc.
@Trojan Toss
Guy’s are moving there for cash not for the merits of the city and team. What exactly does Baltimore and the team have? An old stadium built in 1992 with unnecessary renovations that have removed the original character of the stadium? One of the worst cities for various types of crime? No, Thanks!
Rosenthal, Passan, Plaschke, etc.
@Trojan Toss
Judge, Soto, Blackburn., Old York, Trojan Toss, etc…
Age of stadium isn’t exactly a good argument, nor merits of the team, and I’d go back to other teams cutting in line for whose turn it is.
2026 – Philly. Hosted in 1996 (Veterans was a total dump by then)
2025 – Atlanta. Hosted in 2000 (different stadium)
2024 – Texas. Hosted 1995 (different stadium)
2022 – Dodger Stadium – opened in ’62 (same stadium)
2021 – Coors Field. Hosted in 1998 (same stadium). Unless you want to argue they’ve been more successful than the Orioles. They’re an afterthought here in Denver and even during 47-115 there was more Orioles chatter in Baltimore than there is Rockies chatter here.
Anaheim hosted 21 years apart (1989, 2010)
Also the NL hosted 4 straight 2015-18 and then 2021-22 so there is overdue backlog of AL teams.
I agree the leftfield wall looks really bad though.
Old York = Stronza. Do you ever shut up?
@baked mcbride
Truth hurts…
“Even a bridge was knocked down recently”. You’re a disgrace.
@tonypro7
I agree, I’m a disgrace…
Atlanta lost an all star game when they threw a hissy about “voters rights’ being taken away. In the end, there was record turnout for the election. Doh!
@CarryABigStick
That’s been a signature move of Manfred. He’s a reactionary.
In fairness that was the first election where they counted dead voters.
@jerseyjohn
It’s been going on for decades but the difference is, we didn’t make it into such a political conspiracy, before.
Meh. Was an odd election. Weird to break all turnout records for such an “inspiring” candidate.
Stark, Jaffe, Morosi, etc.
You just rattling off random names now? Inferiority complex much?
Not sure how moving up to Baltimore helps him or the team. He’s 26 years old, nice power, but struggles with the average. He seems more like a trade candidate or a AAAA guy for the Orioles. Cowser and Kjerstad are ahead of him now, Beavers a year out, so unless they move one of Hays/Mullins/Santander, it’s hard to see where Stowers fits in.
This is his last hooray before they DFA him.
They likely realized Kjerstad wasn’t getting enough playing time for a prospect of his caliber. Stowers is the type of player you don’t mind having as a bench player.
I could see a world where Mullins, Hays, and Santander are in different uniforms next year.
Mullins seems most likely to stay put for another year but he’s showed some deficiencies the past year and a half. Only thing is that we don’t have a real CF ready. Maybe Beavers next year but he’s also better in a corner.
I think out OF next year is Mullins, Kjerstad, Cowser. With ohearn and potentially beavers factoring in the mix also.
Did you say Corbin from Brewers to O’s?
It’s like deja vu all over again!
It did fall after the collision.
Elias has such a soft spot for “his guys” and is trying to get the band back together again. We’ll see how this goes, when I saw the “Orioles claim…” headline, I got excited that they claimed Tyson Miller from the Mariners. Nuts, I think he wouldn’t been a good flyer.
Kjerstad was not given a fair shake and enough AB’s to show if he could stick. Stowers has done plenty to show he deserves a good look at the MLB level…if only to give him a block of games to showcase for a potential trade, says the cynic in me.
I don’t understand the fascination with McKenna, who has already hit his 2 HR for the year and won’t hit above .250 (Natty, he hits for less of an average than Stowers AND is older AND wasn’t hitting in AAA when he was called up again). McKenna continues to occupy space.
It doesn’t do any good to keep hoarding guys you could either play at the MLB level or trade. Because while they’ll hit in AAA they aren’t helping the MLB club and at some point when they don’t hit, they don’t fetch value anymore.
Coby Mayo (.293, 13 HR 37 RBI, .977 OPS) deserves a shot or to be traded for something to help the team and get his shot.
So does Connor Norby (.278, 8 HR 27 RBI, .362 OBP).
Yet the team continues to increase the level of difficulty on itself by gifting roster spots to McKenna, Mateo, and Urias. Certainly Hays when he is healthy again will also come back and continue not to hit, then no more Stowers.
Mayo needs to work out his plate discipline or you’re just looking at Jackson Holliday’s debut again. Think they’ll both be great but there’s no rush.
Norby has nothing left to prove. He’s probably a chip along w/ Stowers.
Stop the Mateo hate though. He’s perfect for the bench in October. Where else are you gonna find his speed off the bench? Throw in a plus glove with that too. That’s an asset.
McKenna is probably a DFA soon. There’s not enough abs to go around so he’s filling that last man off the bench role currently.
jbig
Mateo’s glove hasn’t been a plus for 2 years. Henderson’s defensive metrics were almost identical to Mateo’s last year and he was a rookie.
It’s great Mateo “has speed off the bench” but doesn’t do any good because the guy’s OBP is .290 when its going well.
I also have to ask outside of Rutschman (who hasn’t been displaying it to his usual pedigree) who on the Orioles has good plate discipline? Santander, Henderson, and Mullins are passable, and Mountcastle is approaching passable, but wouldn’t call any of those 4 at the level of “good” plate discipline. Team’s last in walks and starting to K more.
Mateo better suited at 2B where his SS play hurts his defensive value. He is a really good speed guy to have on the bench.
FYI like 25 minutes later I saw McKenna’s DFA’d to make way for Hays return. I thought Hays was out a couple more weeks.
I still think Hays should be showcased for a trade, if he starts hitting again. We’ve seen his best, and its only about half a season of .290 and 20 HR pace before the injuries and slumps.
Stowers? Kjerstad? What’s the difference if they are not gonna give playing time?
Baltimore is a rough place. Lived in northeast for over decade. Downtown is unsafe, u go cpl blocks frm inner harbor or Camden yards n u can die or if you’re lucky just get a beat down n robbed … Welcome to Baltimore. Go O’s !
Chicago is worse, DC is worse, sections of Boston, Denver, St. Louis, New York, Philly just as bad.
Lived in the Baltimore area for nearly 40 years.
Holy crap, Mike Elias remembered Kyle Stowers exists.