- The Orioles’ 2-1 victory over the Twins today came with some pain, as Jordan Westburg was hit on the left hand with a pitch from Jhoan Duran in the eighth inning. The bases were loaded, so Westburg’s HBP ended up scoring the game’s winning run. Westburg will get testing done on his hand, while the O’s had another injury concern earlier in the game when Austin Hays departed with a hip contusion. Hays collided with Twins first baseman Donovan Solano while running out a grounder in the second inning, and Hays remained in the game until the fourth before being replaced in left field.
Orioles Rumors
Orioles Select Chris Vallimont, Mychal Givens Moved To 60-Day IL
The Orioles have selected the contract of right-hander Chris Vallimont from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was optioned to Triple-A, while Mychal Givens was moved to the 60-day injured list to create space on the 40-man roster.
Givens signed a one-year, $5MM free agent deal with Baltimore during the offseason, returning to the O’s after pitching with the team from 2015-20. However, the comeback has still barely begun, as Givens has been limited to four innings over six appearances (and an 11.25 ERA) due to injuries. Some inflammation in Givens’ left knee arose during Spring Training, which led to an IL placement on Opening Day and delayed his season debut until May 21. Givens then went back on the 15-day IL on June 1 due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder, and the shift to the 60-day IL means that he won’t be eligible to return until August at the earliest.
While Givens had started a rehab assignment, he was scratched from what would’ve been his fifth outing last week, and underwent further examination. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said the team wasn’t overly concerned with the situation, but obviously Givens has been set back enough that he might need to entirely restart his rehab work, thus extending his time on the IL.
Vallimont is now on the verge of making his MLB debut after five pro seasons. The righty was a fifth-round pick for the Marlins in the 2018 draft, and was traded to the Twins in 2019 before Baltimore claimed him off waivers from Minnesota in May 2022.
The results have been mixed at best for Vaillmont in the upper minors, as he has a 6.07 ERA over 123 career innings at Double-A and a 5.22 ERA in 129 1/3 frames of Triple-A ball. A starter for much of his career, the Orioles have used him as a starter in eight games in Norfolk and as a long reliever on six other occasions. Since the Orioles’ bullpen has seen a lot of work over the team’s last two games, Vaillmont’s selection is likely a way to get a fresh arm into the relief corps. After Thursday’s off-day, the O’s play every day until the All-Star break, so Vaillmont might get some chances to chew up any stray innings and turn some heads in his first stint in the big leagues.
The Orioles May Have Found The Lefty Bat They Wanted
The Orioles made it pretty clear they wanted to get a cheap left-handed bat this winter to play either first base, a corner outfield spot or designated hitter. They signed players like Nomar Mazara and Franchy Cordero to minor league deals. They claimed Jake Cave and Ryan O’Hearn off waivers and twice claimed Lewin Díaz.
It’s fairly understandable why they would covet that type of player, given their in-house options for those bat-first roles. Ryan Mountcastle has been the club’s primary first baseman for a while and hits right-handed. He doesn’t have drastic platoon splits but has hit .265/.315/.495 against lefties in his career for a 118 wRC+, compared to a .251/.303/.434 line and 102 wRC+ against righties. Outfielder/designated hitter Anthony Santander is a switch hitter but is also better against lefties: .264/.325/.471 and 117 wRC+ against southpaws but .242/.295/.454 and 102 wRC+ against northpaws. Austin Hays and Ryan McKenna also hit from the right side and have modest splits for their careers.
Adding a solid lefty bat into the mix would have been a way to add some flexibility and occasionally shield those guys from tough matchups. But since it wasn’t a desperate situation, it made sense the O’s stuck to modest moves as opposed to a big signing. Most of those small transactions haven’t worked out, however. Cave was later lost to the Phillies when the O’s tried to pass him through waivers. Both Cordero and Mazara opted out of their deals when they didn’t make the Opening Day roster and are now with other clubs. Díaz was passed through waivers and is hitting at a league average rate in Triple-A this year.
The one player from that bunch who is on the roster is O’Hearn. He had previously spent his entire career with the Royals, having been drafted by them back in 2014. He made it to the big leagues in 2018 and showed his potential that year, hitting .262/.353/.597 in his first 44 games for a 153 wRC+. But he struggled badly in subsequent campaigns, hitting just .211/.282/.351 in 901 plate appearances from 2019 to 2022.
Despite four consecutive rough seasons, the Royals tendered O’Hearn a contract for 2023, avoiding arbitration by agreeing to a $1.4MM salary with $250K in bonuses. But in December, they designated him for assignment, perhaps hoping his rough track record and a salary roughly twice the league minimum would tamp down any interest from other clubs. But the O’s weren’t swayed and sent cash considerations to the Royals in order to facilitate a deal, though they themselves passed him through waivers in January.
O’Hearn technically could have rejected the outright assignment and elected free agency due to having more than three years of service time, but he was shy of the five-year mark and would have had to forfeit that money in order to do so. He made the obvious decision to hang onto that cash and stick with the O’s, fighting for his roster spot.
He was eventually selected to the roster a couple of weeks into the season, on April 13. He received sporadic playing time over the next few weeks, getting 22 plate appearances over nine games, hitting just .263/.318/.316 in those for a 77 wRC+. He was optioned to the minors on May 5 but quickly recalled on May 9, able to return after less than the minimum 10 days because Ramón Urías was placed on the injured list.
Since that recall, he has been on an absolute tear. He’s hit six home runs in 93 plate appearances across 27 games. His .318/.355/.591 slash line in that time amounts to a 161 wRC+. This is still a small sample size but it’s a very encouraging development after years of looking lost at the plate. The O’s have shielded him from left-handed pitchers, as he has just six plate appearances against them this year compared to 109 against righties. But when a righty is on the mound, he’s impressed enough to get the cleanup spot in their lineup.
It’s dangerous to draw too many broad conclusions from such a small bit of data, but there’s also reason to suspect a meaningful change has taken place. O’Hearn recently spoke to Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun about some changes in his mechanics suggested by hitting coaches Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte, who focused on his hip rotation and hand placement. When asked if it was strange that no one pointed out these issues with his mechanics before, he replied “You could say that.” Perhaps the shift to a different organizational philosophy and approach was just what he needed to tap into his potential.
There are encouraging numbers beyond the traditional stat line. Statcast pegs his average exit velocity at 93.4 mph this year, which would be a career high. The same goes for his 14.6% barrel rate and 56.1% hard hit rate. Among players with at least 50 batted ball events this year, that average exit velocity places him 15th in the league, matching Yordan Alvarez and just ahead of guys like Juan Soto and Randy Arozarena. That hard hit rate places him in eighth place among that same group.
We’re still talking about a limited sample here and essentially a strict platoon deployment, but for a guy who’s making a small salary and was designated for assignment twice this winter, getting any kind of production is a great find. If it continues for the next few months, the O’s can keep him for an extra season as well, as he’s currently on pace to finish 2023 with just over five years of MLB service time. That means he’ll be eligible for one more arbitration season in 2024 before qualifying for free agency.*
(*Sidenote: O’Hearn seems likely to benefit from a feature in the CBA that awards service time for brief optional assignments. “If a Player is optionally assigned for a total of less than 20 days in one championship season, the Player shall be credited with Major League service during the period of such optional assignment(s).” O’Hearn therefore won’t be dinged for that brief option in May, getting service time from his April 13 selection to the end of the year. This year’s season is 186 days long but a player needs 172 days to get a full year. O’Hearn missed the first 14 days of the season and will get exactly that 172 figure. Since he began this year with his service time clock at 4.002, he should finish 2023 at 5.002. Future optional assignments could change that trajectory, but he would have to fall off at the plate in order for the O’s to consider that. Full CBA text courtesy of the MLBPA.)
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports
Orioles Sign Meibrys Viloria To Minor League Deal
The Orioles announced to reporters, including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, that they have signed catcher Meibrys Viloria to a minor league deal. He’s working out at the club’s Sarasota facilities but will presumably move to a higher affiliate in the days to come. He had signed a minor league deal with the Angels in May but was released in early June, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com.
Viloria, 26, has bounced around the league quite a bit in the past couple of years. He was in the Royals’ system from 2014 to 2021, including 67 major league games from 2018 to 2020. He reached free agency and joined the Rangers in 2022. He was briefly claimed by the Giants at the end of last year but was designated for assignment and became a free agent again in the offseason.
This year, he signed a minor league deal with the Guardians. He cracked the Opening Day roster as part of a three-catcher setup alongside Mike Zunino and Cam Gallagher. By the start of May, he had yet to receive a start and only tallied 21 2/3 innings off work off the bench. He went 0-3 with a walk in four plate appearances before he was designated for assignment. He then latched on with the Angels, as mentioned, but hit .167/.265/.333 for their Triple-A club before being released.
The Orioles have made it clear that catching depth is important to them as they have frequently brought various guys aboard for that position. Adley Rutschman is the primary backstop at the big league level and James McCann the backup, though the latter is currently on the injured list. McCann’s injury paved the way for Anthony Bemboom to join the big league roster, though Mark Kolozsvary and José Godoy have each been with the club at various times.
Viloria is the latest to be brought into the fold for some extra depth. He’s hit just .198/.270/.279 in the majors but has a much stronger .249/.385/.406 line at Triple-A. He isn’t considered a plus framer by either Baseball Prospectus or FanGraphs, while Statcast likes his work with the running game but not his blocking. If he can get back to the big leagues, he is out of options but has yet to reach arbitration and can be cheaply retained for future seasons.
Big Hype Prospects: Westburg, Matos, Crawford, Whisenhunt, Anthony
The Orioles are finally calling up one of their top hitting prospects, and it isn’t the one I expected to get the first call. Jordan Westburg will make his debut later today. I expected Colton Cowser to win the race to the Majors. With Cedric Mullins recently returning, Cowser is left to await another injury or Aaron Hicks’ inevitable collapse (good outcomes, deeply terrible EVs).
Five Big Hype Prospects
Jordan Westburg, 24, 2B/3B/SS, BAL (AAA)
301 PA, 18 HR, 6 SB, .295/.372/.567
There’s a disconnect between public perceptions of Westburg and scouting reports. The bat will play, though Westburg’s penchant to swing-and-miss could result in long slumps as reports identify exploitable weaknesses. His minor league exit velocities would rate as above average in the Majors. Additionally, Westburg seemingly mixes discipline and targeted aggression in a way that could help keep his strikeouts under control – it has thus far in the minors.
The trouble is his defense. He’s trained all over the infield. Some think he’ll eventually land in left field. We see these sorts of bat-first players all over the league. His flexibility enables the club to view him as a tenth man akin to Chris Taylor (to be clear, Taylor is a far superior fielder). When approaching roster construction, Westburg can be slotted into whatever spot needs filling or else rotate with the regulars to keep everyone fresh.
Luis Matos, 21, OF, SFG (MLB)
45 PA, 1 HR, 2 SB, .282/.378/.385
On the back of a mediocre AFL performance, it wasn’t guaranteed the Giants were going to roster Matos this year. He would have likely gone early in the Rule 5 draft if they hadn’t. Matos immediately rewarded San Francisco’s decision to protect him. Though discipline has long been a weakness, he has more walks than strikeouts through 45 plate appearances after hitting .398/.435/.685 in 116 Triple-A plate appearances. The 21-year-old has looked like a new hitter this year.
There are still worrying details under the surface. His 89.5-mph average and 107.5-mph max exit velocities suggest middling power. Given his age, he could easily grow into more power – several evaluators believe this will happen. It’s my expectation Matos will soon enter a slump due to poor quality of contact. However, I’m optimistic about the long-range picture. In addition to burgeoning hitting skills, Matos is a plus defensive center fielder.
Justin Crawford, 19, OF, PHI (A)
202 PA, 0 HR, 32 SB, .346/.395/.456
I was surprised to recently discover Crawford had crept onto Baseball America’s Top 100 list. That’s not meant as a knock against Crawford. There happens to be a large number of high-quality prospects around the league. Crawford is more projection than actuality at this stage of his development.
The 17th pick of the 2022 draft, Crawford was seen as the sort of toolsy, incomplete prospect the Phillies have historically loved – and struggled to develop. He’s performing decently in Low-A where his first-rate speed is on display. A .423 BABIP has allowed him to get away with too many swinging strikes for his current low-power profile. He’s expected to age into roughly average pop, so this problem could go away in a couple ways. Comparisons to his father, Carl Crawford, come naturally as they share quite a few traits. He’s reportedly comfortable making adjustments to his hitting mechanics which further increases the volatility of his prospectdom.
Carson Whisenhunt, 22, SP, SFG (AA)
(A/A+/AA) 49.2 IP, 12.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 2.90 ERA
Whisenhunt would rank higher among evaluators if not for off-field issues. As it is, he’s still in consideration for the back-end of Top 100 lists. The simplest issue to comment on publicly is his failed PED test in college. You’ll notice, it’s rare for college players to be caught for PEDs, and it’s not because they’re squeaky clean. For his part, Whisenhunt blames a tainted supplement. The skinny southpaw leads with a double-plus changeup and is only just reaching a level where hitters will have some capacity to cope with the pitch. His changeup is such that he won’t truly be tested until he reaches the Majors. The profile and build are reminiscent of Cole Hamels.
Roman Anthony, 19, OF, BOS (A+)
(A/A+) 251 PA, 5 HR, 12 SB, .236/.379/.382
Anyone statistically minded is going to like Anthony. A 19-year-old performing well in High-A is exciting stuff, particularly when said 19-year-old has a 171 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances. He was considerably more ordinary in Low-A, posting a 110 wRC+ in 202 plate appearances. A sweet-swinging lefty slugger, Anthony has considerable development ahead of him if he’s to continue this speedy race toward the Majors. The P-word gets thrown around. Against better competition, Anthony will find himself behind in the count all too often. Passivity isn’t a death knell. We saw Gunnar Henderson defeat it entering last season and again about a month ago. It’s a trait which has a way of echoing. But for the passivity, Anthony has all the traits of a starting corner outfielder.
FanGraphs gives Anthony a four-paragraph writeup that says more than I can in this space.
Three More
Edouard Julien, MIN (24): The star of the 2022 AFL, Julien is on the verge of losing his prospect “eligibility.” He’s batting .252/.336/.439 through 123 plate appearances. A 34.1 percent strikeout rate has held him back. He also has a 12.5 percent swinging strike rate – nearly double that of his Triple-A performance. Defensively limited, Julien appears in need of an adjustment or two. He has the tools to pull it off.
Jacob Misiorowski, MIL (21): It’s good to be unique as a pitcher. Misiorowski certainly checks the “unique” box. The 6’7’’ right-hander has the sort of funky arm action that makes it hard to identify balls and strikes. Misiorowski lacks a changeup, but we’ve seen plenty of starters succeed without one in recent years, especially those who can live up in the zone with hard heat. He currently has poor command.
Quinn Priester, PIT (22): Priester has been on the radar for a while, bouncing in and out of the Top 100 prospects. He’s a ground ball pitcher who manages around a strikeout per inning while limiting walks and piling up ground balls. Since his fastball isn’t particularly effective, he should be viewed as a potential back-of-the-rotation guy – the type who keeps his team in the game.
Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.
Orioles Select Jordan Westburg, Outright Jose Godoy
The Orioles have formally selected the contract of top infield prospect Jordan Westburg from Triple-A Norfolk, per a club announcement. The move was reported to be in the works yesterday afternoon. Baltimore opened a spot on the 40-man roster by passing catcher Jose Godoy through outright waivers. Godoy will remain in Triple-A but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Fellow infielder Joey Ortiz was optioned to Norfolk to open a spot on the active 26-man roster for Westburg, who’ll make his MLB debut in tonight’s game.
Westburg, 24, was the No. 30 overall pick in the 2020 draft and has ripped through Triple-A pitching this year, slashing .295/.372/.567 with 18 homers, 15 doubles, a pair of triples and a perfect six-for-six showing in stolen bases. He’s walked in 9.6% of his plate appearances against a 21.3% strikeout rate. Westburg is widely regarded as one of the sport’s 100 best prospects, ranking prominently on lists compiled by Baseball America (No. 41), MLB.com (No. 34) and many others.
Given that pedigree, Westburg will likely be given the opportunity for regular plate appearances. His promotion could cut into the playing time for veteran second baseman Adam Frazier (who’s also capable of playing left field) and slumping shortstop Jorge Mateo. Westburg has primarily been a shortstop in his minor league career, but he’s also logged considerable time at third base and second base, in addition to some brief cameos in the outfield corners.
As for the 28-year-old Godoy, he came to the O’s about three weeks ago in a cash trade with the Yankees. The former Cardinals farmhand has quickly become something of a journeyman, as the O’s are his sixth organization since 2019. He’s appeared in 26 big league games — split between the Mariners, Twins and Pirates — but has just a .123/.194/.140 batting line in a tiny sample of 62 plate appearances. He has a much better .272/.327/.412 batting line in 671 Triple-A plate appearances across parts of four seasons, and Godoy is regarded as a quality defensive option behind the dish as well. He’ll remain with the O’s and serve as a depth option with their top affiliate.
Orioles To Promote Jordan Westburg
The Orioles are poised to promote top infield prospect Jordan Westburg prior to tomorrow’s game against the Reds, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Baltimore will need to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate Westburg in addition to clearing space for him on the active roster, though those moves have not yet been announced. Passan adds that Westburg will be in the starting lineup tomorrow for his major league debut.
Westburg was selected 30th overall by Baltimore in the first round of the 2020 draft. He immediately impressed with the bat in his first professional season, slashing .285/.389/.479 in 506 trips to the plate while climbing from Single-A all the way to Double-A over the course of the 2021 campaign. While those numbers were certainly impressive, his roughly league average 104 wRC+ in 30 Double-A games did leave questions as to whether he would be able to dominant in the upper levels of the minors the way he had in A-ball.
The youngster answered those questions in a big way with his performance in 2023. After showing improvement across 47 games at the Double-A level with a .247/.344/.473 slash line, Westburg went on to take another step forward with a strong showing in Triple-A during his age-23 season. In 91 games at the level last season, Westburg slashed an impressive .274/.361/.508 with the lowest strikeout rate of his career and 46 extra base hits, including 18 home runs.
After an excellent 2022 campaign, Westburg entered the 2023 campaign rated as roughly a top-75 prospect in the sport by each of MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and Baseball Prospectus. He’s since delivered on that promise by posting the best numbers of his career across 67 games in a return to Triple-A. In 301 plate appearances this season, Westburg has slashed .295/.372/.567 with a wRC+ of 131, a strikeout rate of just 21.3%, and .404 wOBA.
Given those impressive numbers, it’s no wonder why the Orioles have made the decision to pull the trigger on Westburg’s promotion despite the club’s crowded infield picture. Gunnar Henderson, of course, is entrenched on the left side of the infield with appearances in 67 of the club’s 76 games this season. That leaves Westburg likely to mix in alongside the likes of Jorge Mateo, Ramon Urias, and Adam Frazier up the middle, though Frazier has also seen time in the outfield this season while Urias has occasionally stepped in at first base with Ryan Mountcastle on the injured list.
Of the aforementioned trio, only Urias has hit above league average this season with a wRC+ of 101. That being said, Mateo’s glove at shortstop ranks in the 89th percentile of qualified fielders per Statcast, meaning he’ll likely draw starts even as his bat has cooled off significantly after a hot start to the season. That leaves the likes of Frazier and Joey Ortiz most likely to lose out on playing time in favor of Westburg. Ortiz, in particular, stands out as a potential candidate to be optioned in favor of Westburg, as the 24-year-old youngster has gotten into just 15 games with the club this season, slashing .212/.206/.242 in 35 plate appearances.
Westburg’s promotion is the latest in a line of recent top prospect promotions that began with the debut of catcher Adley Rutschman last year. Since then, Henderson, Ortiz, and Grayson Rodriguez are among the youngster to make their debut for the Orioles, though Ortiz and Rodriguez have yet to establish themselves fully at the major league level. The youth movement in Baltimore has paid dividends, as the club has followed up a surprisingly competitive 2022 campaign with a 47-29 record that leaves them both in second place in an extremely competitive AL East division and in the driver’s seat of the AL Wild Card race.
Mets Claim Reed Garrett From Orioles
The Orioles announced that the Mets have claimed right-hander Reed Garrett off waivers. Garrett was designated for assignment by the O’s last weekend.
Garrett signed a minor league deal with Baltimore in the offseason, and his contract was selected to the MLB roster 11 days ago. The righty lasted only four days in the Show before being DFA’ed, with Garrett posting a 10.13 ERA over two appearances and 2 2/3 innings pitched. In the longer sample size of 22 2/3 innings thrown by Garrett at Triple-A Norfolk, he has a 1.59 ERA and a 28.4% strikeout rate, albeit with a 10.4% walk rate.
Originally a 16th-round draft pick for the Rangers in 2014, Garrett’s big league career began in 2019 when the Tigers selected him in the Rule 5 Draft but later returned him to the Texas organization. Garrett pitched in Japan with the Seibu Lions in 2020-21 with good results, before returning to North America on a minor league contract with the Nationals and getting into seven games (9 1/3 IP) with Washington in 2022.
In claiming Garrett, the Mets add a bit more bullpen depth to a pitching staff that has had more than its share of injuries. Garrett would be a bit of a late bloomer at 30 years old, but his numbers in Triple-A and in Nippon Professional Baseball are intriguing enough that the Mets might think the righty has some untapped potential.
Mychal Givens Scratched From Rehab Appearance
- Orioles right-hander Mychal Givens was scratched from his planned rehab appearance at Triple-A tomorrow, as noted by Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun. Instead, Givens is set to return to Baltimore for an evaluation. Further details about the evaluation are limited, though it certainly seems to be an ominous sign for the right-hander, who’s been on the shelf with shoulder inflammation since the beginning of the month and had the start to his 2023 campaign delayed by knee inflammation. While Givens has been limited to just four innings of work by those injuries, the Orioles bullpen has nonetheless excelled thanks to the emergence of Felix Bautista and Yennier Cano as perhaps the best relief duo in baseball this season. [UPDATE: Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters that Givens has some soreness in his throwing shoulder but there is a relatively “low level” of concern about a serious setback.]
Orioles Reinstate Cedric Mullins From 10-Day IL
The Orioles have reinstated outfielder Cedric Mullins from the 10-day injured list. Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was also called up from Triple-A, while righty Logan Gillaspie and utilityman Josh Lester were optioned to Triple-A in corresponding moves.
Mullins missed just short of four weeks recovering from a right groin strain suffered when he was trying to beat out a grounder to first base. Fortunately, Mullins had a pretty straightforward recovery process that included three minor league rehab games, and he’ll now get back into action with an impressive 45-29 Orioles team.
The outfielder has been a big part of that success, hitting .263/.356/.479 with eight homers over 224 plate appearances this season. A .319 xwOBA (well under his .362 wOBA) does hint at regression, especially since Mullins’ hard-contact rate is below average, but Mullins has traditionally outperformed his xwOBA over the last few seasons. His 12.5% walk rate is also a career best, adding a new dimension to Mullins’ work at the plate.
Despite losing Mullins for four weeks and Ryan Mountcastle for the last two weeks, the Orioles have kept winning even without these two regulars in the lineup. In replacing Mullins, the O’s signed veteran Aaron Hicks, who has experienced a resurgence since his arrival in Baltimore. The Yankees released Hicks in late May to end his eight-season run in the Bronx, marked mostly in recent years by injuries and a severe lack of production. However, Hicks has rebounded to the change of scenery, hitting .310/.412/.552 over his 68 PA in an Orioles uniform.
While Mullins isn’t in danger of being Wally Pipp’ed out of the center field job, Hicks’ production will certainly merit more playing time, giving the O’s a nice problem to have in figuring out how to juggle their several quality position players. Hicks could take some at-bats away from Anthony Santander in right field and the DH spot is somewhat available, though the Orioles like to give Adley Rutschman plenty of DH time in order to keep him fresh and to keep his bat in the lineup.
