- On the 13th pitch of his start against the Rays today, Orioles right-hander Spenser Watkins was hit in the forearm by a line drive off the bat of Ji-Man Choi. Watkins had to leave the game without recording an out (and allowing singles to his three batters faced), but he may have avoided serious injury — x-rays were negative and Watkins was diagnosed with only a bruised forearm. Sunday marked Watkins’ eighth start of the season, and the second-year player had a 6.00 ERA over 30 innings thus far in 2022.
Orioles Rumors
Orioles Promote Adley Rutschman
The Orioles announced that they have selected the contract of top prospect Adley Rutschman. Anthony Bemboom has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Of course, this is a day that baseball fans in Baltimore and elsewhere have been looking forward to for quite some time. Even before he was a member of the Orioles organization, Rutschman was tantalizing the baseball world with his performance at Oregon State, shooting up draft boards and considered by many to be the top player available in the 2019 draft. Baseball America, for instance, gave him the #1 slot that year, with their report noting that the switch-hitting catcher had essentially every skill necessary to succeed going forward. Hitting for average, hitting for power, taking walks, strong arm, good receiving and blocking, he had all the tools except speed, which is hardly surprising for a catcher. “He is the best catching prospect since Buster Posey in 2008 and Matt Wieters in 2007,” their report concluded.
Although there were reports that the O’s were considering other players with the first overall selection in the 2019 draft, such as Bobby Witt Jr., Andrew Vaughn and JJ Bleday, it never seemed like there was much chance of anyone usurping Rutschman. When the big day finally rolled around, Rutschman was indeed the first player off the board.
Due to the struggles of the big league club, Rutschman instantly became the light at the end of the tunnel for Baltimore fans. The Orioles finished last in the AL East in both 2017 and 2018, and were in the process of repeating that feat when Rutschman was drafted in 2019. They somehow slipped past the Red Sox and into fourth place in the shortened 2020 season, but were back down in the basement in 2021, and also posted the worst record in baseball again (tied with the Diamondbacks). That means they have the first overall selection in the draft yet again this summer. With nothing inspiring happening at the big league level, all hopes were pinned on the stars in the farm system that would make up the next great Orioles team, with Rutschman being front and center.
Baseball America ranked Rutschman the fifth-best prospect in all of baseball in 2021, then bumping him up to #2 last year and #1 this year. He’s also considered the best prospect in baseball by FanGraphs, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniels, and The Athletic’s Keith Law.
It’s been an atypical rise through the minors for the 24-year-old. It started out normal enough, with Rutschman getting into 37 games in the lower levels of the Orioles’ system in the months after the draft. But the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020, meaning he wasn’t able to play in any official organized games. But that missed season didn’t slow him down any, as his 2021 proved the hype was for real. In 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A, he hit 23 home runs and produced an overall batting line of .285/.397/.502, walking at a 14.5% rate and striking out only 16.6% of the time. That all adds up to a wRC+ of 144, or 44% better than league average.
The Orioles did little to block his path to the big leagues this offseason. The catchers who got playing time behind the plate in 2021 were all jettisoned from the roster. Pedro Severino, Austin Wynns and Nick Ciuffo were all outrighted at season’s end and Chance Sisco was claimed off waivers by the Mets. There was a time in the offseason that the club actually had no catchers on the 40-man roster, although they eventually signed Robinson Chirinos to be in the mix.
Once the new collective bargaining agreement was agreed to and the lockout ended in March, it seemed there was a chance Rutschman could crack the Opening Day roster. The new CBA featured incentives to try and discourage teams from holding their best prospects down in the minors at the beginning of a season in order to manipulate their service time and gain an extra year of control over their services. Unfortunately, Rutschman suffered a triceps strain in mid-March that put him on the shelf for a few weeks, ending any chance of him being ready for the season opener. After recuperating from that injury, he made his 2022 debut in the minors on April 26 and has spent the past four weeks getting back into game shape. In 19 games this year across three different levels, he’s hitting .309/.427/.515, 159 wRC+, walking in 13.4% of his plate appearances while striking out in just 8.5% of them.
There are about 137 days remaining in the season, meaning he will be unable to accrue the 172 days necessary to count as a full year. There is a provision in the new CBA that grants a full year of service time to the top two finishers in Rookie of the Year voting, though it will be difficult for Rutschman to take that path now, given that his competitors in that race have a six-week headstart on him. Jeremy Pena has already produced 1.8 fWAR, while other prominent rookies like Bobby Witt Jr. and Julio Rodriguez have 0.8 fWAR during their first MLB seasons.
Assuming Rutschman isn’t able to catch up and finishes this season with less than a year of service time, the O’s will control his services through the 2028 season, though he does have a very good shot at qualifying for arbitration after the 2024 season as a Super Two player. (The Super Two cutoff moves from year to year but has only been above 2.137 three times since 2009, with the last instance coming back in 2012.) Now that he’s reached the big time, the club will be hoping that he and the other prospects that are still to come will help the Orioles start turning the page from rebuilding to competing over those coming years.
With Rutschman injured to start the year, the club selected Bemboom’s contract, pairing him with Chirinos as the club’s catching duo. In 22 games on the year, he’s hit a meager .115/.207/.212. Since he’s out of options, the club had little choice but to designate him for assignment in order to make room for their star prospect. Bemboom will likely hit the waiver wire in the coming days and see if there’s another club in the league that’s interested in his services.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Orioles, John Means Agree To Two-Year Contract
The Orioles and left-hander John Means have avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a two-year, $5.925MM contract, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). Means will earn $2.95MM in 2022, and $2.975MM in 2023, as per Baltimore Baseball’s Rich Dubroff (via Twitter). Means is represented by the Wasserman Agency.
Means had been looking for a $3.1MM salary in 2022, while the Orioles submitted a $2.7MM figure. However, it’s probably safe to assume that Means’ Tommy John surgery played a big role in this extension coming together, even if an arbiter would have only been gauging Means’ numbers from prior to 2022 in determining his salary. As per the usual timeline for TJ recovery, Means will be out of action until at least midway through the 2023 season. The extension reflects that situation, giving Means only a minor raise for next season considering that he’ll be missing so much action.
Talking to The Baltimore Sun’s Andy Kostka and other reporters, Means said the two sides finalized the extension yesterday after negotiating for the last week. “It’s nice to not have to go to court and fight [in arbitration]. Especially in a sling. Probably not the best way to go about it,” Means joked.
The new contract locks in some financial security for Means during a difficult time in his career. While there’s never a good time for a Tommy John surgery, 2022 was the first of Means’ three arb-eligible seasons, and thus his rehab will severely impact his earning potential over his next two years. Considering that he’ll miss so much of the 2023 campaign, Means likely won’t earn too much beyond his $2.975MM salary in 2024, assuming he returns healthy and pitches well whenever he does return to the mound next season.
Means somewhat surprisingly emerged as the de facto ace of the Orioles rotation in 2019-21, bursting onto the scene with a second-place AL Rookie Of The Year finish in 2019. Over his first three seasons, Means posted a 3.73 ERA, relying on excellent control and fastball spin (if not velocity) to retire batters, despite allowing a lot of hard contact and not racking up many strikeouts. Means’ Baltimore tenure was highlighted by a no-hitter against the Mariners on May 5, 2021.
Orioles Outright Logan Allen
The Orioles announced that southpaw Logan Allen has been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. He’s never previously been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of big league service, so he can’t refuse the assignment. Allen will remain in the organization and try to pitch his way back onto the roster.
Baltimore just claimed Allen off waivers from the Guardians this month. He came out of the bullpen three times for skipper Brandon Hyde, allowing a pair of runs on three hits and two walks through 1 2/3 innings. After that briefest of showings, the Orioles designated him for assignment on Tuesday. This time around, the Florida native made it through waivers unclaimed. Out of minor league option years, he had to stick on an active roster or be designated for assignment.
Allen has appeared in the majors in each of the past four seasons. At one time a highly-regarded pitching prospect, he’s been dealt from the Red Sox to the Padres (in the 2015 Craig Kimbrel deal) and from San Diego to Cleveland (in the 2019 deadline Trevor Bauer, Taylor Trammell three-team swap with the Reds). Allen appeared at the back of Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list the latter season, but he’s yet to find much big league success.
Over 96 1/3 career innings, he owns a 5.89 ERA with a below-average 15.5% strikeout rate. Allen has also struggled at the Triple-A level, but he’s posted quality numbers up through Double-A and has long intrigued evaluators with a four-pitch arsenal anchored by a quality changeup. He turns 25 next week, so there’s still plenty of time for Allen to pitch his way back onto an uncertain staff in Baltimore if he shows well with Norfolk.
Diamondbacks Acquire Paul Fry From Orioles
The Orioles announced they’ve traded reliever Paul Fry to the Diamondbacks for minor league righty Luis Osorio. Arizona immediately optioned him to Triple-A Reno, and the club had a pair of 40-man roster vacancies after placing Cooper Hummel and Kyle Nelson on the COVID-19 injured list this afternoon.
Baltimore had designated Fry for assignment over the weekend. That marked a fairly swift downturn after the southpaw got off to an excellent start to the 2021 campaign that seemed as if it’d make him a deadline trade chip. From the start of the 2021 season through the All-Star Break, Fry held opposing hitters to a pitiful .210/.326/.218 slash in 33 innings. His 4.09 ERA was fairly ordinary, but he struck out 31% of opposing hitters while inducing grounders on over half the balls in play against him.
Unfortunately, Fry’s performance has taken a sharp downward turn since that point. Going back to the All-Star Break, the Michigan native has an 8.54 ERA in only 26 1/3 frames. Fry has continued to keep the ball on the ground, but his strikeout rate has plummeted to a below-average 22% while his walk percentage has spiked to an untenable 19.7%. The O’s have optioned Fry a couple times in that span and eventually moved on altogether after he allowed nine runs in his 12 frames this year.
It’s possible the Snakes’ acquisition was motivated by Nelson’s loss to the virus list, but that they relinquished a minor league arm would seemingly indicate Fry could hold a 40-man roster spot. Osorio, 19, signed with the D-Backs out of Venezuela. He spent last season in the Dominican Summer League.
Matt Harvey Suspended 60 Games For Violation Of Joint Drug Agreement
Major League Baseball announced that Orioles minor league pitcher Matt Harvey has been suspended 60 games for “participating in the distribution of a prohibited Drug of Abuse in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.” The suspension retroactively begins on April 29, meaning Harvey will first be eligible to return in late June. He is not on the O’s 40-man roster.
Harvey was one of multiple players called to testify in the trial of former Angels communications director Eric Kay, who was eventually convicted by a Fort Worth jury of distributing fentanyl that resulted in the death of former pitcher Tyler Skaggs. A series of players admitted on the witness stand they’d been provided opiates by Kay, but Harvey testified he’d also provided Skaggs with Percocet pills. Harvey had been granted immunity from criminal prosecution.
Today’s suspension is for that admission he’d given Skaggs a controlled substance, explaining why none of the other players who testified have been suspended. T.J. Quinn of ESPN reported in February that Harvey was facing a possible 60-90 day ban for drug distribution, and the league has indeed levied punishment.
Harvey was a free agent at the time of the trial. The Orioles re-signed him to a minor league deal in April, but he has yet to report to an affiliate after missing Spring Training. Baltimore was obviously aware of the possibility of a suspension at the time they signed him.
Orioles general manager Mike Elias told reporters today the club “(supports) all aspects of MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and their ruling in this particular case. … I am glad that Matt now has the opportunity to put this part of his past behind him and pursue another shot with our organization after serving his suspension” (via Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball).
Orioles Designate Logan Allen, Select Nick Vespi
The Orioles announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Nick Vespi from Triple-A Norfolk and cleared a spot on the roster by designating fellow southpaw Logan Allen for assignment.
Baltimore only claimed Logan, 24, off waivers from the Guardians 12 days ago. He appeared in three games with the O’s, allowing a pair of runs on three hits and two walks with one strikeout in just 1 2/3 innings. It’ll be a brief stop on the Orioles’ 40-man roster, and Baltimore will now have a week to trade Allen or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
Selected by the Red Sox in the eighth round of the 2015 draft, Allen was once a well regarded pitching prospect who’s been involved in his fair share of notable trades. Boston shipped him to San Diego alongside Manuel Margot, Carlos Asuaje and Javy Guerra in the trade that brought Craig Kimbrel to the Sox. The Padres subsequently included Allen and Franmil Reyes as part of the return in the three-team trade that brought Mike Clevinger over from Cleveland.
Allen has gotten a look in parts of four big league seasons, seeing action in San Diego, Cleveland and Baltimore. He’s tallied 96 1/3 innings but has just a 5.89 ERA to show for it. Allen has missed plenty of bats in the minors but has only a 15.5% strikeout walk against an elevated 9.6% walk rate during his time at the big league level. He’s also out of minor league options, so any team that picks him up won’t be able to send him to the minors without first passing him through waivers.
As for the 26-year-old Vespi, he was an 18th-round pick by the O’s back in 2015 and will be making his big league debut the first time he gets into a game. He’s not considered to be among the organization’s top-end pitching prospects, but his strong performance in Norfolk has become hard to overlook. Vespi has fired 14 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run, striking out 21 of 52 batters (40.4%) against just three walks (5.8%) along the way.
Orioles Claim Beau Sulser, Designate Paul Fry
The Orioles announced that they have claimed Beau Sulser off waivers from the Pirates and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. Lefty Paul Fry has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Sulser had his contract selected three weeks ago and made his MLB debut in late April. He pitched 9 2/3 innings out of Pittsburgh’s bullpen over four outings. His 3.72 ERA and 21.7% strikeout rate were acceptable, but he also had a concerning walk rate of 13%. The Pirates designated him for assignment a couple of days ago when they claimed Tyler Beede off waivers.
As for Fry, his designation is at least somewhat surprising, given that he was garnering trade interest at the deadline less than a year ago. Despite a penchant for walks, Fry’s ability to rack up strikeouts and ground balls seemed to give him appeal to other clubs around the league. For his career, he’s thrown 176 1/3 innings over this season and the previous four. His 4.80 ERA isn’t terribly enticing, but he has struck out 24.6% of batters he’s faced as well as inducing grounders at a 56.4% clip. His 12.2% walk rate has put a damper on his overall results, though.
This year, through 12 innings, the pattern is largely intact. His 6.00 ERA comes with a 22.2% strikeout rate, 65.6% ground ball rate and 13% walk rate. However, he’s been undone by a 25% HR/FB ratio. That’s a small sample, but it comes at a time when power is down across the league.
Given the interest he’s garnered in the past, it seems likely that he’ll latch on somewhere. He qualified for arbitration for the first time and is making a salary of $850K this year, just a hair above the $700K league minimum. He came into the season with three years and 75 days of service time and still has a pair of option years, meaning he could certainly be of interest to teams lacking in lefty bullpen depth.
Injured List Placements: Naylor, Wendle, Mountcastle
Catching up on some recent injury news…
- The Guardians made a handful of roster moves on Friday, with Josh Naylor going onto the COVID-related injury list, per Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Headed in the other direction was Yu Chang, who landed on the COVID IL a month ago. The club also recalled Richie Palacios and optioned Kirk McCarty. On Wednesday, the Guardians had their game against the White Sox postponed after multiple positive tests among their coaching staff. The next day, seven staff members were placed in COVID protocol in relation to this outbreak. It seems that this has extended to Naylor, though it’s unclear if he has been shelved due to a positive test, showing symptoms or contact tracing. The first baseman/outfielder has been excellent so far this year, hitting .347/.377/.611 for a wRC+ of 191 through 20 games. With Naylor absent last night, the club slid Owen Miller from second to first and used Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario up the middle.
- The Marlins placed Joey Wendle on the 10-day injured list yesterday with a right hamstring strain, retroactive to May 12, per their transactions tracker at MLB.com. In a corresponding move, Brian Anderson was activated off the COVID IL. The 40-man roster had a couple of vacancies and is now at 39, though Jon Berti and Richard Bleier remain on the COVID list and will need roster spots when they return. Losing Wendle is certainly a hit for the Marlins, as he has started this season hot. Through 25 games, he’s hitting .304/.368/.456, 140 wRC+. He’s also added four steals and good defense to accumulate 1.2 wins above replacement already, according to FanGraphs. However, it’s possible that the return of Anderson can make it close to a wash, as he was hitting .262/.385/.385 before landing on the IL, producing a wRC+ of 131.
- The Orioles announced yesterday that first baseman Ryan Mountcastle was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist forearm strain, retroactive to May 11. Jorge Lopez returned from the bereavement list in a corresponding move. Mountcastle’s production is down a few ticks relative to last year, but still above league average. In 2021, he hit .255/.309/.487 for a wRC+ of 111. This year, he’s moved to .268/.299/.402, wRC+ of 104. He seems to be taking a more contact-oriented approach, at least in this small sample of 28 games. His swing percentage is up on pitches inside and outside the zone, but his contact rates have also gone up in both cases. As a result, his walk and strikeout rates are both down relative to previous years. That’s led to a drop in slugging, though that’s also been a trend across the league so far this year. With Mountcastle out, Trey Mancini and Tyler Nevin will likely cover first base for him.
AL Notes: Bubic, Greene, Brnovich
The Royals announced yesterday that they optioned left-hander Kris Bubic to Triple-A Omaha, with righty Jonathan Heasley taking his spot on the active roster.
Over the past couple of years, Bubic seemed to be establishing himself as a solid, if unspectacular, part of the club’s rotation. Over 2020 and 2021, he made 30 starts and nine appearances out of the bullpen, throwing 180 innings with a 4.40 ERA. His 21% strikeout rate, 10.4% walk rate and 46.8% ground ball rate were all within a few points of league average. However, just about everything has gone in the wrong direction this year, as his ERA is currently at 12.83, with his strikeout rate dropping to 14.7%, his walk rate jumping to 16.2% and his grounder rate sinking to 38.3%. He’ll now head to Omaha and try to get the train back on the tracks. Despite having over two years of MLB service time now, he’s still just 24 years old and has plenty of time to recover.
The team is off to a disappointing 10-19 start. Although Bubic and Carlos Hernandez have struggled in the rotation, the club’s biggest weakness so far has been the bats. The team-wide slash line of .216/.282/.308 amounts to a wRC+ of 76, dead last in the majors.
Some other notes from the American League…
- During Spring Training, it seemed like the Tigers were poised to have their top two prospects crack the Opening Day roster. In the end, first baseman Spencer Torkelson followed through, but outfielder Riley Greene couldn’t make it after fracturing his foot just a few days before the opener. It seems he could be nearing a return to the field, with Jason Beck of MLB.com relaying word from manager A.J. Hinch that Greene is about to resume baseball activities. The club is out to a miserable 9-23 start, a worse record than every team except for the Cincinnati Reds. The primary culprit has been the offense, with Austin Meadows the only Tiger having a wRC+ higher than 101 in more than 50 plate appearances. There’s no guarantee a young player will hit the ground running in his first taste of MLB action, as evidenced by Torkelson’s .146/.276/.258 line, but it’s possible that Greene could provide a boost based on his .308/.400/.553 line in Triple-A last year. Since the demotion of Akil Baddoo, the outfield mix consists of Meadows, Willi Castro, Derek Hill and Robbie Grossman. With Grossman approaching free agency at season’s end, he’s a likely trade candidate, unless the Tigers can vault themselves back into contention over the next few months.
- The Orioles announced that pitching prospect Kyle Brnovich underwent Tommy John surgery this week, as relayed by Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Brnovich was drafted by the Angels and traded to the Orioles as part of the Dylan Bundy deal before pitching for his original organization. Last year, he logged 95 innings across High-A and Double-A with a 3.32 ERA, 31.5% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate. Based on that strong season, he’s now considered the #30 prospect in the organization by Baseball America and #17 by FanGraphs. He started the year in Triple-A but was only able to throw eight innings before being shut down. He’ll now miss the remainder of this season, but could be pushing for a rotation spot in the second half of next year, given the usual 12-18 month recovery time from the procedure. Even with this setback, the club’s future rotation picture is starting to look better. Bruce Zimmermann, Tyler Wells and Kyle Bradish are showing signs of promise in the early going, to varying degrees, with prospects Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall pitching well in Triple-A and surely nearing their MLB debuts.
