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Orioles Claim Kyle Tyler

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The Orioles announced that right-hander Kyle Tyler has been claimed off waivers from the Phillies.  Tyler has been assigned to the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, and no further move was necessary since Baltimore already had an open spot on its 40-man roster.

The Phillies landed Tyler themselves via the waiver wire last August when the righty was acquired from the Marlins, and Tyler will now end his tenure with the Phils without any time on the big league roster.  Tyler acted as rotation depth at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and this season had a 4.31 ERA, 15.6% strikeout rate, and 7.6% walk rate over 12 starts and 62 2/3 innings.

A 20th-round draft pick for the Angels in 2018, Tyler has a 4.31 ERA over 48 career innings in the majors, with 31 2/3 of those frames coming with the Marlins last season.  Tyler has experience as both a starter and a swingman, and he could provide the O’s with help in either of those departments as Baltimore is still dealing with a number of injuries to key starters and relievers.

With a collective 2.97 ERA over the last two weeks, the Orioles’ pitching staff has started to nicely stabilize itself after some extreme early-season struggles, though naturally any team would love to have some depth arms available.  Tyler has a minor league option remaining, giving him and the Orioles some extra flexibility in potentially moving him back and forth between Baltimore and Triple-A Norfolk.

IL Activations: Walker, Sanchez

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Here’s the rundown of some prominent names returning from the injured list today…

  • The Cardinals activated Jordan Walker from the 10-day IL, with fellow outfielder Michael Siani optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Walker returns to action after a little over two weeks on the IL, as the former top prospect was bothered by inflammation in his left wrist.  Operating as the Cards’ everyday right fielder, Walker has hit only .215/.273/.310 in 172 plate appearances this season, though his bat had been starting to heat up in the few games just prior to his injury.
  • The Orioles activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day IL, and optioned catcher Maverick Handley to Triple-A Norfolk.  Like Walker, Sanchez was also sidelined with wrist inflammation, though his issue was more severe since Sanchez hasn’t played in a big league game since April 27.  Sanchez will now resume his role as Adley Rutschman’s backup and hope that his IL stint essentially resets his season, as Sanchez had only three hits in his first 35 plate appearances in a Baltimore uniform.  The O’s signed Sanchez to a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal back in December.

Tyler O’Neill Returned From Rehab Due To Renewed Shoulder Soreness

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Outfielder Tyler O’Neill was returned from his minor league rehab assignment by the Orioles today, per a club announcement. O’Neill was placed on the shelf due to a shoulder impingement nearly a month ago, but began his rehab assignment last week and seemed to be nearing a return to action prior to today’s news. He had sat out recent games due to renewed soreness in his shoulder, however, and now has been pulled off his rehab assignment entirely. MASN’s Roch Kubatko relays that O’Neill will be shut down from all baseball activity for one week and has already received an injection in his AC joint.

The news is a clear sign that the Orioles should not expect O’Neill’s return anytime soon. While an estimated timetable for his return to the field won’t be known until after this shutdown period ends, it should be expected he’ll need to resume building up with lighter baseball activities before he’s in position for the Orioles to consider a new rehab assignment. Position players can be on a rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days before they have to be pulled back or activated from the IL, so once he begins playing in rehab games again the countdown to his return can resume in earnest.

Until then, Baltimore’s outfield will be without its top right-handed option. The team signed O’Neill to a three-year, $49.5MM deal in free agency over the offseason as a way to help make up for the loss of Anthony Santander from their lineup and complement a heavily left-handed outfield mix that features Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser, and Heston Kjerstad on a regular basis. O’Neill made plenty of sense as a complement to that trio given his excellent numbers against left-handed pitching, but things haven’t worked out so well in year one of his contract with the Orioles. The outfielder has been limited to just 24 games by injuries this year, and even when he’s been healthy enough to take the field he’s hit a paltry .188/.280/.325 (70 wRC+) with just two home runs in 93 plate appearances.

It’s a far cry from the production he offered the Red Sox last year, when he slugged 31 homers in 113 games and posted a 131 wRC+ overall. While that sort of performance can obviously be transformational for a lineup, the Orioles would likely benefit from even a more modestly productive version of O’Neill as long as he can get healthy enough to return to the outfield. The Orioles have been the least productive offense against left-handed pitching in the American League this year, and their 62 wRC+ is ahead of only the lowly Rockies in the majors as a whole. O’Neill is a career .261/.366/.524 hitter against southpaws, so even a diminished version of him could be a huge boost to the lineup.

Until he returns, however, the Orioles appear likely to continue relying on Ramon Laureano to fill O’Neill’s role as a lefty-mashing outfielder. Laureano has excelled in Baltimore this year with a 139 wRC+ in 133 plate appearances, though the longtime lefty masher has actually gotten most of his production against right-handed pitching this year with below-average numbers against opposite-handed pitching. That makes him an imperfect complement to the Orioles’ otherwise all-lefty outfield, but until O’Neill returns the club doesn’t have many clearly better options.

Emmanuel Rivera Accepts Outright Assignment With Orioles

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The Orioles announced that infielder Emmanuel Rivera, who they designated for assignment earlier this week, has cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll stay in the organization and provide them with some non-roster depth.

This was the expected outcome once Rivera was bumped off the 40-man roster. Players with at least three years of major league service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit their remaining salary to exercise that right.

Rivera has a bit more than three years of service. He and the O’s avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $1MM salary. They passed him through waivers in February. He could have elected free agency at that time but made the obvious choice to accept, as it kept that $1MM salary on the table for this year.

He got his roster spot back in April when Jordan Westburg landed on the injured list. Rivera got 76 plate appearances, hitting .232/.303/.275 for a wRC+ of 70. Westburg returned from the IL a couple of days ago. Since Rivera is out of options, he was bumped off the 40-man. Similar to his last outright, it’s logical for him to accept the assignment to keep his salary flowing.

He’ll give the O’s a bit of experienced non-roster infield depth. In his career, he has hit .243/.306/.363 for a wRC+ of 86. However, his grades for his third base defense have been strong. Thanks mostly to that glovework, FanGraphs has credited him with 1.9 wins above replacement in 367 games.

The O’s are having a disappointing season, with a 27-39 record that leaves them eight games out of a playoff spot at the moment. Unless they charge ahead in the coming weeks, they will go into the deadline as sellers. Players like Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías, Ryan Mountcastle and others may end up on the move, which could open some late-season playing time for Rivera. Even without trades, another injury situation could pop up at any time.

If he’s not added back before the end of the year, he would be able to elect free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are outright off a 40-man roster during the season.

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images

Orioles Select Luis Vázquez

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The Orioles announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Luis Vázquez. He’ll take the active roster spot of infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to left elbow inflammation, retroactive to June 7th. The 40-man roster count climbs from 38 to 39. The O’s added that right-hander Matt Bowman, who was recently designated for assignment, has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

Vazquez, 25, was acquired from the Cubs in a minor trade back in January. The infielder was a 14th-round pick by Chicago back in 2017 but made it to the majors for the first time just last year with an 11-game stint on the North Side. Vazquez split time between shortstop, third base, and second base during his brief call-up and looked competent at all three of those positions defensively, but hit just .083 with six strikeouts in 14 plate appearances during that brief call-up to the majors. Other than that, he spent the entire year at Triple-A Iowa, where he hit a solid but unspectacular .263/.347/.432 in 64 games, which in terms of wRC+ sat right around league average with a figure of 98.

During the offseason, the Cubs committed to a complete overhaul of their third base and bench mixes. Aside from promoting top prospect Matt Shaw, they brought in Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan, and Justin Turner to round out the bench mix while parting ways with not only starting third baseman Isaac Paredes but also longtime bench pieces like Patrick Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, and David Bote. Vazquez found himself let go as part of that purge and was designated for assignment to make room for the addition of Berti to the 40-man roster, which ultimately facilitated his trade to the Orioles organization. The infielder didn’t last long on the Orioles’ own 40-man roster and was outrighted to the minors just a week after the club acquired him. He received some consideration for an Opening Day roster spot but ultimately began the season at Triple-A Norfolk, where he’s slashed .280/.345/.447 with a 114 wRC+ in 37 games this year.

Vazquez is now set to take over for Mateo on the Orioles’ bench. Mateo’s dealing with discomfort in his surgically repaired elbow after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year, so while MLB.com notes that Mateo underwent an MRI that revealed no structural damage it’s hardly a surprise that Baltimore has decided to be cautious with their utility man. Mateo is presently in the midst of his worst season as an Oriole with a 44 wRC+ and a 35.4% strikeout rate, so it’s possible that the time off could give him some time to reset as well. The soon to be 30-year-old remains a useful bench piece despite his paltry offense this year thanks to his elite baserunning (14 steals in 15 attempts this year as a part-time player) and his versatility to handle virtually every spot on the diamond as needed. Vazquez, Ramon Urias, and Dylan Carlson will all be tasked with helping to pick up the slack while Mateo is on the shelf.

As for Bowman, the right-hander made his debut back in 2016 and spent a few years as a solid middle reliever for the Reds and Cardinals before falling off the map for a few years due to injuries. He resurfaced in 2023 and has bounced between the Yankees, Twins, Diamondbacks, Mariners, and Orioles over the past three years while putting together a 4.79 ERA and 4.91 FIP in 56 1/3 innings. He’ll now head to Triple-A to serve as non-roster relief depth for Baltimore going forward.

Orioles Designate Emmanuel Rivera For Assignment, Option Heston Kjerstad

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The Orioles announced a number of roster moves today. Outfielder Cedric Mullins and infielder Jordan Westburg have both been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. In corresponding moves, the club has optioned outfielder Heston Kjerstad and designated infielder Emmanuel Rivera for assignment. The O’s also announced that outfielder Jordyn Adams, who was designated for assignment last week, has been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk. The 40-man roster count drops to 38.

Kjerstad, 26, was the No. 2 overall pick back in 2020, though that selection represented a bit of draft-day creativity; he was generally viewed as a mid-first-round talent but signed with the O’s on an underslot deal at No. 2 overall, leaving Baltimore some extra money to pursue over-slot bonuses with others further down the line — the aforementioned Westburg and top prospect Coby Mayo among them.

The Orioles have given Kjerstad looks in each of the past three seasons now, but the 2025 campaign is the first where he’s been given a real run at anything close to regular playing time. It didn’t go well. Despite being largely shielded from left-handed pitching, the lefty-swinging Kjerstad hit just .192/.240/.327 with four homers, a 3.6% walk rate and a 26.9% strikeout rate in 167 turns at the plate. He’s improved his overall contact rate relative to 2023-24, but he’s chasing off the plate at borderline egregious levels (38.4% chase rate) and still swinging through pitches too often.

Kjerstad finds himself at something of a crossroads with the Orioles. He’ll still have one more minor league option remaining beyond the current season, but he’s now struggled to establish himself in three separate seasons. Colton Cowser is locked into one outfield spot long-term. Tyler O’Neill has an opt-out clause in his three-year contract that he does not presently appear likely to take (although a big finish to the season can always change that). Mullins is a free agent at season’s end, as is Ryan O’Hearn, which could open some outfield/designated hitter playing time. However, the O’s have prospects like Enrique Bradfield Jr., Jud Fabian, Vance Honeycutt and Dylan Beavers rising through the system — any of whom could also factor into those competitions for playing time.

It’s arguable that Kjerstad hasn’t really gotten a fair audition. He’s totaled 314 MLB plate appearances across three seasons and always been either platooned or had the specter of someone returning from the IL to take his spot and push him back to Triple-A Norfolk.

Other clubs might have given him a more traditional everyday opportunity, but the Orioles tend to prioritize matchups more than most and have frequently brought in veteran outfielders who’ve cut into Kjerstad’s potential playing time (e.g. O’Neill, Ramon Laureano, Dylan Carlson, Eloy Jimenez, Austin Slater). They make no secret about their endeavors to stockpile as much depth as possible, which positions them well for injuries but also results in scattershot opportunities for young players like Kjerstad, Mayo and since-traded prospects like Kyle Stowers, Connor Norby and Joey Ortiz.

For now, Kjerstad will head to Norfolk and look to get his swing back on track. However, he has little left to prove against Triple-A pitching. Kjerstad has played 132 games there, taken 591 plate appearances, and mashed at a .299/.382/.541 clip.

As for Rivera, he originally came to the O’s as one of those previously mentioned depth grabs. Baltimore claimed him off waivers last August, enjoyed a productive run of 27 games down the stretch, and tendered him a $1MM contract over the winter. Rivera never seemed likely to replicate the .364 average on balls in play or 22.2% homer-to-fly-ball ratio he logged with the O’s in 2024, however, and his offense has plummeted back down to his career norms in 2025. He’s taken 76 plate appearances and batted .232/.303/.275 — not far off his lifetime .243/.306/.363 slash in the majors.

The 28-year-old Rivera’s hard-contact numbers completely eroded this season. He’s a surehanded defender at the hot corner and has also played some first base in the majors. However, he’s out of minor league options, so the O’s couldn’t simply send him down. He’ll first need to clear waivers. Given his lack of track record and options, he could well pass through unclaimed, though he’s affordable enough that a team seeking short-term help at the hot corner could look to him as a stopgap between now and the trade deadline.

MLB rules stipulate that a player can be in DFA limbo for a maximum of one week, and waivers are a 48-hour process, so Rivera will be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days. If he clears, he’ll presumably accept a minor league assignment, as he did when the O’s passed him through waivers earlier this spring. Rejecting in favor of free agency would mean forfeiting the remainder of his $1MM guarantee, as Rivera does not have the five years of service needed to reject an outright assignment and retain his guaranteed salary.

The Orioles’ Long-Term Catching Situation

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Things aren’t going well for the Orioles, to state the obvious. They currently have a record of 26-38. They are 8.5 games back of the final American League Wild Card spot. They are behind every A.L. team apart from the White Sox and Athletics. FanGraphs puts Baltimore’s playoff odds at 3.1%. Baseball Prospectus is slightly more optimistic at 9.7%.

Barring a surge in the next few weeks, they will go into the trade deadline as sellers. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the club is viewing things that way, unsurprisingly. That’s a disappointing outcome but it also presents opportunities.

Teams on the fringes of contention often have to answer tough questions about how aggressively to attack the deadline. Diving in headfirst as a buyer has short-term appeal but runs the risk of investing in a flawed team while hampering the club in the future. Trying to walk a fine line between buying and selling can sometimes end up as a half measure that doesn’t fully work in either direction.

The O’s should have a more straightforward approach. While they will be sellers, there is still a lot of young talent in the system and on the big league roster. The general strategy should be to move guys with dwindling control while keeping the long-term pieces with an eye towards contending again in 2026. Ramón Urías and/or Ryan O’Hearn could be traded, making more room for Coby Mayo at the infield corners. Cedric Mullins should be flipped, opening playing time for the club’s many young outfielders such as Jud Fabian or Enrique Bradfield.

Another interesting name who should be in the mix is Samuel Basallo. An international signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2021, he got a healthy $1.3MM bonus. Since then, he has continued to climb prospect rankings with his excellent work in the minors. In 364 games on the farm to this point, Basallo has a combined .282/.364/.489 batting line and 134 wRC+. That includes a .252/.365/.595 line and 148 wRC+ at Triple-A this year. He has 13 home runs in just 39 games. His 25% strikeout rate is a bit high, but his 14.7% walk rate is almost double the league average.

There have been some question marks about his defense over the years, but prospect evaluators feel he has improved as he has aged. He is still only 20 years old and won’t turn 21 until August. Baseball America currently lists him as the #17 prospect in baseball. MLB Pipeline has him at #16. Keith Law of The Athletic just did a midseason update and had Basallo at #4. Coming into the year, ESPN had him at #17 and FanGraphs at #5.

The Orioles have one of the most talented catchers in baseball in Adley Rutschman, though he’s has been in a slump for almost a year now. The first overall pick of the 2019 draft, Rutschman was doing everything according to plan in his first few years in the big leagues.

From 2022-23, Rutschman hit 33 home runs, drew walks at a 13.6% clip and only struck out 16.2% of the time. His .268/.369/.439 line lead to a 130 wRC+, indicating he was 30% better than league average at the plate. The defense also received strong reviews. FanGraphs credited him with 11.3 wins above replacement over those two seasons, tops among all big league catchers in that time. That number doesn’t even account for intangibles, with Rutschman often complimented for his clubhouse leadership and work with a pitching staff.

For the first half of 2024, Rutschman continued on that pace. Through June 26th, he had a .297/.350/.470 line and 135 wRC+. On June 27th, he was hit on his right hand by a foul tip and had that hand wrapped up after the game, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (video clip of the play from MLB.com, though the announcer accidentally refers to Rutschman as James McCann). Maybe the timing is a coincidence, but Rutschman hasn’t been the same since. He sat out the club’s game on June 28th but was back in there on the 29th. He slashed .189/.279/.280 for a 63 wRC+ in the rest of the season.

Here in 2025, the two-time All-Star been better but not back to his previous self. Rutschman has a .227/.321/.374 line and 103 wRC+ this year. Some of that may be luck. He has a .250 batting average on balls in play this season, which is well below his previous level and this year’s .290 league average. His 90.8 miles per hour average exit velocity is actually a career high. His 9.4% barrel rate and 40.9% hard-hit rate are also personal bests.

His batted ball metrics were down in the second half of 2024. Perhaps the most logical explanation is that Rutschman wasn’t 100% healthy after taking that foul tip last year, whereas he’s been mostly healthy but unlucky so far in 2025. He’s had a few knocks this year but has avoided the injured list. Maybe his results will even out in the long run and this dip will eventually look like a footnote. For what it’s worth, I personally think that’s the best and most likely explanation.

Even if Rutschman’s slump was just a blip and he’s back to his old self, the Orioles will still likely have to make some decisions about their plans behind the plate.  Rutschman is now just over two years away from free agency, as he’s slated to hit the open market after the 2027 season. Despite a late-May call up in 2022, he earned a full year of service by finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting. There hasn’t been any indication that an extension is especially likely. With 2025 trending toward being a lost cause, the O’s may only have two more real bites of the apple with Rutschman.

There’s also Basallo’s health to consider. Though he continues mashing the ball, he has dealt with some injuries, including a hamstring issue and some elbow inflammation. Those issues, particularly the latter, have cut into his ability to get work behind the plate. In order to get him regular plate appearances, the O’s have put him at first base and in the designated hitter slot with some frequency. This year, he has 17 starts as a DH, nine at first and 11 behind the plate. He only has 90 innings in the catcher position this year. Last year, he had 35 starts as the DH, 32 at first base and 56 as the catcher.

That means it’s not a strict either/or situation. It’s entirely possible to imagine a scenario wherein Rutschman and Basallo share the catching duties and the DH slot while Basallo also gets some time at first base. Gary Sánchez was the planned backup to Rutschman this year, but he’s largely been hurt and is an impending free agent regardless. O’Hearn is an impending free agent as well. Ryan Mountcastle can be controlled through 2026 but looks like a non-tender candidate since he was having a poor year and is now going to be on the IL for months. Mayo could take over at first next year with Jordan Westburg at third base. Urias might still be on the roster next year, but the likely departures of O’Hearn and Mountcastle will free up some plate appearances.

Basallo’s bat will seemingly be good enough to play anywhere, but his offensive contributions will be more valuable if he can be a regular catcher. The Orioles might prefer to use the first base and DH spots for Mayo and their many young outfielders. If the O’s wanted to open the catcher position for Basallo, there might be some temptation to consider trading Rutschman.

Doing so this summer is not likely. Trading catchers midseason can be difficult because the backstop would have to learn an entirely new pitching staff on the fly. There’s also the fact that Rutschman’s value is likely down, on account of last year’s struggles and this year’s slow start. As referenced earlier, better days may be ahead, so waiting may be the smart play. With Basallo still a work in progress, there shouldn’t be short-term urgency to get a deal done.

But over the next few years, it’s possible that the pressure builds. Basallo coming up to the majors this year is totally viable, especially if the O’s sell off some pieces at the deadline and open up playing time. If he can hit big league pitching and continues maturing defensively, his viability as a major league catcher will grow. All the while, Rutschman’s window of control will be narrowing. As mentioned, he’s now about two and a half seasons from the open market. He’s making $5.5MM this year and will be due two more raises in arbitration.

As the window of control shrinks and his salary grows, his trade value will drop. That’s a tricky balance the O’s will have to consider. They have long had a big collection of position player talent but have struggled to have enough starting pitching. They have increased spending a bit in the past year but still haven’t made massive investments in the rotation, which has contributed to their unraveling this year.

Trading Rutschman and handing the catching duties to Basallo would certainly be a massive risk right now. But over time, perhaps it starts to look less risky, depending on how Basallo dives into the major league waters.

For other clubs, Rutschman would certainly hold appeal. Free agency usually isn’t a great place to find catching solutions. Backstops tend to show their age a bit more quickly than other players, due to the demands of the position. By the time players get to free agency, they are usually around 30 years old. Rutschman is now 27 and will be 28 and 29 in his final two arbitration seasons.

It’s practically a given that there would be teams willing to surrender controllable starting pitching to acquire Rutschman down the road. If so, the O’s will have to think about the perfect time to make that strike. Zach Eflin, Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton are all slated for free agency this winter, so the rotation should be the club’s primary target again in the coming offseason, even with Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish coming back from injuries.

There are no easy answers here and there are still many different ways it could go. But whenever Basallo does come up, he will start to get tested and the O’s will gradually get more clarity on who he can be. As that is happening, the window will be slowly shutting on the Rutschman era, barring a surprise extension. As those strings unravel simultaneously, decisions will have to be made.

Photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale, Kim Klement Neitzel, and D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

Orioles Notes: Westburg, Mullins, O’Neill

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The Orioles have had a rough start to the season to say the least, but they’ve finally begun to turn things around with seven wins in their last eight games. That still leaves them at 26-37 overall and 7.5 games back of a Wild Card spot, giving them long odds of actually fighting their way back into the playoff conversation this year. With that being said, their battered lineup does appear to be on the verge of getting some notable reinforcements. The first of those, as relayed Rich Dubroff off Baltimore Baseball, figures to be infielder Jordan Westburg.

Westburg was an All-Star last year amid a breakout campaign where he slashed an excellent .264/.312/.481 with a wRC+ of 125 as the Orioles’ primary third baseman. He collected 2.8 fWAR in just 107 games last year, posting an impressive season despite the fact that a hand fracture kept him out for much of the second half. That strong campaign led to some big expectations for him headed into his age-26 campaign, but he posted a somewhat middling .217/.265/.391 (86 wRC+) across 98 plate appearances this year before he was sidelined in April by a hamstring strain.

Despite his mediocre performance in that small sample early in the season, the Orioles will surely be delighted to have Westburg back, which Dubroff notes that interim manager Tony Mansolino told reporters is “likely” to happen this coming Tuesday. Orioles third basemen are collectively hitting just .243/.303/.305 (76 wRC+) so far this season, a figure that even Westburg’s lackluster start to the season would easily clear to say nothing of his 2024 performance. Ramon Urias has been tasked with serving in a regular role at the position since his own return from the injured list, and while his numbers are about league average overall he’s looked miscast (78 wRC+) in a regular role since returning from the IL. Perhaps Westburg’s return and Urias’s move back into a part-time role can add another quality regular to the lineup while also allowing Urias to be more impactful off the bench going forward.

Also expected back in the relatively near future is center fielder Cedric Mullins, who Dubroff relays Mansolino expects back in the lineup during the club’s coming homestand, which runs from June 10 to June 15. While that wording seems to imply he’ll be back more towards the end of this coming week, the return of Mullins will still be a welcome boost for the Orioles. His time on the injured list has caused a downgrade for the club both offensively and defensively, as Colton Cowser has been forced to slide over to center from left field to accommodate the addition of Dylan Carlson to the lineup on an everyday basis. In 27 games with the Orioles this year, Carlson has hit just .212/.274/.394 with a wRC+ of 89 and peripheral numbers that suggest he’s benefited from some good luck.

While moving Cowser back to his natural position and adding Mullins’s bat to the lineup over Carlson figures to be an unequivocal upgrade, it’s less clear what version of Mullins the Orioles will be getting when he returns. While he has an impressive 121 wRC+ overall on the season, Mullins hit an incredible .292/.432/.551 (184 wRC+) in his first 111 plate appearances this year but stumbled badly near the end of April and posted a paltry .174/.198/.348 (49 wRC+) slash line in his final 96 trips to the plate before going on the shelf with his own hamstring strain, which was fortunately less severe than the one suffered by Westburg. While Mullins should surely be expected to split the difference between that scorching start and his ice cold streak prior to injury, whether he trends more towards the positive or the negative side of that spectrum will have major consequences for Baltimore this year regardless of if they make it back to the postseason or not, as Mullins is arguably the team’s top trade piece.

Also working his way back from injury is outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who has been shelved since the middle of May due to a shoulder impingement. O’Neill’s first year in Baltimore had been a disappointing one in 24 games prior to the injury, as he hit just .188/.280/.325 in 93 plate appearances prior to hitting the shelf. His return to action could provide a boost to the lineup all the same, however, given that he’s just one year removed from a dazzling campaign in Boston where he crushed 31 homers in just 113 games. MLB.com notes that O’Neill began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk yesterday, and while it’s not entirely clear when the outfielder can be expected back in the fold it seems likely he remains on track to return within the next week or two.

Orioles Designate Matt Bowman For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that right-hander Matt Bowman has been designated for assignment.  The move opens up a roster spot for fellow righty Scott Blewett, who was acquired from the Braves in a cash deal two days ago.

Bowman is no stranger to the waiver wire, as this is the second time the Orioles have DFA’ed him this season, and he bounced around the league several times in 2024 and ended up pitching for four different teams at the MLB level.  His previous designation and outright back in May saw Bowman accept the outright assignment off the 40-man roster, though he has the right to reject any future outright in favor of free agency.

It remains to be seen if Bowman will again stay put if he clears waivers and is outrighted this time.  Bouncing up and down between Triple-A and the big leagues within one organization might carry more appeal for Bowman than his four-club experience in 2024, and since Bowman is out of minor league options, he isn’t likely to gain more roster security on other team.

In between the roster moves, Bowman has a 4.57 ERA over 21 2/3 innings and 18 relief appearances for Baltimore this season, posting a solid 5.3% walk rate but also an uninspiring 16.8% strikeout rate.  Bowman’s latest stint on the O’s roster ended on a high note, as he tossed 2 1/3 innings of hitless shutout ball in the Orioles’ 7-4 win over the Athletics yesterday.

Ryan Mountcastle To Miss 8-12 Weeks

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The Orioles will be without first baseman Ryan Mountcastle for 8-12 weeks after imaging revealed a Grade 2 strain of his right hamstring, interim manager Tony Mansolino told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jake Rill). Baltimore placed him on the 10-day injured list and recalled Coby Mayo last week. Mountcastle’s injury is significant enough that he’ll eventually be moved to the 60-day IL when the team needs to create a 40-man roster spot.

A Grade 2 strain is viewed of “moderate” severity and involves a partial muscle tear. It’s the biggest blow in what has been a frustrating season for the 28-year-old infielder. Mountcastle has hit .246/.280/.348 with only two home runs across 200 plate appearances. Those would be career-worst numbers across the board. Mountcastle has been a slightly better than average hitter for most of his five-year MLB career. Last season’s .271/.308/.425 showing is more representative of his overall body of work.

This very likely takes him off the board as a trade candidate. Even a return at the short end of the timeline would be after the July 31 deadline. Injured players can be traded, but Baltimore would be hard-pressed to find interest between the rough first couple months and the extended absence. Mountcastle is playing on a $6.787MM salary and will surpass the five-year service threshold. He’ll be eligible for arbitration once more next winter, but a projected $7MM+ sum figures to make him a non-tender candidate. That’d be particularly true if the recovery carries towards the back end of the timeline and keeps him out into September.

Ryan O’Hearn has outperformed Mountcastle this season and had already taken the first base job. Mayo has been playing regularly between first base and designated hitter for the past week. The O’s activated Ramón Laureano from the injured list this afternoon. He’s in tonight at DH against A’s lefty JP Sears. Baltimore should also welcome Jordan Westburg and Gary Sánchez back relatively soon. Both players are on rehab stints at Triple-A Norfolk.

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