The Orioles have signed righty Asher Wojciechowski and four other hurlers to minor-league pacts, according to a club announcement. Wojciechowski’s signing was first reported by Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun, via Twitter. Also joining the Baltimore organization are lefties Jason Gurka and Luis Lugo and righties Christian Binford and Perci Garner.
Wojciechowski, who’s nearing his 29th birthday, got his first full shot at the majors last year with the Reds. But he scuffled to a 6.50 ERA in 62 1/3 innings while coughing up 14 long balls. On the positive side, Wojciechowski did manage to record 64 strikeouts against 19 walks, and was much more effective in limited minor-league action. Needless to say, getting the dingers under control will be a key if Wojciechowski is to have any success pitching in Camden Yards, though he’ll have to earn his way there first.
As for the others, Lugo topped out at Double-A with the Indians, where he pitched to a 4.35 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 over 134 1/3 innings in 2017. Binford, a former Royals prospect, has failed to succeed at the highest level of the minors despite making it there in each of the past four seasons. Most recently, he allowed 7.24 earned per nine over 115 2/3 frames. We covered Garner’s addition yesterday.
Then there’s Gurka, who is now 29 and broke into the professional ranks as a 15th round pick by the Orioles back in 2008. He has seen minimal MLB time but has mostly thrown at Triple-A of late. In 2017, he compiled 50 2/3 innings of 3.20 ERA ball, with 9.9 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9, with the Angels’ and Yankees’ top affiliates.
Okay haters. Lets all hate on the Orioles
To be fair, they make it really easy to hate on them.
We all know it by now. They are absolutely terrible at developing their starting pitching
Seems like they’re stockpiling their system and creating a climate of constructive competition there.
Print The World Series Tickets !!!!
Now I’m starting to get encouraged. They must lead the league in minor league signings. Elevate the floor
Duke subscribes to the throw enough bleep against the wall and eventually, something will stick. The O’s need at least 2 somethings for the rotation, so Duke keeps throwing it up there.
Duquette promised pitchers. He has delivered. He never used the word “good”.
Can’t really afford quality, so we’re gonna round up every loose arm in the league and pray that one or two of them some day achieve replacement level status.
In order to avoid forfeiting, a team needs to designate a player as a pitcher to throw the ball in the direction of home plate. The orioles aren’t yet in the business of forfeiting, but they have no preference for the quality of thrower that they send out each day (Jimenez, etc.)