The Orioles have announced a variety of minor-league signings. Among the notable players is outfielder Mason Williams, who received a brief look in the majors last September after a strong Triple-A season.
A few other players with MLB experience are heading to the Baltimore organization in hopes of earning a new shot at the majors. Southpaws Hunter Cervenka and Rob Zastryzny have appeared in multiple big-league campaigns. Likewise, infielders Jose Rondon and Jesmuel Valentin have seen the Show.
It’s possible to imagine a path back for each of those players. Williams will face stiff competition but obviously has impressed the club to an extent. The O’s clearly like the idea of creating some competition in camp for the left-handed side of their bullpen. Present top options include Richard Bleier, Paul Fry, and Tanner Scott. And the middle infield corps could be an area of change depending upon what the club does with Jonathan Villar and Hanser Alberto. The former could be a trade or non-tender candidate; it’s possible to imagine the latter drawing trade inquiries as well.
Here’s the rest of the slate of announced signings:
- Cristian Alvarado, RHP
- Malquin Canelo, INF
- Martin Cervenka, C
- Daniel Fajardo, C
- Francisco Jimenez, RHP
- Angelo Mora, INF
- Ryan Ripken, INF
ah Malquin. he may just make the Majors yet.
Nice!
Waiting for the big shots around here to keep questioning the timing of these minor league deals…
A Ripken in an Oriole uniform this year would look cool.
He’s here because of his father and little else.
It isn’t like there are 26 people in the organization worthy of a major league roster spot right now. Why not him?
Because there are are more than 26 in the organization better than him. He can’t hit…. at all.
Well he’s just org depth. Ripken is obviously fine sticking it out in the minor leagues. You have to fill out your AA team with someone. He’ll never see the 40 man roster. If that happens, then you can attribute that to his father. Because he belongs nowhere near one.
Look at his numbers. His .124 average isn’t gonna impress a blind scout. Im one of his biggest supporters but if his last name was not Ripken he would be in a different profession
He’d probably impress a blind scout more than one with sight, as the blind guy wouldn’t have to actually see him “hit”.
What the hell are you reading? He bat .274/312/.409 last season. He’s nowhere near a prospect but it’s not as if he’s so bad he doesn’t belong playing organized baseball. You need career minor leaguers/organizational filler guys. Most guys are going to give up with his slash line after awhile and start a profession where they actually can make some money. He has the luxury of being Cal’s son so I would imagine he can play baseball as long as he wants.
He has absolutely no chance of making a big league roster on skill. So if that day comes he’s going to be thanking dad. But I think he could play minor league baseball without the last name.
From over 100 loses to over 100 wins just like that.
Getting all the Cervenkas.
They should sign Exene Cervenka.
I’m the other old punk rocker who got this comment
Zastryzny, Mora, and Canelo are the only players in this group that are new to the organization this year. Mora was with the Orioles briefly at the beginning of 2018, but was selected in the Rule5 AAA draft.
Two guys on the same team named Cervenka? What are the odds?
Cervenka is Czech for “I’m not bad at baseball”
That’s already too many Cervenkas.
Like Graterol. He paid his dues in the minors for a really long time then had a huge first game in the bigs with us.
I know this isn’t quite the topic of the post but wow Hanser Alberto quietly put up a very nice season for the O’s last season! I’m a huge baseball fan and tend to keep an eye on just about everyone who’s performing well around the majors and even I missed how solid of a season he had. Not saying he was incredible by any means but .302 with some pop is a pretty impressive season given that he was rarely given opportunities prior to this season. It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep it up going forward! Definitely a guy worth keeping an eye on either remaining as a starter in Baltimore or potentially becoming a valuable utility guy for a contender as he has obviously proven he’s capable of handling himself at the games highest level!
He can hit lefties. And pretend to play a couple positions around the diamond. Not much more than a utility man but he ought to stick around the bigs for awhile.
Hanser Alberto had a 3.1 WAR in 2019 along with a positive dWAR. Might be more than a utility man, could be a solid 2B. baseball-reference.com/players/a/alberha01.shtml
bWAR is not so good. He posted 1.9 fWAR and was an everyday player. Or a Utility man.
But thanks for being my personal google assistant. May I task you to give me Jonathan Villar’s bSR stat next?
He was a pleasant surprise and if a good team is paying attention they would grab him up as a platoon player against lefties. He owned lefties hitting over.400 in significant at bats and could be had for a shiny low level prospect. Also seemed like a good teammate always smiling.
Hanser Alberto hit 0.398 vs lefties in 2019.
Is Villar really a non-tender candidate?
He’s too good to non tender. The O’s have to trade him for someone or something even if it’s after the season starts
He’s projected to make 10 million in arbitration, to much for Os during a rebuild when he won’t be around when they are competing again. They can’t trade him cause no team wants to give up anything of significance and then have to pay him 10 million. I do think they will non tender him or Trade him for a low level prospect.
Williams can handle AAA pitching, but not classical gas.
Mason Douglas Williams is an American classical guitarist, composer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental “Classical Gas” and for his work as a comedy writer on Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live. wikipedia
As an Indians fan, I’m happy to see Martin Cervenka still out there trying to make the majors
Picking scraps from the trash pile. Embarrassing.
The Orioles minor league signings are neither picking scraps from the trash pile nor embarrassing.
Now I understand why Ripken the other day said he values first basemen over an outfielder