The Orioles have re-signed right-hander Spenser Watkins to a new minor league deal, MASNsports.com’s Melanie Newman reports (Twitter link). The contract contains an invitation to Baltimore’s spring camp.
Watkins elected free agency four days ago, shortly after the Orioles outrighted him off their 40-man roster. The 2021 season saw Watkins made his MLB debut, and the righty posted an 8.07 ERA over 54 2/3 innings for the O’s. Watkins started 10 of his 16 appearances, and pitched well over his first three starts before batters started adjusting in a big way. Watkins allowed 14 homers over his 54 2/3 frames, and had only a 13.7% strikeout rate.
Never a big strikeout pitcher even in the minors, Watkins has an 3.86 ERA over 625 1/3 innings of minor league work, mostly in the Tigers’ farm system before Detroit released him in 2020. Baltimore signed Watkins to a minors deal last offseason and he performed well enough at Triple-A Norfolk to finally get the call to the Show. The 29-year-old Watkins will likely continue to serve as rotation depth in the minors, though he’ll get a chance to compete for a roster spot at Spring Training.
Now this is how we know that the hot stove is in fact burning.
@JD Goat
It’s Burning, baby!!!
A decent resigning. Really started off strong but the hitters made adjustments while he didn’t. Maybe he can make some adjustments and be an asset for the Orioles.
I’d rather have Chris Ellis back!
Yeah I don’t know what Elias is thinking here
I believe the Orioles will bring back Chris for 2022 but I wish they would hurry up
2022 AL Cy Young winner.
At least he’s not a junior
It’ll be good to have Watkins at AAA just in case. I’m hoping that they add 2 or 3 veteran arms to the rotation this winter. Need to add pitching to give the team a fighting chance. Former Cards Martinez and Kim come to mind as guys that might want to re-establish themselves with short-term contracts, possibly Cueto too. And Ellis on a minors deal – thought he did well this year.
I’m old enough to remember when the Os had good players. This guy fits right in to another 100 loss team.
Watkins did well but has no margin for error. He was squeezed multiple times by stupid umpires who wouldn’t give a strike call. I have a screenshot of a pitch to Brett Gardner that is just as low center strike zone as could be and the Ump called it a ball. Unfortunately with such a slim margin of error you can’t survive things like that. I hope we see him again
so in his 10 starts and 16 overall trips to the mound in about 54 innings this past season the reason he had a 8.07 era was being squeezed by umpires. i have to ask are you related or his agent..
Man you know Os fans have Stockholm syndrome when referring to a pitcher with a 8+ era as having “did well”