The Orioles are signing right-handed pitcher Conner Greene to a minor league deal, per Robert Murray of FanSided. Greene will be a non-roster invitee in the Orioles’ spring camp.
Drafted by the Blue Jays in 2013, Greene started to garner some attention from prospect evaluators as he made his way up the minor league ranks. In 2016, Baseball America ranked him as the second-best prospect in Toronto’s system, though he fell to #5 and #16 in the next two seasons as he struggled to succeed in the upper levels of the minors.
In 2018, he was sent to the Cardinals as part of the Randal Grichuk trade, but was designated for assignment after just one season in the Cards’ system. He was claimed by the Royals but they, too, cut him loose after just one year.
The Orioles signed him to a minor league deal prior to the 2021 season. Greene eventually had his contract selected, got claimed off waivers by the Dodgers and re-claimed by the Orioles. In between those stints on the waiver wire, he managed to throw 25 1/3 MLB innings between the two clubs, putting up an ERA of 7.11, along with mediocre strikeout and walk rates of 21.5% and 9.9%. His numbers in 28 Triple-A innings were somehow worse, as he had a 7.39 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate. The Orioles outrighted him at the end of the season.
Despite the lack of results, Greene continues to intrigue teams due to his stuff, with his fastball landing in the 86th percentile of MLB hurlers in terms of velocity and 70th percentile in terms of spin. He’s also still young (turning 27 in a few weeks), has less than a year of MLB service time and one option year remaining. For a team that seems destined for another year in the basement of the AL East, there’s little harm in taking a chance on Greene and seeing if he can harness his talents into better outcomes. If he succeeds, they could keep him around for years to come.
Go O’s! Yeah baby!
Well … at least no one will ever say the Orioles were asleep on this guy 🙂
Dodgers legend
He was great for the Dodgers
For 2 innings…in 2 games and gave up 2 hits and struck out 2 batters.
Yeah, he’s the bees knees
Sounds about right for Baltimore.. get a guy that you once had that was no good I
Doesnt surprise me some of his numbers rank in the top 25% of pitchers. He looked better than his stats. He’ll for sure get his chance this year
I wish the Orioles would do something other than sort through other teams castoffs. Enough.
Crazy how so many teams have done a successful full rebuild, yet fans act like it’s a foreign concept. The Orioles will have as good a core as ANY team in 2-3 years and THEN they’ll start adding real talent from the outside.
I know the O’s gave Hyde an extension ( should’ve been the boot imo) but that episode with Ray last year was an embarrassment.
On top of the fact he’s from the joe maddon school of bullpen management. ( I know he’s got little talent there , but what he had was misused) I’m sure O’s fans will agree.
As a side note he was a model aswell if I remember correctly from his Jays prospect days
Did the O’s get the memo that they are allowed to sign players to major league contracts now?
Or does the new CBA grant them a sabbatical year where they don’t have to try to field a major league team? Officially that is. We know they haven’t really been trying for some years now. But maybe they just need a vacation from the hassle of creating a major league product.
Baltimore, the great recyclers of MLB.