Orioles Outright Anthony Bemboom

Today: Bemboom has accepted the outright assignment, per an announcement from the team.

May 27: Anthony Bemboom has cleared waivers and been outrighted by the Orioles to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The catcher had been designated for assignment last week as the corresponding move to the promotion of star prospect Adley Rutschman.

Bemboom was outrighted by the Dodgers last year, thus making him eligible to reject this outright assignment, like all players who already have one outright on their ledger. At this point, there’s no indication whether Bemboom has accepted or rejected, though there would be some logic either way.

If he were to opt for rejecting, he would become a free agent and look for the best opportunity around the league. However, based on his clearing waivers, that illustrates no team is currently willing to give him a 40-man roster spot and he would only find minor league deals anyway. If he were to accept, he’d likely stay third on the Baltimore catching depth chart behind Rutschman and Robinson Chirinos. The team also has Jacob Nottingham in Triple-A, though that was also the case earlier this year when Bemboom was selected to the big league roster while they waited for Rutschman to recuperate from injury. Although Nottingham is off to a blazing start in Triple-A this year, hitting .268/.417/.607, 168 wRC+.

In his 22 MLB games so far this year, Bemboom has hit .115/.207/.212, though that might be weighed down by a .147 BABIP. On the more encouraging side of things, he did walk in 10.2% of his plate appearances, something that’s not totally without precedent, as he’s often posted good walk rates in Triple-A, as well as in 21 MLB games in 2020 with the Angels, when he walked 11.7% of the time.