The Orioles have added to their catching depth with a pair of waiver claims from the Reds, acquiring backstops Aramis Garcia and Mark Kolozsvary. To create roster space, Baltimore has designated right-handers Louis Head and Beau Sulser for assignment.
Both Sulser and Head were themselves acquired via the waiver wire in 2022, with the former obtained from the Pirates in May and the latter from Miami in July. Neither saw much action in an Orioles uniform, with Sulser pitching 12 2/3 MLB innings for the O’s and Head only five frames. Those 12 2/3 innings for Sulser marked his Major League debut, as he pitched in four games with Pittsburgh before moving onto six more appearances with Baltimore.
The younger brother of former Orioles hurler Cole Sulser, Beau worked his way up to the big leagues after being a 10-round pick for the Pirates in the 2017 draft. Though the Pirates gave the righty a long look at a starter at Triple-A in 2021, Sulser has pitched only as a reliever in his brief MLB career. Sulser has a 4.12 ERA over 373 1/3 career innings in the minors, with an improved strikeout rate in 2022 as he made the move back to mostly relief pitching.
Head made his Major League debut in 2021, posting a 2.31 ERA over 35 innings out of the Rays’ bullpen. Seemingly the latest product of Tampa Bay’s nonstop pitching pipeline, Head spent an unusual amount of time moving up and down that pipeline, as the Rays sent the right-hander up and down from Triple-A on 12 different occasions. Acquired by the Marlins in an offseason trade, Head struggled to a 7.23 ERA over his 23 2/3 innings with Florida’s other team, though he seemed to right the ship with an 1.80 ERA in his brief time with the O’s.
The additions of Garcia and Kolozsvary give the Orioles six catchers on their 40-man roster — an unusually high number even for a team that didn’t have a surefire starter in Adley Rutschman. However, Robinson Chirinos is a free agent and Cam Gallagher is a non-tender candidate, so bringing more backstops into the fold gives the O’s some flexibility in deciding who will ultimately work as Rutschman’s backup in 2023. (Anthony Bemboom is the other catcher on the 40-man.)
A second-round pick for the Giants in the 2014 draft, Garcia spent much of his career in San Francisco’s organization before being claimed by the Rangers in November 2020. That move sparked a whirlwind of movement for the catcher, as the Oriole are now Garcia’s fifth different team within the last 23 months. Garcia has seen MLB action in four of the last five seasons, totaling 320 plate appearances over 116 games with the Giants (2018-19), Athletics (2021) and Reds (2022).
Other than an .800 OPS in his first 65 PA with San Francisco, Garcia hasn’t shown much at the bat, hitting .216/.253/.332 for his career against big league pitching. Injuries have played a significant role in Garcia’s career, as he missed all of 2020 recovering from hip surgery, and a finger sprain sent him to Cincinnati’s 60-day injured list last season. Garcia is projected to earn $800K in his first offseason for arbitration eligibility, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Orioles non-tendered him prior to the deadline, depending on the team’s other plans for its catchers or its 40-man roster space.
Kolozsvary was a seventh-round pick for the Reds in 2017, and today’s waiver claim marks the first organization change of his pro career. After hitting .215/.326/.343 in an even 1100 PA in the minors, Kolozsvary topped off his Reds tenure by making his Major League debut in 2022, appearing in 10 games.
Double catcher claim? Interesting.
Reds just lost 3 catchers.
Odd. Wonder if Handley down at AA Bowie is on the move? Thought he’d get a ST invite. Unlikely now?
Handley’s probably not going anywhere. We won’t keep all 3 of these backup catchers on the 40 man all offseason. Just trying to grab them now and pass one or two of them through to add depth.
He hasn’t played AAA ball yet so probably wouldn’t have had a real chance to crack the roster out of ST anyway,
Thanks for the encouraging words jbigz! I like Handley.
Actually 4 with Chuckie Robinson being outrighted (he’ll qualify for FA in a a couple of weeks).
All 4 are terrible. I won’t be shocked if the 3 that were claimed are all cut again in the next month or two.
Well, with Stephenson coming back and Romine as the backup, I doubt they will need anyone else unless folks get hurt again. In that case, more minor league player tryouts.
Small market teams can’t afford depth players. Only teams like the Dodgers and Yankees can stash million dollar backups on the roster.
Romine is a free agent 5 days after the WS ends. The Reds most definitely need to sign another catcher, especially given Ty’s injuries.
I think they would rather have a vet after last season.
Barnhart is a free agent, but I doubt they will meet his price just to backup Tyler, being a small market club.
I think there is a typo. It should be
FOREVER GIANT Aramis Garcia
LOL within 1 hour, 3 of the Reds’ terrible catchers from last year were picked up.
No doubt Chuckie Robinson’s glued to his phone right now.
In the spirit of Halloween the Reds should at least hold on to Chuckie til November 1st
It definitely seems like Baltimore had enough of Head.
You can never get too much Head.
Both Head and Sulser (sounds like shampoo) could beat out the garbage the Red Sox have.
“…even for a team that didn’t have a surefire starter in Adley Rutschman..”
Huh?
I had to scan the comments below to see if anybody else caught that. Refering to Rutschman as anything other than a top catcher is just ignorant. Only Realmuto boasted a higher WAR for all catchers in the game this season.
It was worded poorly. He just meant that 6 catchers was a bunch for a team with a stud like Adley. I had to read it a few times.
Worded poorly, what he meant was that 6 Catchers on a without a stud Catcher is a bunch. So with a stud like Adley having 6 is even more unusual. I had to read it a few times myself.
If I’m the Orioles i would try to keep Chirinos as Adley’s backup. However, realizing he may want to go somewhere he can get more playing time i imsgine the O’s will add at least one more Catcher to the mix for backup duties
Chirinos needs to start to be effective, but he isnt a starter Anymore and he really isnt a back up because he lost effectiveness when Adley came up
BenBOOM should be the back up
It doesn’t matter too much. Adley’s a rare breed who plays nearly everyday. We just need a capable defender to play once a week.
Our backup will never see enough playing time to get into any kind of groove offensively.
Chirinos is old. These other guys I’ve never heard of. Adley is young. And we want to keep him young. Definitely need to give him off from behind the plate to not risk shortening his career. Every 4th/5th game. Yes?.
Wish the O’s would go with different logic here. Looks like the Dbacks are done with the Carson Kelly as a starter experiment. Get him. 3 yrs at 5.5 mil per with team opt out at 1 mil yr 3. When he’s not catching; he DHs (Anguilar is not the answer) and he also backs up Mountcastle at 1st. All this more than justifies the 5.5 mil per yr.
Oops. 4.5 not 5.5. And defensively, from publications who track this stuff, looks like Carson is a top 20 catcher. Cheers!
Hoping for Head and happy things to come.
If Sulser’s 12 2/3 innings in Baltimore were his MLB debut I guess those 4 he pitched in Pittsburgh don’t count because Pittsburgh isn’t MLB.
Gallagher, Bemboom, Garcia, and Kolozsvary. Why claim so many bad catchers and roster them all at the same time?
Probably to cut them later and hope a few clear waivers to stash as depth in the minors.