The Orioles have claimed Lewin Diaz off waivers from the Braves and designated first baseman Ryan O’Hearn for assignment in a corresponding move, according to a team announcement.
It’s the second time this offseason that the O’s have claimed Diaz off waivers. It’s a bit surprising to see them designate O’Hearn as the corresponding move, given that he was only acquired from the Royals a couple days ago, though the O’s also surely expect that O’Hearn would accept an outright assignment if they can pass him through waivers, as rejecting it in favor of free agency would mean forfeiting his $1.4MM salary. That salary could even help the O’s get O’Hearn through waivers, at which point they’d be able to have both lefty-hitting first basemen in the organization as depth options.
To call this a tumultuous offseason for Diaz would be an understatement. He’s been designated for assignment by four different clubs and claimed off waivers four times — twice by the Orioles now. Although he’s just a .181/.227/.340 hitter in 343 Major League plate appearances, Diaz is a 26-year-old former top prospect with above-average power who is also arguably the best defensive first baseman in the Majors. It’s led teams to continue to pluck him off waivers — the O’s, Pirates and Braves have all done so — though the general hope by the claiming team seems to be that it can succeed at passing him through waivers and retaining him as a depth piece without committing a 40-man spot.
To this point, that hasn’t happened yet, which surely makes for a frustrating situation for the player. Diaz surely would prefer to know where he’ll be reporting to Spring Training and where he might call home next season, but the offseason carousel hasn’t allowed that to happen. Given that the O’s are still looking to make some additions to their 40-man roster, it’s eminently plausible that a subsequent move — be it the signing of a veteran pitcher or another waiver claim in the coming weeks — will again push Diaz into DFA limbo. Even if he makes it to Spring Training, Diaz is out of minor league options, so the Orioles will need to carry him on the Opening Day roster or once again attempt to pass him through waivers.
As for O’Hearn, he was traded from Kansas City to Baltimore following his first DFA, so he’s yet to even hit the waiver wire once. The 29-year-old turned heads as a rookie in 2018 when he debuted with a thunderous .262/.333/.597 batting line and a dozen homers in 170 plate appearances, but he’s never come close to those levels again. Over the past four seasons, O’Hearn is a .211/.282/.351 hitter who’s fanned in 26.9% of his plate appearances. His struggles are particularly pronounced against left-handed pitching, but he’s been sub-par against righties as well.
The Orioles’ hope in acquiring O’Hearn could simply be that a change of scenery and the league’s new limitations on infield shifts will help O’Hearn get more out of his pull-happy approach at the plate. He consistently rates among the league’s best in terms of exit velocity and hard contact — never more so than in 2022. This past season, even while posting an ugly .239/.290/.321 slash, O’Hearn averaged 92.1 mph off the bat and launched 48% of his batted balls at a velocity of at least 95 mph.
Baltimore has been seeking lefty hitters who can help out at first base throughout the offseason, and at least for the time being, they’ve snagged a pair of them — likely with the ultimate hope of stashing both in Triple-A without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to either.
What Sorcery is this?
Sleight of hand. The O’s are trying to confuse us!
That was quick. Obviously a well thought out move there. LOL
Not upgrade
DFA slight of hand.
He’s the offensive Ryan Weber.
Or Oliver Drake. Played for 5 teams in a single season in 2018
Love the Drake!
Hate the Drake!
Off topic: have made multiple recent comments comparing a current below average commentor to a previous commentor “LAIBAX” (reverse the spelling) just disappear. No moderation. Nothing. Long timers know the name.
What did that poor soul do to create an automatic filter to delete any message with his name? Did he inspire rage and strife by merely speaking his name???
“Beetlegeuse, Beetlegeuse, Beetlegeuse”
#SneakyGood
Muhaha Orioles!!
Traded him to ATL…then claimed him back once ATL exposed him again.
Does that mean he has a 2.0 WAR?…he is worth 2 players at this point!
Something ain’t right here
Excellent claim. Fail by Pirates. They still need to add Hill. Unless they are physic and knew Baltimore would claim him. Diaz has some potential. Shouldn’t had made it to Baltimore.
The ballad of Lewin Diaz continues forth!
There are almost as many Lewin Diaz articles this winter as there are for Carlos Correa. Anyone care to wager how many more times he’ll be DFAd and claimed before Spring Training?
This might be it. He made it pretty far and teams are running out of guys they can cut. I like Diaz but he is a platoon 1b.
Diaz v Ohearn in camp for the backup 1B role.
Nobody probably claims O’hearn because his salary is guaranteed. Still Surprised the O’s were in on O’hearn in the first place. We’ll see.
Without the shift and the right field fence left untouched during last year’s dimensional changes (in Baltimore), the O’s are smart to stockpile a few of these guys and see if they can cash in.
Love the language here “his struggles are pronounced vs. lefties” but “he cant hit righties either”, LOL
Diaz back to Baltimore, O’Hearn not even time to unpack
Poor O’Hearn. Paraphrasing here: “He’s absolutely awful and lost versus LHP, but he’s only a bit less awful against RHP”
Are the Orioles compensated for the number of times they can claim Diaz in one offseason?
As for his stats, another “he hit in the minors so he has potential, even though he hasn’t done squat in the majors.”
So far in 112 games he’s hitting .181, .227 OBP, 13 HR with 99K’s in 343 PA’s. I don’t care how many runs he might save with his glove he has to hit a lot better than that.
He was brought up by the Miami Marlins.
That’s one of the worst destinations to come up as a young position player. My expectations are extremely low but KC and Miami are both below average organizations.
Let’s see if they catch fire and get fixed in a good one. Maybe 1 will.
He has hit better than that. Need to look deeper into his stats.
YourDreamGM – not in the majors, he hasn’t (which was the point of my post, see 2nd paragraph). I hit .636 in t-ball one season but that doesn’t exactly carry over to the majors either.
At majors
Ryan, we hardly knew ya.
Welcome back Lewin.
And don’t forget about Franchy lurking in the shaows.
As wise man once posted-
Lewin some you lose some.
Wish O’s FO would do what they finally pivoted to with back up catcher position. Spent some money on a proven veteran (McCann) to back up Adley.
Stop all this claiming and DFAing of AAAA level talent and spend some money on a veteran as back up. Would a Belt type agree to a back up 1b/DH role? Come on Elias spend some money! Angelos said it was ok to do.
Easier to fix a young man rather than an old. Belt’s probably cooked and guaranteed a roster spot.
These guys can turn it around or go home. I’d rather not spend it on guys like that and acquire $$$ at the deadline when non competitive teams are looking to dump. Players are usually better and the acquisition cost isn’t too bad.