The Orioles have designated right-hander Spenser Watkins for assignment, Robert Murray of FanSided reports (via Twitter). Watkins has been pitching with their Triple-A Norfolk affiliate this season and has not yet pitched at the MLB level this season, though he was recalled to the big leagues over the weekend. The O’s have not yet formally announced the move, nor the corresponding 40-man and 26-man transactions that figure to accompany it.
The 30-year-old Watkins spent parts of the 2021-22 seasons on Baltimore’s big league staff, getting hit hard in his debut campaign before stepping in as a solid rotation member for much of the 2022 season. While a rough patch at the end of last season weighed down Watkins’ numbers and left him with a 4.70 ERA in 105 1/3 frames, he pitched to a 3.96 ERA through his first 17 big league starts of the 2022 campaign.
Even at his best, Watkins doesn’t miss bats or produce grounders in droves. His 13.7% strikeout rate was tied for the lowest among the 156 pitchers who tossed at least 150 innings from 2021-22. Watkins has above-average command, evidenced by a 6.9% walk rate in that stretch, and his career 38.7% grounder rate clocks in several percentage points south of league average.
It’s been an even tougher season for Watkins in Norfolk so far, where he’s pitched to a 7.27 ERA in 26 frames with nearly as many walks (17) as strikeouts (20). Murray notes that Watkins has been tinkering with a new splitter, which perhaps helps to explain the huge uptick in grounders he’s seen (55.3%), but Watkins’ 13.4% walk rate is a career-worst and his strikeout rate hasn’t seen any gains over his prior Triple-A levels.
The Orioles will have a week to trade Watkins, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or simply release him. He’s been outrighted once in the past, so even if the O’s succeed at passing him through waivers, he’d have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.
Watkins was recalled on 6/17 and is on the Orioles 25 man roster
They’d hire Spencer if he could learn to correctly spell his name.
Maybe his parents enjoyed the books of Robert B. Parker.
Denoyer jumped him in line but this was no surprise. We needed to add a 3rd catcher w/ Mccann’s injury.
we may see Bazardo get a recall?
Need Bazardo. Can’t lose Watkins either though, he’s tough and has value as a depth piece.
You think?
I figured he’s fallen behind Zim, Grod, & Rom as our depth starters. Probably DL hall too but I don’t think he can start games in the major leagues. Could see a Hall/Voth piggyback being ahead of Spenser atp too.
I don’t think he’ll comeback if he clears. I think Washington, KC or Oakland might be a clearer path back up to the bigs.
What is the meaning of this?
This is not a fair shake!!!!
SMH
One less World Series share to divide up.
Watkins reminded me a lot of Jeff Ballard, a soft tosser who was effective for a little bit (1989) but once the batters got a look at him, figured him out and battered him. Now that he’s 30 and getting ripped up in AAA he’s a safe bet to DFA and maybe he passes through waivers and he’s kept for emergency depth…or in the hope he rediscovers any effectiveness somehow.
There are much better SP options out there.
@Thornton
Southpaw Jeff Ballard mention! Woohoo! I was a big Ballard fan. I’m sure he’s thrilled that anyone remembers his ’89 season in the sun. 18 wins, hardly a flamethrower but was effective that season. He was good friends with Dave McNally’s son as they were both from Billings, Montana and we’re on a strong Stanford team together as well.
Unfortunately I’m old enough to remember Ballard (not that his 18-8 season wasn’t good, just that I easily remember 1989 that clearly). I also remember Ken Dixon, Mike Young, and Larry Sheets who all put up a good season or part of a season before turning into nothings…and guys like Eric Bell or Ken Gerhart who didn’t even have that.