1:07pm: The Orioles have announced the selection of Nittoli’s contract. In corresponding moves, left-hander Cade Povich was optioned to Triple-A and Coulombe was transferred to the 60-day IL.
8:45am: The Orioles are selecting the contract of right-hander Vinny Nittoli, as MASN’s Roch Kubatko reported this morning. The righty signed with the club on a minor league deal earlier this month. The club will need to make a corresponding 40-man move in order to add Nittoli to the roster, though that could be accomplished by transferring lefty Danny Coulombe to the 60-day injured list.
Nittoli, 33, was a 25th-round pick by the Mariners back in 2014 and has spent his decade in professional baseball largely as a minor league journeyman. After spending a few years in Seattle’s minor league system, Nittoli departed affiliated ball in 2017 and spent two years pitching in the independent American Association before catching back on in the minors. Over the course of his professional career, he’s suited up for the Mariners, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Phillies, Cubs, Mets, A’s, and now the Orioles at the Triple-A level. In all that time, however, he’s received only scattered playing time in the majors with 13 big league appearances to his name.
More than half of those appearances came with the A’s earlier this season. He pitched eight innings of work in total with Oakland, and performed to a strong 2.25 ERA with five strikeouts against two walks. The righty has actually received similarly brief cups of coffee in the major leagues in each of the last four seasons, having first made his big league debut with the Mariners back in 2021. In all, Nittoli sports a 3.07 ERA despite a lackluster 5.02 FIP and a strikeout rate of just 16.4% in 14 2/3 innings of work at the big league level.
Despite those relatively pedestrian numbers at the big league level, it isn’t hard to see why the Orioles would be interested in giving Nittoli a look at the big league level. He’s been nothing short of dominant at the Triple-A level this year with a 2.73 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work split between the affiliates of Oakland and Baltimore. That already impressive figure is made all the more intriguing by the fact that the majority of those innings came in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, where the Athletics’ affiliate in Las Vegas plays. Nittoli has paired those strong run prevention numbers with an eye-popping 36% strikeout rate at the level this year, suggesting that there could be a meaningful improvement in skills to go along with the results.
Altogether, Nittoli’s resume is interesting enough for the Orioles to give him a shot in their bullpen mix. The club’s relief corps has been more or less league average this year, rankings 14th in baseball with a 3.84 ERA, but there’s certainly room for improvement ahead of the club’s back-end duo of Yennier Cano and Craig Kimbrel, particularly after Coulombe underwent surgery last month. Right-hander Bryan Baker, for example, can be optioned to the minors and has struggled to a 5.14 ERA and 4.38 FIP in 14 innings of work with the club.
Time to DFA the master Baker!
Why? Like the article says, he can be optioned and a 40 man roster spot can opened for Nittoli by moving Coulombe to the 60 day IL since he won’t be back until sometime in September at the earliest.
Baker has been one of the most reliable arms in the pen since his recall
LMFAO!
Mike Elias has found a bunch of solid contributors on the scrap heap over the last few years, hopefully Vinny will be the next in that line.
He’s only being brought up to drill Judge and take a suspension
Hopefully not. The situation was ugly but there was simply no reason to intentionally hit a guy at that time. It was clearly an accident
Understandable for the O’s to be upset in the heat of the moment, but in the cold light of day, one hopes they would see reason.
This was Hyde’s way of trying to fire up his team. Of course Holmes wasn’t trying to hit Kjerstad. Holmes has no idea where the ball is going when he throws it. I hope the Yanks find a new closer. I would never trust Holmes in a big spot in the playoffs.
If Hyde did that to ‘fire up his team’, he’s a fool, which is why I fully expect it was an emotional act in the moment.
The risk of injury or suspension from a ‘brawl’ is too great, especially against their main divisional rival. That could have gone sideways so easily. What if Gunnar had thrown a punch and broke his hand? Or even just got his foot stepped on and rolled his ankle and been out for a few weeks?
If you want to fire up the team he should’ve went in and flipped the post game catering over and told the guys to leave the clubhouse. But that might hurt some feelings
BS. How many Orioles have been hit this year alone, just by Yankees pitchers? It’s more than average. Yankees are just dirty players.
Wasn’t it raining? I didn’t see the game. But I know from college that throwing a sopping wet baseball is quite different that throwing a dry one. I don’t really like the Yankees, but I doubt Holmes hit Heston intentionally.
Did you not see the last series these 2 played a couple weeks back? Os were getting plunked nightly
you mean “less than deserving All Star” Clay Holmes?
still chaps my hide that he made it over Kimbrell.
10, while the Orioles have hit three Yankees. Yet, the whining Yankees and NY media want to pin this on the Orioles.
It wasn’t any more intentional than when Judge got hit in the last series. The Yankees and their baby-fans whined incessantly about that, though.
Then last night they plunk an Oriole on the head, and Yankees are still the ones running their dang mouths!
Read the story of the Scorpion and the Frog. Yankee fans can’t help being that way, that who they are.
Hitting a guy in the head should be an automatic 5 game suspension regardless of intent. If unintentional, then you obviously need time to work on your control
My Cousin VINNY !!
He’ll have to start striking out some youts in order to stick with the team.
Vinny Boombatz !
Will he blend in, though?
O’s going with yute.
Maybe the new guy can whack someone in the head and say, “My bad, sorry.” FTY.
Cubs legend
I’d like to thank Mike Elias for the chance to mute every dork making corny af Italian jokes.
Don’t like that they optioned Povich. I know it’s the easy move but he looked decent his last start. Only way he’s gunna figure out how to get major league batters out is to face them.
All Star Break affords them the option and getting him back for his normal spot in the rotation. just baseball rosterbation. not punitive.