September 5: Banuelos cleared waivers and accepted an outright back to Norfolk, the Orioles announced.
September 2: The Orioles announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Nick Maton. To make room for Maton on the club’s 40-man and active rosters, catcher David Banuelos has been designated for assignment.
Maton, 27, is back on the Orioles’ active roster for the second time this year. He made a two-inning cameo on defense at second base earlier this year but did not step up to the plate before being designated for assignment and outrighted off the 40-man roster back in June. The versatile fielder has been playing for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk ever since, and his season there has gone quite well. In 86 games at the level this season, Maton has raked to the tune of a .261/.368/.477 slash line with a 13.2% walk rate and 16 homers in 340 trips to the plate. In addition to that strong showing at the plate, Maton has flashed his versatility by splitting time between all four infield spots as well as both outfielder corners.
Now in his fourth season in the majors, Maton enjoyed success in a part-time role with the Phillies during the first two seasons of his career as he slashed a solid .254/.330/.434 in 216 trips to the plate across a combined 86 games in those years. Maton went on to be traded to the Tigers as part of the Gregory Soto trade during the 2022-23 offseason, but his time in Detroit left much to be desired. In 93 games with the Tigers last year, Maton hit a paltry .173/.288/.305 across 293 plate appearances, a rough performance that led the infielder to be designated for assignment over the winter and eventually swapped to Baltimore in a cash deal back in February.
Even in spite of those offensive struggles last year, Maton’s previous success in Philadelphia at the big league level and his strong minor league numbers with the Orioles this year provide some reason for optimism that he can be an effective bench bat for the club. A return to form would make Maton a valuable piece for the Orioles down the stretch, particularly as the club weathers the losses of Jorge Mateo, Jordan Westburg, and Ramon Urias to the injured list around the infield. Mateo is done for the year after undergoing elbow surgery last week, and while there’s optimism that both Westburg and Urias will return to action before the end of the season neither has a specific timetable for return to this point. That leaves Maton as the club’s primary backup on the infield behind youngsters Gunnar Henderson at shortstop, Jackson Holliday at second base, and Coby Mayo at third, though Emmanuel Rivera could also chip in at the hot corner on occasion.
As for Banuelos, the catcher was selected to the big league roster just yesterday to replace the injured Urias on the club’s roster. He did not ultimately make it into yesterday’s game before being designated for assignment, and he figures to head back to the minors with just one big league plate appearance under his belt from when he pinch hit for Colton Cowser back in April during his last cup of coffee at the big league level. In 22 games at the Triple-A level this year, Banuelos sports a .225/.361/.352 slash line across 86 trips to the plate.
O’s doing a bit of 40 man Maton-ance.~
I don’t get it
He is cute
Post season outlook not good
The Orioles keep going backwards.
He was traded TO THE TIGERS in the Soto trade. Interestingly, The Phillies traded Soto to the O’s and all they have left from that deal is Kody Clemens.
The Tigers made out better with getting Vierling in that Soto trade. He appears to be sticking around.
When Tigers traded Soto he had a yr more of control left. Yrs of control increases value quite a bit.
Making out better does not make it a good trade. The Tigers traded their two time all star, LH closer, who could throw 100+mph for a utility infielder, a platoon OF, and an older minor league C. Is that really what a younger version of Chapman should return? Yes, the Phillies moved Soto to mid relief, which he didn’t take to. What would have happened if they had let him close, a job he relished, will never be known. What if the Yankees had moved Chapman to middle relief?
Relief pitchers of Soto’s ilk are a dime a dozen. As I recall, he was excellent at letting inherited runners score. But kept his own ERA credible. Basically, Holman replaced him. Who’s better?
And I’m not saying trading Holman wouldn’t be a good idea, but I believe he has a lot more control left.
The only thing Soto has in common with Chapman is his 100 mph FB. Unlike Chapman, Soto’s primary talent is blowing saves by walking batters and then grooving those heaters. Soto couldn’t close consistently on the Tigers and couldn’t even maintain a set up role on the Phillies. Soto is Matt Anderson 2.0 and getting a lead off starter who can play multiple positions for him is a great trade, although DD fleecing the O’s for him was a master class level trade.
Like I said before , the O’s were better off before they started bringing guys in and out like a Vegas cat house
Their GM is the most spastic GM out there. A guy goes 1 for ten and he makes a move.
Norby trade Lookin real good isn’t it ?
Where would he play in Baltimore? Certainly not more than Holliday.
Last few years I was very impressed with Elias , great drafts , patience with pitcher development, team had great chemistry, all of a sudden this trade deadline , like Elias panicked.
In a blink of an eye prospect pool depth decimated , chemistry gone. All strangers.
Yes lots of injuries , I get that.
Way too much tinkering though.
It wasn’t by choice. Os are down Westburg, Mateo, Urias, Grod, Wells, Means, Bradish, Webb, and Coloumbe. Just got Eflin back. Lost Westy and Mateo after trading Norby. Holliday and Mayo have struggled
Nothing like an afternoon romp with the W Sox to feel good lol
“It wasn’t by choice”.
Agreed but the choices Elias & crew made/make to address injuries can be sketchy. First time I noticed this was in late 2020. Realizing Tate’s injury was serious he signed Givens way too early like he thought there would be competition to get Givens. Whaaaat?!
@gorav114
Technically, @Edp007b is right. If the Orioles didn’t have all the injuries, they were better off.
This happens to every team. It’s not time to go all Chicken Little. I’m sure the Braves would prefer not to have to go with Plan B too. Sometimes those moves at the margins are the best you can do without selling the farm off or going full Steve Cohen.
I’m not feeling as optimistic as I did coming out of Spring Training but the O’s have the pieces to make some news in the post season — I do wish our bats were a little consistent. But it just takes a player or two getting hot.
Its easy to go full armchair GM and say that we should have signed Ohtani but everyone just needs to try to enjoy the ride. This is a very talented (albeit young) team.
Sweet, the return of Nickey Bats!
How many former Phillies are on this team???
Is there a full moon out tonight?
Ow-wooooo!
You can never please some fans. Before the season even started I stated the O’s needed more pitching even after the trade made for Burnes. A vast majority of people told me I was crazy because they still had Wells, Rodriguez, Bradish, and Means was coming back. I mentioned that you had no idea what Means would be like coming back from injury and there is a good chance he’d be hurt again, and that Bradish also had the sketchy brace job on his UCL, which seems to be just a postponement for needing surgery. Sure enough, that’s what happened. Grayson also had that injury bug creep up on his last season, and he’s had it again this season. I also stated that Kimbrel was a ticking time bomb. Again, I was crazy.
So now that he is making some moves to try to get some starting pitching to keep this team in the playoff hunt while trying to not give up the entire farm to do so, people aren’t happy with him again.
Now he has to replace his infielders due to injuries and people are mad about that.
What exactly do you expect him to do here?
What can you do for pitching depth at the season ‘s start though? You cant roster 10 SP’s and you weren’t optioning Kremer, Grod, or Bradish at that point. We could’ve made a play for an injured SP who was set to come back a couple months into the year in the offseason but there’s only so much ML SP depth you can stock up on initially.
They had room for another starter to push Cole Irvin out of the rotation before the season started, just like when they traded for Burnes.
I thought the Os did budget for extra SP at season’s beginning. Suarez! Wow, what a find. And in his middle 30s, is still pre arb.
They took a flyer and it has mostly paid off well. This was by luck and not design. Suarez has had his ups and downs, which is why he was removed from the rotation for a while and he just got roughed up in his last start. Suarez wasn’t brought in with the intention he would win a rotation slot, or even make the roster.
This is far different from signing or trading for a #2 starter to help bolster this rotation.
@AE86; was responding and agreeing to jbigz.
And agree to disagree that the scouting department was not put on notice to find a veteran body that had SP experience regardless of uniqueness of that player’s career path. Suarez!
And again, there is a different between finding a warm body and finding a #2 starter.
At least spell the poor guy’s name correctly.
David. Not “Davis.”