Emmanuel Rivera Accepts Outright Assignment With Orioles

The Orioles announced this morning that infielder Emmanuel Rivera cleared waivers, was assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk, and has accepted the assignment. As a player with more than three years of service, Rivera could’ve rejected the assignment to become a free agent. The O’s also confirmed their signing of righty Dylan Coleman, who’d announced the agreement himself on Instagram over the weekend. It’s a minor league pact with an invitation to spring training.

Rivera, 28, signed a one-year, $1MM contract to avoid arbitration earlier in the offseason. He landed with the Orioles on an August waiver claim out of the Marlins system and immediately caught fire. In 73 plate appearances down the stretch with the O’s, Rivera raked at a .313/.370/.578 clip and popped four home runs.

That massive output dwarfs a more modest track record in the big leagues. Rivera is a career .244/.306/.369 hitter in 1042 major league plate appearances. He’s a solid defender at the hot corner but has below-average plate discipline and (per Statcast) sprint speed that clocks into the 33rd percentile of big leaguers.

Now that he’s gone unclaimed, Rivera will head to camp as a non-roster invitee with Baltimore and try to work his way back into the 40-man roster mix. The O’s have an extremely crowded infield, with Jordan Westburg, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Urias and (once healthy) Jorge Mateo all in the mix. Top prospect Coby Mayo would probably get the first look if a regular role opened up following an unfortunate injury at the corners, but Rivera can nonetheless provide some depth at the hot corner and join a group of infield NRIs that also includes Terrin Vavra, Vimael Machin, Luis Vazquez and Livan Soto.