The Orioles are going to select infielder Jeremiah Jackson to their roster. Manager Tony Mansolino informed reporters, including Steve Melewski, that he will take the roster spot vacated by left-hander Gregory Soto. Soto was traded to the Mets earlier today.
Jackson, 25, gets called up to the majors for the first time and will be making his debut as soon as he gets into a game. He signed a minor league deal with the club in the offseason and has been putting up huge numbers in the minors this year. Split between Double-A and Triple-A, he has 351 plate appearances with 15 home runs. He’s only drawing walks at a 4% clip but is also only striking out 14.2% of the time. He has a combined line of .311/.340/.538 line and a 135 wRC+.
Prior to joining the Orioles, Jackson spent time in the systems of the Angels and Mets. The Halos flipped him to the latter club in the 2023 deadline deal which sent right-hander Dominic Leone to Los Angeles.
The lack of strikeouts this year is notable, as that was a key problem for Jackson in previous seasons. He had a 33% strikeout rate in 2021, but he has dropped that down over the years. Defensively, he’s played the three infield spots to the left of first base and all three outfield spots as well. He has some speed on the bases, regularly putting up double-digit stolen bases totals, including ten already this year.
It’s possible that this will be a short big league stint for Jackson. Putting him in for Soto gives the club 14 position players and just 12 pitchers. That’s less than ideal and they will likely look to even that back to 13 and 13 soon. On the other hand, it’s possible the Baltimore roster is set for further moves in the coming days. Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías, Ramón Laureano, Cedric Mullins, Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Trevor Rogers, Seranthony Domínguez and Andrew Kittredge are all candidates to be moved before the deadline.
It’s anyone’s guess how the roster will look in the wake of all those theoretical trades. Since Jackson can play multiple positions, perhaps he’ll find a way to still have a role once the dust settles next week.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Why?
Might as well run a bunch of kids out there and see if any are good enough to help you in the future.
Most won’t be, but there’s value in finding that out too.
That was one of Robert Redford’s best movies. Always wanted to be a mountain man.
It was Jeremiah Johnson
I know. Just trying to make a joke.
Well try again cause it wasn’t a very good one and was a pretty obscure reference. Getting a characters name wrong to make a joke usually isn’t a good starting point.
Just because you’re too young to get the reference doesn’t mean it’s a bad joke. I literally came here to say the same thing! You’ll be old someday, I hope. It’s actually pretty good if you live your life well. Good luck!
How about “Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine.”
I bet you are a reel hoot at parties!
I bet you are a real hoot at parties!
Some say say he’s up there still
He could be….he is one of the few stars still alive from that movie
Career minor league having the year of his life!
Weird statement.
Aren’t all minor leaguer players career minor leaguers until they’re called up?
It would make more sense, if Jackson was old enough to give up hope, but he is only 25.
Go get em, kid
Best of luck, JJ.
Still not calling up #1 prospect Samuel Basallo. Hard to comprehend Orioles’ strategy, or lack of it.
They don’t wanna waste his eligibility for next year. Not that hard to see why
Basallo isn’t ready. The bat is closer but his success is heavily skewed towards one side of the plate. His average against lefty pitchers is about 50 points lower (.274 vs .227) than against righties and his OBP is almost 100 points lower (.402 vs .306) as well. Add in that he’s still working on becoming an average defender behind the plate and you don’t have a guy who’s ready to take on the big boys just yet. He’s close, but we probably won’t see much of him until 2026.
IMO it’s less about the eligibility and more and the fact that this is a cup of coffee. I think when they bring Basallo up they’d rather give him an actual shot at sticking around. This is just a placeholder spot with the Soto trade clearing up a roster spot.
What eligibility? He’s almost assuredly past the Super 2 date. Are you talking about eligibility for the new prospect promotion incentive? I don’t think holding back top prospects because they might win rookie of the year the next season so you get an extra draft pick is a winning strategy. This just makes the Orioles look cheap.
Better than Ryan McMahon
Dude is the real deal. Top hotter in International League since he was promoted from AA. Looks like he is going to be a star!!!
So which infielder is about to be traded?