The Orioles have claimed outfielder Jhonkensy Noel from the Guardians, according to announcements from both clubs. Noel was designated for assignment last month. To open a spot for Noel, the O’s designated right-hander George Soriano for assignment.
Noel, 24, changes organizations for the first time. The Guards signed him as an international amateur back in 2017 and he has been part of that system until today. Over the past two years, he has shown some big power ability but also a poor approach. In 351 big league plate appearances, he has 19 home runs but his 4.8% walk rate and 32.8% strikeout rate are both awful figures. That’s led to a lopsided .193/.242/.401 slash line thus far.
He exhausted his final option season in 2025, which pushed him off Cleveland’s roster. He was designated for assignment December 17th when Cleveland acquired Justin Bruihl from the Blue Jays. DFA limbo is normally capped at one week but there are clearly different rules around the holidays, as “Big Christmas” just spent close to three weeks in that liminal space.
The O’s have grabbed him today, though Noel won’t have a great path to playing time. Baltimore has a fairly crowded group for their outfield corners, as well as the first base and designated hitter spots. Pete Alonso should be the regular at first, with Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle also in the mix there. Those guys could spill over into the DH slot, though the O’s might also want at-bats for their catching tandem of Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo. The outfield group includes Colton Cowser, Taylor Ward, Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Beavers, Leody Taveras, Heston Kjerstad and others.
Alonso, Mayo, Mountcastle, Ward and O’Neill are all right-handed power bats. The same is true of Noel, though he has a lesser track record of major league success than everyone in that group. The O’s tend to be very aggressive at claiming players off waivers and then putting them back on the wire later, hoping to keep them as non-roster depth. It’s possible that is the plan here, as Noel currently faces a steep path to a big league role.
His numbers in the minors are more encouraging than his major league work. Over the past two years, he has stepped to the plate 536 times at the Triple-A level with 30 home runs. His 7.5% walk rate and 23.7% strikeout rate were still not amazing but much better than his big league work. His .285/.349/.538 line in that sample translates to a 130 wRC+.
Being out of options will make it challenging for him to carve out a lengthy amount of big league playing time. But if he gets a chance and runs with it, he can be affordably controlled for years to come. His service time clock is at one year and 29 days, meaning he is still five years from free agency and two years from qualifying for arbitration.
Soriano, 27 in March, has never pitched for Baltimore. He spent his entire career with the Marlins until the Orioles grabbed him off waivers in early November. Over the past three years, he tossed 118 innings for Miami, allowing 5.95 earned runs per nine. He struck out 22% of batters faced and gave out walks at a 10.3% clip.
Like Noel, Soriano exhausted his final option season in 2025 and got pushed to the waiver wire. As mentioned, the O’s like to make claims and then try to pass guys through waivers later to keep them as non-roster depth. Soriano flashed some intriguing potential in Triple-A last year, tossing 42 2/3 innings with a 2.32 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate.
His service time clock is at 1.095, so he also has years of potential cheap control. That could entice another club to acquire him but the O’s would surely be happy if they can get him through waivers and hang onto him in a non-roster capacity.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
The baseball version of fighting in the trenches.
Definitely worth a flier.
Don’t blame them for doing so, just keep in mind CLE Is one of the worst hitting teams in the league, particularly from the RH side, and they gave up on him.
Maybe that’s why they are worst because of coaching
Ah
Or maybe, if not for great coaching, they’d be even worse
@Already happened
Anyone who thinks coaching hitters up is a “thing” show me where there’s been a bidding war for hitting coaches.
Good hitters are born, not made.
Pitchers are largely made, not born. And Cleveland is one of the best in that regard.
As soon as the Twins released Hitting Coach David Popkins in 2024, multiple teams expressed an interest in him immediately afterward. He was signed by the Blue Jays less than a month later. The Toronto Blue Jays went from last place in the AL East to the 2025 World Series, due to a huge increase in production from their position players. Good coaching is absolutely necessary to win in this league, and it’s instruction-based, not just good genetics. David Popkins, a hitting coach, won Baseball America’s Coach of the Year. I’m sure many pitching coaches were in the running though.
The Guardians also invest a tremendous amount of draft capital in pitchers. Very different approach than most teams. 2025 was a change for them taking more hitters early.
But very few hitters are found in the later rounds. I wonder if you’ll see CLE taking more hitters early.
Yep, a Twins team that had disappointed on the hitting side for two straight years moved on from Popkins. He ended up on the Jays and some of their players (not all) had good years. So now we’re going to say that was due to Popkins? When those guys slide back toward historical norms this year, are we going to blame Popkins?
Hitting instruction has marginal effects, particularly at the major league level. Doesn’t stop teams from churning through different coaches and having ridiculously large hitting staffs though, does it?
question: why did Noel get awarded more than 10 days to determine an assignment after he was designated? in fact he got almost double that time.
Bbb
Holidays
What do Matt and Jackson have to do with this?
Holiday interruptions.
You can’t get rid of Big Christmas during Christmas.
Somehow my best laugh of the day so far. Thanks.
MLBTR had a post about this unspecified DFA-limbo period due to the holidays.
I see, must have missed it, thanks
Cool to see Big Christmas get a shot with the team he hit his first homer against!
They waited til after Christmas, though!
Everything goes on clearance after Christmas.
Late Noel present
Today is actually Armenian Christmas Eve, so just in time if you’re of a very traditional sect of Christianity!
Yes, 3 Kings days tomorrow also celebrated in Puerto Rico.
And Ethiopian
And Russian, Belarusian, Serbian and Georgian.
And certain sects in other countries.
This mean a trade coming? They already have Beavers, Cowser, Ward, Taveras, O’Neill..
And Kjerstad, although we have not heard any updates on his mystery medical condition that caused him to be completely shut down partway through last season.
Maybe they’re packaging Beavers and/or Cowser for a SP?
I don’t think Baltimore gets rid of Beavers. Cowser, perhaps. Definitely not both in the same trade or both, period.
They will likely attempt to pass him (Noel) through waivers to keep as depth as mentioned in the article.
Noel will be back on the DFA carousel at some point soon. The O’s (as the article notes) are big ones for that. They have no intent of him being on the 40 man by the time the season starts. He’ll either be off the roster and in Norfolk, or on another team.
Yes, a trade is coming, but maybe not in the OF. Mountcastle has to go. Whether they have to add a prospect or someone like Beavers to get a pitcher back remains to be seen (or Mayo instead of Mountcastle to get a better pitcher).
I think the pitchers that they are targeting or would prefer to acquire, would require Mayo over Mountcastle, plus a prospect(s) and likely a major league starter (a Povich or Young type pitcher) in return.
He’s not gonna play for the big team
@Sandy-yes Adley mounty and silent K for a TOR and #2 catcher
A Christmas Miracle.
For who though?
Orioles Front Office.
“We can fix him” mentality. never works out lol
Ryan O’Hearn and Trevor Rogers say “hello.”
They even straightened out Morton for awhile last year, just enough to dump him on the Tigerd.
Worked with Kluber, Cliff Lee, Andrew Miller, Omar Vizquel, Dennis Eckersley, Albert Belle, Roberto Alomar to name a few.
This guys has a triple!
Must be something to see!
Cleveland fan here. You will be surprised at how athletic Noel is. Actually decent speed fielding and a good arm.
Too bad he can’t be depth in CF behind Taveras and give Bradfield more of a chance to learn how to hit at Norfolk. Duvall played a surprisingly good CF at almost the same weight.
Colton Cowser is the O’s CF!
Um, has a bit of a history on the IL and management knows it’s not his best OF spot. I expect Taveras or an even better reserve CF to make him shift over to one of the corners late in close games even while he’s healthy. Or wait for the 1st pitching change to take out Beavers, Ward or O’Neill.
It’s Christmas again in Baltimore!
Always liked him with Cleveland. Why not go for him? And he’s got the best nickname in the game right now imo
Password is a good one too.
Great change of scenery bounce back candidate. Hate to see him in the AL East tho.
I think its a smart move by the Orioles of grabbing guys then trying to pass them through to keep them but, I dont like this one. Soriano was the exact type of guy they should have given a shot to win a spot in the pen. Need as much depth there as possible and Noel adds nothing to the organizational depth. No way Soriano makes it through.
Soriano is out of options so it’s use him or lose him. Also makes it a bit more likely he does clear.
I’m assuming Albernaz had a significant amount of input in this waiver transaction.
Right player, right ballpark!
A good value pick by the O’s.
Over/under Noel plays more games for the Orioles than Tyler O’Neill this season
Under! Tyler rises like a phoenix from the ash heap to hit 40 hrs and drive in 120
He might hit 40 but he’s not driving in 120. Two years ago he hit 31 and only drove in 61
Surprised Noel got claimed before luciano
Big Christmas has intriguing power potential. That would probably be why is my guess.
Love Jhonkensy myself I just think luciano is the more intriguing dfa reclamation project.
Just gave Luciano a quick look, and he’s got potential too. No doubt someone will pick him up too.
I hope they dont im a buccos fan
3 week holiday break on DFA signings. Fing ridiculous
Scrooge on
Huge power! I remember the HR he hit against the yankees in the post season a couple years ago. This guy reminds me of a former twins 1b that was released due to poor results and ended up going to Boston and kind of stayed on that same path until 1/2 way through the season and then became a solid player… Noel has potential
After watching his “ memorable “ year in AAA at Columbus… the Orioles may have a player.. to remember.
Might be the most unlikely org to pick him up given all their RH swat. Odd. Maybe a big trade or two brewing?
Agreed. It is a crowded mix.. I wonder if they just plan on DFA’ing him shortly and hope he will sneak through waivers.
CK, it’s not just that Baltimore has good RH hitters it’s that at least 3 of them — Mountcastle, Ward and O’Neill — have heavy splits favoring lhp. Pete hits anybody and Mayo did at least in the minors but Noel is pure lefty basher. MLB rhp embarrassed him. So yeah I have a hard time seeing where they can use him unless it’s like you say.
I was honestly hoping the brewers would claim him just because I pulled an auto of his out of Allen & ginter hah. But that’s alright. I don’t know how well he’d of worked in the brewers