The Orioles announced that outfielder Jhonkensy Noel has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He will stay in Baltimore’s system but without taking up a spot on the roster.
The O’s are one of the most aggressive clubs when it comes to claiming players from the waiver wire and then putting them back out there shortly thereafter. The desired result is that the player clears, allowing the club to keep the player in a non-roster capacity, which has happened in this case.
From there, the best-case scenario is that the player follows in the footsteps of Ryan O’Hearn. The O’s acquired O’Hearn from the Royals in January of 2023 and then passed him through waivers. He hit his way back onto the roster a few months later. He spent more than two years as a productive member of the club before being traded to the Padres alongside Ramón Laureano for a package of prospects at the 2025 deadline.
Noel, 24, has flashed big power in his career but has been a poor hitter apart from that. In 351 plate appearances with the Guardians over the past two seasons, he launched 19 home runs but his 4.8% walk rate and 32.8% strikeout rate were both significantly worse than league average. He had a .193/.242/.401 batting line and 79 wRC+ in that time. Since he’s not an especially strong defender or baserunner, that offense was untenable.
He exhausted his final option season in 2025, which pushed him off the edges of Cleveland’s roster and onto the waiver wire. The O’s were able to grab him and then pass him through unclaimed today. He’ll return to the Triple-A level, where his offense has been more encouraging. He stepped to the plate 536 times at that level over the past two years with a 7.5% walk rate and 23.7% strikeout rate, still not great numbers but better than his big league work. His combined .285/.349/.538 Triple-A slash line in that time led to a 130 wRC+.
Even if Noel succeeds in Norfolk, he doesn’t have an amazing path back to the majors. Baltimore’s outfield mix currently includes Colton Cowser, Taylor Ward, Dylan Beavers, Tyler O’Neill, Jeremiah Jackson, Leody Taveras, Reed Trimble, Heston Kjerstad and Marco Luciano.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
Someone does this in my OOTP baseball online league and it’s the most annoying thing ever. No one can waive players without him claiming them. He’s burned a lot of bridges doing this.
O’s have been doing this for a while. They’re not the only ones. Thing is, it never works out. I’m not sure why they bother, especially a team like the Orioles which has no potential opening for a player like him in the near future.
Sure seemed like it worked out when they did it with O’Hearn…
Uh, it worked out with O’Hearn, Urias, and a slew of role players. It’s called “depth.” Ever heard of it?
Exactly where he needs to be and wish him luck there.
Without this intrigue to distract them maybe we can find some more pitching.
Not the orioles news we were hoping for today.
Hes the next Yordan Alvarex, bring him home Dana DB Brown
Cleared waivers… that means Dana passed.
Best case scenario for the O’s here.
Another smart move by Elias. As for there not being room in the roster, that’s merely theoretical. If he kills it in AAA, and there are (as there always are) injuries, a space will be made for him. (Also theoretical of course!)
For those of us already in the throes of post-Christmas doldrums and melancholy; this move sure adds fuel to the fire. Maybe next year, Big Christmas…
Hope he finds the Christmas magic again, but a little early to leave out the cookies and milk.
Rush Limbaugh was right.
Alright I’ll bite. How?
Christmas is canceled. This is the future the Whigs want.
Designated MLB HR derby participant mac mcclung GLeague style.
The parade’s been rained on and the balloon’s been popped and salt’s been applied to the wound and our dream’s been deferred and the rug’s been yanked out from under us and the other shoe done dropped while we were wearing flip flops and the champagne’s gone flat and the cake’s collapsed and someone else is wearing our tuxedo and the ship, the B’more Clipper, has sailed without us, and the train has left the station…congrats to the BoSox on signing Ranger while we get Big Christmas in AAA. Yeah and whoopee!
Missed out on Ranger but they managed to keep Noel.
Not a bad spot for Big Christmas to land honestly. After injuries to Cowser and O Neil (who you can unfortunately pencil in for another IL stint at some point) there’s likely to be some opportunity at some point for him due to injuries to other guys. That being said bradfield jr is coming up the pipeline in the near future I imagine and Dylan beavers is certainly worthy of an extended look.
To clarify, the Orioles do not just DFA players a few days after claiming them. They do so to make room for a new player claimed or signed.
Decent depth move filling out the Tides roster. More importantly now that Ranger is off the board I’d love to see the O’s get aggressive and press the Rangers for Degrom and Seagar. Seems like a good match to me.
Why why why would they want Seager?