The Angels announced Monday that right-handed reliever Kaleb Ort passed through waivers unclaimed following his recent DFA. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. He’s never been outrighted before and has fewer than three years of major league service time (2.108), so he’ll remain with the Angels as a depth option in Salt Lake.
The 34-year-old Ort made his big league debut with the Red Sox back in 2021 and has logged time in each of the five seasons since. He’s spent the past two as a member of the division-rival Astros. Ort pitched well for the ’Stros in 2024 and was shakier in 2025, but his overall numbers with Houston are respectable: combined 4.08 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 38.2% ground-ball rate in 70 2/3 frames.
The hard-throwing Ort has averaged 96.8 mph on his four-seamer in that time and notched a strong 12.6% swinging-strike rate, generating plenty of whiffs with his slider, in particular. In addition to a walk rate that’s a bit heavy, Ort has been far too homer-prone. Opponents have tagged him for 25 homers in just 122 1/3 career innings in the majors (1.84 HR.9), including 15 dingers across the past two seasons in Houston (1.91 HR/9).
Ort is out of minor league options, which likely contributed to him going unclaimed on waivers. If the Angels select him back to the 40-man roster at any point, he’ll need to stay in the majors or else be designated for assignment and placed on waivers once again. At that point, even if Ort were to clear, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment to a minor league affiliate in favor of free agency, thanks to being outrighted this morning.
Back to the Oort Cloud for Kaleb.
Good news. We need arms and he has one.
Ort. Great crossword answer.