The Orioles announced that right-hander Cameron Foster has been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Catcher Maverick Handley was optioned to Norfolk in the corresponding active roster move.
It’s a bit unusual for a pitcher to be swapped in for a position player. 26-man rosters have a 13-pitcher limit and teams are almost always at that maximum. The O’s briefly went to a split of 14 position players and 12 hurlers yesterday when they selected catcher Sam Huff, with lefty Nick Raquet optioned out. This move gets them back to an even 13-13 split, with Huff sticking around to form the catching duo with Samuel Basallo while Adley Rutschman is on the injured list.
The move to get back to a full eight-man bullpen gets Foster, 27, up to the big leagues for the first time. The O’s acquired him from the Mets at last year’s deadline in the trade that sent Gregory Soto to Queens. The O’s then added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He came into big league camp in spring training but was optioned to Norfolk in March.
A 14th-round pick of the Mets in 2022, he mostly worked as a starter in 2023 and for parts of 2024 as well. 2025 was the first full season where he was focused on relief work. He pitched 46 1/3 innings on the year between the two clubs, and also split between Double-A and Triple-A. He had a combined 3.11 earned run average. He struck out 32.6% of batters faced, a huge mark, while his 8.4% walk rate was around league average.
He featured five different pitches at the Triple-A level last year, per Statcast. His four-seamer and sinker averaged in the mid-90s, while he mixed in a cutter, slider and curveball. So far this year, he has thrown six Triple-A innings. The seven earned runs give him an unsightly 10.50 ERA but his three home runs allowed might have tilted that number in a small sample. He has eight strikeouts to one walk, which is encouraging.
As mentioned, the O’s were playing with a seven-man bullpen yesterday. They used five of those relievers in their 10-inning loss to the Diamondbacks. The only two who didn’t pitch were Rico Garcia and Albert Suárez. Garcia had pitched the two prior games on Monday and Tuesday. Suárez is the long man and threw 40 pitches on Monday.
In short, they needed a fresh arm, so Foster may have a decent chance of making his first big league appearance tonight. Since this is his first season on the 40-man, he has a full slate of options and could be shuffled between Norfolk and Baltimore a few times this year.
Photo courtesy of Morgan Tencza, Imagn Images
Good for him. I don’t know anything about him. I wish him well and hope he get a knock in his his ML AB
Unfortunately, I think the odds are against him.
I miss read the entire article. I saw right hander and thought he was a hitter. I’ll rephrase, I hope he has an. Immaculate inning.
They should send him to the Dodgers for Chayce McDermott
The O’s front office have proven they know absolutely squat. They have some of the talent but never build on it. They should have gone all in after 2023 but no. Regression