Orioles Designate Dwight Smith Jr., Select Mason Williams
The Orioles have designated outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. for assignment and have selected the contract of outfielder Mason Williams, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.
With Smith Jr. removed from the 40-man roster, the team will have a week to either trade the 27-year-old or place him on outright waivers. Per Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com, O’s general manager Mike Elias is hopeful that Smith Jr. will remain in the organization following his DFA.
Although his 2020 season has not gone as hoped, Smith Jr. was a capable contributor for last year’s Orioles, batting .241/.297/.412 in his first shot at a regular role with an MLB team.
However, he’s fallen out of favor in Baltimore as he finds himself in an increasingly crowded outfield mix in need of a true center fielder after the injury to Austin Hays. Smith Jr. is limited to left field and has struggled defensively since coming to Baltimore.
Mason Williams will join the Orioles roster as an option to play center field occasionally, and is more suited for a role as a fourth outfielder than Smith Jr. due to his positional flexibility. He appeared with the Orioles briefly last year, though he spent the majority of the year with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate. There, he hit .308/.371/.477 with 18 home runs, his most in a season since debuting in 2010.
Orioles Promote Ryan Mountcastle, Place Chris Davis On 10-Day IL
1:57pm: The Orioles have formally announced Mountcastle’s promotion. In a corresponding move, Chris Davis was placed on the 10-day IL due to patellar tendinitis in his left knee.
11:40am: The Orioles are calling up top prospect Ryan Mountcastle for his MLB debut, as first reported by Jason La Canfora of 105.7 The Fan (Twitter link). The 23-year-old slugger was the No. 36 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to clear space on the 28-man roster to accommodate him (although the corresponding move could still include a 40-man subtraction, of course).
Mountcastle has ranked among the organization’s best prospects since the time he was drafted out of high school. He has at times ranked among the game’s 100 best prospects according to outlets like Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus, etc. — and he’s currently just on the outside of FanGraphs’ Top 100, sitting at No. 111.
Questions persist about just where on the field Mountcastle will play. He was drafted as a shortstop but has slid down the defensive spectrum — first moving to third base and then spending time at first base and in left field last year in Triple-A. There are far fewer questions, though, about the slugger’s promising bat. Mountcastle followed up 2018’s .297/.341/.464 slash (121 wRC+) in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting with a .312/.344/.527 slash (117 wRC+) in Triple-A last year. He doesn’t walk much but also doesn’t strike out at an alarming rate and has never batted worse than .281 in a full professional season.
It’s possible that Mountcastle will supplant the struggling Dwight Smith Jr. as the team’s primary left fielder. Smith has posted a woeful .222/.306/.365 batting line in 72 plate appearances this year and wasn’t much better in 2019 when he hit .241/.297/.412. Given that Smith himself has graded out as a poor defender in left, there may not be a dip in glovework at all, and Mountcastle is a clear part of the organization’s future (which cannot be said of Smith).
Mountcastle could also be worked into the corner infield and designated hitter mix, but regardless of the position listed next to his name on the lineup card, it would behoove the Orioles to get him regular at-bats through season’s end. The hope is that Mountcastle will be a fixture in the lineup for years to come, and now that we’ve passed the point where he’d qualify as a Super Two or reach free agency after “only” six years instead of seven, there’s little reason for the O’s to keep him down at the alternate training site. Assuming Mountcastle is in the big leagues to stay, he’d be controllable through 2026 and arbitration-eligible after the 2023 season.
It is, of course, also worth noting that the O’s are just a game below .500 after a surprising start to the season. They’ve dropped five straight and are currently on the outside looking in on the playoff picture, but slotting Mountcastle into the lineup can’t hurt their odds of making a Cinderella run at this year’s expanded playoff format.
Orioles Place Jose Iglesias On 10-Day Injured List
The Orioles have placed shortstop Jose Iglesias on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 16) due to a left quad injury, the team announced. Infielder Ramon Urias has been called up from the alternate training site to take Iglesias’ spot on the Baltimore roster.
Known as a defensive specialist over his eight seasons prior to 2020, Iglesias has almost doubled his 84 OPS+ from 2011-19 with a whopping 166 OPS+ through 58 plate appearances this season. Small sample size notwithstanding, Iglesias’ .400/.414/.564 slash line has been a key reason why the surprising Orioles are keeping pace in the playoff race with a 12-10 record.
Despite his production, Iglesias has been bothered by his quad all season. He hasn’t played since last Saturday, so clearly the Orioles felt an IL stint was necessary to get the veteran shortstop fully recovered.
Andrew Velazquez has been filling in at short in Iglesias’ absence, and Urias could also help in this regard given his experience at all four infield positions. A longtime veteran of both the Mexican League and 298 minor league games in the Rangers’ and Cardinals’ farm systems, the 26-year-old Urias is on the verge of his first Major League appearance. Urias hit .263/.369/.424 with nine homers over 375 PA with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019.
Orioles Designate Chandler Shepherd
The Orioles are designating right-hander Chandler Shepherd for assignment, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). The move clears roster space for John Means, who was activated from the injured list. (Means was placed on the IL while progressing through standard COVID-19 protocols after briefly stepping away from the team on bereavement leave).
Shepherd was just selected to the roster on Friday but didn’t get into a game. The 28-year-old only has 19 MLB innings under his belt, all with the 2019 O’s. Those didn’t go well, but he’s put together a solid minor-league track record. Shepherd is out of options, meaning Baltimore had either to keep him on the active roster or expose him to waivers if they wished to keep him in the organization.
Orioles Place Austin Hays On 10-Day Injured List
The Orioles announced that outfielder Austin Hays has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a non-displaced rib fracture. Outfielder Cedric Mullins was recalled from the Orioles’ alternate training site, and righty Jorge Lopez will also join the team after being activated from the injured list (Lopez was undergoing intake testing for COVID-19 after being claimed off waivers from the Royals last week).
O’s manager Brandon Hyde told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters that Hays may have suffered the injury after crashing into the wall while making a catch in a game during the Orioles’ series with the Phillies last week. Hays was already dealing with some sore ribs after being hit by a pitch earlier in the season, though Hyde believes the outfielder will require only the minimum 10 days off.
The injury continues that has been a rough 2020 season for Hays, who has batted only .203/.273/.246 through his first 77 plate appearances. Long a top prospect in Baltimore’s farm system and even a top-100 ranked prospect in all of baseball prior to the 2018 campaign, the O’s were hopeful that Hays could establish himself as an everyday player this season. Expectations were high after Hays hit .309/.373/.574 over 75 PA during a September call-up in 2019.
Orioles Select Chandler Shepherd
The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Chandler Shepherd and optioned righty David Hess to their alternate training site. Baltimore’s 40-man roster is now up to a total of 39 players.
Shepherd, 28 later this month, made his big league debut with the O’s last season and allowed 14 runs in 19 frames — albeit with a solid 17-to-6 K/BB ratio. The longtime Red Sox farmhand had a solid track record in Triple-A prior to last year’s offensive explosion at that level, carrying a 3.91 ERA to that point in his career.
Shepherd has generally fared well in the upper minors while averaging a bit less than a punchout per frame and about two and a half walks per nine innings pitched. He sat at 92.2 mph with his fastball in last year’s debut effort and has posted roughly average ground-ball tendencies between Double-A and Triple-A.
Hess has a solid track record between Double-A and Triple-A over the past three seasons as well, but he’s yet to find success in the big leagues. He’s logged 190 1/3 frames since debuting back in ’17 and struggled to a 5.98 ERA with a 6.41 FIP in that time.
Orioles Release Ty Blach
The Orioles announced this morning that they have released left-hander Ty Blach. He underwent Tommy John surgery last month. Blach wasn’t on the team’s 40-man roster but had been in their 60-man player pool, which dropped to a total of 59 players with his release.
Blach, 29, struggled in 20 2/3 frames with the Orioles in 2019 after being claimed off waivers out of the Giants organization. Between those two clubs, he was tagged for 36 runs on 46 hits and 17 walks with 20 strikeouts in 27 innings of work.
While that was a season Blach would surely like to forget, his prior work in San Francisco was solid. From 2016-18, Blach logged 299 1/3 innings with a 4.36 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 4.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 50.1 percent ground-ball rate. The lack of strikeouts is obviously glaring, but Blach generally avoided too much hard contact on his sinker, which helped him to limit the damage.
Orioles Claim Jorge Lopez
The Orioles announced today that they have claimed right-handed pitcher Jorge Lopez off waivers from the Royals. Lopez, 27, was designated for assignment by Kansas City on Friday. He’ll be added to the Baltimore 40-man roster, which is now full.
Lopez made just one appearance for the Royals this year before he was placed on the bereavement list. That preceded his departure from the Royals, who designated Lopez owing to his lack of minor-league options.
Once a highly-regarded prospect, Lopez has thus far failed to find success at the MLB level between stints with the Brewers and Royals, who acquired him as part of the return for Mike Moustakas. In 190 innings at the MLB level, Lopez has a 5.97 ERA while averaging a mediocre 7.4 K/9. Last year, he was a key part of the Royals’ staff, throwing the fifth-most innings on the team as he was deployed both as a starter and in relief.
Lopez should be a viable depth option for an Orioles pitching staff that has actually fared pretty well this year: the Orioles staff is sporting a 3.87 FIP, good for tenth-best in baseball. Granted, the ERA figures have lagged behind thus far, and it’s not a group of world-beaters, but there are some intriguing names in Baltimore. Lopez, if he gets a crack in the Majors, could serve as a starter or reliever for Brandon Hyde.
Orioles Recall Keegan Akin, Option Cedric Mullins
The Orioles announced today that they’ve promoted left-hander Keegan Akin to the Major League roster. To make room, outfielder Cedric Mullins has been optioned to the team’s alternate training site. Akin, 25, is set to make his MLB debut.
It’s possible that Akin will in fact start tomorrow’s game against the Nats, though on the other hand manager Brandon Hyde could still opt for a bullpen game instead. Either way, Akin, regarded by MLB Pipeline as the Orioles’ 13th-best prospect, is in line to make his Major League debut.
The product of Western Michigan University was Baltimore’s second-round draft choice in 2016, and he’s made a quick ascent through the minors since then, spending all of last season at Triple-A. In four minor-league seasons, he’s averaging 9.9 K/9, though he’s been somewhat prone to walking batters. His minor-league ERA is a solid 3.78, with last year’s 4.73 mark at Triple-A the highest of his career.
Per MLB Pipeline, some of those Triple-A struggles can be attributed to an increasing reliance on his breaking and offspeed pitches, which Akin threw more often than ever last season. His mid-90s fastball is probably still his best and most consistent pitch, though the changeup is a valuable offering against right-handed batters. Akin also throws a slider.
Mullins, meanwhile, had gotten off to a dreadful start to the year, with just a single hit through his first 13 at-bats—good for a .277 OPS. After a respectable debut in 2018, other O’s outfielders like Dwight Smith Jr., Austin Hays, and Anthony Santander have pushed Mullins to the periphery of the outfield mix in Baltimore.
Orioles Add Two To 60-Man Player Pool
The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve added lefty Brian Gonzalez and infielder Gunnar Henderson to their 60-man player pool. Both have been assigned to the club’s alternate training site in Bowie. Baltimore’s pool is up to 59 players.
Gonzalez, 24, doesn’t rank among Baltimore’s best prospects but has had success up through the Double-A level, so he could emerge as an eventual bullpen option in 2020. The 2014 third-rounder struggled as a starter in Class-A Advanced and Double-A, but he was moved to a full-time relief role in 2019 and enjoyed his best year since 2016. Gonzalez tallied 53 1/3 innings last season, pitching to a 3.38 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and an admittedly bloated 1.5 HR/9 mark. The O’s recently traded southpaw Richard Bleier to the Marlins, so Gonzalez replenishes some of that depth.
Henderson, meanwhile, won’t see any MLB time in 2020. The 19-year-old was Baltimore’s second-round pick in the 2019 draft and hasn’t even reached A-ball yet, so there’s no way the club will put him on the 40-man roster and bring him to the big leagues. That said, he’s widely regarded as one of the rebuilding club’s ten best prospects, so he’ll head to Bowie to get some work with the coaching staff there and see some simulated reps along with the club’s other top minor leaguers. As The Athletic’s Dan Connolly points out on Twitter, the O’s now have all of their Top 11 prospects (per Baseball America’s rankings) either on their MLB roster or at their Bowie site.