Veteran left-handed reliever Josh Edgin has opted out of his minor league contract with the Orioles, tweets David Hall of the Virginian Pilot. Edgin, like outfielders Michael Saunders (link) and Alex Presley (link) before him, triggered a May 15 opt-out date is his contract.
If Edgin’s clause is the same as that of Presley, Baltimore will have 48 hours to add him to the roster or release him to pursue other opportunities. The organization already announced that Saunders has been released, whereas there’s yet to be a formal announcement regarding either Edgin or Presley.
The 31-year-old Edgin inked a minor league pact with Baltimore this offseason after previously spending the entirety of his pro career in the Mets organization. Edgin missed the 2015 season and much of the 2016 campaign due to Tommy John surgery but was otherwise a fairly regular fixture in the Mets’ bullpen dating back to his MLB debut in 2012. The lefty has a career 3.49 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and a 45.1 percent ground-ball rate in 129 innings at the big league level.
Last season, Edgin tossed a career-high 37 innings for the Mets and posted a 3.65 ERA that’s right in line with his career mark, though his strikeout and walk rates weren’t as sharp as they were prior to his surgery. In those 37 frames, he averaged just 6.6 K/9 against an elevated 4.4 BB/9 with an average fastball velocity of 91.3 mph, which checks in more than a full mile per hour south of his peak pre-surgery levels. Those were likely some of the factors the Mets took into consideration when ultimately deciding to non-tender Edgin in the offseason.
This year with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk, he’s pitched 18 2/3 innings with an outstanding 25-to-5 K/BB ratio (with two of those free passes being issued intentionally) and an excellent 59.6 percent ground-ball rate. Given that start and his track record, Edgin should generate interest elsewhere even if he doesn’t ultimately end up in the Baltimore bullpen.