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Injury Notes: Clevinger, Kittredge, Kremer, Gregorius

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The Padres announced that right-hander Mike Clevinger has been reinstated from the injured list, with outfielder Brent Rooker being optioned in a corresponding move. After a lengthy absence from the majors while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Clevinger had to return to the IL after just three starts due to a triceps strain. Thankfully, he only required a minimum stay on the shelf and is quickly back on the roster, starting today’s game.

While many teams around the league are dealing with mounting injuries to their pitching staffs, the Padres now have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to their starting rotation. Clevinger joins Yu Darvish, Sean Manaea, Joe Musgrove, MacKenzie Gore and Blake Snell, with Nick Martinez likely getting bumped into a long-relief role. The club is off to a great start, sporting a record of 32-21, just three games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. The strength of their rotation has played a big role in that, as their collective 3.11 ERA is fourth-best in all of baseball, trailing only the Yankees, Dodgers and Astros.

Some other IL reinstatements from around the league…

  • The Rays announced that righty Andrew Kittredge has been reinstated from the injured list, with fellow righty Calvin Faucher being optioned to make room for him. Kittredge was slowed by some lower back tightness but is able to return after a minimum stay on the injured list. Last year, he threw 71 2/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 53.5% ground ball rate. That success earned him a key role in the bullpen, as he eventually earned eight saves and seven holds. He wasn’t able to continue that this year, possibly due to this back injury. Over 18 innings, his ERA is an even 3.00, with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 44.2% grounder rate, though he’s limited walks to just 1.5% of batters faced.
  • The Orioles reinstated righty Dean Kremer from the injured list today, with fellow righty Denyi Reyes being optioned in a corresponding move. Kremer landed on the injured list back in April due to an oblique strain. He is starting today’s ballgame for the O’s, which will be his season debut. His MLB time has been on the rough side so far, as his career ERA is currently 6.84 through 72 1/3 innings. However, while rehabbing from this injury, he’s thrown nine scoreless innings in the minors with a whopping 18 strikeouts against just two walks.
  • The Phillies announced that they have reinstated Didi Gregorius from the IL, with Nick Maton trading places with him, heading to the IL due to a right shoulder sprain. Gregorius returns after about a month on the IL due to a left knee sprain. Prior to that, he was hitting .288/.338/.356 on the season. The resulting 97 wRC+ indicates that his bat has been about 3% worse than league average, though it’s still a big improvement over last year’s wRC+ of 68. Maton was just recalled a few days ago to provide help in the middle infield when Jean Segura landed on the IL, but will now join him on the shelf after just two games. Without those two options, it’s likely that Gregorious, Bryson Stott and Johan Camargo will now share the middle infield duties.

Orioles Release Jahmai Jones

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June 4: Jones cleared waivers and was released. He is now a free agent.

June 3: The Orioles announced they’ve placed infielder Jahmai Jones on unconditional release waivers. The 29 other clubs will have an opportunity to put in a claim. If he passes through unclaimed, he’ll be a free agent.

This was the likely outcome once the O’s designated Jones for assignment over the weekend. The 24-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery last week and will miss the remainder of the season. By rule, injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. When the O’s designated Jones for assignment, they committed to either trading him or releasing him.

Jones suffered the injury while on optional assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He could’ve been placed on the minor league injured list but would’ve continued to occupy a spot on the 40-man roster for the rest of the season. Baltimore could’ve recalled him and placed him on the MLB 60-day IL to free a 40-man roster spot, but doing so would’ve required paying him at the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum salary for the rest of the year.

Rather than do so, Baltimore will run the risk of losing Jones on waivers or via free agency. It’s not out of the question another team places a claim and is willing to pay Jones the big league minimum — the Giants snagged Luis González from the White Sox last summer in a similar circumstance, for instance — but it’s also possible he simply clears waivers. In that event, the O’s could try to re-sign Jones on a minor league deal, but he’d be free to explore similar arrangements with other teams.

The Orioles acquired Jones over the 2020-21 offseason in the deal that sent starter Alex Cobb to the Angels. The former second-round pick and well-regarded prospect hit .149/.208/.194 over 26 big league games last year. He’d had a .212/.339/.343 line through 118 plate appearances with Norfolk prior to the injury.

Orioles Acquire Yaqui Rivera From Marlins

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The Orioles announced they’ve acquired minor league right-hander Yaqui Rivera from the Marlins. He’s the player to be named later in the April deal that sent relievers Cole Sulser and Tanner Scott to South Florida.

Rivera, 18, was a recent signee of Miami’s out of the Dominican Republic. He made his professional debut last season with a few outings in complex ball and nine starts in the Dominican Summer League. Rivera, who has never appeared on an organizational prospects list at FanGraphs or Baseball America, missed some bats but also had an elevated walk rate — unsurprising tendencies for a pitcher so young.

The 6’2″ hurler is one of three young players the O’s added to the organization in the deal. Baltimore also picked up left-hander Antonio Velez, who has struggled with home runs over his first eight outings in Double-A this year, and low minors outfielder Kevin Guerrero. The 25-year-old Velez is certainly the most likely of the trio to make any kind of near-term impact in spite of his early struggles in Bowie; Guerrero and Rivera are long-term developmental fliers.

Sulser and Scott have each stepped into the big league bullpen in Miami, with the former assuming some high-leverage opportunities. It’s been a fairly similar start to the season for both, who each have quality swing-and-miss numbers but have struggled with control. Sulser owns a 4.50 ERA through 18 innings, and he’s seen his fastball velocity drop nearly two ticks on average relative to last season. Scott remains among the harder left-handed throwers in the game, but he’s dealt with strike-throwing issues throughout his career. He has a 5.40 ERA in 18 1/3 frames with the Fish.

Orioles Outright Anthony Bemboom

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Today: Bemboom has accepted the outright assignment, per an announcement from the team.

May 27: Anthony Bemboom has cleared waivers and been outrighted by the Orioles to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The catcher had been designated for assignment last week as the corresponding move to the promotion of star prospect Adley Rutschman.

Bemboom was outrighted by the Dodgers last year, thus making him eligible to reject this outright assignment, like all players who already have one outright on their ledger. At this point, there’s no indication whether Bemboom has accepted or rejected, though there would be some logic either way.

If he were to opt for rejecting, he would become a free agent and look for the best opportunity around the league. However, based on his clearing waivers, that illustrates no team is currently willing to give him a 40-man roster spot and he would only find minor league deals anyway. If he were to accept, he’d likely stay third on the Baltimore catching depth chart behind Rutschman and Robinson Chirinos. The team also has Jacob Nottingham in Triple-A, though that was also the case earlier this year when Bemboom was selected to the big league roster while they waited for Rutschman to recuperate from injury. Although Nottingham is off to a blazing start in Triple-A this year, hitting .268/.417/.607, 168 wRC+.

In his 22 MLB games so far this year, Bemboom has hit .115/.207/.212, though that might be weighed down by a .147 BABIP. On the more encouraging side of things, he did walk in 10.2% of his plate appearances, something that’s not totally without precedent, as he’s often posted good walk rates in Triple-A, as well as in 21 MLB games in 2020 with the Angels, when he walked 11.7% of the time.

Orioles Designate Jahmai Jones, Select Cody Sedlock

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The Orioles announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s doubleheader with the Red Sox, including the news that right-hander Cody Sedlock’s contract has been selected from Triple-A.  Infielder Jahmai Jones was designated for assignment to create room on the 40-man roster, and righty Beau Sulser was optioned to Triple-A.  Additionally, right-hander Denyi Reyes was also called up as the 27th man for the doubleheader.

Jones is headed for DFA limbo just a day after the Orioles announced that the infielder underwent Tommy John surgery.  Jones became injured while in the minors, and thus couldn’t be moved to the 60-day injured list unless the O’s officially added him to the big league roster.  In designating him for assignment, the Orioles could simply be looking to remove Jones from their 40-man roster without that official call-up, and the team is betting that another club won’t make a claim on Jones given that he’ll miss the rest of the season recovering.

This will be the first Major League opportunity for Sedlock, who was selected with the 27th overall pick of the 2016 draft.  Sedlock’s progress was slowed by elbow and shoulder problems, as well as thoracic outlet syndrome, though Sedlock was able to avoid TOS surgery.  Between injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, Sedlock has only 371 1/3 innings under his belt over parts of six professional seasons.

Making his Triple-A debut in 2021 and continuing with Norfolk this season, Sedlock has only a 5.13 ERA over 59 2/3 innings, with a 25.75% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.  Working mostly as a starter throughout his career, Sedlock could be used as a swingman or long reliever in Baltimore, depending on how the Orioles choose to juggle their pitching mix as the team navigates a busy stretch of the schedule.

Orioles’ Jahmai Jones Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Orioles announced this afternoon that second baseman Jahmai Jones underwent Tommy John surgery (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). While the team didn’t provide a timetable for his recovery, it seems likely he’ll miss the remainder of this season and hope to be ready for next Spring Training.

It’ll go down as a lost season for Jones, who didn’t play in the majors. He tallied 112 plate appearances with Triple-A Norfolk, hitting .212/.339/.343 with two home runs and stolen bases apiece. Jones walked at a strong 11.9% clip while only striking out in 19.5% of his plate appearances, but he didn’t make much impact on contact. The right-handed hitter posted just a .131 ISO (slugging minus batting average) with a .257 average on balls in play.

Jones was more effective during a longer run with Norfolk last season. He came to the plate just under 300 times and hit .243/.337/.431 with 11 homers, earning a late-season big league call. The 24-year-old didn’t play well in his brief MLB action, but he seemed to have a good chance to get back to the majors with a solid showing this year. Unfortunately, the elbow procedure will prevent that from happening.

A former second-round pick, Jones broke into the professional ranks as one of the better prospects in the Angels’ farm system. Regarded as a possible bat-first second baseman and top-of-the-lineup presence, he appeared among Baseball America’s top 100 overall prospects entering the 2018 season. Jones started to struggle between High-A and Double-A that year, though, and his stock dipped. Los Angeles traded him to the Orioles over the 2020-21 offseason for starter Alex Cobb.

Jones will continue to occupy a spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster so long as he’s on the minor league injured list. The O’s could clear a roster spot by recalling him and placing him on the 60-day IL, although doing so would require paying him at the prorated portion of the $700K MLB minimum salary. Baltimore could also release him entirely or merely keep him on the 40-man all season. This is Jones’ final minor league option year, so he’ll have to break camp with the team next season or be designated for assignment if he holds his place on the roster until then.

Orioles Claim Chris Vallimont From Twins

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The Orioles announced that right-hander Chris Vallimont has been claimed off waivers from the Twins.  Vallimont was designated for assignment by Minnesota earlier this week.  To open up a 40-man roster spot, Baltimore moved Alexander Wells (who is recovering from a UCL strain) to the 60-day injured list.

Vallimont was assigned to the Orioles’ Double-A affiliate, and the righty has a 6.71 ERA over 110 innings at the Double-A level in the Twins organization.  The Marlins selected Vallimont in the fifth round of the 2018 draft, then swapped him along with Sergio Romo in the July 2019 trade that sent Lewin Diaz to Miami.  After a solid 2019 season, Vallimont didn’t play in 2020 due to the canceled minor league campaign, and has since struggled in his return to the field.

A lack of control has been Vallimont’s biggest problem, as he has an ugly 15.85% walk rate over his 110 Double-A innings.  However, the righty’s 28.3% strikeout rate surely caught Baltimore’s attention, and his Vallimont’s potential as reliever.  Vallimont has started 62 of his 64 career games in the pros, and if he can’t get on track as a starting pitcher, his ability to miss bats could play well out of a bullpen.

X-Rays Negative On Spenser Watkins' Forearm

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  • On the 13th pitch of his start against the Rays today, Orioles right-hander Spenser Watkins was hit in the forearm by a line drive off the bat of Ji-Man Choi.  Watkins had to leave the game without recording an out (and allowing singles to his three batters faced), but he may have avoided serious injury — x-rays were negative and Watkins was diagnosed with only a bruised forearm.  Sunday marked Watkins’ eighth start of the season, and the second-year player had a 6.00 ERA over 30 innings thus far in 2022.

Orioles Promote Adley Rutschman

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The Orioles announced that they have selected the contract of top prospect Adley Rutschman. Anthony Bemboom has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Of course, this is a day that baseball fans in Baltimore and elsewhere have been looking forward to for quite some time. Even before he was a member of the Orioles organization, Rutschman was tantalizing the baseball world with his performance at Oregon State, shooting up draft boards and considered by many to be the top player available in the 2019 draft. Baseball America, for instance, gave him the #1 slot that year, with their report noting that the switch-hitting catcher had essentially every skill necessary to succeed going forward. Hitting for average, hitting for power, taking walks, strong arm, good receiving and blocking, he had all the tools except speed, which is hardly surprising for a catcher. “He is the best catching prospect since Buster Posey in 2008 and Matt Wieters in 2007,” their report concluded.

Although there were reports that the O’s were considering other players with the first overall selection in the 2019 draft, such as Bobby Witt Jr., Andrew Vaughn and JJ Bleday, it never seemed like there was much chance of anyone usurping Rutschman. When the big day finally rolled around, Rutschman was indeed the first player off the board.

Due to the struggles of the big league club, Rutschman instantly became the light at the end of the tunnel for Baltimore fans. The Orioles finished last in the AL East in both 2017 and 2018, and were in the process of repeating that feat when Rutschman was drafted in 2019. They somehow slipped past the Red Sox and into fourth place in the shortened 2020 season, but were back down in the basement in 2021, and also posted the worst record in baseball again (tied with the Diamondbacks). That means they have the first overall selection in the draft yet again this summer. With nothing inspiring happening at the big league level, all hopes were pinned on the stars in the farm system that would make up the next great Orioles team, with Rutschman being front and center.

Baseball America ranked Rutschman the fifth-best prospect in all of baseball in 2021, then bumping him up to #2 last year and #1 this year. He’s also considered the best prospect in baseball by FanGraphs, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniels, and The Athletic’s Keith Law.

It’s been an atypical rise through the minors for the 24-year-old. It started out normal enough, with Rutschman getting into 37 games in the lower levels of the Orioles’ system in the months after the draft. But the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020, meaning he wasn’t able to play in any official organized games. But that missed season didn’t slow him down any, as his 2021 proved the hype was for real. In 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A, he hit 23 home runs and produced an overall batting line of .285/.397/.502, walking at a 14.5% rate and striking out only 16.6% of the time. That all adds up to a wRC+ of 144, or 44% better than league average.

The Orioles did little to block his path to the big leagues this offseason. The catchers who got playing time behind the plate in 2021 were all jettisoned from the roster. Pedro Severino, Austin Wynns and Nick Ciuffo were all outrighted at season’s end and Chance Sisco was claimed off waivers by the Mets. There was a time in the offseason that the club actually had no catchers on the 40-man roster, although they eventually signed Robinson Chirinos to be in the mix.

Once the new collective bargaining agreement was agreed to and the lockout ended in March, it seemed there was a chance Rutschman could crack the Opening Day roster. The new CBA featured incentives to try and discourage teams from holding their best prospects down in the minors at the beginning of a season in order to manipulate their service time and gain an extra year of control over their services. Unfortunately, Rutschman suffered a triceps strain in mid-March that put him on the shelf for a few weeks, ending any chance of him being ready for the season opener. After recuperating from that injury, he made his 2022 debut in the minors on April 26 and has spent the past four weeks getting back into game shape. In 19 games this year across three different levels, he’s hitting .309/.427/.515, 159 wRC+, walking in 13.4% of his plate appearances while striking out in just 8.5% of them.

There are about 137 days remaining in the season, meaning he will be unable to accrue the 172 days necessary to count as a full year. There is a provision in the new CBA that grants a full year of service time to the top two finishers in Rookie of the Year voting, though it will be difficult for Rutschman to take that path now, given that his competitors in that race have a six-week headstart on him. Jeremy Pena has already produced 1.8 fWAR, while other prominent rookies like Bobby Witt Jr. and Julio Rodriguez have 0.8 fWAR during their first MLB seasons.

Assuming Rutschman isn’t able to catch up and finishes this season with less than a year of service time, the O’s will control his services through the 2028 season, though he does have a very good shot at qualifying for arbitration after the 2024 season as a Super Two player. (The Super Two cutoff moves from year to year but has only been above 2.137 three times since 2009, with the last instance coming back in 2012.) Now that he’s reached the big time, the club will be hoping that he and the other prospects that are still to come will help the Orioles start turning the page from rebuilding to competing over those coming years.

With Rutschman injured to start the year, the club selected Bemboom’s contract, pairing him with Chirinos as the club’s catching duo. In 22 games on the year, he’s hit a meager .115/.207/.212. Since he’s out of options, the club had little choice but to designate him for assignment in order to make room for their star prospect. Bemboom will likely hit the waiver wire in the coming days and see if there’s another club in the league that’s interested in his services.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Orioles, John Means Agree To Two-Year Contract

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The Orioles and left-hander John Means have avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a two-year, $5.925MM contract, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link).  Means will earn $2.95MM in 2022, and $2.975MM in 2023, as per Baltimore Baseball’s Rich Dubroff (via Twitter).  Means is represented by the Wasserman Agency.

Means had been looking for a $3.1MM salary in 2022, while the Orioles submitted a $2.7MM figure.  However, it’s probably safe to assume that Means’ Tommy John surgery played a big role in this extension coming together, even if an arbiter would have only been gauging Means’ numbers from prior to 2022 in determining his salary.  As per the usual timeline for TJ recovery, Means will be out of action until at least midway through the 2023 season.  The extension reflects that situation, giving Means only a minor raise for next season considering that he’ll be missing so much action.

Talking to The Baltimore Sun’s Andy Kostka and other reporters, Means said the two sides finalized the extension yesterday after negotiating for the last week.  “It’s nice to not have to go to court and fight [in arbitration]. Especially in a sling. Probably not the best way to go about it,” Means joked.

The new contract locks in some financial security for Means during a difficult time in his career.  While there’s never a good time for a Tommy John surgery, 2022 was the first of Means’ three arb-eligible seasons, and thus his rehab will severely impact his earning potential over his next two years.  Considering that he’ll miss so much of the 2023 campaign, Means likely won’t earn too much beyond his $2.975MM salary in 2024, assuming he returns healthy and pitches well whenever he does return to the mound next season.

Means somewhat surprisingly emerged as the de facto ace of the Orioles rotation in 2019-21, bursting onto the scene with a second-place AL Rookie Of The Year finish in 2019.  Over his first three seasons, Means posted a 3.73 ERA, relying on excellent control and fastball spin (if not velocity) to retire batters, despite allowing a lot of hard contact and not racking up many strikeouts.  Means’ Baltimore tenure was highlighted by a no-hitter against the Mariners on May 5, 2021.

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