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Orioles Outright David Banuelos

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The Orioles announced this afternoon that catcher David Bañuelos has accepted an outright assignment to the minor leagues and was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. Bañuelos had previously been designated for assignment earlier this week in a flurry of roster moves that saw top prospect Jackson Holliday optioned back to the minor leagues.

Bañuelos, 27, was a fifth-round pick by the Mariners in the 2017 draft and was traded to the Twins in a minor deal that winter. He reached the Triple-A level in Minnesota late in the 2021 season but stalled out at the level with a wRC+ of just 70 in 295 trips to the plate at the level with the Twins between 2021 and 2022. Those deep struggles at the plate saw Bañuelos demoted back to Double-A for the 2023 season. He hit well in his return to the level with a .270/.369/.526 slash line in 48 games but did not remain with the Twins after hitting minor league free agency this past winter.

Instead, Bañuelos took a minor league pact with the Orioles and entered the season as upper-level catching depth behind the club’s big league tandem of Adley Rutschman and James McCann. It didn’t take long for Bañuelos to get the call to the big leagues this season, appearing in just two Triple-A games before his contract was selected earlier this month. While Bañuelos remained on the roster for two weeks, he ultimately made just one plate appearance in the majors, flying out in his lone big league at-bat. The 27-year-old was then designated for assignment to make room for outfielder Ryan McKenna on the club’s 40-man roster.

Now that Bañuelos has cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to the Triple-A level, he’ll continue to be among the club’s top options for a depth catcher at the big league level alongside fellow minor league signing Michael Perez. With no catchers besides Rutschman or McCann on the 40-man roster, it’s easy to imagine Bañuelos making his way back to the majors with the Orioles in the event that either member of their catching tandem suffers an injury at some point this season. In the meantime, he’ll remain in Triple-A as non-roster depth.

Orioles Plan To Activate Kyle Bradish From Injured List This Week

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Kyle Bradish tossed 77 pitches over five innings of a Triple-A rehab start yesterday, which was his third rehab outing while recovering from a right UCL sprain.  It looks as though the Orioles are satisfied with the progress, as manager Brandon Hyde told BaltimoreBaseball.com’s Rich Dubroff and other reporters that Bradish will probably be activated from the 15-day injured list this week to make his official 2024 debut.

“Our medical team talked to him last night, the pitching guys as well. He feels great,” Hyde said.  “We’re just looking right now when to slot him in, but he’s going to be with us soon….He got to an innings spot and a pitch spot, the amount of pitches he threw where we feel like he’s ready.  Kyle was one of the best pitchers in the league last year, and we’re excited to have him back.”

It was a little more than two months ago that Bradish’s injury was revealed, which caused immediate speculation that the righty’s season could be in jeopardy if Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure was needed to address the UCL damage.  However, Bradish received a PRP injection that seemed to work wonders, as he was able to gradually increase his workload to the point that he was able to start his rehab assignment earlier than expected.  Though missing a month of the regular season is no small matter, that is a concession Bradish and the Orioles will happily take given the initial threat of a much longer layoff.

After making his MLB debut in 2022, Bradish quietly emerged as Baltimore’s ace in his second big league season.  The right-hander finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting after delivering a 2.83 ERA and above-average strikeout (25%) and walk (6.6%) rates across 168 2/3 innings.  He allowed a good deal of hard contact, but his 49.2% grounder rate limited the damage, and Bradish benefited from a .270 BABIP.

The addition of Corbin Burnes further bolstered the Orioles’ rotation this winter, pushing Bradish down to the projected No. 2 spot in the pitching staff.  The rotation took some more hits when John Means’ elbow soreness resulted in a season-opening stint on the IL, and Tyler Wells was also sidelined two weeks ago with elbow inflammation.  Hyde told Dubroff and company that Wells hadn’t yet started throwing, as “we’re just kind of slow playing him” and “making sure there’s no soreness in there.”

Means is much closer to a return, as his final Triple-A rehab outing is set for Sunday.  Assuming all goes well, both Bradish and Means could be activated in the next week, thus bumping Albert Suarez and probably Cole Irvin out of the starting mix.  That said, Hyde said “everything’s up on the table right now,” in terms of how the O’s might line up their starters, as the team has also considered using a six-man rotation.  Such a deployment would help ease Bradish and Means into action, and the Orioles’ upcoming off-days on May 6 and 9 would also allow for a potential reset after the club evaluates everyone through at least one start.

Orioles Option Jackson Holliday

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The Orioles announced today that they have optioned infielder Jackson Holliday to Triple-A Norfolk. His roster spot will go to outfielder Ryan McKenna, whose contract has been selected. To open a spot on the 40-man for McKenna, catcher David Bañuelos has been designated for assignment.

Holliday, 20, came into this season as the consensus top prospect in baseball. The first overall pick of the 2022 draft, he mashed his way through four levels of the minor leagues last year. He went from Single-A to High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .323/.442/.499 along the way.

Coming into 2024, there seemed to be a legitimate chance of Holliday cracking the Opening Day roster, despite his young age. Back in December, general manager Mike Elias said as much, telling reporters that it was a “very strong possibility.”

During Spring Training, Holliday seemed to be ticking all the boxes when he hit .311/.354/.600 in official Grapefruit League action. Yet despite that huge stat line, the club decided to send him back to Triple-A to start the year. Elias stated that Holliday needed a bit more work against left-handed pitching and a bit more experience at second base, having only recently moved there from shortstop.

Some observers wondered if this was simple service time manipulation, but the O’s made another surprising move when they called Holliday up on April 9, less than two weeks into the season. He had only played 10 Triple-A games to start the year, hitting a huge .333/.482/.595 in that time, and he was still called up early enough that he could earn a full year of service time by staying up for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Unfortunately, his major league career has gotten out to an incredibly slow start. Through 10 games and 36 plate appearances, he has struck out 18 times, a massive 50% clip. He only has two hits, both singles, and two walks. That leads to a batting line of .059/.111/.059.

That’s a tiny sample size but the O’s have evidently decided that the best move is to send Holliday down to Norfolk and get back into a groove. It wouldn’t be a surprise if that doesn’t take very long. He’s still very young and clearly incredibly talented, while his struggles consist of a small sliver of time in the grand scheme of things. Plenty of star baseball players have struggled initially and still gone on to great success. To use just a couple of examples, Chandler Rome of The Athletic pointed out this afternoon that Alex Bregman had two hits in his first 38 at-bats while Kyle Tucker had just nine in his first 64.

While Holliday could realistically be back in short order and slugging in the big leagues, he’ll first have to catch his breath in Norfolk and string some good plate appearances together, which is likely going to push back his path to free agency and perhaps to arbitration.

A major league season is 187 days long but a player needs only 172 to reach a year of service time, meaning a player can be sent to the minors for 15 days and still get a full year. Holliday missed the first 12 days of this season and was still in position to get to the one-year mark here in 2024 but he’ll now be a pace behind that. A position player optioned to the minors has to stay down for ten days before being recalled. An exception is made if someone else is going on the injured list, but the likeliest scenario is that Holliday will be in Norfolk for at least a few weeks.

He could also earn a full year of service time in the less-traditional way. The latest collective bargaining agreement added measures to combat service time, one of which was the ability for a top prospect to earn a full year of service even if not called up early enough if they finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting in their league. Though for that scenario to play out now, Holliday would have to quickly produce better results in order to secure a fast recall and then thrive in the majors for several months. With rookies like Colton Cowser, Wilyer Abreu, Mason Miller and Evan Carter already racking up decent numbers, Holliday would be challenged to end up getting into the top two.

For the club, they will also be taking their prospect promotion incentive off the table for now. Another new measure of the CBA is that teams can earn an extra draft pick if they promote top prospects early enough to get a full service year, and that player goes on to earn a Rookie of the Year award or a top three finish in MVP or Cy Young voting in their pre-arbitration years. That was on the table for Holliday with his promotion a couple of weeks ago but won’t be a factor now. That could still come into play next year if Holliday retains his rookie status through the end of 2024.

As for arbitration, a player needs three years of service to automatically qualify. Each year, a subset of player get in early by what is known as “Super Two” status. That line moves from year to year since it goes to the 22% of players with the most service between two and three years. Holliday could qualify for Super Two status after the 2026 season, depending on how much time he spends in the majors between now and then, as well as where the cutoff is after that year.

In addition to Holliday’s struggles, the O’s are able to make this move because so many other players are performing so well. Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg have both been excellent and seem likely to take the bulk of the middle infield playing time. Westburg had been spending more time at third but could now move to the keystone on a regular basis with Holliday’s demotion, with Ramón Urías getting more time at the hot corner. Urías isn’t hitting well this year but has solid career numbers at the plate and he is considered an excellent defender at multiple positions. Jorge Mateo is available as a depth infielder off the bench.

McKenna, 27, gets back on the Baltimore roster just a few weeks after being removed. He spent the past three years serving as a glove-first bench outfielder for the club. From 2021 through 2023, he hit just .221/.299/.318 but racked up eight Defensive Runs Saved and seven Outs Above Average on the grass. He also stole eight bases in nine tries.

He exhausted his option years in that time and was nudged off the club’s Opening Day roster this year, but was passed through waivers and stuck in the organization. It was reported earlier this week that McKenna was taking some reps at second base to expand his versatility, but he didn’t get a chance to take the infield during actual game action for the Tides before getting added back to the big league roster.

For now, it seems like he will go back to his role as a depth outfielder, behind the regulars Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad. Once Austin Hays is ready to return from the injured list, McKenna may be in jeopardy of losing his roster spot again, though Kjerstad getting optioned back to the minors is another possibility.

Bañuelos, 27, has been bouncing on and off the roster in the past week-plus, mostly out of convenience. He has been traveling with the team on the taxi squad as an emergency third catcher behind Adley Rutschman and James McCann. Twice in the past ten days, he was added to the roster when someone else was hurt, seemingly because he was there and ready to suit up. In both cases, he was designated for assignment shortly thereafter.

The first DFA led to Bañuelos passing through waivers unclaimed and sticking with the O’s. If he were to pass through unclaimed again, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright. He has one major league plate appearance, a flyout, and hit .270/.369/.526 in Double-A for the Twins last year.

Orioles Notes: Means, Suarez, Perez, McKenna

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The Orioles could soon welcome John Means back for his season debut. Manager Brandon Hyde told reporters yesterday the O’s were considering activating Means to start on Sunday against the A’s (X link via the Baltimore Sun’s Matt Weyrich). The left-hander has been on the injured list all year, as the team opted to build him up slowly this spring. While Means made four starts late last year in his return from Tommy John surgery, he experienced residual elbow soreness that kept him off the postseason roster.

Means would likely have found himself on some kind of innings limit after throwing 31 2/3 combined frames between 2022-23. With that in mind, the O’s opted against pushing him this spring. The 2019 All-Star has started five games at Triple-A Norfolk on a rehab stint. The results have not been good, as he’s allowed 18 runs over 11 2/3 innings. The O’s probably aren’t especially concerned, though, as the southpaw’s primary focus has been building his workload. He got to 79 pitches over 4 1/3 innings on Tuesday.

If Baltimore decides to give Means one more rehab appearance, righty Albert Suárez would likely take the ball on Sunday. The 34-year-old has twirled 11 1/3 scoreless innings in two starts since the O’s selected his contract last week. Suárez couldn’t have asked for much better in his return to the big leagues for the first time in seven years. Whether it’ll be enough to hold a roster spot once Means is ready isn’t clear, but Suárez has outpitched fellow back-end arms Dean Kremer and Cole Irvin in a very limited look.

Despite the long layoff between his big league appearances, Suárez is out of options. Baltimore can’t send him back to Norfolk without first exposing him to waivers. Irvin is also out of options, but the O’s could theoretically send Kremer down if they want to ensure all three pitchers stay in the organization.

They could also nudge one of those players to the bullpen. Baltimore’s roster flexibility is limited in that regard as well, though. Five of the eight current members of their bullpen — Craig Kimbrel, Danny Coulombe, Mike Baumann, Jacob Webb and recent trade pickup Yohan Ramírez — can’t be sent down. Neither Yennier Cano nor Keegan Akin are going to be optioned. Unless the O’s were to option grounder specialist Dillon Tate, they could soon need to DFA one of their out-of-options arms.

That might happen once lefty Cionel Pérez returns to the big league club. He landed on the 15-day IL with a moderate oblique strain shortly after Opening Day. The Orioles sent him to Norfolk on a rehab stint yesterday, suggesting he’ll be back in the next week or two. Pérez, who is also out of options, turned in a 3.54 ERA behind a massive 60.7% ground-ball percentage over 53 1/3 innings last season.

The news out of Norfolk isn’t all injury related. Ryan McKenna was assigned outright after clearing waivers at the start of the regular season. Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner tweets that the career-long outfielder has started taking reps at second base in an effort to expand his defensive flexibility. While McKenna has not appeared there in a game yet, successfully acclimating to the infield could give him a better chance of cracking a loaded Baltimore bench at some point during the season.

Reds Claim Peyton Burdick

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The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed outfielder Peyton Burdick off waivers from the Orioles and optioned him to Triple-A Louisville. Left-hander Alex Young was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Cincinnati — or rather, Louisville for now — marks the latest stop in an eventful year for the increasingly well-traveled Burdick. The Marlins originally designated him for assignment back in February and traded him to the Orioles for cash. Baltimore subsequently designated Burdick themselves, losing him to the White Sox via waivers. When Chicago designated Burdick yet again, the O’s re-claimed him. He’ll now join a Reds organization that has been without center fielder TJ Friedl since spring training due to a broken wrist.

Miami selected Burdick with the No. 82 overall pick back in 2019, and he posted huge numbers up through the Double-A level as he climbed the ranks in their system. His bat has stalled out in Triple-A and the big leagues, but Burdick’s blend of easy right-handed pop, speed and an ability to play all three outfield positions still make him an intriguing depth pickup for the Reds at a time when bench outfielders like Stuart Fairchild and Bubba Thompson have failed to produce. Cincinnati’s bench, in general, has been a weak spot; utility infielder Santiago Espinal and backup catcher Luke Maile have both been well below-average at the plate as well.

Burdick is just a .200/.281/.368 hitter with a huge 38% strikeout rate in the majors, although that comes with a notable small-sample caveat, as he’s tallied just 139 plate appearances. He’s hit for a low average but shown power and plate discipline in the upper minors, slashing .212/.324/.426 in 1021 Triple-A plate appearances. Burdick has gone down on strikes in 33.2% of his Triple-A plate appearances as well, but scouting reports have long been enamored of his plus-plus power and above-average speed. He batted .182/.333/.455 in 69 plate appearances with the Orioles’ Triple-A club in 2024.

Orioles Promote Heston Kjerstad

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1:15pm: The O’s have now made it official, recalling Kjerstad and optioning Bañuelos to Triple-A Norfolk.

10:50am: The Orioles are planning to call up top prospect Heston Kjerstad today, reports Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun. The 25-year-old slugger is already on the 40-man roster, but Baltimore will need to make a move to get him onto the 26-man roster.

Kjerstad, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 MLB draft, will bolster what’s already a dominant lineup. The O’s have six more homers than any team in MLB (35) and are batting .261/.316/.464 as a club. Kjerstad should fit right in. He’s taken 102 plate appearances in Norfolk this season and already bashed 10 home runs en route to a ludicrous .349/.431/.744 batting line (189 wRC+). Those 10 big flies tie him with Houston’s Joey Loperfido for tops among all minor league players.

The Orioles placed corner outfielder Austin Hays on the injured list due to a calf strain yesterday, and Kjerstad will provide them with another option in the outfield. First baseman/designated hitter Ryan Mountcastle was also absent from last night’s lineup due to a knee issue. The team has only listed Mountcastle as day-to-day thus far, but Kjerstad — a corner outfielder and first baseman — is a natural replacement if Mountcastle needs another day or two off or even requires a trip to the injured list himself.

The O’s aren’t exactly lacking for productive options at any spot Kjerstad could fit into the lineup, but he can certainly help keep their regulars fresh and provide some thump off the bench on days he’s not starting. Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander have all been productive in the outfield, while Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn have thrived as the team’s primary options at designated hitter and first base. Baltimore selected the contract of catcher David Bañuelos last night, bringing him up to the big leagues for the second time this season, but Bañuelos has a full slate of option years and can freely be sent to Norfolk if the O’s don’t want to continue carrying three catchers.

Kjerstad entered the 2024 season ranked as the game’s No. 26 prospect at FanGraphs. He landed 29th on MLB.com’s top-100, 41st at Baseball Prospectus, 42nd at Baseball America, 48th per ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and 62nd per The Athletic’s Keith Law. Kjerstad draws praise for his plus or better raw power, his penchant for making hard contact and his above-average arm in the outfield. He’s not especially fleet of foot and is a bat-over-glove prospect, but the lefty-swinging slugger is expected to hit more than enough to be a regular in Baltimore’s lineup for years to come. For the time being, Santander’s presence impedes Kjerstad’s path to an everyday role, assuming everyone’s healthy, but Santander is a free agent following the 2024 season.

From a service time vantage point, there are still enough days left on the regular season calendar for Kjerstad to accrue a full year. He picked up 18 days in 2023, meaning he needs 154 days of MLB service in 2024 to get there. It’s possible he’ll be optioned back to Norfolk once everyone’s back to full strength, but Kjerstad’s production there was also increasingly difficult to ignore regardless. If he’s in the big leagues for good, he’ll be controllable through the 2029 season and arbitration-eligible following the 2026 campaign.

Orioles Designate Peyton Burdick For Assignment

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The Orioles announced a few roster moves before this evening’s game against the Angels. Baltimore placed outfielder Austin Hays on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sunday, due to a left calf strain. They selected catcher David Bañuelos onto the MLB roster in a corresponding move. To create space on the 40-man roster for Bañuelos, the O’s designated outfielder Peyton Burdick for assignment.

Bañuelos finds his way to the majors for the second time. Baltimore called him up for one day last week when a roster spot opened with Tyler Wells heading to the injured list. The seven-year minor league veteran came off the bench to make his big league debut. Baltimore designated him for assignment and outrighted him off the roster a day later.

It’s possible we’ll see a similar course of events this week. Bañuelos’ previous call was spurred largely by his availability, as he has been traveling with the team as a member of the taxi squad. He’ll offer extra catching depth behind Adley Rutschman and James McCann in the short term, collecting a prorated MLB minimum salary in the process.

Hays has had a tough start to the year, picking up only five hits and four walks in his first 45 plate appearances. Colton Cowser has quickly hit his way into the lineup alongside Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander. Hays, a 2023 All-Star, has only started 11 of Baltimore’s first 21 games. He’ll now be out of action at least into the middle of next week. Skipper Brandon Hyde told reporters the team expects Hays will be back not long after the minimal 10 days (X link via Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com).

That outfield depth has helped keep Burdick off the MLB roster entirely since the O’s claimed him on waivers last month. The right-handed hitter has spent the year on optional assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. Burdick has gotten out to a tough start there, hitting .182/.333/.455 in 16 games. He has hit four homers and taken plenty of walks, yet he’s also gone down on strikes 28 times.

It’s still an open question whether Burdick can make consistent enough contact to establish himself at the MLB level. Prospect evaluators have credited him with plus raw power, which he’s translated into 43 homers in just over 1000 Triple-A plate appearances. That has come with huge swing-and-miss rates. Burdick has punched out in nearly a third of his trips to the dish in Triple-A. He fanned more than 38% of the time in 46 big league contests with the Marlins between 2022-23.

Burdick has gone from Miami to the O’s to the White Sox and back to Baltimore within the past couple months. The Orioles will need to trade or waive him again within the next week. He’s in his second of three option years, so another team could keep him in Triple-A without exposing him to waivers if they were to give him a spot on the 40-man roster.

AL East Notes: Grissom, Wells, Fairbanks

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The Red Sox have been without second baseman Vaughn Grissom for all of the 2024 season to this point after the 23-year-old missed Spring Training due to a groin strain. Early expectations put Grissom’s timetable for return in the range of mid- to late-April, though Katie Morrison-O’Day of Masslive noted yesterday that Grissom and the club plan to take his rehab slowly as he looks to build up for the season. Per Morrison-O’Day, Grissom has mostly played DH throughout his rehab assignment to this point but has ramped up his time at second base in recent days, including playing all seven innings of the second game of Worcester’s double-header yesterday.

That Grissom was ready to play a full game at the keystone yesterday is surely an encouraging sign for Red Sox fans, as the big league club has suffered injuries of varying severity to shortstop Trevor Story, outfielder Tyler O’Neill, third baseman Rafael Devers, and first baseman Triston Casas already in the young 2024 campaign. With Story set to miss the rest of the season, O’Neill and Casas both on the injured list, and Devers day-to-day, Boston’s positional mix could certainly use the boost that Grissom could provide. Acquired from the Braves in exchange for Chris Sale this past winter, the youngster has hit a solid .287/.339/.407 in sporadic playing time at the big league level over the past two seasons. That solid slash line at the big league level is supplemented by incredible numbers at Triple-A last year, where he posted a .921 OPS in 102 games.

Despite the obvious need at the big league level, however, the Red Sox don’t seem inclined to rush Grissom back to the majors; manager Alex Cora recently indicated that the youngster won’t join the club ahead of their next trip, which begins on Friday. Grissom himself seems to be on board with being cautious ahead of his return, telling Morrison-O’Day that he wants to be “really ready” to return in order to “give [the Red Sox] the best version of myself I can.”

More from around the AL East…

  • Orioles right-hander Tyler Wells hit the injured list last week due to inflammation in his elbow in a move that was described as “precautionary” at the time. Wells provided a little more context on the nature of his injury to reporters (including Jake Rill of MLB.com) yesterday. The righty noted that he struggled to bounce back after his four-inning start against the Pirates on April 12 and isn’t sure when he’ll resume throwing at this point, though he added that he remains “optimistic” that the inflammation won’t be a long-term issue for him. Wells struggled to a 5.87 ERA in his first three starts of the year for Baltimore but posted a solid 3.64 ERA despite a 4.98 FIP in 25 appearances last year. With Wells on the shelf, the Orioles have turned to 34-year-old journeyman Albert Suarez to fill out the rotation alongside Corbin Burnes, Cole Irvin, Grayson Rodriguez, and Dean Kremer.
  • Rays closer Pete Fairbanks has been unavailable the past two days due to illness, as club manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) yesterday. Per Cash, stomach issues sidelined the right-hander on Friday to the point that he didn’t even make it to the ballpark, and the righty went on to deal with “a little bit of a dead arm” on Saturday. The issues prompted the club to sit Fairbanks down yesterday in hopes he would rebound ahead of this afternoon’s game against the Yankees. Fairbanks, 30, has been a dominant relief arm for Tampa dating back to the 2020 season, with a 2.66 ERA and 2.45 FIP in 138 2/3 innings of work over the past four seasons. Despite that rock-solid pedigree, the right-hander has dealt with some early struggles to this point in the 2024 campaign, allowing eight runs (seven earned) in seven innings when healthy enough to take the mound. Jason Adam and Garrett Cleavinger handled late-inning duties yesterday while Fairbanks was unavailable.

Odell Jones Passes Away

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Former big league right-hander Odell Jones has passed away, per John Perrotto of Pittsburgh Baseball Now. No cause of death was given for Jones, who was 71.

Born in California in 1953, Jones was signed by the Pirates as an undrafted free agent in 1971. He made his debut with that club in 1975 but tossed just three innings. He got a more proper run of play in the show in 1977, tossing 108 innings for the Bucs in a swing role. He posted an earned run average of 5.08 over 15 starts and 19 relief appearances.

Jones would go on to bounce around the league, serving in various roles. He was traded to the Mariners in 1978 and then back to the Pirates in 1980. He went to the Rangers in the 1982 Rule 5 draft and recorded 10 saves for them in 1983. He later signed with the Orioles and Blue Jays, though he didn’t make it to the majors with the latter club.

For many baseball fans, Jones is best known for one magical night where almost everything lined up for him. He was with the Brewers in 1988 as a 35-year-old journeyman. Teddy Higuera was supposed to start against Cleveland on May 28 but was dealing with some back spasms, per JD Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which led to Jones taking the ball instead.

Though he wasn’t even the scheduled starter, Jones had the best performance of his life that night. He was perfect through seven, until he issued a one-out walk to Mel Hall. He kept his no-hitter going into the ninth, until it was broken up by a one-out single off the bat of Ron Washington, now the manager of the Angels. Dan Plesac came into to get the final two outs as the Brewers beat Cleveland 2-0 (boxscore here at Baseball Reference).

That was the final big league season for Jones, who finished his career with a 4.42 ERA in 549 1/3 innings over nine different major league seasons. MLBTR joins the baseball world in sending our condolences to the Jones family as well as his fans and friends throughout the game.

Reds Claim Liván Soto From Orioles

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The Reds have claimed infielder Liván Soto off waivers from the Orioles, per announcements from both clubs. The O’s had recently designated him for assignment. The Reds transferred Tejay Antone to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move and optioned Soto to Triple-A Louisville. The O’s also announced that catcher David Bañuelos, also recently designated for assignment, has cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk.

Soto, 24 in June, has been riding the roster carousel all year. He began the year with the Angels but went to the Orioles via waivers in February. The Angels claimed him right back shortly thereafter but the O’s claimed him a second time last week. But when Tyler Wells suddenly developed some elbow inflammation earlier this week and the O’s didn’t have time to get a fresh arm from the minors, they added Bañuelos, who was already on hand as part of the taxi squad. But doing so required bumping Soto off his roster spot yet again.

He continues to garner interest based on his speed and defensive versatility. He has racked up a decent number of steals in the minors while playing the three infield positions to the left of first base, as well as a very brief stint in the outfield.

Offensively, he’s hit .375/.414/.531 in his major league career, though in a tiny sample of 71 plate appearances. His larger body of work in the minors hasn’t been as impressive, as he’s hit .246/.340/.355 for a wRC+ of 86 in 1,505 plate appearances since the start of 2021. Nonetheless, the defense and speed are attractive, especially since he has two options and doesn’t require an active roster spot.

The Reds came into this year with a surplus of infield talent, so much so that Spencer Steer and Jonathan India were seemingly ticketed for either outfield work or multi-positional roles. However, Noelvi Marté was given an 80-game PED suspension and then Matt McLain required shoulder surgery, subtracting two of their planned everyday options. The club acquired Santiago Espinal for a bit of extra infield depth and now Soto can give them a bit more.

The Reds effectively had a roster spot to burn since Antone required season-ending surgery last week. That made him destined to be transferred to the 60-day IL at some point, which has now come to pass and allowed the club to add Soto to the system.

As for Bañuelos, as mentioned, he was hastily added to the O’s roster when they had an open spot and he was already with the club. They put him into the game late, allowing him to make his major league debut when he hit for Colton Cowser and flied out. Bañuelos described it as “one of the coolest moments of my life,” though the O’s designated him for assignment the next day. Now that he’s cleared waivers, he will return to his previous role, providing the O’s with non-roster depth in the catching position.

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