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Orioles Designate Corbin Martin, Elvin Rodríguez For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that right-hander Tyler Wells and infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo have been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Catcher Maverick Handley has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk in one corresponding active roster move. Right-hander Corbin Martin has been designated for assignment to open a second active roster spot and one 40-man spot. Righty Elvin Rodríguez, who was on optional assignment, has also been designated for assignment as the other corresponding 40-man move. The Wells activation was reported last week.

Mateo has been out since June due to a hamstring injury. The speedy utilityman hit just .180/231/.279 with a homer and 14 steals in 65 plate appearances prior to going on the injured list. The 30-year-old has never provided much in the way of offense, but even by his modest standards, that was well shy of the norm. In 1300 plate appearances from 2021-24, Mateo slashed .225/.271/.371 (79 wRC+) with 29 homers and 90 stolen bases. Mateo has long provided quality glovework at shortstop, though, and he can capably handle second, third or center field — all while providing elite speed on the bases.

This is the final guaranteed season the Orioles have with Mateo, though they can retain him via a club option for next season. They’d need to bring him back at a $5.5MM price point, however, which feels steep given the season he’s had and his prior lack of offensive production. There’s no buyout on the option, making it all the more likely that the O’s will turn it down, though there’s always a chance they’d try to bring him back at a lower rate.

Martin, 29, has been on and off Baltimore’s roster a few times this year. Around the transactions, he has tossed 18 innings, allowing 12 earned runs for an ERA of 6.00. He likely deserved better. His 10.1% walk rate was high but his 25.8% strikeout rate and 44.2% ground ball rate were solid figures. A .353 batting average on balls in play and 65.7% strand rate seemingly pushed some extra runs across. His 3.57 SIERA pointed to better run prevention going forward.

Regardless, the O’s have decided to move on again. Martin doesn’t have options and therefore can’t be easily sent back to the minors. With the trade deadline having passed, he’s destined for the waiver wire. If some club claims him, he can be controlled for four seasons after this one. He cleared waivers back in July, so it’s possible he’ll do so again. Last time he cleared, he exercised his right to elect free agency, which is another thing that could happen again in the coming days.

Rodríguez, 27, signed with the Brewers in January on the heels of some good results in Japan. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to have success in North America this year. The Brewers designated him for assignment in July, at which point the Orioles claimed him.

Between those two clubs, he has a 9.15 ERA in 19 2/3 major league innings. He has also tossed 40 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.46 ERA, 18.3% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. Though the results haven’t been great, he does still have options, so perhaps he will appeal to a club looking for some extra depth in the minors.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Cody Poteet Elects Free Agency

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The Orioles announced that right-hander Cody Poteet, who was outrighted off the roster a couple of days ago, has elected free agency instead of accepting the assignment. He has that right since he has been previously outrighted in his career. Also, the O’s recalled catcher Maverick Handley and reinstated Albert Suárez from the 60-day injured list as their September call-up moves. The 40-man roster had a vacancy but Suárez returning now make it full again.

Poteet’s 2025 has mostly been lost to injuries. He landed on the IL on April 21st due to shoulder inflammation. He began a rehab assignment August 23rd, over four months later. After a couple of rehab outings, the O’s put him on waivers instead of reinstating him from the injured list. Around the injury, he has only made one big league appearances for the O’s.

As a free agent, he’ll be marketing his pre-2025 track record. He came into the year with 83 big league innings under his belt and a 3.80 earned run average in that time. His 20.2% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate were both a bit shy of league average, while his 42.1% ground ball rate was right around par. He has also shown a bit more potential in the minors. Last year, he tossed 53 innings over 13 starts in the Yankees’ system with a 3.40 ERA, 28% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 43.7% ground ball rate.

It’s also been an injury-marred season for Suárez. After many years pitching in Asia, he had a strong campaign for the O’s in 2024. Working in a swing role, he threw 133 2/3 innings with a 3.70 ERA, 19.1% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. This year, shoulder inflammation sent him to the IL after just one appearance and he’s been there until today.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Orioles Select Chadwick Tromp

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The Orioles announced today that they have selected the contract of catcher Chadwick Tromp. Fellow catcher Maverick Handley has been placed on the seven-day concussion injured list. Infielder Ryan Mountcastle has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot.

Handley’s injury occurred during a scary incident in yesterday’s game against the Yankees, as seen in this video from MLB.com. With Jazz Chisholm Jr. on second base in the second inning, DJ LeMahieu hit a single to left field. With Chisholm trying to score, Colton Cowser came up throwing to the plate but his throw was up the third base line. Handley ran to field the ball and collided with Chisholm, dropping the ball and getting knocked to the ground. Gary Sánchez came into the game to replace him.

Handley had just been recalled to the majors the day prior, with Adley Rutschman landing on the IL due to a left oblique strain. It’s unclear how long the O’s expect Handley to be out of action but it seems like the club will have to go at least a week with both Rutschman and Handley on the shelf.

That has led to Tromp retaking a spot on the roster to share the catching duties with Sánchez. Tromp also spent a few days on the roster at the end of May. At that time, Sánchez was on the IL due to wrist inflammation and Rutschman had a concussion scare of his own. Rutschman was able to return to catching a few days later, which got Tromp bumped off the roster, though he returned to the O’s on a fresh minor league deal.

Tromp has generally been a solid defender behind the plate, with decent offense in the minors but not so much in the majors. From the start of 2022 to the present, he has a .255/.336/.422 line and 100 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. His time in the majors has led to a .219/.229/.375 line and 56 wRC+, though in 166 plate appearances scattered over six different seasons. He is out of options, which led Atlanta to cut him earlier this year. That led Tromp to the O’s, though he’s only been able to get brief roster time in emergencies.

As for Mountcastle, he landed on the 10-day IL at the end of May due to a right hamstring strain. Shortly thereafter, it was reported that he would miss eight to twelve weeks. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he can be reinstated at the end of July, though he’s going to be on the shelf past then.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Orioles Place Adley Rutschman On 10-Day Injured List

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June 22: Rutschman isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break, Mansolino told reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASN).

June 21: The Orioles announced this afternoon that catcher Adley Rutschman is being placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. Catcher Maverick Handley was recalled to the majors to replace Rutschman on the roster.

The news comes after Rutschman was a late scratch on Friday due to what the Orioles termed at the time as “abdominal tightness.” Manager Tony Mansolino told reporters (including Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun) that Rutschman went for an MRI this morning. Evidently, that round of testing revealed a strained oblique for the switch-hitting backstop. A two-time All-Star and decorated hitter currently in the midst of his fourth season in the majors, Rutschman is hitting just .227/.319/.372 with a 100 wRC+ that clocks in as precisely league average.

That could be construed as very concerning given that Rutschman also suffered a down year (104 wRC+) in 2024, but the good news is that Rutschman’s underlying performance (.350 xwOBA) substantially outstrips his actual production (.309 wOBA) so far this season. He’s walking more than last year, sporting the best barrel rate (8.6%) of his career, and his paltry .247 BABIP is certain to increase if given time. More concerning than his offensive numbers is that he’s been rather pedestrian behind the plate defensively this year according to advanced metrics, but defensive metrics are notoriously fickle and it wouldn’t be a shock to see those numbers recover over the long-term either.

Of course, Rutschman will now need to get healthy and return to the field in order to make good on those projected improvements. It’s not yet clear exactly how long Rutschman is expected to miss, though oblique strains can be quite difficult for position players to bounce back from quickly due to the rotational nature of hitting. Even fairly mild strains can often take upwards of a month of recovery, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see Rutschman out of commission until after the All-Star break. In the meantime, it’s clear that the Orioles will lean on a tandem of Gary Sanchez and Handley. Sanchez has made it into just 17 games this year after dealing with injuries of his own, but is slashing a respectable .217/.298/.433 (101 wRC+) with 32 homers in 598 plate appearances dating back to the 2023 campaign. Handley, meanwhile, made his big league debut earlier this year and has hit just .075/.136/.075 in 15 games as a big leaguer.

Handley’s lackluster performance will naturally create some attention on top catching prospect Samuel Basallo, who has long been considered one of the best prospects in the entire game. Mansolino largely shut down the idea that Basallo could be an option to come up any time soon, however. As noted by Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner, Mansolino said that he hopes to see Basallo “absolutely destroy Triple-A in all facets of the game” before joining the big league club, and that he’ll be on the radar for a big league call-up once he “knocks the door down.”

It’s hard to argue that Basallo isn’t already knocking on the door pretty strongly, at least from an offensive perspective. The 20-year-old has an absurd .266/.374/.589 slash line with the club’s Norfolk affiliate this year, good for a 151 wRC+. He’s hit 15 homers in just 46 games while walking at a phenomenal 14.4% clip. With that being said, he’s only caught 15 games this season after dealing with hamstring and elbow issues early in the year that cost him games and limited him to DH even when he was healthy enough to play. Given that reality and Basallo’s shaky grades behind the plate defensively from some scouts, it’s not necessarily a shock that the Orioles would want to see a larger sample of their top prospect’s work behind the dish before promoting him to the majors.

IL Activations: Walker, Sanchez

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Here’s the rundown of some prominent names returning from the injured list today…

  • The Cardinals activated Jordan Walker from the 10-day IL, with fellow outfielder Michael Siani optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Walker returns to action after a little over two weeks on the IL, as the former top prospect was bothered by inflammation in his left wrist.  Operating as the Cards’ everyday right fielder, Walker has hit only .215/.273/.310 in 172 plate appearances this season, though his bat had been starting to heat up in the few games just prior to his injury.
  • The Orioles activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day IL, and optioned catcher Maverick Handley to Triple-A Norfolk.  Like Walker, Sanchez was also sidelined with wrist inflammation, though his issue was more severe since Sanchez hasn’t played in a big league game since April 27.  Sanchez will now resume his role as Adley Rutschman’s backup and hope that his IL stint essentially resets his season, as Sanchez had only three hits in his first 35 plate appearances in a Baltimore uniform.  The O’s signed Sanchez to a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal back in December.

Orioles Place Jordan Westburg On Injured List

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The Orioles announced a number of roster moves just before today’s series opener against the Yankees. Third baseman Jordan Westburg and catcher Gary Sánchez have each landed on the 10-day injured list. Westburg’s placement, which is retroactive to April 27, is due to a left hamstring strain. Sánchez is battling right wrist inflammation. The O’s selected third baseman Emmanuel Rivera and catcher Maverick Handley onto the MLB roster in their places. Baltimore also confirmed the Walter Pennington waiver claim which MLBTR had reported this afternoon.  They needed to create two openings on the 40-man roster, which they did by transferring Grayson Rodriguez and Colton Cowser to the 60-day injured list.

It continues a frustrating start to the season for Westburg. He made the All-Star game behind a .264/.312/.481 showing a season ago. He’s been out to a much slower pace this year, posting a .217/.265/.391 slash through 23 games. Westburg has hit four homers, but a drop in his hard contact rates have contributed to a mediocre .242 average on balls in play. He had a stretch of seven consecutive hitless games during the middle of the month. He’d begun to turn things around, with hits in six of his last seven, before hamstring discomfort kept him out of Sunday’s lineup.

Ramón Urías has drawn into the lineup at the hot corner over the past few days. He’ll take over as the starting third baseman while Westburg is on the shelf. Urías is a good depth infielder. He won a Gold Glove a few seasons ago and has shown himself to be a slightly above-average hitter over parts of six seasons. He has raced out to a .317/.386/.400 start this year, drawing eight walks against 11 punchouts over 70 trips to the plate.

Rivera comes up to join Jorge Mateo as multi-positional infielders on Brandon Hyde’s bench. It’s his first major league call of the season. Baltimore had outrighted the defensive specialist off their 40-man roster during the offseason. He accepted a minor league assignment and has appeared in 17 games with Triple-A Norfolk. Rivera is batting .308/.370/.338 with plus contact skills but minimal power (two doubles and no homers) across 73 plate appearances.

A veteran of parts of four MLB seasons, Rivera has suited up for four teams at the highest level. That includes a productive 27-game stint with the Orioles late last year. His overall offensive track record is fairly modest, as he owns a career .244/.306/.369 batting line. He has above-average marks for his third base defense. He’s out of options, so the Orioles would need to DFA him again if they want to take him off the big league roster at any point.

Baltimore also makes a change behind the plate. Sánchez has worked as Adley Rutschman’s backup after signing an $8.5MM free agent deal. He has started 10 games — nine at catcher and once as the designated hitter — without making an impact. Sánchez has three hits, all singles, with one walk and 12 strikeouts across 35 plate appearances. His injury opens the door for Handley’s major league debut.

A Stanford product, Handley was selected in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. The righty-hitting catcher owns a .224/.342/.344 line over parts of six minor league seasons. Handley’s offensive upside is limited by middling power, but he’s a very patient hitter who has worked a lot of walks. He went unselected in last winter’s Rule 5 draft but has been hitting well in Norfolk to begin the season. Handley owns a .346/.433/.558 slash through 15 games. His broader minor league numbers suggest he’s unlikely to carry anything like that over against MLB pitching, but he should provide a reasonably high-floor backup behind Rutschman as long as Sánchez is out of action.

The IL transfers for Rodriguez and Cowser are essentially procedural moves. They backdate to the time of their initial IL placements in late March. Rodriguez opened the season on the shelf with elbow inflammation and was shut back down after sustaining a mild lat strain. He’s still a few weeks from throwing and probably down into June or July. Cowser broke his left thumb diving into first base during the first week of the season. That came with an initial 6-8 week timetable. There haven’t been any recent updates on his status, but the O’s determined he wouldn’t be ready for MLB action before the final few days of May at the earliest.

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