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Terrin Vavra

Terrin Vavra Accepts Outright Assignment With Orioles

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The Orioles announced that infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency but the O’s say he has accepted and will report to the Tides.

Vavra, 28, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in the offseason. He has seemingly been the club’s “break glass in case of emergency” player. He was selected to the big league roster in May when Ramón Laureano hit the injured list. The next day, the O’s signed Cooper Hummel. Vavra did not appear in a game before being designated for assignment, clearing waivers and accepting an outright assignment.

Ahead of the deadline, the O’s traded Laureano, Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins and Ramón Urías, opening up a lot of playing time on the position player side of things. Vavra got selected back to the roster on Friday. He got put into Saturday’s game as a pinch hitter, lining out in his one plate appearance. He was designated for assignment again on Sunday when the O’s grabbed Ryan Noda off waivers.

He’ll now return to his role as a non-roster depth player. He brings a bit of experience to the table, as he has appeared in 68 big league contests, though his recent lineout is his only action since 2023. He has a .252/.329/.302 batting line and 84 wRC+ in the big leagues.

He put up some strong numbers earlier in his minor league career but hasn’t been as impressive lately. He underwent shoulder surgery in 2023 and has a .241/.343/.342 line and 91 wRC+ on the farm since then. He has at least some experience at every position on the diamond, including one inning of Triple-A mop-up work on the mound.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Orioles Designate Terrin Vavra For Assignment

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The Orioles have designated infielder Terrin Vavra for assignment, per a team announcement. The move makes room on the active roster for first baseman Ryan Noda, who the club claimed off waivers from the White Sox yesterday.

Vavra, 28, was a third-rounder selected by the Rockies back in 2018. He was dealt to the Orioles prior to his big league debut as part of the Mychal Givens trade back in 2020 and then made his big league debut two years later. In 40 games with Baltimore that year, Vavra impressed with a roughly league average .258/.340/.337 slash line while playing both second base and the outfield. Vavra broke camp with the Orioles in 2023 but made it into just 27 games, hitting poorly in 56 plate appearances before he was shelved due to a shoulder strain. That shoulder injury eventually turned out to be a labrum tear, and Vavra underwent surgery to repair his shoulder in September 2023.

Vavra has barely appeared in the majors since. He returned to action at the Triple-A level early last year but was DFA’d and claimed by the Mariners over the summer. He didn’t make a big league appearance with Seattle, however, and was eventually outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster in September before he re-signed with the Orioles on a minor league deal. He’s been selected to the active roster twice this season, but didn’t make an appearance in the majors in the first of those call-ups. In the second, he got one pinch-hit appearance and lined out. Vavra’s work in 59 games with Triple-A Norfolk has left something to be desired this year, as he’s posted a lackluster .247/.354/.341 slash line across 203 trips to the plate.

If Vavra goes unclaimed on waivers, he’ll be able to either accept an outright assignment and return to Norfolk or elect free agency and become eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs. Vavra’s departure from the roster makes room for Noda, who was plucked off waivers from the White Sox yesterday. The 29-year-old was a Rule 5 pick by the A’s back in 2023 and impressed over 128 games, slashing .229/.364/.409 with 39 extra-base hits and a 15.6% walk rate over 495 trips to the plate. He’s hit just .124/.266/.202 in 52 games since then, but with Ryan O’Hearn now in San Diego and the Orioles buried in the standings at this point Baltimore has little to lose by giving Noda a chance as a lefty bench bat who can chip in at first base and in the outfield, filling a role similar to the one O’Hearn had been brought in to plug before he broke out with the club back in 2023.

Orioles Select Jordyn Adams, Terrin Vavra

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve selected the contracts of outfielder Jordyn Adams and infielder Terrin Vavra from Double-A Chesapeake. Infielder Luis Vazquez was also recalled from Triple-A Norfolk. They’ll fill three of the roster spots vacated by Baltimore’s series of deadline trades.

Adams, 25, was a first-round pick by the Angels in 2018. This is his second look with Baltimore this season since signing a minor league pact over the winter. He appeared in five games earlier in 2025 but was primarily a pinch-runner/defensive replacement. He only received one plate appearance. Adams played in 28 games with the Halos from 2023-24 and, in 78 plate appearances, hit a combined .175/.205/.216 with a 36% strikeout rate.

Adams hasn’t fared much better in the minors this year. He’s hitting .185/.281/.280 in 235 plate appearances — all but five of them coming at the Triple-A level. He’s not likely to see regular playing time, but he’ll fill a reserve role behind Dylan Carlson, Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill following yesterday’s trades of veterans Cedric Mullins (to the Mets) and Ramon Laureano (to the Padres). Adams is a plus runner and defender who can handle all three outfield spots.

Vavra, 28, is a known commodity for O’s fans. He’s appeared in two prior seasons with Baltimore and been in the organization since coming over from the Rockies in a 2020 trade sending Mychal Givens to Colorado. Vavra is hitting .247/.354/.341 in Triple-A this year. He’s experienced at second base, third base and first base. He’s a left-handed bat who draws walks and gets on base but offers minimal power upside. He can mix in at various spots around the infield and take some at-bats as Baltimore’s designated hitter, too — roles that are more open following trades of slugger Ryan O’Hearn (to the Padres alongside Laureano) and utilityman Ramon Urias (to the Astros).

Notably absent from Baltimore’s slate of post-deadline call-ups is former top prospect Heston Kjerstad. The 26-year-old, whom Baltimore selected second overall in the 2020 draft, was optioned to Norfolk earlier this season after some pronounced struggles against big league pitching. His offense fell even further after being sent down, as he slashed just .149/.225/.248 in 112 plate appearances at Norfolk before exiting a July 25 game. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among the members of the O’s beat to report a couple days ago that Kjerstad had been playing through fatigue and was being placed on the 7-day injured list to rest. He’ll be reevaluated in a week’s time.

Orioles Select Matt Bowman

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The Orioles have selected the contract of righty Matt Bowman and optioned fellow right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo to Triple-A Norfolk, per a team announcement. Baltimore already had an open 40-man roster spot, so optioning Hiraldo is the only necessary corresponding transaction. Baltimore also announced recently that infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A.

Bowman, 33, is now in his second Orioles stint of the season. Baltimore designated him for assignment earlier in the month and outrighted him to Norfolk. He responded with 4 2/3 shutout innings of relief (four strikeouts, two walks) and promptly punched a ticket back to the big leagues. He’s appeared in 16 games for the O’s in 2025 and totaled 17 1/3 innings with a 5.19 ERA, a 15.2% strikeout rate and a 3.8% walk rate. That strikeout rate is nearly seven percentage points shy of league average, but Bowman’s super walk rate also checks in about five percentage points lower than average.

Baltimore is Bowman’s seventh club in seven big league seasons. He’s a former 12th-round pick who’s also spent time with the Cardinals, Reds, Yankees, Twins, Mariners and Diamondbacks since debuting with St. Louis back in 2016. In 233 1/3 innings, he sports a 4.24 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 52.9% ground-ball rate.

Vavra, 28, is an organization favorite. The son of former Twins and Tigers coach Joe Vavra, Terrin was a 2018 third-rounder out of the University of Minnesota by the Rockies. Colorado traded him to Baltimore in 2020’s Mychal Givens swap, and he’s spent the majority of the past half decade calling the Orioles organization home.

The younger Vavra played in the bigs with the O’s in 2022-23 and has accepted multiple outright assignments and re-signed multiple minor league deals with the Orioles. He’s a .254/.331/.303 hitter in the majors (159 plate appearances) and a .287/.383/.418 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons (583 plate appearances).

Orioles Sign Cooper Hummel, Designate Terrin Vavra

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The Orioles have signed infielder/outfielder Cooper Hummel, according to multiple O’s beat writers (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko).  KPRC 2’s Ari Alexander reports that Hummel will receive $765K in salary as per his new contract.  Hummel is represented by Gaeta Sports Management.  Infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra was designated for assignment to create space for Hummel on Baltimore’s roster.

Hummel’s latest trip to the open market didn’t last long, as the Yankees officially released him from his minor league contract just yesterday.  That deal contained an out clause that Hummel chose to trigger, and New York opted to just release Hummel rather than override the clause by adding him to their Major League roster.  Baltimore will now be Hummel’s third different organization in two months’ time, as the Astros designated him for assignment just before Opening Day, paving the way for Hummel landing with the Yankees shortly thereafter.

The well-traveled Hummel has been part of eight different MLB organizations since he was an 18th-round pick for the Brewers in the 2016 draft.  Most of his big league playing time came in his 2022 rookie year with the Diamondbacks, when he made 201 plate appearances over 66 games.  Since that season, Hummel has seen only sparing action in the Show with the Mariners (10 games in 2023) and Astros (six games in 2024), and he has hit .159/.255/.275 over 235 career PA.

His minor league numbers are much more solid, with a .266/.403/.443 slash line to show for 2655 career PA in the farm systems of his various teams.  The switch-hitting Hummel also brings some added versatility as a rare utility type that can play catcher, though Hummel hasn’t suited up behind the plate since the 2023 season.  He has since been more of a standard first baseman and corner outfielder over the last two years, and Hummel hasn’t played much this season at all due to an unspecified injury that sidelined him for much of his time with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.

Hummel is out of minor league options, so the Orioles would have to designate him for assignment and expose him again to the waiver wire if the club wanted to move him to Triple-A.  Vavra is also out of options, so the O’s essentially opted for one “26th man” type over another.  Vavra’s minors contract was only just selected to Baltimore’s active roster yesterday, and he didn’t see any game action during his latest cup of coffee in the majors.

Vavra has essentially been a member of the Orioles’ organization since the 2020 trade deadline, apart from barely a two-week stint with the Mariners during the 2024 season before he again rejoined the O’s.  Vavra’s MLB resume consists of 67 games with the Orioles over the 2022-23 seasons, with a .254/.331/.304 slash line over 159 career plate appearances.

Vavra has hit .294/.393/.446 over 1510 PA in the minors, and is more of a true utilityman than Hummel since Vavra has seen at least some time at every position on the diamond during his pro career.  The Orioles may be aiming to keep Vavra in the organization if he can clear waivers, though since he has been previously outrighted in his career, Vavra has the ability to elect free agency if he is outrighted again.

Orioles Select Terrin Vavra

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The Orioles announced that they’ve selected Terrin Vavra onto the big league roster. Ramón Laureano lands on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 21, with a left ankle sprain. Baltimore also brought up Trevor Rogers as their extra man for today’s doubleheader at Fenway Park. The O’s had two openings on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 39.

Vavra joins the roster just before the start of Game 1. If he makes it into a game, it’ll be his first big league action in two seasons. He made 67 appearances for Baltimore between 2022-23. Vavra hit .254 with a solid .331 on-base percentage, but he managed just one home run with an underwhelming .304 slugging mark. The O’s dropped him from the 40-man roster after the ’23 season.

Baltimore reselected Vavra’s contract last summer on the day of the trade deadline. He was only on the active roster for a day and did not make an appearance. The O’s briefly lost him on waivers to Seattle. Vavra’s tenure with the Mariners comprised three Triple-A games before they also placed him on waivers. He went unclaimed and has since circled back to the Orioles on a pair of minor league contracts.

The Minnesota product provides a left-handed bat and some multi-positional flexibility off the bench for interim skipper Tony Mansolino. Vavra has played more second base than any other position in his career, but he has started games at all four infield spots and in both corner outfield places this year with Triple-A Norfolk. He’s having a nice year offensively, hitting .317 across 22 minor league games. He’s out of options, so the O’s would need to expose him to waivers if they try to send him back to Norfolk.

Orioles, Terrin Vavra Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles are bringing infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra back to the organization on a minor league contract, MLBTR has learned. The NPG Sports client be invited to major league spring training.

Vavra, 27, was a third-round pick out of the University of Minnesota by the Rockies back in 2018 but has spent the bulk of his career in the Orioles organization. The Rox traded the former Golden Gopher to Baltimore alongside Tyler Nevin in 2020’s Mychal Givens trade.

Vavra has played in parts of two big league seasons with the O’s, logging a combined 159 plate appearances with a .254/.331/.304 batting line (87 wRC+) in that time. Vavra was briefly in the Mariners organization last summer after the O’s designated him for assignment and lost him to Seattle on waivers. It was a short stay, as he was cut loose by the M’s after just three games in Tacoma and wound up re-signing to finish out the minor league season back with the Orioles organization. He’ll now land back with the O’s for another stint on another minor league deal.

While he was drafted as a shortstop, Vavra has spent more time at second base in his professional career. He’s logged nearly 500 innings in the outfield in recent seasons as well, spending time at all three positions. Vavra has played in parts of three Triple-A seasons and carries a career .283/.382/.413 batting line at the top minor league level. He doesn’t have one standout tool but has walked in a strong 11.7% of his Triple-A plate appearances against a slightly lower-than-average 21.6% strikeout rate. Statcast credited Vavra with above-average sprint speed as recently as 2023, placing him in the 64th percentile of big leaguers.

Baltimore obviously has a crowded infield that’s headlined with former top prospects. Gunnar Henderson is locked in at shortstop and has developed into an MVP-caliber talent. Jordan Westburg will be back at third base after a breakout 2024 showing. Jackson Holliday has yet to solidify himself in the majors, but the former No. 1 pick and No. 1 overall prospect only turned 21 in December. He’ll get the opportunity to claim the second base job. Ryan Mountcastle is a relative veteran at first base now, and top prospect Coby Mayo would likely get a look in the event of a notable injury at either infield corner. The outfield is arguably even more crowded after offseason signings of Tyler O’Neill, Ramon Laureano and Dylan Carlson added to incumbents Cedric Mullins and Colton Cowser.

Suffice it to say, there’s no real path to an everyday role for Vavra, but his ability to back up at multiple spots and his OBP-driven skill set at the plate could put him into the bench mix. If nothing else, he’s a nice versatile hand to have waiting in the wings down in Triple-A Norfolk.

Orioles Sign Terrin Vavra To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles announced this afternoon that they’ve signed infielder Terrin Vavra to a minor league deal. Vavra was designated for assignment by the Mariners last week and elected free agency shortly thereafter. Since Vavra changed organizations after September 1, he will not be eligible to participate in the postseason with the Orioles.

Vavra, 27, was a third-round pick by the Rockies back in 2018 who was dealt to the Orioles at the trade deadline in 2020 as part of the deal that sent Mychal Givens to Colorado. He made his big league debut back in 2022 and posted a solid 40-game stretch with Baltimore where he hit a roughly league average .258/.340/.337 while splitting time between second base and the outfield for the club. Entering the 2023 season, Vavra was with the club in the big leagues but hit just .245/.315/.245 in 56 trips to the plate before heading to the IL with a shoulder strain.

That shoulder problem eventually turned out to be a torn labrum, and Vavra went under the knife to address the issue in September of last year. He returned to action back in May and, although he posted a decent .243/.350/.368 in 44 games at the Triple-A level with the club’s affiliate in Norfolk, he didn’t manage to crack the club’s increasingly crowded big league roster and eventually found himself designated for assignment back in August without having made a big league appearance for the club this year. Vavra was claimed off waivers by the Mariners shortly thereafter, but did not make it into a big league game with the club and played just three games with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma before being designated for assignment to make room for the return of infielder Luis Urias to the 40-man roster.

Vavra then elected free agency, leading him to his latest stint with the Orioles. While the 27-year-old won’t be able to play for the club in the postseason even if added to the 40-man roster at some point down the stretch, he still offers the club a familiar emergency depth option for the remainder of the regular season who can be called upon in the event more of the club’s infield options join Jordan Westburg, Ramon Urias, and Jorge Mateo on the injured list as the club remains engaged with the Yankees in a close battle for the AL East crown. The Orioles currently have Nick Maton and Livan Soto backing up their middle infield of Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday while Coby Mayo and Emmanuel Rivera split time at the hot corner.

Terrin Vavra Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners announced that infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra has elected free agency after clearing waivers. Seattle had designated him for assignment last week when selecting infielder Luis Urías to the roster.

Vavra, 27, had a bit of prospect heat a few years ago but has been sidetracked by injuries. A third-round pick of the Rockies in 2018, he went to the Orioles in the August 2020 trade that sent reliever Mychal Givens to Colorado.

In 2021, a back injury limited him to just 48 minor league games, but he performed well in those. He drew walks at a 15.6% clip and produced a .275/.406/.449 line, leading to a 138 wRC+. He continued putting up solid numbers the next year and also made his major league debut. He slashed .312/.425/.444 for a 140 wRC+ in the minors and .258/.340/.337 for a 99 wRC+ in the majors.

Vavra has played every infield and outfield position during his professional career. He would later dabble with catching to expand his versatility even further. Even with that roughly league average offense at the big league level, he could have been in line for a role as a viable utility player, though the minor league numbers hinted that maybe even something more was in there. Baseball America considered him the #17 prospect in a strong Oriole system going into 2023.

But he was only able to play 43 games in 2023 between the majors and minors, missing significant time due to shoulder problems. He was outrighted off Baltimore’s 40-man at the end of last season. It wasn’t until May of 2024 that he revealed that he had a torn labrum in his right shoulder and had undergone surgery in September of 2023.

He was still recovering from that shoulder surgery at the start of this year and missed some time, coming off the IL in May. Unfortunately, more injury trouble was to come, as he landed on the minor league IL in June due to a left groin strain and then again in July due to an illness. He was healthy enough for the Orioles to add him back to their 40-man roster at the end of July as Jorge Mateo landed on the IL, though the club recalled Jackson Holliday the next day and optioned Vavra back to Norfolk.

Vavra was designated for assignment when the O’s claimed Emmanuel Rivera a couple of weeks ago. He went to the Mariners on waivers but got the DFA treatment after eight days in Seattle’s system, this time passing through waivers unclaimed. Since this was his second outright, he had the right to elect free agency.

Around his various injuries this year, he has played in just 54 minor league games with a diminished line of .242/.338/.353 and 87 wRC+. That’s obviously not great production but perhaps understandable in such a stop-and-start season after in his attempt to come back from shoulder surgery.

Vavra will now be free to discuss contract arrangements will all clubs, though the fact that he cleared waivers means that he’ll be offered minor league pacts. If he eventually makes his way back onto a 40-man roster somewhere, he has less than a year of service time and therefore offers lots of cheap club control, but he will be out of options next year.

Mariners Select Luis Urias

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The Mariners announced this evening that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Luis Urias from Triple-A Tacoma. The club designated infielder Terrin Vavra for assignment and optioned left-hander Gabe Speier to Triple-A in corresponding moves.

Urias, 27, joined the Mariners back in November when he was acquired from the Red Sox in trade. Urias entered the 2024 season seemingly poised to share time at third base with Josh Rojas while also filling in occasionally at the keystone for veteran second baseman Jorge Polanco in the club’s infield mix following the club’s decision to move on from third baseman Eugenio Suarez over the winter. Unfortunately for Urias, however, Rojas caught fire to open the season with an eye-popping .351/.417/.526 slash line in his first 30 games of the 2024 campaign.

That allowed Rojas to secure more and more playing time that was initially expected to go to Urias, and it didn’t help matters that Urias himself was struggling badly at the plate. Urias hit just .152/.264/.317 in 91 trips to the plate over the first two months of the season before the Mariners decided to option him to the minors on May 24. Urias found himself outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster shortly thereafter, and since then has been working toward a return at the Triple-A level.

He’s seen some real improvement since going down to the minors with a .261/.379/.415 slash line in 349 trips to the plate with Tacoma this year. That’s good for only a 104 wRC+ due to the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, but even numbers 4% better than average are a significant step up when compared to the 75 wRC+ Urias was posting in the majors prior to his demotion. Now, Urias appears poised to join Rojas, Polanco, Leo Rivas, and Dylan Moore, in the mix for playing time at second and third base down the stretch. The return of Urias to the big league roster could free up Moore for occasional appearances in the outfield/DH mix as well, improving the overall flexibility of Seattle’s lineup.

Making room for Urias on the 40-man roster is Vavra, who the club claimed off waivers from the Orioles just last week. Vavra, 27, has missed most of the 2024 season due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder and was outrighted off the Orioles’ 40-man roster back in November. He hit fairly well upon his return to action at Triple-A, however, and earned a call up back to the majors in the aftermath of the trade deadline but was immediately optioned back to the minor leagues and wound up designated for assignment a few weeks later. Now he’s once again set to hit the waiver wire, where any of the league’s 29 other clubs can claim him. Vavra hasn’t played in the majors yet this year and struggled amid the aforementioned shoulder issues last year but could intrigue clubs based on his solid 40-game cup of coffee with the Orioles in 2022 where he slashed .258/.340/.337 (99 wRC+) in 103 trips to the plate.

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