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BALTIMORE—For five seasons, pitcher Mike Wright teased the Orioles with his potential. They showed exceptional patience with the 29-year-old. However, that patience has finally been exhausted, and the Orioles designated the right-hander for assignment on Sunday.
Wright, who was 10-12 with a 5.95 ERA in 101 games, will be put on waivers. If no team claims him, he could remain in the Orioles’ organization.
“It’s been a tough morning,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We need innings, and we need a fresh arm in here, and that’s the decision we came up with. It was hard to give Mike the news this morning.”
Wright was 0-1 with a 9.45 ERA in 10 games with one save this season. He allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
“We’re hoping he clears [waivers],” Hyde said. “We’re hoping he stays in the organization. I just want what’s best for him. If he gets another opportunity with a big league club, that would be great. If not, I would love to see him back here at some point.”
Wright was both a starter and reliever for the Orioles, but he never showed consistency.
“It’s command. It’s not stuff,” Hyde said. “When we saw him really good…he was 96-97 mph. The cutter was off the plate. Guys had bad swings on him. That’s the guy I think can have success in the big leagues.”
Hyde was most impressed with Wright when he recorded his only major league save on March 29 at Yankee Stadium. Wright struck out Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar to pick up the save.
“What I saw besides that was a lot of misses in the middle,” Hyde said. “You miss in the middle, especially in this ballpark, and you’re going to have trouble.”
Opponents were batting .351 against Wright.
“It wasn’t walks,” Hyde said. “It was being able to put guys away. That’s pretty much been our staff right now.”
Hyde started Wright during spring training, and liked how he pitched.
“I was hoping that that outing in New York was going to be a confidence booster for him,” Hyde said. “When you can’t execute, there’s mechanical things, but there’s also a confidence level, too, of being able to locate and being able to get big league hitters out and get off the barrel.
“I was hoping that that outing in New York, when he got thrown in there in that save situation, and he succeeded, his confidence level would rise, and he would take off from there, and it didn’t seem to happen.”
The Orioles selected the contract of right-hander Gabriel Ynoa from Triple-A Norfolk to replace Wright on the roster.
Ynoa was 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA in three starts for Norfolk. He missed almost all of the 2018 season with shin splints and an arm injury. In 19 major league games with the New York Mets and Orioles in 2016 and 2017, Ynoa is 3-3 with a 4.92 ERA.
“I didn’t lose hope,” Ynoa said of his injuries through a translator. “Those are the kind of things that happen to baseball players. Fortunately, I was able to overcome that. I always knew that there was always an opportunity, and I could come back.”
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Great News. I hope he doesn’t clear waivers and this is the last we see of him.
He’s gone!
Oh, but he isn't. Hyde made it perfectly clear that if Wright clears waivers (and really, why would any team want him?) he will be sent to Norfolk to "work on things". I'll bet you see him pitching again in an Oriole uniform before September.
Borg let’s hope he doesn’t clear waivers and Hyde was just doing PR. We let so many pitchers go who are all stars he won’t be one of them
Glad to see him designated, disagree with consistency, he was almost always consistently bad.....
5.95 career ERA in 101 games?
Don't worry, he won't be the next Arrieta.
It is amazing he has lasted this long...
They gave him every chance and some. He just isn't a mlb pitcher. There are too many younger and better options in the minors. I am glad they moved on.
It was inevitable. That’s the end of that era. I would think someone takes a chance on a claim. If for nothing else than to try to sneak him through waivers and try him out on their AAA team. But with his results maybe no one even takes that gamble.
I think this sort of action will be the story of this season — guys who have never quite put it all together get an extended tryout, and if they can’t get over the hump, the club sends them packing. Meanwhile the higher-ranked prospects continue their development in the minors. (Ryan Mountcastle now second in International League in RBIs.) Seems like a sensible approach.
Long time coming. Another fine move by the new regime. Mr. Davis take notice please.
Sure they’ve been patient, but nobody works harder than he does.its hard to play or pitch in the major leagues. Many times, when he was a starter, there was zero offense to help him out. Batters with 0 for 57 skids for instance. Somebody will pick him up or at least they should.
When your career ERA is nearly 6 I don’t think the “my offense doesn’t score enough” argument really holds water. Someone may take a gamble on wright because there is little to no risk in it but he doesn’t deserve anything from the way he threw the baseball. 100s of others guys are dying to prove they belong.
This is just wrong. The results were admittedly poor, and he may just not be good enough, but his mechanics were sound. The problem was not the way he threw the ball.
Are you serious Rocko.
finally enough of seeing mike Wright. he was a buck favorite for some reason and when he left thought I wouldn't have to watch Wright ever pitch again for the Orioles at least now it's hopefully over forever
Mr Wright, we gave you a try and it's goodbye. Lets try a new guy and see if he can make the ball fly in to the mit and not get a hit.
Mullins out also. Wilkerson up. I guess you’re going to see a lot of Joey Rickard in CF. This move puzzles me. Not because Mullins hasn’t earned a demotion, but that we have only 1 CF on the roster.
Finally!!! No BB smarts and will not regret it if he makes it elsewhere.......exactly the kind of player who is no fun to root for