FREE ARTICLE
The Orioles added six more players for Tuesday’s doubleheader with the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Left-handed pitcher Ty Blach, right-handers David Hess, Evan Phillips, Chandler Shepherd and catcher Austin Wynns, all of whom were on the roster at some time during the season, were recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.
Outfielder Mason Williams had his contract selected from Norfolk.
The additional six gives the Orioles 35 players, including 19 pitchers.
Blach, who was optioned to the Tides on August 23, is 0-2 with a 12.15 ERA in three starts. He’ll start the first game of the doubleheader.
Hess, who was in the Orioles’ starting rotation for much of the season’s first half, is 1-10 with a 7.44 ERA in 20 games, 14 of them starts. With Norfolk, Hess was 3-2 with a 4.57 ERA and a save.
Phillips is 0-1 with an 8.84 ERA in 18 games with the Orioles. In 27 games, he was 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA and a save at Norfolk.
Shepherd pitched in one game, allowing a run on five hits in four innings with the Orioles. At Norfolk, Shepherd was 3-5 with a 4.60 ERA in 14 games with the Tides. His 1.62 ERA in five starts last month earned him the International League Player of the Month for August.
Wynns, who spent much of 2018 with the Orioles, hit .233 with three RBIs in 16 games this season. With the Tides, Wynns hit .264 with three homers and 25 RBIs in 62 games.
Williams, who drew attention with his .308 average, .371 on-base percentage and .848 OPS with Norfolk, had 18 home runs and 67 RBIs.
The 28-year-old has a .289 average with three homers and 12 RBIs in 76 major leagues games over the past four seasons with the New York Yankees and Cincinnati.
To make room for Williams on the 40-man roster, the Orioles designated infielder Jace Peterson for assignment. Peterson hit .220 with two home runs and 11 RBIs in 29 games
The Orioles did not recall International League Most Valuable Player Ryan Mountcastle or outfielder Austin Hays from Norfolk. Mountcastle would have needed to be placed on the 40-man roster and Hays will get additional at-bats in the Arizona Fall League.
With 35 players, there are only five on the 40-man roster who aren’t on the major league team: Hays, outfielder Cedric Mullins, who will continue with Double-A Bowie when the Baysox begin the Eastern league playoffs on Wednesday, and pitchers Cody Carroll, Luis Ortiz and Tayler Scott.
Carroll and Ortiz’s seasons were shortened by injuries.
Carroll, who had a back injury, pitched just two late-season games for Gulf Coast. Ortiz didn’t pitch for Norfolk after July 2, and threw an inning for Gulf Coast on August 15.
Scott was on the 25-man roster for three games while John Means was on the family medical emergency list.
The Orioles recalled pitchers Branden Kline, Tanner Scott and outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. on Sunday and activated Shawn Armstrong from the 10-day injured list. Mark Trumbo was activated from the 60-day injured list on Monday while the team designated pitcher Tom Eshelman for assignment.
Trumbo was the 56th player used by the Orioles this season, equaling last season’s club record. Williams, who is in the lineup for the first game, will be the record-setting 57th player.
If you find it hard to understand why Orioles manager Brandon Hyde stubbornly defends his…
BALTIMORE---Before Tuesday night's game against the Toronto Blue Jays was postponed by rain, Cedric Mullins…
Every weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit…
BALTIMORE—What happened? Adley Rutschman hit two home runs, but the Orioles had just one other…
BALTIMORE ---Catcher Adley Rutschman hit two home runs, but the Orioles had just one other…
Elrod Hendricks was a longtime catcher and spent 28 years as bullpen coach, the longest…
View Comments
Would be nice to get a look at Mason Williams. My as well see what you have there. My gut says Joey Rickard 2.0, but he could provide a spark at least. I'm ok with not bringing up Mountcastle or Hays. If you are going to get the big league experience, you may as well go whole hog and run down the orange carpet in front of 40K, versus coming up for a cup of coffee and playing in front of 5000 in a meaningless game. If the two of them don't make the roster after tearing it up in the spring next year, then I'll scream bloody murder.
With the exception of Williams and Shepherd it’s a waste of time and effort. There will be no surprises, just a reprise of what we’ve seen all season from that bunch. The never ending revolving door of wanna-be’s and never will be’s will soon be over. Go BaySox and Shorebirds! Just saying...
Looks like the club is just trying to get through this season. I’m looking forward to seeing how Elias reshapes the 40-man roster over the winter. I would not expect to see Mountcastle at the major-league level until May or June, to delay the start of his service clock and give him more time to work on his plate discipline. (If both Buck and Elias have seen that as a problem, then I’ll take their word for it.)
Plate discipline definitely needs work, but his liability in the field is even a bigger problem.
not calling up mountcastle is a mistake. the whole oh will bring him up a month into next season so we have him for another year is b.s. if I was mountcastle watching all these bums get called up over me would make me bitter and as soon as I hit free agency I would remember how I was treated and get out of baltimore as fast as I could.
I doubt at this stage of his career, Mountcastle is all that upset. He’s not on the 40 man roster but will need to be added this winter. The Orioles need to use September to evaluate the “bums” on the roster in order to make decisions for next year. Whether Mountcastle stays past his period of team control will be a financial decision. Harper and Machado were both called up at age 20 and when it came time to hit the market they went for the best offer. Harper turned down 300 million from the Nationals. If Mountcastle can play, he will be fine
Not calling up Mountcastle is exactly the right move for now. He can rake, no doubt, but he needs to show he can play somewhere defensively. And needs to improve his walk rate. He’s definitely a keeper but let him end the year on a positive note with the caveat of what he needs to improve on.
Our best player and we are worried about walks. Bring him up and let’s see what he has. Everyone else but Williams ugggg
I’m not sure what you mean when you say he is our best player. As noted by many, he needs to find a position to play.
I would think Bumble Bee meant the Orioles' best position player in the high minors.
As I said before, not bringing up Mountcastle is an injustice to the young man. Despite all the carping here about his alleged faults, he WAS the MVP at the highest minor league level. Performance deserves to be rewarded, and a month of first-class travel with future teammates is well earned. As for the economics, the money is well spent if a month in the bigs motivates a player to improve and earn a permanent place. Successful teams do this all the time. Th O's are just being cheap and mean. They are also being stupid, not recognizing achievement.
Hess and Phillips, our season is SAVED! Pitching these two often should get us that 1st draft choice again. Hyde, stick these two in the rotation every four days. We now have an entire pitching staff of "Ubaldo's"
everybody keeps talking about mountcastle and his defense. put the kid at DH and get a month of at bats under his belt. this team needs a big bat in the lineup not ozzie smith
The thing to remember about Mountcastle is he is only 22 and has a high ceiling. Players with his potential sometimes don’t get promoted right away because teams want them to develop more fully. That way when they do come up here, they can contribute right away. Don’t want Mountcastle riding the Norfolk shuttle. While it would be nice for us fans to see him hit, his presence will have no effect on the 2019 Orioles. Besides, the Orioles need to spend September to evaluate several pitchers on the bubble to see if they are worth taking to Sarasota next spring. They already know Mountcastle will be there
this team had been calling up the wrong guys since DD started now elias, wouldn't it be nice to have mike yastrzemski right now but he never got a chance to show what he could do. not 1 AB with the orioles.