As the Orioles sought to bolster their rotation over the previous two months, their deep stockpile of infield prospects appeared just like the logical place to tug from to amass a beginning pitcher in a commerce. On Thursday, they lastly discovered a match.
Baltimore acquired Oakland Athletics left-hander Cole Irvin and minor league right-hander Kyle Virbitsky for infield prospect Darell Hernaiz, the staff introduced. Irvin, who turns 29 subsequent week, had a 4.11 ERA over 62 begins for Oakland the previous two seasons, averaging almost 180 innings per marketing campaign and rating within the prime 11% of certified pitchers in stroll price each years. He has 4 years of staff management remaining. Left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez was designated for task to open a 40-man roster spot.
Irvin joins veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson because the Orioles’ offseason additions to their rotation, with Gibson signing a one-year, $10 million take care of Baltimore in early December. Assuming the pair locks down a pair of rotation spots, that leaves three different spots open, with Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer prone to safe two of them given their sturdy finishes to 2022. Tyler Wells, Grayson Rodriguez, Austin Voth, DL Hall, Spenser Watkins, Mike Baumann and Bruce Zimmermann make for a prolonged group of remaining candidates, with 2022 opening day starter John Means set to rejoin the rotation someday this summer time after present process Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgical procedure early final season. Given Hall and Zimmermann are relative longshots among the many candidates, Irvin might show to be Baltimore’s lone left-handed starter till Means’ return.
Irvin was the Philadelphia Phillies’ fifth-round draft choose in 2016 and made his debut for them in 2019 earlier than being traded to the A’s for money earlier than the 2021 season. He depends closely on two sorts of fastballs, with each his four-seamer and sinker averaging between 90 and 91 mph in 2022. Right-handed hitters have had success in opposition to each his sinker and curveball, slugging above .500 on these pitches every of the previous two seasons. Irvin figures to profit from pitching his dwelling video games at Camden Yards with its new left area dimensions, although 19 of the 25 dwelling runs he surrendered final season got here in his 13 begins on the highway, the place he had a 5.26 ERA in comparison with a 3.07 mark in 17 outings at Oakland’s RingCentral Coliseum.
Virbitsky, a 24-year-old who was Oakland’s Seventeenth-round choose in 2021, had a 4.63 ERA in 23 outings, all however one a begin, between Low-A and High-A final season. The 6-foot-7 pitcher struck out 140 batters in 126 1/3 innings. Baseball America rated him as having the very best management within the Athletics’ system.
The similar publication ranked Hernaiz as certainly one of Baltimore’s prime 30 prospects as lately as July. The 21-year-old was the Orioles’ fifth-round choose in 2019 and reached Double-A in 2022, hitting .273/.341/.438 with 12 dwelling runs and 32 steals throughout three ranges whereas enjoying across the infield. In buying and selling away Hernaiz, Baltimore pulled from an space of depth. Six of the group’s different infielders have appeared on at the very least one offseason record of the game’s prime 100 prospects, together with two different members of their 2019 draft class in Gunnar Henderson and Joey Ortiz.
The commerce marks the second time this offseason the Orioles have parted with a prospect for a longtime main leaguer, one thing they hadn’t beforehand completed in 4 years beneath govt president and normal supervisor Mike Elias. In December, they acquired catcher James McCann from the New York Mets for Dominican Summer League first baseman-outfielder Luis De La Cruz. Along with Gibson, the Orioles have signed infielder Adam Frazier and reliever Mychal Givens as main league free brokers.
A left-handed reliever, Hernandez was acquired for money from the Boston Red Sox earlier this month. Like all different gamers Baltimore has added this offseason after one other group designated them for task, he now finds himself off the Orioles’ 40-man roster, as effectively.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com