With rosters increasing in just some days because the calendar flips to September, the Orioles are making a transfer to doubtlessly add two of their prime prospects to the group.
Infielder Gunnar Henderson and left-hander DL Hall are flying to Cleveland to affix the Orioles’ taxi squad on Wednesday, a supply with direct data of the state of affairs instructed The Baltimore Sun. Henderson and Hall shall be eligible to be added to the lively roster Thursday, when it expands to twenty-eight gamers to permit for an extra pitcher and place participant.
If Henderson is formally referred to as up, Baltimore shall be including baseball’s prime prospect. Former No. 1 prospect Adley Rutschman was referred to as as much as the majors May 21 and has since turn out to be one of many prime catchers within the recreation and an American League Rookie of the Year candidate. Now it seems Henderson’s flip will arrive shortly after changing Rutschman as Baseball America’s prime prospect.
Henderson and Rutschman have been Baltimore’s first two draft picks underneath government vp and normal supervisor Mike Elias, with Rutschman taken first total in 2019 and Henderson going within the second spherical of the identical draft. Baltimore’s third choose in 2019, outfielder Kyle Stowers, had his contract chosen earlier this month.
Henderson, 21, has undergone a speedy rise by way of the minor leagues this season, representing the Orioles within the MLB All-Star Futures Game. Between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk this yr, Henderson has posted a .297 batting common and .947 OPS with 19 residence runs, 79 walks and 116 strikeouts. However, his strikeout charge with the Tides has risen to 26.9%.
“It’s kind of a tough thing to be too critical about with him because he’s doing so well at his age and being by far the youngest player in Triple-A and not starting the year in Triple-A, that I don’t want to nitpick aspects of his performance from that,” Elias stated final week. “What he’s doing in Triple-A right now bodes very, very well for his future.”
Henderson has primarily break up his time between third base and shortstop, however the Selma, Alabama, native has additionally performed second base and first base of late as a solution to enhance his versatility. His potential call-up comes on the proper time for Baltimore, with a postseason push in September coinciding with a scuffling offense.
“He’s a guy that can play shortstop, and he’s a guy that can really play third base,” Elias stated. “And obviously, I think his long-term career over the next 10 or 15 years, it’s going to be on the left side of the infield, but with the way that this team is presently composed, with us having a right-handed-hitting first baseman [in Ryan Mountcastle], there’s just a lot of things that in the very, very short term, I think would benefit him and us if he’s able to play a little bit on the right side of the infield, so we’re giving him that footage as quickly as possible.”
Hall, the No. 3 prospect within the Orioles’ pipeline, has already made his main league debut. He pitched 3 2/3 innings in opposition to the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this month, permitting 5 runs on 5 hits. He then returned to the minors to develop as a reliever to make use of within the stretch run of the marketing campaign.
In three appearances popping out of the bullpen within the minors, Hall has struck out 10 of the 24 batters he’s confronted but additionally walked 4 and allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings. His second look was probably the most spectacular, as he struck out 4 batters with out permitting a base runner in two innings.
Entering Tuesday, the Orioles bullpen has pitched 496 innings, the eighth most within the majors. Adding Hall might give supervisor Brandon Hyde one other arm to alleviate among the pressure on his back-end choices, reminiscent of left-hander Cionel Pérez and right-hander Félix Bautista.
As Baltimore (67-61) prepares for a run towards the postseason sitting three video games again of a wild-card spot, the potential additions of Hall and Henderson might provide a serious increase.
Baltimore Sun reporter Nathan Ruiz contributed to this text.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com