The Orioles will announce today that they’ve designated catcher David Bañuelos for assignment, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He’ll be the corresponding roster move for the promotion of today’s starting pitcher. Righty Tyler Wells had been slated to take the ball, but he hit the injured list last night with an elbow injury.
Bañuelos was already with the Orioles on their taxi squad as an emergency third catcher. Multiple O’s beat writers last night suggested that his addition to the 40-man roster was primarily due to him already being with the club and the team not having sufficient time to add another arm with Wells hitting the 15-day IL rather suddenly.
The O’s did right by Bañuelos, plugging the 27-year-old minor league veteran into the game as a pinch-hitter to at least give him a brief big league debut after a six-year grind in the minors. Bañuelos likely knew from the jump that his stint on the 40-man would be quite brief, and even though he merely flew out in place of Colton Cowser, he nonetheless said after the game that the lone at-bat was “honestly one of the coolest moments of my life” (X link via Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun).
Baltimore will now have a week to trade Bañuelos, pass him through outright waivers or release him. He joined the O’s over the winter on a minor league deal and has opened the season with a 2-for-11 showing in Triple-A Norfolk. One of those two knocks left the yard. Bañuelos was a fifth-round pick by the Mariners in 2017 who was traded to the Twins for international bonus space a year later. He spent six seasons in Minnesota’s minor league ranks and is regarded as a strong defender with average power and a well below-average hit tool. In 307 career Triple-A plate appearances, Bañuelos is a .209/.268/.394 hitter with a 31.9% strikeout rate.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login