Birds Watcher
Fansided

Baltimore Orioles: Sign more minor-league players

By Kristen Bentley

TORONTO, ON - MAY 30: Asher Wojciechowski #65 of the Cincinnati Reds delivers a pitch in the first inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on May 30, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MAY 30: Asher Wojciechowski #65 of the Cincinnati Reds delivers a pitch in the first inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on May 30, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Baltimore Orioles were busy signing minor league players. Now that they’ve had signed another five players, hopefully, Dan Duquette will switch to Major Leaguers.

The five signed by the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday and Friday include a handful of pitchers. Three have had any time in the Majors.

Three with MLB experience

The first signing was Perci Garner, a right-handed relief pitcher, who will be 29. He has hit speeds of 95 MPH and when he pitched 9.1 innings in the Majors in 2016, he ended up with a 14.4% swinging-strike rate. He Triple-A career ERA is 3.63 and his WHIP is `1.469. Garner was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies but was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 2015.

A second pitcher had experience in the Majors. Asher Wojciechowski will also be 29 soon and he had limited time pitching for the Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds. Fortunately, Wojciechowski was signed to a minor-league contract, because his Major League pitching wasn’t very good. He had a 6.50 ERA and a WHIP of 1.444 in 62.1 innings. While his strikeout numbers (64) were decent, he gave up 14 home runs. At the Major League level, the Orioles need better than this. Fortunately, Wojciechowski is known as “Wojo” – which make it much easier to write about him if he does reach the Big Leagues.

Two lefties and a young righty

The rest of the minor league contracts were given two a pair of left-handed pitchers, Jason Gurka and Luis Lugo. The final contract was given to right-hander Christian Binford.

More from Orioles News

Gurka will be 30 in January and has minimal pitching experience with the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Angels. In 2017, he pitched .2 innings for the Angels. He faced three batters, walking one and giving up two hits. As a situational lefty, that’s just not good. His career ERA in the Bigs is a mind-blowing 9.00 and his WHIP is 2.167. However, when he’s in the minors, he’s not too bad. His career ERA in Triple-A is 3.27.

Luis Lugo has only pitched in the minors and he will do the same for the Orioles farm system. He’s 23 years old and entered the Indians farm system out of Venezuela. His career ERA is 4.15 and he has yet to make it beyond Double-A ball.

Finally, Binford is 24 years old and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 2011 out of high school. He’s been up and down between Triple-A and Double-A in the last few seasons. His career Triple-A ERA is 6.22 and his WHIP is 1.622.

Next: Is it time to extend Adam Jones?

All-in-all, the O’s signed a bunch of mediocre pitchers who will hopefully not see the light of day on the mound in Baltimore.

Home/Orioles News