Baltimore Orioles: Hanser Alberto Claimed, Andrew Susac DFA’d

The Baltimore Orioles have just two catchers on the 40-man roster after their latest roster move.

As announced by the Baltimore Orioles, the team has claimed infielder Hanser Alberto from the New York Yankees, who designated Alberto for assignment just hours earlier. To make room on the 40-man roster, Baltimore has designated catcher Andrew Susac for assignment.

Alberto was removed from the New York 40-man to clear a roster spot for recently signed closer, and former Oriole, Zach Britton. The 26-year-old was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Texas Rangers, spending the last nine seasons climbing up the organizational ladder and appearing in 89 major league games since 2015. He had been with the Yankees since early November, who have added their fair share of infielders to the major league roster this offseason.

In those 89 career games, Alberto has posted a slash line of .192/.210/.231 with a .440 OPS. He’s coming off a 2018 season in AAA where he hit .330 with a .797 OPS, seven home runs, and just 28 strikeouts in 361 at-bats, coming out to a 7% strikeout rate with the Round Rock Express. Alberto may not draw a significant amount of walks (2.3% last season in AAA), but he has yet to post a strikeout rate higher than 10.7% at any stop in the minors with a minimum of 200 at-bats.

More from Birds Watcher

• Baltimore Orioles Sign RP Mychal Givens
• Gunnar Henderson: Destroyer of Four-Seam Fastballs
• Which Current Baltimore Orioles Pitchers Have the Best Curveballs?
• Orioles News: Should the O’s Pursue Eovaldi? + More MLB News
• Should the Baltimore Orioles Consider Signing Nathan Eovaldi?

The Orioles may be attracted to his low strikeout rate, however, he is also a versatile defender, spending the majority of his minor league career at shortstop, but logging innings at first, second, and third base both in the majors and minor leagues. Advanced defensive metrics liked Alberto at the major league level with the Rangers, albeit a very small sample size. In 248 innings at second base, Alberto has recorded 7 Defensive Runs Saved and an Ultimate Zone Rating of 3.0. In 123 innings at shortstop, those numbers were 8 and 4.1, respectively.

As for Andrew Susac, the 28-year-old catcher played in 42 games for the AAA Norfolk Tides and nine games with the Orioles in 2018, collecting three hits in 26 at-bats at the major league level and recording a K/BB ratio of 12/0. Designating Susac for assignment leaves the Orioles with just two catchers on the 40-man roster, Chance Sisco and Austin Wynns.

Alberto is the third middle infielder claimed by the Orioles in the last few weeks, after selecting Richie Martin and Drew Jackson in December’s Rule 5 draft.