Baltimore Orioles Minor League Transactions and A Retirement

Things have been going well for most of the Baltimore Orioles minor league affiliates. We also saw a few new additions to the system this week.

Exciting things are happening down on the farm in Birdland. A number of top prospects for the Baltimore Orioles are settling in and beginning to put up big numbers, strikeouts are way up, the defense looks good, and the walk-offs have been epic.

There have also been a few recent moves that we have yet to talk about. Over the past few days, the Orioles have added two free agents to minor league deals and have seen a member of the Bowie Baysox retire.

First, catcher/first baseman Cael Brockmeyer has retired. Brockmeyer was signed to a minor league deal back in January and saw some early time in big league camp when spring training started as Jesus Sucre worked through visa issues. He played in nine games for the Baysox, collecting just three hits in 28 at-bats.

Brockmeyer never reached the major leagues, appearing in 448 career minor league games across parts of nine seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Baltimore Orioles organizations. He was originally a 16th-round draft pick of the Cubs back in 2013 and hit .254 across his career with a .332 OBP and 35 home runs.

Catcher Brett Cumberland, the 25th-ranked prospect in the Orioles system, was added to the Baysox roster from extended spring training.

Baltimore Orioles add two minor leaguers to the organization.

The first new addition to the organization was Chris Madera, who spent last season in High-A and Double-A ball with the Boston Red Sox organization. Madera was a 33rd round pick of the Cubs in 2013, but has yet to progress past AA since.

The 26-year-old right-handed outfielder is a career .240 hitter across 304 minor league games. He isn’t a player I can say that I’ve seen live, but one look at his career numbers shows two likely reasons why he was added to the organization.

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Madera has 54 career stolen bases and has played all three outfield spots, while also working innings at first, second, and third base. A speedy and versatile player? Sounds pretty familiar to many of the other minor league signings the Orioles have made this season.

The second signing is a bit more intriguing. Outfielder Edison Lantigua was brought in on a minor league deal after spending the last five seasons playing down on the farm of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He’s played in the Dominican Summer League, Gulf Coast League, Appalachian League, and the New-York Penn League, hitting .274 with a .356 OBP in 230 games. He’s 22-30 in stolen bases, has 46 doubles, 19 triples, and nine home runs under his belt, and has posted high walk rates at just about every stop along the way.

Rookie league stats don’t mean much, but evaluators have had a few positive things to say about him.

Fangraphs labeled Lantigua as a “power hitter with a rough defensive profile” in 2018 and had this to say about him back in 2017–

“He has above-average raw power but doesn’t have room for much more. He’s a patient hitter, but the high-effort nature of Lantigua’s swing creates some violence about the head, rendering him strikeout prone. He’s a 40 runner and likely left fielder, so those swing-and-miss issues need to be solved if Lantigua’s going to profile.”

Next. An Early Check-In With The Norfolk Tides. dark

We’ve mentioned this numerous times, but it’s worth repeating- this is the perfect season to catch a minor league baseball game, if you are a Baltimore Orioles fan.

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