Baltimore Orioles: Shawn Armstrong Joins The Organization

The Baltimore Orioles have claimed Shawn Armstrong off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

Sunday was a busy day for the Baltimore Orioles. Before dropping their sixth-straight game to the Minnesota Twins in 2019, the Orioles made a series of movies, including designating catcher Jesus Sucre for assignment, optioning Jimmy Yacabonis to Triple-A, and placing Alex Cobb on the injured list, yet again.

The Orioles weren’t done addressing their pitching staff after their flurry of Sunday afternoon moves, later in the day, the team announced that they have claimed relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

Baseball truly is a small world. Just last week, the Baltimore Orioles traded reliever Mike Wright to the Mariners for minor league bat Ryne Ogren. With Wright out of minor league options, Seattle optioned top pitching prospect, Justus Sheffield, to clear a roster spot. Days later, Sheffield was called back up, taking the place of Shawn Armstrong on the active roster.

At the end of the day, the Orioles have swapped one former East Carolina Pirate for another. Both Wright and Armstrong were teammates at ECU and selected in the 2011 MLB draft (Wright in the third round by the Orioles, Armstrong in the 18th-round by the Cleveland Indians).

Armstrong will look to keep the ball in the park for the Baltimore Orioles.

To make room for Armstrong on the active roster, the Orioles will send Luis Ortiz back to Triple-A, who was called up for Sunday’s game.

Armstrong has floated between the big leagues and Triple-A since 2015 with the Indians. Across nine minor league seasons, Armstrong is 17-17 with a 2.26 ERA. He’s limited hitters to a .203 batting average and has recorded 478 strikeouts in 350 innings. Best of all, the 28-year-old has been highly effective at limiting home runs. In 302 minor league appearances, he has surrendered just 13 home runs.

His major league numbers haven’t been as impressive, but they have proven to be effective. Armstrong has 57 major league relief appearances, working a 3.65 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and has limited hitters to a .235 average.

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In very small sample sizes, Armstrong has used his four-seam/cutter/slider combination well. His 24.2 innings in 2017 are a career-high. In that season, Armstrong surrendered five home runs and recorded a K/BB ratio of 20/10. After a not so impressive season, Armstrong made some changes.

According to Lookout Landing (a Seattle Mariners blog), Armstrong bought himself a Rapsodo machine for his training facility, which seems to have made a positive impact, initially. He doesn’t have the major league numbers and data to get a solid grasp, but after checking out his Baseball Savant page, we can see a few positives.

High-spin four-seam fastballs up in the zone are all the rage in Major League Baseball, because they are effective. Armstrong’s spin rate on his four-seam fastball is up more than 200 rpm compared to his 2017 season, up to an average of 2592 RPM in his four innings of work this season. Among all major league pitchers with a minimum of 50 four-seamers thrown, Armstrong ranks 11th in average spin rate, right above Houston Astros’ star Justin Verlander.

At this point, I’m willing to give anyone with a viable arm a chance at producing on the mound for the Baltimore Orioles. Armstrong is expected to join the team in the coming days, likely making his debut in the upcoming Chicago White Sox series.