Baltimore Orioles: Finding Intriguing Possible Waiver Claims

Should the Baltimore Orioles take a look at any players recently designated for assignment to make room for Rule 5-eligible prospects? We came up with five intriguing names.

As Wednesday night’s deadline to protect Rule 5 draft-eligible players approached, fans focused mainly on which prospects were added to 40-man rosters and who was left vulnerable to the December draft. But as Baltimore Orioles fans, paying attention to which veterans teams designated for assignment or released may be worthwhile.

With the addition of Ryan Mountcastle, Dean Kremer, Keegan Akin, and Ryan McKenna, the Orioles 40-man roster sits at 39 players. Could Mike Elias be combing through the waiver wire to try and find an intriguing new roster piece?

For the long list of rookies who now find themselves protected on rosters, it means more pay, a path to the major leagues, and acknowledgment of many years of hard work to better their craft. At the same time, a number of veterans lost their 40-man spot and now find themselves eligible to be claimed off waivers or traded for by another club.

With an open slot and plenty of holes to fill on the active roster, will the Baltimore Orioles try and go after any of these recent roster casualties? Each player was released for one notable reason or another, but there are a small handful of intriguing arms. Here are a few of those names that may be worth a pickup.

LHP CD Pelham (Texas Rangers)

A quick first look at Pelham’s numbers will send you running, but he’s still a young, very raw, and tall lefty with quite the fastball. Standing at 6’6″, Fangraphs had Pelham ranked as the 22nd best prospect in the Texas Rangers system last season, noting his 97-99 mph fastball and the possibility that he develops into “one of the better left-handed relievers in baseball.”

As mentioned in that same report, Pelham didn’t start pitching until high school and made his major league debut in 2018, despite logging just 19 innings above High-A ball in the Texas organization.

He spent last season splitting time between Double-A and Tripel-A, striking out 37 hitters in 32.1 innings (12/46 K/9 IP rate in AA). Over the course of his minor league career, Pelham has fanned 239 in 197 innings.

While his strikeout numbers and fastball are eye-popping, Pelham is erratic, sort of like another electric lefty already in the Orioles organization (Tanner Scott). He walked 40 batters to go with his 37 strikeouts. Walks have always been an issue for Pelham, but he took it to another level in 2019, while giving up six home runs. He gave up just eight from 2015-2018.

He has given up a lot of hits and walks up to this point in his career, but if Tanner Scott can find his control in Baltimore (three walks in 13 September outings), maybe they can help Pelham?

RHP Jharel Cotton (Oakland Athletics)

As I was doing my digging around for this piece, Cotton’s name came up multiple times as an option that provides a bit of intrigue to Baltimore Orioles fans. Just based on name recognition alone, he demands a deeper look.

While guys like Pelham and Escobar are raw arms with high upside in need of development, Cotton is a bit of a project. A former top prospect in the A’s system, Cotton was once viewed as a potential two/three starter in the major leagues, according to The Athletic’s Eno Sarris, and started to gain a lot of traction heading into the 2017 season.

Unfortunately, he struggled in his first full season in the majors, going 9-10 with a 5.58 ERA, a 105/53 K/BB ratio, and 28 home runs allowed in 129 innings. He was then forced to miss all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery and pitched just 27 minor league innings in 2019 due to hamstring troubles and another surgery.

He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2017 but he has an option remaining and won’t become a free agent until 2023. At 27, he may not be a longterm option, but if he is able to rebound, he can pitch out of the pen or as a spot-starter and potentially be flipped.

It’s been a while, but his 2017 numbers show a 93 mph fastball and a 78 mph changeup as part of his five-pitch mix. His changeup limited hitters to a .218 average (.180 expected average) and produced a 30% whiff rate. I like his stuff and upside a lot more than Nate Karns, last year’s failed project.

RHP Conner Greene (Kansas City)

Last but not least, let’s take a look at former Royals pitcher Conner Greene. A seventh-round pick of the Blue Jays back in 2013, Greene spent five years in the Toronto organization before being traded to St. Louis ahead of the 2018 season and then being designated for assignment and claimed by Kansas City before the 2019 season.

He made 29 total appearances (16 starts) between Double-A and Triple-A, working a 5.13 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and .266 average against. He struck out 95 hitters and walked 54 in 112 innings. That’s been the story with Greene throughout his career, a lot of walks with very few swings and misses (career 541/343 K/BB ratio).

The 6’3″ righty was ranked as a Top 100 prospect by Baseball Prospectus in 2016, owning a powerful fastball that can touch triple digits. He’s been effective at limiting home runs and producing groundballs throughout his career, two positives for a pitcher looking to make a home at Camden Yards.

In this interview with MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo last year, Greene discusses his relationship with Cardinals pitchers Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright and what he’s learned from working with the two veterans. He also touched on some changes the Cardinals were looking to make with him.

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From an analytics standpoint, they have a lot of good information that shows me who I am. I’d been trying to be a sinker ball guy while I have a high spin rate, so it’s like I’m fighting myself there. There are things we’re going to focus on more than other areas.

The lack of strikeouts are concerning, but the stuff is there, he can work as a starter or reliever, he has an option remaining, and he seems to be a pretty good fit.

Will Mike Elias and the Baltimore Orioles take a look at any of these arms in the next few days? We will have to wait and see, but there certainly are some interesting options, all of whom could provide more entertainment and value than more Tom Eshelman and Ryan Eades type arms.

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