Orioles claim Mark Kolozsvary off waivers

It’s the offseason, so the waiver wire shuffle is continuing for the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles on Friday announced a series of roster moves. Catchers Aramis Garcia and Mark Kolozsvary were claimed off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds. Right handed pitchers Louis Head and Beau Sulser were DFA’d to make room on the 40 man roster.

With the claiming of Garcia and Kolozsvary off waivers, the Orioles now have six catchers on the 40 man roster, an extreme rarity. Adley Rutschman, Anthony Bemboom, Robinson Chirinos, and Cam Gallagher were already on the 40 man. We already learned about Garcia, so let’s get to know Kolozsvary.

Kolozsvary is a 27 year old catcher who was chosen in the 7th round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Reds out of the University of Florida. He made his MLB debut this season, hitting .200 with one home run and three RBI’s in 21 plate appearances over 10 games.

Baltimore Orioles claim catcher Mark Kolozsvary off waivers

In five minor league seasons in the Reds organization, Kolozsvary is a career .215 hitter with a .326 on base percentage and .669 OPS in 294 games, hitting 20 home runs with 100 RBI’s in 937 at bats.

Due to the fact that Kolozsvary appeared in only 10 games last year, he only shows up on two advanced metrics on baseball savant. His max exit velocity is ranked in just the 15th percentile, so he isn’t hitting the ball hard, and based off his .200 average, isn’t hitting the ball much to begin with. The other metric seen on his baseball savant page is sprint speed. That is more in his favor, ranked in the 74th percentile.

What remains to be seen is exactly what the Orioles are planning to do with all these catchers on their 40 man roster. With the claiming of Garcia and Kolozsvary, Chirinos likely won’t be back next season, as he’s set to hit free agency. However, Gallagher, Bemboom, Garcia, and Kolozsvary are all under control for next season, and Jacob Nottingham remains in Triple A. They do have a whole offseason to figure it out, so we’ll see what the catching position looks like alongside Rutschman on opening day.