Orioles quietly add another catcher who brings a skill set they desperately need

Losing Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo to the IL in the same week while also dealing with a doubleheader has sent the Baltimore Orioles into a frenzy of roster moves as they try to patch together not only their catching position but also their depleted bullpen. In the last week, the Orioles have called up Cam Sanders, Sam Huff, Chadwick Tromp, Johnathan Rodriguez, Josh Walker, and traded for Rudy Martin Jr. They have also optioned Cam Sanders and Josh Walker, and DFA'd Johnathan Rodriguez and Rudy Martin Jr. Their most recent move was to claim catcher Yohel Pozo, who the Cardinals DFA'd last Friday.

As of right now, the Orioles still have an open spot on their 26-man roster, which will be filled before the start of their game against the Braves today, so more roster moves are coming. Even for the Orioles, who love to churn through the last few spots on their 40-man roster more than any other team in the league, this is a lot of activity in such a short span.

The Orioles have not gotten much from their catching position since Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo went down

What stands out the most is the recent addition of Pozo. The Orioles immediately optioned Pozo to Triple-A, but it will be interesting to see if he stays there. The Orioles' current emergency catching tandem of Sam Huff and Chadwick Tromp does not provide much at all on the offensive side.

Tromp is basically a career journeyman emergency 4th-string catcher. He has a career OPS of .592, and there's no reason to expect anything from him on offense.

Huff has some power in his bat, and when he makes contact, he can drive the ball. Unfortunately for Huff, his plate discipline is very poor, and he has serious swing-and-miss problems to the point where his power is basically useless becuase it's so rare that he even puts the ball in play. This season, he's striking out at a 56% clip, leading to a season OPS of .350.

Pozo's career .637 OPS is not that different from the career marks of Huff and Tromp, but he does have a very different skill set at the plate that the Orioles might appreciate more than the free-swinging strikeout fest they are getting from their emergency backstops.

Pozo has one real talent at the plate, and that is putting the bat on the ball. He does not swing and miss very often, and he is very difficult to strike out. The downside is that when he hits the ball, he does not hit it very hard, and although he doesn't swing and miss, he does swing a lot, so it's rare that he walks.

No power and a low OBP is not a strong combination which is how he ended up DFA'd but for an Orioles team desperate for any offense from the catching position as they fight to stay in a playoff race having a guy who can come up in the nine hole and at least be counted on to put the ball in play and maybe move some runners over or poke some timeley singles through the infield would be a big upgrade over what they are currently getting.

The one concern is that if Rutschman and Basallo were both coming back after the 10-day minimum stay on the IL, it seems unlikely the Orioles would add another catcher into the mix. So it's worth keeping an eye on to see whether Pozo has been brought in to replace Huff or Tromp in the short term, or becuase the Orioles foresee needing more catchers becuase their star catchers are not coming back as soon as they hoped.

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