The Orioles announced a trio of moves, including the selection of right-hander Reed Garrett’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk. Garrett will take the place of righty Austin Voth, who was placed on the 15-day injured list due to right elbow discomfort. To create space on the 40-man roster, Baltimore designated catcher Mark Kolozsvary for assignment.
Tests didn’t reveal any structural damage in Voth’s elbow, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including the Baltimore Sun’s Nathan Ruiz). As such, Hyde said there’s a “very low” amount of concern over Voth’s elbow issue, but since the pitcher has been dealing with lingering soreness since Spring Training, a stint on the IL was deemed necessary to finally correct the problem.
Pitching through pain could explain Voth’s uninspiring numbers, as the right-hander has a 4.94 ERA and below-average walk and strikeout rates over 31 innings out of Baltimore’s bullpen. On the positive side, Voth’s velocity hasn’t been effected, as his 93.4mph average fastball is only a touch below his 93.5mph number from last season. It was just over a year ago that the Orioles selected Voth off waivers from the Nationals, and while the O’s used him mostly as a starter in 2022, Voth has exclusively worked as a reliever this season.
Garrett is another former National, as he posted a 6.75 ERA over 9 1/3 innings for Washington in 2022 before inking a minor league deal with the Orioles during the winter. The 30-year-old’s only other MLB experience came in the form of 15 1/3 innings with the Tigers in 2019, but Garrett has 548 2/3 frames of minor league work under his belt, as well as two quality seasons in Japan with the Seibu Lions in 2020-21.
Over 22 2/3 innings with Norfolk, Garrett has a 1.59 ERA and a 28.4% strikeout rate, though his 10.4% walk rate is on the high side. A huge 91.6% strand rate has also helped Garrett’s numbers, but overall, there’s certainly enough to merit the Orioles seeing what he can do at the big league level.
Kolozsvary just had his contract selected yesterday by the Orioles, and he played an inning of late-game mop-up work in Baltimore’s 11-6 win over the Blue Jays. This represented the catcher’s 11th Major League game, after he made 10 appearances with the Reds in 2022. Over 1146 PA and six seasons in the minors with the Cincinnati and Baltimore organizations, Kolozsvary has a .211/.320/.339 slash line.
Because he was outrighted off of the Orioles’ roster back in November, Kolozsvary can reject an outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency. Adley Rutschman and James McCann have the big league catching situation locked up, and while Rutschman’s regular DH usage means that the O’s might be in some need of an extra catcher, Anthony Bemboom is also at Triple-A as experienced depth.