The Orioles claimed reliever Bryan Baker off waivers, the Blue Jays announced Monday.
The 26-year-old right-hander pitched just one scoreless inning with the Blue Jays in 2021, but had a monster year in Triple A, where he put up a 1.31 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 41.1 innings.
Baker debuted on Sept. 5 versus the Athletics at Rogers Centre, where he showed off a fastball around 95 mph with a sharp slider that comes from a cutter grip.
"Running out there, warming up, and that first batter stepping in, I think it was something I had never quite experienced before," Baker said after his debut. "The heart was going for sure.”
With MLB general managers scheduled to meet from Nov. 9-11 and—depending on collective bargaining talks—the Rule 5 Draft lined up for December, it appears Baker is the first casualty in Toronto's upcoming 40-man roster crunch.
Bakers joins a Baltimore team where he'll likely get a crack at big-league action in 2022. The Orioles finished dead last in baseball with a 5.85 team ERA this past season.
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