The Miami Marlins claimed reliever Kaleb Ort off waivers from the Seattle Mariners on Friday.
Per Marlins' reporter Daniel Alvarez-Montes on social media:
#Marlins claimed RHP Kaleb Ort off waivers from Seattle.
Ort had only been claimed by Seattle back in October after spending the last few seasons with the Boston Red Sox.
He is an intriguing arm, though he was certainly frustrating to Red Sox fans.
The 32-year-old appeared in 21 games this past season, including making two starts as an opener. He went 1-2 and pitched to a 6.26 ERA. In 23.0 innings, he struck out 24. He appeared in one game for Boston in 2021 and 25 in 2022, so he is generally a late bloomer to the big league scene.
With the Marlins, he'll have an opportunity to earn a spot in the bullpen under manager Skip Schumaker. The Marlins won 84 games this past season and made the playoffs as a wild card, losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild card round.
As for the Mariners, they'll miss out on an opportunity to make Ort their latest bullpen redemption success. While Seattle has only made the playoffs once since 2001, they do have a very good recent track record of turning little-known relievers into useful big leaguers.
They did this most famously with Paul Sewald, who has become one of the best closers in baseball, but have also succeeded with the likes of Justin Topa, Gabe Speier, Drew Steckenrider and Matt Brash in recent years.
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