Orioles Designate Albert Suárez For Assignment

The Orioles announced that they have designated right-hander Albert Suárez for assignment. The O’s recalled outfielder Rece Hinds to take his place on the 28-man roster. They now have an open 40-man roster spot.

History suggests we haven’t seen the last of Suárez in an Orioles uniform this year. This is the fifth time the Orioles have designated the 36-year-old this season, but he cleared waivers and made quick returns to the organization in each of the previous instances. After his prior DFA on Aug. 21, Suárez re-signed with Baltimore on a minor league contract six days later and made it back to the bigs on Sept. 1.

The Orioles used Suárez for three innings and 62 pitches on Saturday, which explains the latest DFA. After yielding two earned runs in a 5-0 loss, his ERA rose to a still-useful 4.12 over 59 frames. Suárez has also posted strikeout, walk and ground-ball percentages of 16.6, 8.1 and 32.4, respectively. If Suárez passes through waivers again, he may reject an outright assignment, elect free agency and sign a fresh minors deal with Baltimore.

Hinds, 26, is joining the Orioles for the first time since they acquired him from the Marlins for cash considerations before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Once a prospect of note with the Reds, Hinds has hit seven home runs and recorded a prodigious .250 ISO in 133 major league plate appearances. However, a 42.1% strikeout rate has limited him to a .169/.218/.419 line and a wRC+ of 68. Hinds has encouragingly slashed his K rate to 21.7% with Norfolk, where he has hit .268/.373/.437 (119 wRC+) with a pair of homers in 83 trips to the plate.