Orioles place lefty Tanner Scott on 10-day IL with knee sprain

The Orioles placed left-hander Tanner Scott on the 10-day injured list due to a left knee sprain.  Fellow lefty Keegan Akin has been reinstated from the COVID-related injury list to take Scott’s place on the active roster, while right-hander Thomas Eshelman was designated for assignment to open up a 40-man roster spot.

Scott has a 3.95 ERA/4.12 SIERA over 41 innings out of Baltimore’s bullpen this season, with a very strong 31.4% strikeout rate.  However, Scott’s 16.5% walk rate is one of the worst in baseball, continuing the control problems that have plagued the southpaw over his 143 career innings in the Show.  Despite these free passes, Scott still drew a lot of attention prior to the trade deadline, as rival teams were intrigued by his high fastball velocity and the fact that Scott isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2024 season.

This is the third time in as many seasons that the Orioles have DFA’d Eshelman, with the previous two designations resulting in the right-hander being outrighted to Triple-A.  All 92 of Eshelman’s career major league innings have come with Baltimore in those three seasons, with the righty posting a 5.87 ERA and only an 11% strikeout rate.  The swingman has been mostly used in the rotation in 2021, as Eshelman has started five of his six games.