Orioles select Gold Glove winner amid flurry of roster moves

The Orioles announced that they have placed catcher Chadwick Tromp on the 10-day injured list due to a lower back strain. Fellow backstop Jacob Stallings has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Stallings, infielder Emmanuel Rivera has been designated for assignment. Outfielder Dylan Carlson has been recalled to take Rivera’s active roster spot. The O’s also announced that right-hander Kyle Tyler, who was recently designated for assignment, has rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency.

Baltimore has been hit with a barrage of catcher injuries in recent weeks. Adley Rutschman went to the injured list with an oblique strain in the middle of June. A few days later, Maverick Handley landed on the concussion-related IL. Those injuries got Tromp to the big leagues but now he himself has landed on the shelf.

At the same time Tromp was getting called up, the O’s signed Stallings for some experienced catching depth. The 35-year-old had just been released by the Rockies after getting out to an awful start this year, hitting .143/.217/.179. But he has a solid reputation for his glovework and veteran leadership behind the plate. His offense was also better as recently as last year, when he slashed .263/.357/.453.

His solid performance in 2024 prompted the Rockies to re-sign him to a one-year deal with a $2.5M guarantee. But now that they’ve released him, they are on the hook for the majority of that money. The O’s will only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum salary for any time he spends on the roster. He should serve as backup to Gary Sánchez, at least until Rutschman or the other backstops are able to come off the IL.

Rivera, 29, was just added to the roster a few days ago. That move was seemingly prompted by Jordan Westburg dealing with a finger injury. Westburg has missed the past three games and is out of the lineup again today, but presumably the finger has healed up enough that he could be back in there soon, which has allowed them to sacrifice some infield depth in order to address their catching situation.

This is the third time Rivera has been designated for assignment by the Orioles. In each case, he has gone unclaimed on waivers and accepted an outright assignment. He has between three and five years of service time, meaning he has the right to elect free agency when outrighted but has to forfeit his remaining salary in order to exercise that right. He is making $1M this year, making it understandable that he keeps accepting. It’s possible the same sequence of events plays out in the coming days.

Tyler, 28, never pitched for the Orioles at the big league level. He was claimed off waivers from the Phillies a couple of weeks ago but kept on optional assignment. Since he has been previously outrighted in his career, he has the right to elect free agency and has done so.

His major league experience consists of 48 innings thrown across three separate seasons with a 4.31 earned run average, 15.9% strikeout rate, 12% walk rate and 48.3% ground ball rate. From 2021 to 2025, he tossed 397 minor league innings with a 4.65 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and grounders on almost half the balls in play he allowed.