For the second time in the past week, the Orioles have agreed to a big league deal with outfielder/first baseman Cooper Hummel, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC-2. Baltimore originally signed the Gaeta Sports Management client five days ago, but the O’s designated him for assignment the next day before he even appeared in a game. Hummel cleared waivers, rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency, and is now headed right back on the Orioles’ major league roster.
Hummel’s first DFA was spurred by a day-to-day injury to Adley Rutschman. Baltimore’s starting catcher was knocked out of Sunday’s game after taking a foul tip off the mask. He missed the next few days before drawing back into the lineup as a designated hitter on Wednesday. Rutschman and Maverick Handley were the only healthy catchers on the 40-man roster. The O’s needed another catcher to back up Handley while Rutschman was unavailable. They selected the contract of Chadwick Tromp, squeezing Hummel off the roster.
After Rutschman returned to the lineup, he might be ready to resume catching duties as soon as tonight. That’d allow the O’s to designate Tromp for assignment and go back to their previous catching tandem. Hummel would draw back in as their final bench bat. Handley is the only player on Tony Mansolino’s bench who has minor league options.
That’ll include Hummel, who exhausted his final option year as a member of the Astros last season. The switch-hitter spent the bulk of the year on optional assignment with Houston’s Triple-A team. He turned in a strong .277/.419/.454 showing with 10 home runs and 15 stolen bases. An extremely patient hitter throughout his career, Hummel took walks at a near-18% clip in the minors last year. He only got into six big league games, and the Astros elected to designate him for assignment this spring rather than carry him on the Opening Day roster.
Hummel signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in April. He spent most of his tenure on the injured list, only appearing in 10 games for their top farm team before triggering an opt-out clause. He hit .258 with only one extra-base hit, but he drew nine walks to post a .415 on-base percentage. The O’s liked the offensive profile enough to add him to the MLB roster twice in as many weeks.
The 30-year-old Hummel has plenty of minor league catching experience, but he hasn’t logged any time behind the dish since 2023. Baltimore wasn’t comfortable using him as even an emergency option while Rutschman was banged up. He’s essentially limited to the corner outfield and first base at this point.
