The Orioles announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Chadwick Tromp. Utility player Cooper Hummel has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count stays at 39.
The moves seem to be motivated by the Baltimore catching corps being banged up. Gary Sánchez has already been on the injured for about a month due to wrist inflammation. Adley Rutschman took a foul ball off the mask yesterday and left the game, getting replaced by Maverick Handley. Rutschman is still on the roster but it’s possible he isn’t going to be available for a day or two, with Handley in the lineup today, so the club has added another backstop for insurance.
Tromp, 30, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in April. He had been with Atlanta for a number of years but got squeezed out there. That club promoted Drake Baldwin to pair with Sean Murphy as the big league catching tandem earlier this year. Tromp is out of options, so he got sent off the 40-man, eventually clearing waivers and electing free agency.
He has since played 20 games for Triple-A Norfolk, getting 71 plate appearances. He has three home runs and a strong 11.3% walk rate, though also a high strikeout rate of 25.4%. His .254/.338/.413 line translates to a 106 wRC+. His major league career has led to a less impressive .224/.235/.385 line and 62 wRC+ in 162 plate appearances, though he’s considered a solid defender and has often hit well in the minors.
It’s possible it will be a fairly short stay in the big leagues. As mentioned, Rutschman has avoided the IL so far and might be back in the lineup in a few days. Given Tromp’s out-of-options status, it’s possible he is destined for DFA limbo again in the near future, though optioning Handley is another possibility the O’s could consider.
Hummel losing his roster spot today is an unfortunate bit of collateral damage connected to the catching situation. The O’s just added him to the roster yesterday. Like Tromp, he is out of options and got squeezed away from another club.
He started the season with the Astros and hit .316/.435/.447 in spring training but didn’t make the Opening Day roster. He was sent through waivers unclaimed, elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Yankees. He was hurt for a while and only got into ten Triple-A games for the Yanks but nonetheless decided to trigger a release clause in that deal, which allowed him to sign with the O’s.
Now it’s possible that Hummel is destined for the open market again. The O’s will likely place him on waivers in the coming days. He could get claimed based on his strong minor league numbers but no one grabbed him earlier in the year. If he goes unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency, as he did a couple of months back.
Dating back to the start of 2021, he has 1,460 minor league plate appearances with a 17.6% walk rate and 20.8% strikeout rate. That’s helped him produce a combined .284/.419/.475 line and 132 wRC+ in that time. He has also played catcher and the four corner spots, though his last work behind the plate was in 2023.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
Hummel’s time as an Oriole literally may have been less than 24hrs…dude literally just got there.
It’s a tough life for fringe guys.
On the plus side, the Orioles now have to be in the lead for the catching duo name-game.
Chadwick Tromp and Maverick Handley is quite a pairing (of names).
Hahaha 😂😂😂😂😂😂
God, these teams act like they’re buying underwear from Amazon, they think they can just use it once and then return it to a UPS Store. These are lives, not undergarments!
Tromp needs to drain that Baltimore swamp and Make the Orioles Great Again. MOGA.
Hahahah
As a black man this offends me. Take it down NOW! Or else you’ll get to see my Dark Passenger come out of me…
Keep that thing in your pants!
“God these teams..not undergarments”…Mrs. Hummel, I assure you the Orioles have nothing but the highest regard for your son, Cooper. I know many of us in player ops spent several sleepless nights before making this decision.
It’s nothing personal, but unfortunately DFAs and releases are part of the sometimes cruel world of sports. On the flip side, now Cooper will have the time to finally clean out that attic you’ve wanted. Have a great day, ma’am.
Let’s not get carried away here, Lloyd. Hummel is, was, and largely has been a triple-A player who gets an occasional and brief call-up. He will still manage to be just that, even after this DFA, so he hasn’t lost anything. Plus, he got paid an extra four thousand dollars for that day on the roster.
Underoos are fun to wear when you have no underwear
Really ?
Be a man and go commando !
The players sign the contract, they know exactly what life is like in the minors, majors and being shuttled between the two. People who are living out their dream are typically more than willing to make sacrifices
Oldg, This has nothing to do with masculinity. Pants alone cannot contain my flesh torpedo.
Chaps
In before the “please don’t say anything mean about Dear Leader” comments.
Eric is that you
Allow me to explain how this usually progresses. Someone makes a joke about Trump. Someone defends Trump. Then another liberal retorts. That’s usually the last round until someone says we shouldn’t post politics here. At this point it just becomes a tangle of Right vs Left vs Aggressive Neutral.
So since you can see it all before the show begins..can we just not?
Well done SCM
Challenge accepted!
Which side you taking? I’ll take the other. Doesn’t matter which…Go!
Bla bla bla woke. Bla bla bla DEI. Bla bla bla litter boxes. Bla bla bla Arnold Palmer’s wiener. Bla bla bla like no one has ever seen in the history of the world. Bla bla bla…
Wait Arnold Palmer’s Weiner does it taste like lemonade or something?! Bla bla bla tyrant. Bla bla bla fascist.
Here’s the ground rules:
Tromp not Trump
Right vs Left Discussions limited to:
Splits
Matchups
Pitchers/Hitters
Voting Discussions limited to:
All Star Game
HOF
Big Beautiful Bill discussions limited to:
Bill Buckner
Bill Madlock
Billy Martin
Billy Beane
Any Bill regarding new stadiums
Exception:
Bill Belichek
Bravo. It would be nice if we could all sign this MLBTR Constitution. As the designer, would you consider an amendment? Chad Billingsly. =D
Since he an Oriole he can be dubbed Orange. If he commits highway robbery on d he can be dubbed the Orange Felon. When he gets caught stealing, he goes to jail.
Works out for Hummel. Gets a day of major league pay. Now he goes on waivers. If he gets claimed he gets to stay in the majors since he’s out of options. If not he goes to Norfolk. Unless he rejects the outright and signs a minor league contract elsewhere. I am sure the Orioles told him to rent not by.
I predict a long plane ride and some culture shock in Mr. Hummel’s future.
Hummel thought he was in Baltimore to stay…but the Orioles had yet to play their Tromp card.
You bring a guy up because you say you need a catcher because of injury but yet you get rid of a catcher. Now why don’t teams start making deals with these guys like Hummel to where they keep their 40 man roster spot but go to minors so they can keep collecting that 40 man salary while in minors. It would be interesting to see the records of teams with the least shuffling of players.
This move suggests that at this point in his career they don’t view Hummel as a viable catcher.
What, exactly, are you referring to, stubby? Which “40-man salary”? Do you mean the major league minimum (which is $760K), or the salary scale for AAA players who are on the 40-man. Players like Hummel, who shuttle back and forth with regularity, often sign minor league deals for well over the scale for AAA players on the 40-man. Some of them are making a few hundred thousand for playing in AAA.
As ba$eba||f@n said above, these players know how the process works when they decide to sign the contract. A 30-year old like Hummel knows this better than most.
Hummel was never viewed as a good catcher. His value was in his bat and his versatility. He hasn’t caught a game in the majors since 2022, or the minors since ’23.
Orange is the new black
Bring back McCann
Basallo’s tearing up AAA and they bring up Tromp. That’s typical dumb Orioles front office decision-making.
@Hank
“Basallo’s tearing up AAA and they bring up Tromp. That’s typical dumb Orioles front office decision-making.”
They need a fill in catcher due to Adley’s likely concussion. Basallo hadn’t resumed catching duties until 2 weeks ago. Let me see if I get this straight — you want to risk injury to your number 1 prospect behind the dish for an injury fill in where Tromp will do a fine job? He hasn’t had all that many ABs since his hamstring injury either. That seems like typical over-reactive fan decision-making.
47!
I hope Tromp does well, he was solid for the Braves and he is a good defensive catcher.
Tromp was able to win in GA. Maryland presents a bigger challenge.
Is this Tromp 2.0?