Ruiz moved to Norfolk, Peterson gets called up
Utility player was hitting .313 with 10 HR at Triple-A
ANAHEIM, CALIF. — Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was quick to characterize the team’s roster move that sent Opening Day third baseman Rio Ruiz to Triple-A Norfolk for utility man Jace Peterson as being more about the latter than the former.
In somewhat of a surprise, the Orioles optioned Ruiz after Wednesday’s loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the third straight game in which Ruiz was retired as a pinch-hitter. They promoted Peterson on Thursday, filling one of two vacancies on their 40-man roster with a 29-year-old who has played everywhere but catcher in his major league career.
“It was more about getting Jace here,” Hyde said. “He’s had a really nice year in Triple-A and is gonna add some versatility to our club, playing middle infield, third base, as well as corner outfield. He’s earned it.
“Any time you can add versatility is for the better.”
Last week, Peterson was named the International League Hitter of the Week on July 15, opted out of his minor league deal with the Orioles the next day, then re-signed with the club July 19. Less than a week later, he’s back in the majors for the first time since hitting .195/.308/.325 in 93 games with Baltimore last year.
Coming off a 12-game hitting streak for the Tides, Peterson hit .313/.398/.512 slashline with 10 homers and 13 steals for Norfolk. He said his new deal with the Orioles didn’t include any guarantees of a promotion, though he knew a return to the organization was a possibility even after initially leaving.
“For me, it was a good opportunity to continue to be here and be able to be back in the big leagues,” Peterson said. “Once I signed that new contract, I went back to Norfolk and had a good feeling that if I kept doing what I was doing, I’d eventually get a shot, and if not, then so be it. For me, it was still a pretty good opportunity for me to make it up to the big leagues at some point, and it worked out.”
Ruiz’s demotion comes at a strange time, as he was slashing .326/.360/.478 in 18 games since June 28, but the 25-year-old was hitting .238/.306/.335 overall. Used primarily as a part of a third-base platoon with Hanser Alberto, Ruiz’s five home runs have all come against right-handed pitchers, with Hyde saying the Orioles want to get him regular at-bats in Triple-A.
“Rio did a nice job, especially defensively, while he was here,” Hyde said. “We talked about a few things for him to work on offensively, and he knows that, and he’s gonna go down there. He’ll be back up here at some point.
“To go down there and get everyday at-bats, we felt like was important.” America’s midseason rankings of each organization’s farm system, tied for the organization’s highest ranking ever.
Although many of the Orioles’ top prospects are holdovers from the previous front-office regime, new executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias secured a handful of the club’s best minor leaguers in last month’s draft. Baseball America has catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 overall pick and the Orioles’ topranked prospect, as the No. 5 prospect in all of baseball.
Low-minors pitching is another strength of the system. 2017 first-rounder DL Hall and 2018 first-round pick Grayson Rodriguez represented the Orioles in the Futures Game, while three of Double-A Bowie’s pitchers have the three best ERAs in the Eastern League.
“I think if we’re getting recognized as a top 10 organization talent wise in the system, man, that’s fantastic,” Hyde said. “We are where we are up here right now, but we’re excited about the guys that have been mentioned, and obviously, when you get ranked like that, there’s a lot of players doing good things, especially our pitchers down in Double-A, High-A, A-ball, and obviously, adding Rutschman really helps. There’s some good things going on and we’re happy about that.”
Around the horn
Jimmy Yacabonis started Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels because Hyde wanted him to match up with the right-handed hitters in the Angels’ lineup.
Originally announced starter Tom Eshelman is likely to cover the middle innings after Yacabonis, Hyde said. …
Hyde, a Long Beach State product, had dinner with some of his college coaches Wednesday night.