Baltimore Orioles sign former A's infielder

Jason Burke | Nov 14, 2024

Sep 16, 2022; Houston, Texas, USA; Oakland Athletics third baseman Vimael Machin (31) throws a fielded ball to first base for an out against the Houston Astros during the second inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images / Erik Williams-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have officially signed former A's infielder Vimael Machín to a minor league contract, per the MLB.com transactions page. The 31-year-old native of Puerto Rico was originally with the Chicago Cubs, but the Athletics snagged him in the 2019 Rule 5 Draft, and he subsequently made his MLB debut the following year in 2020.

Machín spent parts of three seasons with the A's in Oakland, getting into a total of 112 games and spent time at every position on the infield besides catcher. He was mostly used at third base, getting into 68 games at the position during the 2022 season. That year he ended up hitting .220 with a .300 OBP across 253 plate appearances, and even slugged his one and only home run that season.

The defense he provided in Oakland wasn't necessarily great, as he registered with -8 Outs Above Average per Statcast across his three seasons with the club, with six of those coming at the hot corner.

At the dish, he walked exactly 10% of the time across those three seasons and struck out 18.6% of the time, but his barrel rate sat at just 3.1% and his exit velocity, while slightly above league average at 89.5 miles per hour, also came with a launch angle of 9.1 degrees. This led to a lot of ground balls and low line drives. Given his relative lack of power, this wasn't the worst combination, however.

Following the 2022 season, Machín elected free agency and signed on with the Philadelphia Phillies on a minor league deal but did not reach the big leagues.

Machín spent the 2024 campaign playing in Indy ball in the Mexican League, where he absolutely crushed the pitching there, batting .401 with a .495 OBP and seven home runs across 85 games. He is currently playing in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

In his time with the A's he had some solid bat-to-ball skills, which were his calling card. It's unclear if he's added a little more to that profile in the two seasons since, but the Orioles must have seen something they liked. It always looked like there was some untapped potential with Machín, and the O's may be the ones to bring it out of him.