Baltimore Orioles Make Flurry of Roster Moves Ahead of Sunday Game with Tigers

The Baltimore Orioles made a flurry of roster moves Sunday morning ahead of their series finale with the Detroit Tigers.

Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles enter play Sunday with an 86-69 record, leading the pack for the first American League Wild Card berth with a 4.5-game lead over the Kansas City Royals for the second berth.

While the Orioles jumped out to a hot start for the season, with a 65-44 record through July 31st, they have gone just 21-25 in the 46 games since then.

They have been missing two members of their offensive core over that stretch, with Jordan Westburg last playing on July 31st and Ramon Urias last playing on August 31st.

On Sunday, Baltimore announced that reinforcements were coming, with Westburg and Urias returning from injury.

To make room on the roster for the two returning players, the Orioles have optioned outfielder Daniel Johnson and infielder Livan Soto to the Triple-A Norfolk Tide.

We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/O1kJOwu8C2

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 22, 2024

Westburg was in the middle of a breakout sophomore campaign in the Majors with a .269/.317/.497 line to go along with 48 extra-base hits, 18 being home runs, 58 RBI, and a 133 OPS+ across 420 plate appearances in 101 games.

Westburg was named to his first All-Star Game this year and has shown improvement at the plate that should carry over into 2025.

Urias was in the middle of one of the best offensive seasons of his career thus far, batting .252/.327/.427 with 21 extra-base hits, 10 being home runs, 35 RBI, and a 118 OPS+ across 275 plate appearances in 93 games.

Adding these two players back to the roster as we enter the last week of the season could be a boon to Baltimores chances in the playoffs.