Orioles announce their first roster cuts

It was only a matter of time before the Orioles starting making their first roster cuts of the spring. On Sunday, they announced the cuts as eight players in camp were reassigned to the Minor League.

Hunter Harvey was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. After the cut, manager Brandon Hyde spoke with MASN’s Roch Kubatko about what the plan is for Harvey in the immediate future. Hyde told Kubatko, “Now that our starters are more involved and kind of ramping up innings, we want to get him in a program where he’s able to be able to not pitch and just blow it out for an inning or two, but really get in a structured deal where he’s able to monitor his pitches and monitor his health.”

Hyde continued by saying, “When we had our meeting with him, we told him how impressed we were with what he did the last few weeks. He understood and we just want to do what’s best for him. We felt like the best thing for him right now is to go down there, work on a few more things, stay healthy and break camp with whatever team he goes with and continue to pitch like he’s been pitching here.”

Harvey made two appearances this spring. First in Fort Myers on February 25 against the Twins. Pitching just one inning, he allowed two earned runs on two hits while striking out one. His second appearance came four days later in Sarasota on March 1. Facing the Tampa Bay Rays, he again pitched just one inning, making it through without a hit or a run, however, walking one and striking out two.

Cael Brockmeyer was the only catcher reassigned to Minor League camp so far. Added to Major League camp while Jesús Sucre was in his native country of Venezuela working on Visa issues, Brockmeyer appeared in six Grapefruit League games this spring. He picked up just one hit in four official at-bats.

Three pitchers were assigned to Minor League camp on Sunday. Left-hander Chris Lee and right-handers Zach Pop and Dean Kremer.

Lee pitched twice this spring, working two-and-a-third innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits, three walks and two strikeouts. Pop and Kremer each have dealt with injuries in camp. Pop was limited to just the Opening Day outing on February 23 in Sarasota. Manager Brandon Hyde told Kubatko after his outing, “I think we’re going to be careful with him.” Speaking about Pop’s fastball velocity topping the upper-80s, Hyde said, “His velo was down a little bit yesterday and we recognized that right away and I think we’re going to slow-play him a little bit, make sure he’s feeling 100 percent next time he comes out.”

Kremer showed up to camp with oblique issues. Hyde spoke about his injury at the end of February and told Kubatko, “It’s an oblique, so it’s a whole progression from there. Being fully healthy, some tests and then a throwing progression from there, so he’s still going to be a while.”

Rounding out the first round of roster cuts are outfielders Ryan McKenna, Mike Yastrzemski and infielder Zach Vincej.

McKenna didn’t pick up a hit in three at-bats in the five games he played in, but did walk twice. Yastrzemski didn’t reach base at all though, in nine plate appearances spread over six games. Vincej was 2-for-9 with one strikeout in seven games.