Aaron

Hicks

The 34-year-old outfielder had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. He passed through waivers unclaimed and was granted his outright release. He’s now free to latch on elsewhere if any teams are in the market for a switch-hitting outfielder that was batting .140/.222/.193 during his time with the Halos.

In 18 games with the Angels, Hicks hit just .140/.222/.193. The outfielder was solid with the Orioles in 2023, but was anything but — albeit in a limited sample — over his month with the Angels. He can either report to Triple-A, or hit free agency if the Angels don’t decide to release him.

Hicks broke a scoreless stalemate by slicing a fourth-inning homer to right field off Marlins lefty Jesús Luzardo and also added an RBI single off reliever Bryan Hoeing a couple frames later.

It was a nice game, but Moniak didn’t make up ground on Aaron Hicks, who had two of the Angels’ remaining three hits on the day. There will be room for both in the lineup against righties if Luis Rengifo opens up on the injured list. Otherwise, manager Ron Washington will be picking between the two most days. Moniak has hit .304/.353/.457 this spring, while Hicks has come in at .405/.532/.703. Jo Adell has also been decent (.244/.271/.533), but he’ll probably play primarily against lefties initially.

It seems like Ron Washington favors Mickey Moniak against right-handers, but Hicks has a pretty good case to start in right field after the way he played for the Orioles last season, and he’s added to it while hitting .375/.524/.719 this spring. It’s quite possible both Hicks and Moniak will get their fill of playing time initially if Luis Rengifo is pushed to the IL with his hamstring troubles.

Hitting out of the leadoff spot for the Halos, Hicks went down swinging in his first at-bat. That would be the only time he was retired. He singled off of Paul Sewald in the third inning before leading off the sixth with a game-tying solo shot off of Kyle Nelson. Hicks finished his day by working a walk off of Andrew Saalfrank in the seventh. The 34-year-old outfielder is having a strong spring so far, hitting .455 (5-for-11) with a homer and two RBI in his first five games.

Since he was available for the major league minimum, the Angels certainly had to guarantee Hicks a fair amount of playing time in signing him last month. So, while Hicks might be technically battling Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell in right field, there’s little doubt he’ll be in the lineup most of the time in April. Fortunately, the Angels never did sign a pure DH (Brandon Drury, who is also an option in the infield, is favored to get most of the starts there), so if Moniak and/or Adell produce, there should be sufficient at-bats available to keep everyone happy.

Hicks will get $740K from the Angels, but the Yankees are responsible for $8.76 million in 2024, plus $9.5 million in 2025 and $1 million buyout for 2026. Since it’s a major league deal, Hicks will be on the 40-man roster. The Yankees released Hicks after he hit .188/.263/.261 in 28 games to start the 2023 season. He latched on with Baltimore and proceeded to find the fountain of youth, slashing .275/.381/.425 in 65 games with seven home runs and six steals. However, nothing under the surface suggests that his hot stretch with Baltimore should lead to continued success. He will compete with Jo Adell, Willie Calhoun, and Mickey Moniak for outfield at-bats.

The 34-year-old outfielder opened the scoring in the contest with a two-out, two-run single off of Jordan Montgomery in the home half of the first inning. He then clobbered a 411-foot three-run shot off of Jose Leclerc in the ninth inning that pulled the Orioles to within three runs at 11-8, though that would be as close as they would get. The Orioles are now just one loss away from being eliminated from the postseason, with the series shifting to Texas for Game 3 on Tuesday.

No real surprises here for the Orioles with Rutschman, who missed some time due to illness at the conclusion of the regular season, spearheading Baltimore’s lineup in their first home postseason contest since 2014. Here’s the full lineup card: Austin Hays (LF), Rutschman (C), Anthony Santander (DH), Ryan Mountcastle (1B), Gunnar Henderson (SS), Aaron Hicks (RF), Jordan Westburg (2B), Cedric Mullins (CF), Ramón Urías (3B).