Heston

Kjerstad

Kjerstad joins Baltimore’s crowded outfield mix and is likely to be relegated to a bench role for the final couple weeks with Luis Robert Jr. coming over as a waiver claim. The 27-year-old was the second-overall pick in the 2020 draft and hasn’t been able to establish himself as an everyday option at the highest level after missing time for health reasons earlier in his career.

Just what the Orioles needed after claiming Luis Robert off waivers, another outfielder. Kjerstad deserves the chance. He has hit .289/.337/.462 with 11 home runs and 44 RBI in 79 games at Triple-A this season and has hit .301 since the start of July. That being said, it’s hard to see him getting anything more than the rare spot start and pinch-hit at-bats against righties. The Orioles outfield is a mess to predict right now.

This is a bit of a surprise. The 26-year-old Franklin is hitting .249/.375/.360 in Triple-A with six home runs and 17 steals. Meanwhile, Heston Kjerstad is hitting .276/.309/.431 with eight home runs in 59 games in Triple-A for the Orioles. If he wasn’t going to get an opportunity, you wonder if the Orioles could have found any takers for him at the deadline.

Kjerstad had already been at Triple-A Norfolk on a minor league rehab assignment while recovering from his right hamstring strain. He’ll remain there in an everyday role until the O’s have a need for him at the big league level.

The Yankees are throwing left-hander Max Fried, so it’s likely that Beavers would have sat anyway, but the team also sent him for an MRI on his oblique and is “going over the results.” That’s a bit of an ominous sign. Leody Taveras will start in centerfield and bat sixth on Wednesday, but there remains a possibility that Beavers could land on the IL. That would open up playing time for Colton Cowser or potentially Heston Kjerstad (hamstring), who is rehabbing in Triple-A right now.

Kjerstad will presumably get a chance to join Baltimore’s outfield mix at some point later this month. He’s eligible to return from the 60-day injured list next week. The 27-year-old former top prospect has been on the shelf recovering from a hamstring strain since spring training.

The procedural move doesn’t adversely impact Kjerstad’s potential return timeline. The 27-year-old corner outfielder is currently on a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk working his way back from a hamstring strain. He won’t return to Baltimore until at least mid-to-late May.

This will be Holliday’s second stint at Triple-A after leaving a game on April 21st with renewed soreness in his wrist. Both players technically have a path to playing time if they hit well at Triple-A since Jeremiah Jackson has cooled off, and none of Blaze Alexander, Colston Cowser, or Tyler O’Neill are staking their claim to everyday playing time.

Kjerstad has been on the shelf recovering from a hamstring strain since the end of spring training. The 27-year-old former prospect doesn’t have much of a path to playing time in Baltimore once he’s fully healthy given their abundance of corner outfield depth. Still, it’s a positive sign to see him healthy and back in game action again after missing the final few months of last season in the minors with an undisclosed medical issue.

Kjerstad injured his hamstring towards the end of spring training and has been out ever since. Kjerstad really needs to hit the ground running and push his way into the conversation in Baltimore when he gets healthy, but it’s a fairly stacked outfield that has already pushed Colton Cowser to the brink of fantasy irrelevance. It’s hard to imagine Kjerstad having fantasy value in the near future.