Josh

Walker

The demotion comes as a bit of a surprise as Walker has pitched well in his limited action for the Orioles, hurling three scoreless innings with a 0.67 WHIP and a 4/1 K/BB ratio. He should get another opportunity with the big league club in relatively short order.

Walker gets the call to join Baltimore’s relief corps after spending a couple weeks in the minors. He was in camp as a non-roster invitee this spring. The well-traveled 31-year-old has made 27 appearances in the big leagues since 2023. He got into three contests for the Blue Jays last year before bouncing around between several other organizations.

The latest cutdown from Orioles camp reduces their flock to 53 players. Noda is the most prominent inclusion based on his big-league experience while Walker was the one with the most likely path to a spot on Baltimore’s season-opening roster as a left-handed relief option.

Walker passed through waivers earlier this week after being designated for assignment back in late December. The 31-year-old southpaw has bounced around between the Braves and Orioles over the past couple months but it appears he’ll enter spring training as part of Baltimore’s relief mix now that the dust has settled.

The 31-year-old southpaw was just claimed off of waivers from the Braves last week, but he’ll get the boot from the O’s 40-man roster after Friday’s acquisition of Shane Baz. It’s possible that Walker could sneak through waivers this time around and continue to function as extra bullpen depth for the Orioles.

The Orioles are reclaiming Walker four weeks after losing him to the Braves on waivers. Odds are that he’ll go right back on waivers later this month, but maybe he’ll clear next time around. The Orioles like him enough to want him around to contend for a bullpen spot, just not enough to permanently use an offseason roster spot on him.

Walker is removed from the 40-man roster to make room for a pair of new roster additions for Atlanta via waivers. The 31-year-old was just claimed off waivers from Baltimore last month, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if another club grabs him. If not, Walker will be eligible to elect free agency if he so chooses.

The Orioles thought giving Walker a guaranteed one-year contract last week would help him clear waivers, but the Braves decided they’d take it on. Walker, 30, has a 6.59 ERA in 27 1/3 major league innings since debuting in 2023. He never pitched in the majors for the Orioles, who claimed him off waivers from the Phillies in August. That he’s out of options makes him less valuable as a fringe bullpen option.

Baltimore agreed to a new deal with Walker earlier this week seemingly in anticipation of this exact scenario where they needed to remove him from their 40-man roster. The club is hoping the new deal with prevent another club from picking him up off waivers but that’s hardly a guarantee.

As with Rico Garcia and Luis Vázquez, this is another case of the Orioles getting a quick MLB deal done with someone they might choose to drop from the 40-man later. Walker has yet to make his Orioles debut, having finished out the season in the minors after being claimed off waivers from the Phillies in August. The 30-year-old has a 6.59 ERA in 27 1/3 innings as a major leaguer since debuting with the Mets in 2023.