O's deal Wright to M's for infield prospect Ogren

Karns (forearm) to begin rehab assignment with Double-A Bowie

April 24th, 2019

BALTIMORE -- After nearly eight years in the Orioles organization, is getting a fresh start. The Orioles traded Wright to the Mariners on Wednesday, three days after designating the right-hander for assignment.

In return, the club acquired infield prospect Ryne Ogren, then assigned the 22-year-old to Class A Delmarva. A 12th-round pick out of Elon University in 2018, Ogren played three positions across 55 games at Short Season Class A Everett last year in his first year of pro ball, hitting .250 with a .700 OPS and seeing time at second, short and third. He also made a one-game cameo at Triple-A Tacoma.

Wright's tenure with the Orioles came to an end Sunday after he allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings of a 16-7 loss to the Twins. A converted starter, Wright owns a 9.45 ERA across 10 relief appearances in 2019, and a career 5.95 ERA over 101 games dating back to 2015.

“Mike is a great guy and I was pulling for him, obviously, to have success here,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Now he’s getting another opportunity with a big league club. Good for him. Happy for him. Seattle is getting a really good person over there, so I hope he has success.”

Karns heading out
Relieved the forearm soreness that interrupted Nate Karns’ rehab assignment isn’t serious, the club is sending Karns back out to continue said assignment Thursday night. The right-hander is scheduled to make “a couple outings” at Bowie, where he’ll join a squad that could use some help on the offensive end.

The Baysox were held hitless by a Double-A Erie team led by Tigers No.10 prospect Alex Faedo on Wednesday, the second time they’ve been no-hit this season.

Karns was placed on the injured list April 9 after his fastball velocity dipped into the low-80s. He missed much of the past two years to arm injuries, and is inactive with what the Orioles are calling right forearm tightness.

From the trainer’s room
The Orioles faced their share of injury scares in the midst of their 9-1 win Tuesday night, notably with starting catcher Jesus Sucre and Rio Ruiz, who has settled into the club’s everyday third-baseman role. Those concerns, though, lasted just a brief time.

Ruiz was back in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s finale, after shaking off a Josh Osich fastball to the right hand and a collision with Stevie Wilkerson in left field during Tuesday’s contest. Sucre remained in last night’s game after being struck on the left funny bone by a Carson Fulmer fastball, and was available off the bench Wednesday.

Worth noting
• Without a true center fielder after optioning Cedric Mullins to Triple-A earlier this week, it sounds like the Orioles will soldier on with Joey Rickard and Wilkerson as their primary options at the position. Hyde stopped short of calling Dwight Smith Jr. a candidate to see reps in center, emphasizing the job Smith has done in left so far. Smith has 115 games of Minor League experience in center, but made only 10 appearances there since 2014.

John Means became the 12th Oriole to start a game on his birthday when he toed the rubber Wednesday, according to STATS, and the first to do so since Wei-Yin Chen on July 21, 2015. Chen turned 30 that day; Means turned 26 on Wednesday.