Orioles option two to Triple-A, reassign two

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Orioles' roster continued to take shape on Wednesday, with the club optioning Henry Urrutia and Steve Johnson to Triple-A Norfolk and reassigning outfielder Quintin Berry and infielder Alexi Casilla to Minor League camp after the game against the Red Sox.

The O's now have 36 players at Major League camp, including four non-roster invitees, in advance of Sunday's deadline to set the 25-man roster.

Casilla was competing for the second-base job and was also considered the front-runner for the utility job entering camp. But a pair of injuries kept him sidelined most of spring, and the club will now decide between Jemile Weeks, Jonathan Schoop and Steve Lombardozzi for both the second-base job and the utility spot. Ryan Flaherty will move to third base, with Manny Machado starting the season on the disabled list.

Can Schoop, the organization's top position player prospect, make the club as a bench guy, or is he looked at as a starter only?

"I think he can do both," manager Buck Showalter said. "Obviously, he probably starts at one position down at Norfolk, though he's capable of moving around. I feel comfortable with him at third or second, and he'll play a lot of short. That's why we try not to have guys in the Minor Leagues play one position in the infield, unless they're first basemen.

"I've got a pretty good idea of which way we're going to go."

Casilla will play shortstop at Triple-A Norfolk. Johnson, who will be part of Norfolk's rotation, pitched a scoreless inning in Wednesday afternoon's win against the Red Sox and allowed six earned runs over 10 innings this spring. Berry, part of a crowded outfield mix, went 8-for-35 in 22 games, with two doubles, a triple and five RBIs.

Showalter praised Urrutia for his improvement from a year ago.

"Keep in mind that last spring, we didn't know much about this guy," Showalter said of Urrutia, who got a late start in camp after defecting from Cuba. "Put yourself in where he was in his life, come on. I don't know if he's been this much defensively, but he's a lot better than the first time we saw him. He started playing [better] in the [Arizona] Fall League."