Roundabout route has Hoes back in Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- L.J. Hoes. took a roundabout way to get to Baltimore, but he's here now, and batted eighth and manned left field on Sunday against the Red Sox.

In his first Major League start, Hoes went 0-for-3. He struck out when he went around too far on a check swing in the third, grounded out to third in the fifth and grounded out to second in the seventh.

"Just excited. Happy to be back here," said Hoes, Baltimore's No. 7 prospect as ranked by MLB.com. "Just anxious to get started and glad to have the opportunity to be back up on this team. Things are starting to get tight, and it's starting to get late in the season. So I'm just happy to be up here and help any way I can."

But getting here was a bit of an adventure.

Hoes, who learned of his callup at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday while playing for the Tides, flew from Rochester to Detroit that night, but the plane had to circle because of thunderstorms in Detroit. The plane ran low on gas, so it detoured to Cleveland to refuel. By the time Hoes got to Detroit, he had missed his connection to Baltimore.

So he spent the night in Detroit and arrived in Baltimore at about 9 a.m. on Sunday after having what manager Buck Showalter said was about an hour of sleep -- not because of the travel but "because he was so excited."

After a brief Major League stint last September in which he had just one at-bat, Hoes received this call expecting to play.

"I'm a fan of the game. I've been an Orioles fan since I was a young kid. Just to see the team where it was last year, being a fan, you just paid a lot of attention," Hoes said. "Sitting beside [first-base coach Wayne] Kirby last year was just a good situation for me, because he taught me a lot of things."

In 430 plate appearance at Triple-A this season, Hoes hit .304/.406/.403, with 58 walks and 56 strikeouts.

"He was our best option as a right-handed-hitting outfielder -- or, really, [our best option] period," Showalter said. "He's doing as well as anybody down there. He's been very consistent. … the strikeout totals and the walk totals, consistent approach and average."

Against right-handers, Hoes will likely be on the bench along with Ryan Flaherty, Alexi Casilla and Taylor Teagarden.

To make room on the active roster for Hoes, the Orioles designated Jairo Asencio for assignment. Asencio has 10 days to either be traded or claimed by another team and put on their Major League roster. If not he can go to Triple-A Norfolk.