April 25: Huff cleared waivers and opted for free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment, according to MLB.com’s Jake Rill.
April 21: The Orioles announced the catcher on Tuesday Sam Huff selected for assignment. His place on the list will be held Adley Rutschmanwho is returning from a brief stint on the 10-day injured list with a minor ankle injury.
Huff was just named to the major league roster last week. He appeared in three games with Baltimore, going 2-for-9 with a double, an RBI and five strikeouts in nine plate appearances. With Rutschman back from the injured list, however, the O’s could return their duties to the Opening Day tandem of Rutschman and hope. Samuel Basallo.
Huff, 28, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in January. The former Rangers starter has now played parts of six major league seasons and is slashing .246/.299/.427 with twelve homers in 281 trips to the batter’s box. That’s probably a mid-league offense, with a wRC+ rating, and over 10% better than the average catcher. However, Huff’s result came despite a massive 36.3% hit rate. He needs a .354 average on balls in play to reach the league average in hitting. Therefore, it is unlikely that he will be able to sustain his current pace.
On the defensive side of things, Huff has had strong independent marks in his limited league career. He struggled blocking ground balls and controlling the run game. The former seventh-round pick has just an 18.5% career strikeout rate and has been charged with eight walks in 527 innings behind the dish.
Baltimore will have five days to trade Huff or place him on waivers entirely. (The last one looks like this.) Waiver can be another 48-hour process, so the result of today’s DFA will be known within a week. If he clears waivers, Huff could be assigned to Triple-A Norfolk, where he hit .156/.250/.168 in 36 plate appearances before being called up to the big team. However, as innocent as he has been in the past, he had the right to turn down a minor league assignment in favor of freedom.
