Less than a week after being traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Baltimore Orioles, Cristian Pache was designated for assignment Thursday. Pache, 25, will now lose his roster spot with the Orioles to make room for new additions Eloy Jimenez, and Austin Slater along with Trevor Rogers and the club also recalled Livan Soto. One spot was open after Jordan Westburg landed on the 10-day injured list. To open more roster spots, Heston Kjerstad and Keegan Akin were optioned.
For Pache, he appeared in three games for the Orioles with a hit during his lone at-bat. However, this season, he holds a middling .570 OPS through 119 plate appearances.
Cristian Pache Dropped from 40-man Roster
Baltimore’s roster has plenty of position player depth and the outfield is strong without Hays. Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser and Anthony Santander have taken the bulk of the playing time. Pache is more of a glove-first type of player over hitting, eventually landing a bench role in his brief time. He was once considered one of the top prospects in baseball when he was in the Atlanta Braves farm system. His hitting didn’t match up to his speed and defense as he hit .181/.244/.274 in 546 plate appearances. But he found work with his glove, racking up 12 Defensive Runs saved in over 1,300 innings in the outfield.
Oakland acquired Pache as part of the Matt Olson trade. Pache was then flipped to the Phillies last season, mostly playing in a bench role. The Orioles were intrigued by giving Pache a similar role but opted to move on with Slater instead. Baltimore is off the hook with Pache as they won’t have to trade him elsewhere. Pache will become available to all 29 clubs as he will be put on waivers. Once he clears waivers, he will be eligible for free agency.
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