{"id":71174,"date":"2024-04-23T12:30:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T16:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=71174"},"modified":"2024-04-23T12:10:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T16:10:28","slug":"orioles-pick-recall-heston-kjerstad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/23\/orioles-pick-recall-heston-kjerstad\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles Recall Former First Round Draft Pick After Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Baltimore Orioles are planning to recall their No. 4 prospect, outfielder Heston Kjerstad, to replace the injured Austin Hays.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Orioles plan to recall outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad on Tuesday, a source with direct knowledge tells The Baltimore Sun.<\/p>\n<p>Kjerstad, the No. 42 prospect in baseball, is hitting .349 with a 1.176 OPS in Triple-A this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jcalvinmeyer\/status\/1782582047778730206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After weeks of tearing up minor league pitching, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=kjerst000hes\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heston Kjerstad<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is getting his second big league opportunity. His recall comes after the Orioles placed outfielder <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/haysau01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Austin Hays<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the injured list with a calf strain on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drafted second overall by the Orioles in 2020, Kjerstad is ranked <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/01\/31\/orioles-prospects-top-100-2024\/\" target=\"_self\">No. 29 in MLB Pipeline\u2019s Top 100 Prospects<\/a>. The 25-year-old outfielder batted .303 with 21 home runs and 55 RBI between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk last season. Kjerstad was called up by the Orioles and made his major league debut in September following an injury to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mountry01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ryan Mountcastle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He batted .233\/.281\/.467 with two home runs and three RBI in 13 games with the Orioles last season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kjerstad had a relatively quiet spring batting just .265\/.294\/.286 with a double and three RBI. He was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/03\/23\/orioles-holliday-minor-leagues\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk to begin the 2024 season<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but remained on the Orioles 40-man roster. In 21 games with Norfolk, Kjerstad has torn up Triple-A pitching, batting .349\/.431\/.744 with a 1.175 OPS. He leads all of Triple-A with 10 home runs and 30 RBI. Baltimore\u2019s No. 4 ranked prospect set a single-game Tides record with 10 RBI in Norfolk\u2019s 26-11 win earlier this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Heston Kjerstad slams his way into the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NorfolkTides?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@NorfolkTides<\/a> record books!<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s a 10-RBI game for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Orioles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Orioles<\/a>&#8216; fourth-ranked prospect \ud83d\ude2e <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/STuTlHFXgc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/STuTlHFXgc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MiLB\/status\/1775701389857230877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Orioles Recall Top Prospect Heston Kjerstad<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hays left Saturday\u2019s game in Kansas City early with a left calf strain and was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde does not expect Hays to be sidelined beyond the 10-day stint. Coming off of his first All-Star season, Hays is having a tough start to the year. The 28-year-old is batting just .111 with a .311 OPS in 19 games and 11 starts this season. Baltimore will replace the right-handed Hays with the left-handed Kjerstad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit of a tough year for him so far this year,\u201d Hyde said of Hays yesterday. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate because I thought he was starting to swing the bat these last couple games he played and he\u2019d be in there tonight, but injuries happen and hopefully just a little blip on a good season for him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another roster move is expected today recalling Kjerstad after catcher <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=banuel000dav\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Ba\u00f1uelos<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had his contract selected while on Baltimore\u2019s taxi squad. Outfielder <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=burdic000pey\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peyton Burdick<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who was batting just .182 through 16 games with Triple-A Norfolk was designated for assignment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heston Kjerstad will join the Orioles in Anaheim and could crack the lineup tonight against Angels right-hander <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cannigr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Griffin Canning<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Baltimore Orioles are planning to recall their No. 4 prospect, outfielder Heston Kjerstad, to replace the injured Austin Hays. &nbsp; The Orioles plan to recall outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad on Tuesday, a source with direct knowledge tells The Baltimore Sun. Kjerstad, the No. 42 prospect in baseball, is hitting .349 with a 1.176 OPS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4975,"featured_media":71190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1071],"tags":[3368,2527,1303,3336],"class_list":["post-71174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orioles","category-mlb","tag-austin-hays","tag-brandon-hyde","tag-griffin-canning","tag-ryan-mountcastle"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}