Orioles Bring Back Promising Free Agent Outfielder One Day After He Left Team

The Baltimore Orioles have bolstered their outfield depth for the second time this week.

As first reported by Ari Alexander of KPRC 2, the Orioles have agreed to a Major League contract for utility man Cooper Hummel. The 30-year-old signed with Baltimore earlier this week after opting out of his minor league deal with the division rival New York Yankees, but he was designated for assignment the next day.

Hummel has not yet appeared in a game for the Orioles after clearing waivers and rejecting the assignment in favor of free agency, but now he winds up back in the same place on a big league deal.

The former Milwaukee Brewers 18th-round selection has bounced around the league. Baltimore is his sixth professional organization.

He has only appeared in the big leagues for three teams across three separate seasons from 2022-2024, originally making his debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks and playing 66 games there in 2022.

Overall, Hummel has appeared in 82 MLB games with a career slash line of .159/.255/.275, three home runs and 17 RBI.

Things bottomed out last year with the Houston Astros when he went hitless in six games.

At the minor league level, Hummel has a ton of experience and has played in 658 games across every classification. The numbers overall are good there and offer encouragement with a slash line of .266/.403/.443 along with 66 home runs and 327 RBI over portions of nine seasons.

Hummel looks like he will get another shot at the big league level and try to stick around this time with a struggling Orioles team.

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