BOSTON -- After exercising an opt-out clause in his Minor League contract with the Yankees in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Cooper Hummel waited in limbo. Then, the 30-year-old corner outfielder was about to sign another Minors deal with a different team, roughly 30 minutes away from putting pen to paper, he recalled.
Plans changed when the Orioles contacted Hummel’s agent to offer a big league contract.
“Next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Boston,” Hummel said. “Pretty wild.”
Hummel signed a one-year deal for the 2025 season with Baltimore on Sunday and joined the club for its series finale vs. the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park. The O’s designated infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra for assignment a day after he was brought up from Triple-A Norfolk to replace outfielder Ramón Laureano (left ankle sprain), who went on the 10-day injured list.
According to a source, Hummel's deal is worth $765,000. The club did not announce the terms.
In addition to Laureano, the Orioles are also without Tyler O’Neill (left shoulder impingement). Their corner-outfield options now include Heston Kjerstad, Dylan Carlson, Ryan O’Hearn (primarily a first baseman), Jorge Mateo (primarily a middle infielder) and Hummel.
“We have a corner-outfield need is why we brought him in, just some more depth right now in the outfield, and active depth,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “Draws a walk, has a good controlled strike zone.”
Hummel -- who is out of Minor League options -- has played 82 games in the Majors over the past three seasons, 66 of those coming with the D-backs in 2022, when he hit .176 with eight doubles, three triples, three homers, 17 RBIs and a .581 OPS. He appeared in 10 games for the Mariners in ‘23, then six with the Astros in ‘24.
This year, Hummel hit .258 (8-for-31) with one double and two RBIs in 10 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He had a strong showing during Spring Training with Houston, hitting .316 (12-for-38) with five doubles and three RBIs in 17 Grapefruit League games.
The switch-hitting Hummel spent this past offseason working at Driveline Baseball, where he focused on the speed and path of his swings with the bat. He wanted to get the ball in the air more as a right-handed batter and rotate his body better as a lefty.
“I feel great,” Hummel said. “I made some swing changes in the offseason. It seemed to pay off in Spring Training, I was hitting the ball hard, and then, I went through a little rough patch with a small injury, but now I’m back and I feel really good at the plate, seeing the ball well and hitting it harder than I ever have before. So I feel really good about it.”
Hummel has experience at catcher (18 MLB games in 2022), so he will serve as the O’s emergency third backstop behind Adley Rutschman and Maverick Handley.
The Orioles’ start to the 2025 season has been disappointing. Their 17-34 record is surprising, to those both internally and externally.
But Baltimore’s roster still has a strong reputation around the sport due to its amount of young talent. Because of that, Hummel is excited to integrate himself into the O’s clubhouse and to get to know his new teammates.
“We’re early in the season. What are there, four months left? So I wouldn’t be worried about struggles up to this point,” Hummel said. “It’s a really talented team. I’ve seen them from the other side of the field for the last couple of years, and it’s a really talented team. So I wouldn’t be worried if I was a fan or a coaching staff or a player at all.”