BALTIMORE — The Orioles have spent much of the past two months seeking to double the number of additions they’ve made to their rotation this offseason. On Thursday, they finally did.
Baltimore acquired Oakland Athletics left-handed pitcher Cole Irvin and minor league right-hander Kyle Virbitsky for infield prospect Darell Hernaiz, they announced. Irvin, who turns 29 next week, had a 4.11 ERA over 62 starts for Oakland the past two seasons, averaging nearly 180 innings per campaign. He has four years of team control remaining. Left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
Irvin joins veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson as the Orioles’ offseason additions to their rotation, with Gibson signing a one-year, $10 million deal with Baltimore in early December. Assuming the pair locks down a pair of rotation spots, that leaves three other spots open, with Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer likely to secure two of them given their strong finishes to 2022. Tyler Wells, Grayson Rodriguez, Austin Voth, DL Hall, Spenser Watkins, Mike Baumann and Bruce Zimmermann make for a lengthy group of remaining candidates, with 2022 opening day starter John Means set to rejoin the rotation sometime this summer after undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery early last season.
Irvin was the Philadelphia Phillies’ fifth-round pick in 2016 and made his debut for them in 2019 before being traded to the A’s for cash before the 2021 season. Virbitsky, a 24-year-old who was Oakland’s 17th-round pick in 2021, had a 4.63 ERA in 23 outings, all but one a start, between Low-A and High-A last season. He struck out 140 batters in 126 1/3 innings.
Baseball America ranked Hernaiz as one of Baltimore’s top 30 prospects as recently as July. The 21-year-old was the Orioles’ fifth-round pick in 2019 and reached Double-A in 2022, hitting .273/.341/.438 with 12 home runs and 32 steals across three levels while playing around the infield.
The trade marks the second time this offseason the Orioles have parted with a prospect for an established major leaguer, something they hadn’t previously done in four years under executive president and general manager Mike Elias. In December, they acquired catcher James McCann from the New York Mets for Dominican Summer League first baseman-outfielder Luis De La Cruz.
