The Orioles and Brewers have announced a three-player trade that will allow the Orioles to get right-handed pitchers. Thyago Vieira and Aneurys Rodriguez. Milwaukee will receive the minor league right-hander Garrett Stallings instead.
Vieira is the only member of the trio with Major League experience, as the Sao Paulo native has a 6.18 ERA in 51 career innings in the Show. He appeared in parts of the 2017-19 seasons with the Mariners and White Sox before spending the next three seasons in Japan and then returning to North American baseball via a minor contract with the Brewers in the 2022-23 offseason.
After making two appearances with Milwaukee’s major league roster last year, injuries opened up more opportunities for Vieira this season, although he didn’t exactly take advantage of them. The right-hander posted a 5.64 ERA in 22 1/3 innings for the Crew, allowing six home runs and walking 12.3% of batters. Despite a great fastball with a mid-90s velocity, Vieira has yet to translate that heat into high-level strikeout volume, as he whiffed on a decent but unspectacular 23.6% of batters faced this season.
Between that speed and solid numbers in the NPB and with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2023, it’s not hard to see why the Orioles might have interest in seeing if Vieira could still blossom late at age 31. For a tough pitcher with control issues, Vieira’s potential is obvious if the O’s can find a way for the right-hander to take advantage of his talent. The Brewers have had a lot of success helping unknown pitchers unlock his ability in recent years, although the team opted to move on and designated Vieira for assignment earlier this week.
Rodriguez is more of a long-term lottery prospect, as the right-hander is still a few weeks away from turning 20. His professional experience has been limited to two seasons in the Dominican Summer League and some rookie action this year, with a cumulative ERA of 3.67 in 83 1/3 total innings.
Stallings was a fifth-round pick for the Angels in the 2019 Draft, and came to the Baltimore organization as part of the return in the December 2020 trade that sent Jose Iglesias to the Angels. Stallings has a 5.41 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 6.48% walk rate in 379 1/3 career minor league innings. That includes a 5.52 ERA in 101 innings of work at Triple-A, as he has pitched as a starter and reliever for Baltimore’s top affiliate in each of the last two seasons.
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