The Orioles announced the outfielder on Thursday Heston Kjerstadwho sat out the season with a strained hamstring, was placed on the 60-day disabled list and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. He will fill the lone spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster, which is now in place.
A former No. 2 draft pick and one of the sport’s top prospects, the 27-year-old Kjerstad has yet to find major league success. He appeared in parts of three major league seasons but only hit .218/.284/.365 in 314 total trips to the plate. The former Arkansas standout has played a 28% role in the big games and has a 5.7% walk rate. Kjerstad makes a fair amount of hard contact but is too prone to chase the plate and makes below-average contact when extending the zone.
Although he has struggled in limited big league appearances, Kjerstad has a productive record in Triple-A. He logged parts of four seasons at the minor league level and posted a .274/.354/.482 slugging percentage with a 9.4% walk rate and a 24% strikeout rate. He has homered 29 times, collected 36 doubles and posted seven triples in 755 plate appearances over that stretch.
So far, Kjerstad hasn’t gotten an extended look as an everyday outfielder. Health problems play a role in that but are not the root of the problem entirely. He battled myocarditis early in his professional career and has been on the major league disabled list twice due to complications. Last year’s season ended with an undisclosed health issue; reported the Orioles’ deep fatigue, which prompted a wave of scouting. The team has not released the results of that test, but Kjerstad appears to be healthy enough to play now.
Given those health issues, however, Kjerstad’s calls to the bigs are often to fill in for an outfielder on the injured shelf. The O’s re-packaged him heavily despite the lefty’s good numbers in the minors from 2022-24. The Orioles were still rebuilding when Kjerstad was drafted in 2020, but most of his time in the majors (and in the majors) has come when the O’s have been working with more focus. That led to the purchase of veterans of Tyler O’Neill, Taylor Ward, Ramon Laureano and others. Some worked better than others, but they all came together to find opportunities that would become Kjerstad.
Assuming Kjerstad spends more than 20 days in the minors, today’s action will burn his last minor league option. The O’s will likely want to make him look good later in the season, as he will enter 2027 with no minor league options, meaning he will have to make the roster or be designated for assignment. Little players who play outside love it Colton Cowser again Dylan Beavers They haven’t been as reliable at Oriole Stadium as the team had hoped, so there may be a chance for Kjerstad to hold the position if he is called up later this year. If not, he’ll have to win the job before the ’27 season. Speaking of speculation, he could also come up as a position change at this year’s deadline or in the offseason.
