The Orioles announced that they have claimed catcher Dom Keegan off waivers from the Rays and optioned him to Double-A Chesapeake. In other moves, they designated right-hander Kyle Nicolas for assignment and reinstated lefty Cade Povich from the 15-day injured list. The Orioles optioned Povich to Triple-A Norfolk.
The 25-year-old Keegan entered the season as Baseball America‘s 19th-ranked Rays prospect, his third straight year in the organization’s top 20. He had been with the Rays since they took him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, but they cut him earlier this week to make room for newly acquired righty Chris Roycroft. The Rays deemed Keegan expendable after he began 2026 hitting .191/.327/.303 (72 wRC+) with six home runs in 214 plate appearances with Triple-A Durham. Keegan walked at an impressive 14.5 percent clip, but a 36.9% strikeout rate offset that.
Since making his Triple-A debut last year, Keegan has hit a below-average .221/.315/.378 with 16 homers, 170 strikeouts and 55 walks in 511 trips to the plate. There are also questions regarding his ability to stick behind the plate, per BA, which pointed to below-average arm strength and inconsistent pitch framing in its preseason scouting report. Keegan will work to iron out his issues as he moves down to Double-A with his new organization, one that has backstops Samuel Basallo, Sam Huff and Chadwick Tromp at the big league level. Adley Rutschman has been on the concussion IL since June 20.
More to come…