Baltimore Orioles: The Return of Steve Pearce

Apr 18, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Baltimore Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce (28) makes a diving catch on Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) during the fifth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baltimore Orioles made a last-minute trade deadline move to obtain Steve Pearce from Tampa Bay in exchange for catching prospect Jonah Heim.

Like the Wade Miley move of the day before, this is not earth-shattering, nor is it guaranteed to bring about a quantum difference in success for the 2016 Birds. But it does give Showalter some extra options to try to enhance scoring and production, particularly against left-handers. It could prove to be a good move. Pearce has had some very good stats for this season

This is the fourth iteration for Steve Pearce with the Orioles. I’m not going to write him off. I’ve done that before and he proved me wrong on a couple of occasions. He is not an athletic specimen. But his hard-nosed, take-it-to-um style of play scores big with Showalter and with O’s fans. I like it too. We have more than our fair share of mellow personalities, and a little fire might help.

At some point during the day on Tuesday we will hear about roster moves, affecting not only Pearce but the addition of Miley as well. What two players are to be removed? Certainly one or both of Odrisamer Despaigne or Tyler Wilson will be sent down. Most often one would expect the addition of a player with Pearce’s skill set to replace a position player … on the Orioles likely being Nolan Reimold. But the O’s have been carrying extra pitchers with a short bench. Could this be the end of Ubaldo Jimenez? We can hope so.

Maybe bringing Pearce back is an effort to rekindle and re-live the final third of the 2014 season. In August of that year he hit .271 with five homers. He hit five more long balls in September/October, posting a .315 average and incredible OBP of .464. All of this was done while playing approximately 60% of the time. Pearce was on the short list of those who most significantly carried that team over the 96-win season.

Catching prospect Jonah Heim was the O’s fourth-round pick in 2013. He has struggled to put up very large offensive numbers. But I’ve seen him play a good bit and he has a sweet swing. He is likely to figure it out over time.

His defensive skills are as good as advertised. It is not a myth or story to be repeated until it is true. Some fans have commented that his defensive stats are not stellar in terms of passed balls and stolen base percentage, etc. Again, I’ve seen it in person. There was some pretty rough pitching this year in Frederick, particularly out of the bullpen. Wild arms! I’ll save the names to protect the guilty!