The Orioles made a depth move Tuesday, adding infielder Jeremiah Jackson to the major league taxi squad as they navigate injury concerns around Gunnar Henderson and Blaze Alexander.
Henderson is dealing with a sore left knee after fouling a pitch off it during Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. Alexander, meanwhile, has been handling back spasms. With both players compromised, Baltimore needed another body who can cover multiple spots and keep the infield from getting too thin.
Jackson fits that bill. He can handle second base, third base and the outfield, giving manager Craig Albernaz some flexibility if either Henderson or Alexander needs a day off or can’t go at all. The 26-year-old previously spent time in the Angels and Mets organizations before the Orioles signed him to a minor league deal in November 2024.
He hasn’t appeared in the majors for Baltimore, but he’s already a familiar name inside the organization and gives the club a steady emergency option.
Henderson has put together a .222 batting average, .305 on-base percentage and .398 slugging percentage with 20 home runs and 51 RBIs over 129 games this season. Alexander has been one of Baltimore’s more encouraging stories, hitting .303 in 261 at-bats while moving around the field all year.
Baltimore enters Wednesday at 70-76, four games behind the final American League wild card spot. With the season winding down and the playoff race tightening, the Orioles are clearly trying to stay covered if either injured player needs time off. Jackson on the taxi squad gives them that insurance.
In Other News...
Orioles Long Term Core Is Taking Shape And Some Bats Wont Survive
The Orioles have spent much of this season trying to sort out not just whether they can reach October, but which parts of this roster are actually built to last. Under Mike Elias, the front office has spent years assembling a younger core, and the current stretch is starting to clarify which bats fit the long view and which ones may end up being more temporary solutions as the organization keeps pushing toward sustained contention.
That sort of sorting-out period tends to come with hard choices, especially for a club balancing playoff hopes against contract realities and roster flexibility. Baltimores ownership stance and the possibility of labor uncertainty only add another layer to the equation, making the next stretch less about filling out a lineup card and more about deciding which names still belong in the teams future plans. [Read more 🡒]
Why Orioles Fans Still Wonder What Happened To Merv Rettenmund
Merv Rettenmund gave Orioles fans a brief but vivid reminder of what a polished left-handed bat could look like in Baltimore. In his early seasons with the club, he hit well enough to earn a place in World Series lineups and looked like a player who could stick as part of the core, even as the roster around him kept evolving.
What makes Rettenmund such a lingering question for Orioles followers is how quickly that promise began to fade after 1971. A changed swing, injuries and mental challenges all played a role, and the once-promising outfielder never fully got back to that early level before moving on to the Reds, Padres and Angels. He later earned respect as a hitting coach, and his death in 2024 at 81 only sharpened the sense that Baltimore never quite got the full story of what might have been. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Suddenly Have A Lineup Concern They Cant Ignore
The Orioles lineup has taken another hit just as they are trying to keep their infield and outfield depth steady for the stretch run. Blaze Alexander was placed on the 10-day injured list because of low back discomfort, and Baltimore brought Jeremiah Jackson back up to take his roster spot. Alexander has been one of the more useful surprise pieces on hand, hitting .303/.358/.414 over 93 games while providing steady versatility around the diamond.
The bigger worry, though, is that Alexander is not the only regular sidelined right now. Gunnar Henderson is also dealing with left knee discomfort and is out of the lineup, which has forced Baltimore to shuffle pieces and move Jackson Holliday and Jeremiah Jackson into different spots. For a team that has leaned on flexibility all season, the timing makes this a tricky spot, with the Orioles now having to manage not just one absence but the way multiple absences ripple through the lineup. [Read more 🡒]