Orioles Re-Sign Rece Hinds

The Orioles announced that outfielder Rece Hinds has been re-signed to a one-year Major League contract. The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka reports that Hinds’ salary will be $4700 more than the next MLB minimum salary, which will be established when the next collective bargaining agreement is settled. Hinds was first acquired by the O’s in a trade deadline deal with the Marlins in August, and was already under team control for 2027 and beyond. This new guaranteed deal locks in a place for Hinds on the 40-man roster for now, and Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias has often used this tactic in locking up players on the fringes of the roster. With a guaranteed salary slightly beyond the league minimum, Hinds might be a little less appealing to teams looking to make a waiver claim if Baltimore designates him for assignment later this winter. This increases the chance that Hinds will clear waivers and then be outrighted off the 40-man roster. Hinds is out of minor league options, so the Orioles must first DFA the outfielder whenever they wish to remove him from the 40-man roster. A second-round pick for the Reds in 2019, Hinds spent his whole career in Cincinnati’s organization until this past May, when he was designated for assignment by the Reds and then acquired by the Marlins for cash considerations. Hinds only appeared in one big league game during his two-plus months with Miami, in between 13 games with the Reds in 2026 and 12 games with Baltimore. Hinds has hit .171/.229/.388 over 166 career plate appearances in his three MLB seasons, with a garish 41.6% strikeout rate. His numbers in Triple-A are much more solid (.258/.331/.475 with 53 homers over 1183 PA) even if there’s still a good deal of swing-and-miss in his game, plus Hinds can play all three outfield positions and he has shown pretty good base-stealing ability. At age 26, Hinds still has some time to be a late-career breakout, though he is profiling more as a depth piece. View Comments (9)