Orioles agree to terms with right-handed pitcher Mychal Givens

The Orioles today announced that they have agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher MYCHAL GIVENS on a one-year contract for the 2023 season with a mutual option for 2024. 

Givens, 32, appeared in a combined 59 games between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs in 2022, pitching to a 7-3 record with two saves, a 3.38 ERA (23 ER/61.1 IP), and 71 strikeouts. His seven wins were tied for third among NL relievers and tied for fifth among MLB relief pitchers. He began the season in Chicago, where he went 6-2 with a 2.66 ERA (12 ER/40.2 IP) in 40 games, including recording his 500^th career strikeout in his 387^th career game on June 22 at Pittsburgh. He did not allow an earned run in 16 consecutive outings (17.1 IP) from June 16 to July 29, a career best. After he was acquired by the Mets in exchange for right-handed pitcher Saúl González on August 2, Givens appeared in 19 games and went 1-1 with a 4.79 ERA (11 ER/20.2 IP), including pitching to a 1.23 ERA (2 ER/14.2 IP) in his final 12 games of the season, which ended with 11.1 scoreless innings.

A native of Tampa, Fla., Givens was selected by the Orioles as a shortstop in the second round (No. 54 overall) of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of H.B. Plant (FL) High School. He played three minor league seasons as a position player before converting to a pitcher prior to the 2013 season. Givens was named the named the Orioles’ 2015 Jim Palmer Minor League Co-Pitcher of the Year. He made his Major League debut with Baltimore on June 24, 2015. In 419 career appearances over eight Major League seasons with the Mets (2022), Cubs (2022), Cincinnati Reds (2021), Colorado Rockies (2020-21), and Orioles (2015-20), Givens has gone 32-23 with 31 saves, a 3.40 ERA (173 ER/457.2 IP), and 537 strikeouts. His 537 strikeouts since 2015 are the 10^th-most by a relief pitcher during that span. 

Additionally, infielder LEWIN DÍAZ has been designated for assignment. The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.