Angels Release Yet Another Newly Acquired Pitcher As Turnover Continues

The Los Angeles Angels continued to spin the release roulette wheel today, designating right-hander Kaleb Ort for assignment now that the signing of left-hander Brent Suter has been made official. The Angels claimed Ort after he was designated for assignment by the New York Yankees, and this announcement was reported by Darragh McDonald of MLBTradeRumors.com.

Ort has been riding the DFA carousel for a couple of months now, to use McDonald’s description of his experience. The hard-throwing Ort has become well-traveled in recent weeks, but he actually posted good numbers for the Houston Astros in 2024. But he struggled in 2025, and his combined numbers for the two seasons include a 4.08 ERA with a 26.1% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 38.2% ground-ball rate.

Walks and homers have been Ort’s big problems throughout the 34-year old reliever’s career. He surrendered 15 homes runs in just 70-2/3 innings for the Astros over these two seasons, and a total of 25 in just 122-1/3 innings for his career.

Ort will probably land with yet another team in the next few weeks, but he’s also out of minor league options, so wherever he goes he’ll be pitching on what amounts to borrowed time. The Angels were his third organization in three weeks, with Houston also designating him for assignment in January.

According to McDonald, Ort won’t have the right to declare free agency even if he clears waivers. He hasn’t been outright yet, and the hurler is shy of three years service time, so he’s basically being looked at as a minor league non-roster depth option.

The Angels now have five days to put Ort back on the waiver wire, but they probably won’t wait that long with spring training just weeks away. The 60-day injured list does open up next week, McDonald added, which will give some teams more flexibility to make marginal moves and pick up players like Ort.

Plenty of pitching coaches have tried to figure out a way to harness Ort’s velocity, but no one has been able to help him get his walk rate down or keep the ball in the park.

As for Suter, he’s the polar opposite of Ort in many ways. Suter is a soft tosser who pitches to contact, but he does have command, and he’s ben an effective reliever in multiple stops so far in his career. The Angels have been shuffling bodies in their bullpen at a furious rate this offseason, so it will be interesting to see how long he sticks.