Baltimore’s Pedro Severino Hits 3 Homers in Win over Rangers

Since his major league debut in 2015 with the Washington Nationals, Pedro Severino has been a backup catcher. In 70 games last year, Severino hit .168 with 2 homers and 15 RBIs. He was placed on waivers and claimed by Baltimore as the 2019 season got underway, to serve as the Oriole’s backup catcher. The Orioles were the worst team in baseball last year with a record of 47-115, so ending up as a backup catcher on the worst team in the majors isn’t exactly a great career move.

It may not be quite that bad. Oh, the Orioles are still pretty bad; they were 18-41 going into action on June 4th, again the worst record in the majors. But even players on bad teams can have great nights, and Severino had by far the best game of his career, belting three home runs and driving in four runs in a 12-11 slugfest win over the Rangers in Arlington, Texas.

He wasn’t the only Oriole to have a great game. Dwight Smith, Jr. drove in six runs on a home run and a double. Smith, the son of a ex major leaguer Dwight Smith (who played for part of the 1994 season with the Orioles) was picked up in a trade with Toronto back in March. He spent parts of the last two seasons with the Blue Jays, and is hitting .257 with 11 homers and 41 RBIs through June 4th. Severino is hitting .288 with eight homers and 18 RBIs in 34 games this season. Smith, 26, and Severino, 25, are young enough to be part of the multiyear rebuilding program the Orioles will need if they hope to get back to competitiveness in the American League East.