In Brandon Hyde’s three years as Orioles manager, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has provided him more than a full roster’s worth of players plucked from other organizations’ discard piles.
Those Elias has snagged from opposing teams who have appeared for Hyde’s Orioles have mostly been players who couldn’t stick in the majors, with some regular contributors such as Hanser Alberto, Pedro Severino and Jorge López. Yet the tools Mateo has shown in his first three games with Baltimore make him unique among the nearly 30 players who have arrived via the waiver wire.
A former top 100 prospect with the New York Yankees, Mateo, 26, never reached the majors with them or the Oakland Athletics and spent the past two seasons as a bench piece for the San Diego Padres.