NEW YORK — The Orioles placed outfielder Hyun Soo Kim on the 15-day disabled list before Tuesday's game at Yankee Stadium, and selected the contract of outfielder Julio Borbon from Double-A Bowie to take his place on the active roster.
Kim tested his ailing right hamstring before Tuesday's game and it was determined that he likely wouldn't be able to play by Wednesday, the final day the team could backdate a DL stint. Kim hasn't played since exiting the Orioles' game on July 10 after injuring his hamstring running to first base in his first at-bat.
"We were out here with them today and it's just inching little by little," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Kim, who will be eligible to return from the DL on July 26. "Obviously, we've been playing short waiting on him because he's worth waiting on, but we're like a week away now with a backdate and hopefully we can get that resolved in the next week. You're running the risk of every time testing having a setback. We just got to the point where it wasn't making the improvements we were hoping it would make. We waited, what? Eight or nine days, so it's time."
To make room for Borbon on the 40-man roster, the Orioles designated Bowie outfielder Henry Urrutia for assignment.
The 30-year-old Borbon, who was with Bowie in Binghamton, N.Y., arrived at Yankee Stadium about 2½ hours before game time. He was hitting .289/.353/.373 with five homers and 20 RBIs with 20 stolen bases in 29 attempts in 83 games with the Baysox.
With rookie Joey Rickard playing more regularly in Kim's absence, Borbon brings a a hot bat to the Orioles, hitting .433/.477/.583 in 14 games in July. He also gives the Orioles speed off the bench and an option at all three outfield spots. Despite playing exclusively in the minors since 2014, Borbon has 288 major league games under his belt with the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs, including 137 with Texas in 2010.
"He was the guy who best fit what our needs were going to be," Showalter said. "He's got experience. He's played in these ballparks. It's not like this is something new for him, the third deck — or the fourth deck here.… He's had a great month. He's been real hot."
A former first-round draft pick of the Rangers in 2007, the Orioles took Borbon in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft before the 2014 season and re-signed him as a minor league free agent before this season.
A glut of outfielders at Triple-A Norfolk led to both Borbon and Urrutia playing at Double-A. Borbon opened the season in Bowie after playing the previous two seasons in Norfolk, and Urrutia opened the season at Norfolk but was demoted to Bowie in mid-May.
Urrutia, a 29-year-old Cuban defector who received a $778,500 signing bonus when he signed with the Orioles in July 2012, hit .298/.333/.408 with three homers and 23 RBIs in 48 games at Bowie. He could be lost on waivers, but if he clears he would have to accept an outright assignment to the minors.
"I wouldn't close the door on Henry," Showalter said. "Henry's hitting .300 down there. … It was close. We had to take somebody off and we didn't want to sacrifice any pitching, I would assume. The needs of the major league club are always a priority. Henry was and still is a good sign and if he clears, who knows? He may re-emerge somewhere."
Urrutia, always lauded for his strong work ethic, rose through the Orioles minor league system quickly in 2013, getting a major league call-up right after the All-Star break. But he played just 24 games that season and hit .276/.276/.310. He played for the major league club briefly in 2015, hitting .265/.306/.382 in 10 games, but spent the remainder of the season at Triple-A.