The Orioles protected two players from the Rule 5 Draft on Tuesday by adding outfielder Reed Trimble and right-hander Cameron Foster to the 40-man roster.

To make room on the 40-man, which is now full, Baltimore designated outfielder Pedro León and infielder Luis Vázquez for assignment.

Trimble, 25, was a second-round pick in 2021 out of Southern Mississippi and torched his way through Double-A Chesapeake this season, posting an .855 on-base-plus-slugging percentage at that level. That earned him a late-season call-up to Triple-A Norfolk, and across all levels in 2025, Trimble produced an .827 OPS.

He can play all three outfield positions and could provide center field depth, along with free agent signing Leody Taveras.

Foster, 26, arrived from the New York Mets as part of the Gregory Soto trade this year. He pitched to a 3.38 ERA in 16 relief innings for Norfolk. With a fastball that averages 95.3 mph, per Prospect Savant, Foster could fit into the bullpen mix next season. He couples that four-seamer with a cutter, curveball and slider.

Foster’s 31.1% strikeout rate in Triple-A ranked in the 85th percentile, and his chase rate of 34.8% ranked in the 92nd percentile of that level of the minors.

The Orioles had already protected right-hander Anthony Nunez from the Rule 5 Draft by adding him to the 40-man roster earlier this month. Nunez, acquired from the Mets in the deal that sent Cedric Mullins to Queens, reached Triple-A for Baltimore, and he managed a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 relief innings there.

As The Banner’s Jon Meoli wrote, the Orioles’ farm system is in a weird spot. There weren’t many players in need of protection from the Rule 5 Draft, which occurs at the Winter Meetings in December. Players eligible for this year’s Rule 5 Draft must have been signed at age 18 or younger in 2021 or age 19 or older in 2022 without having been added to the 40-man roster.

Many of those players within Baltimore’s farm system are either long shots to make a major league roster or are already on the Orioles’ 40-man. If a player is chosen in the Rule 5 draft, he must remain on the active roster of the team that selected him for the full season, otherwise he will be offered back to his original club for $50,000.

There could have been a case for protecting right-hander Carter Baumler, a fifth-rounder in 2020, but the Orioles opted to leave him exposed to other teams come December. The fact that Baumler has only reached Double-A as a reliever is largely down to a Tommy John surgery followed by a shoulder surgery, which interrupted his professional progress. While he performed well this season (2.04 ERA in 39 2/3 innings across three levels) the 23-year-old is likely still seen as too far from the majors to warrant a selection.

Outfielder Jud Fabian and catcher Creed Willems are also exposed. Fabian, drafted in the second round in 2022, has struggled to maintain success in Triple-A. He finished this season with a .671 OPS for the Tides.

And Willems, chosen in the eighth round in 2021, hasn’t reached Triple-A yet. The backstop and first baseman did post strong numbers for the Baysox, though, with a .779 OPS. The consideration, of course, is whether the 22-year-old is close enough to breaking through to the majors that a team would take a chance on selecting him.