Ex-Yankees top pitching prospect's odyssey continues in AL East with Orioles claim

With the formal expiration of 2026's 60-Day IL on Monday afternoon, some MLB teams had busier days than others, trimming seemingly endless roster fat they acquired last summer in order to patch over injuries. The Yankees were not one of them, with a roster well under the maximum of 40 men. Some of the clubs in similar positions decided to use the deadline to their advantage and emerge with a cluster of new wild cards amid the dust and smoke. That's how the Orioles handled it, and it's how they wound up with former Yankees top pitching prospect Chase Hampton.

Baltimore marks Hampton's fourth organization of the past 100 days, and if he makes it to Opening Day on the 40-man, the possibility of the Yankees having to eventually reckon with him from within the division will linger.

Given the diminished stuff and command he showed last year, though, it's still difficult to imagine him being anything beyond a total wild card at this juncture.

Chase Hampton's cross-country odyssey lands former Yankees top prospect with Orioles after Cardinals dropped him

Hampton was a Yankee until Aaron Judge's return from the Injured List (better times...) back on Sept. 7.

Yes, from Sept. 7 to Nov. 2, Hampton moved from the Yankees to the Nationals, the team that initially claimed him, followed by the Cardinals, and now the Orioles. If you told a Yankee fan back in 2023 that his future fate would've involved so much bouncing ... yeah, we probably would've believed you. That sadly happens to pitching prospects a lot.

Hampton was, once upon a time, the clear leader in the Yankees' pitching lab, ranking No. 72 overall in Baseball America's preseason Top 100 ahead of the 2024 season. The man once known as "Mini Cole" was poised to help the Bombers that summer ... until he showed up on the Injured List out of nowhere, revealed in MLB Pipeline's preseason rundown (and definitely not communicated by the Yankees).

First reported as "shoulder discomfort," the injury eventually became known publicly as a UCL sprain. While that is typically a precursor to Tommy John surgery, Hampton wasn't actually diagnosed with a tear until the next spring, causing him to miss another full season. His 2026 return did not go as planned, with an 8.18 ERA in 17 abbreviated starts without his trademark velocity.

Still just 25, Hampton will now get a spring training chance with the Orioles to buck the odds and return to a high level. Chances are there will be a few additional chapters in his story before that moment comes, though.

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