Left-handed pitching prospect DL Hall didn’t break camp with the Orioles because they wanted him to continue to work as a starter. His first appearance with Baltimore this year could come out of the bullpen, where he thrived down the stretch last season.

The Orioles added Hall as their 27th man for Saturday’s doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. Hall, 24, is the No. 2 pitching prospect in the organization behind right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who is scheduled to start the second game of the twin bill. With Dean Kremer pitching the opener, Hall will provide length out of the bullpen on a day the Orioles’ pitching staff will need to cover two games’ worth of innings.

Hall was the scheduled starter for the second game of Triple-A Norfolk’s doubleheader Friday. The outing would have been his fifth this year with the Tides; he allowed eight runs, 15 hits and nine walks with 20 strikeouts over 16 1/3 innings in his first four starts, building up from lower back discomfort that kept him from fully participating in Baltimore’s spring training rotation competition. Rather than use Hall in shorter stints out of their major league bullpen, the Orioles sent him to Norfolk to be in the Tides’ rotation, hoping to soon use his dynamic repertoire in theirs.

But Hall has also shown how dynamic his stuff can be as a reliever. A mix of injuries and the coronavirus pandemic have kept Hall from pitching 100 innings in a season since he joined the organization as Baltimore’s first-round draft pick in 2017. After he made his major debut as a starter last August, the Orioles returned him to the minors to get comfortable as a reliever, allowing them to manage his workload while having him on the roster for a postseason push. In his final eight outings, Hall struck out 11 while allowing one run over 8 2/3 innings, recording his first career save on the road against the New York Yankees.

Should he be used Saturday, he’ll try to continue that success.

This story will be updated.

()