Orioles reassign Paul Janish and Jayson Nix

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles reassigned infielders Paul Janish and Jayson Nix to minor league camp following tonight's 3-2 win over the Braves in the final home exhibition game of 2015.

Both players will be assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. Janish is projected as the starting shortstop and Nix as a utility infielder.

The camp roster is down to 33 players. The deadline for setting the 25-man roster is 3 p.m. Sunday.

Janish, slowed early in spring training after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow, was 2-for-16 in Grapefruit League games. He's a plus-defender at shortstop, however, and Showalter thinks he could impact the club later in the summer.

Nix, signed to a minor league deal following Janish's surgery, was 8-for-38 with two home runs.

"Paul was trying to get back," said manager Buck Showalter. "I do know from the track record and talking to a lot of people I trust, there's another level. Everything slowed down and I don't think he's quite where ... get his legs under him a little bit.

"Jayson was on a playoff roster last year and we hope both those guys stay. They're both 32 and they're at a stage in their lives where they want to be somewhere where they can see the end game. I'd be shocked if both of those guys weren't in the big leagues with either us or somebody else at some point this year. They're a commodity people are always looking for."

The Orioles will remove five more players when they place Matt Wieters, J.J. Hardy, David Lough and Jimmy Paredes on the disabled list and eliminate Chris Davis, who has one more game left on his suspension. Ryan Webb also is coming off the roster, which leaves two more cuts.

Showalter stopped short of saying that Everth Cabrera has made the team, claiming that he hasn't done the math.

"It depends on whether we carry 12 or 13 position players," Showalter said.

Cabrera went 2-for-4 with an RBI and stolen base tonight to raise his average to .286. He also made two nice plays at shortstop.

"I think he's really kind of settled in the last week," Showalter said. "You can tell the game's kind of slowed down a little bit for him and we got to see some things he's capable of doing. It's been good to see the last week or so.

"You can tell he likes to play. He never complained once about a road trip. I think he led our club in plate appearances and innings played, and that was kind of intentional. We wanted to make sure we knew what was coming.

"He's had a lot of energy home and away. He's a guy who can give you some juice from time to time on the field on the days he plays."

Showalter said starter Ubaldo Jimenez wanted no part of coming out of tonight's game after being hit on the right ankle in the second inning.

"That was pretty impressive," Showalter said. "I thought he threw the ball well after that."

Asked what Jimenez showed him this spring, Showalter replied, "A lot of want-to. I don't know what's going to happen when the season starts for any of our starters, all six of them. Who knows? The opposition doesn't always cooperate, but he's put himself in a position to be as good as he's capable of being this year. He's taken care of this end of it. We'll see what the baseball season has in store for him.

"I've been proud of him. You got a good glimpse of it tonight. He took a pretty good pop there. I told him, 'Come on, let's go and get some ice on it.' He wanted no part of it. He threw the three pitches and I said, 'You're throwing the ball better than before I came out here.' "

The Orioles are trying to break camp on Saturday without any more injuries. The past week has been challenging.

"I knew something was going to come and it's kind of what we do, it's kind of who we are and I think our players kind of rally around it," Showalter said. "You haven't heard anybody say 'Woe is me.' That's why Jayson Nix and Janish and we sign guys and do things and try to develop them for things like this.

"They're all coming back at some point. J.J. is going to join us. So is Matt, so is David Lough. We'll see. But they're not going to stop the season for us. 'Hold on, let's wait four more days so the Orioles can get Hardy and them back.' It doesn't work that way. Everybody's happy about your problems. They're glad you've got them.

"We've got to be better than four teams. That's the only thing we're looking out. Figure out a way to be better than four teams. And that starts after we get through tomorrow."