Orioles selecting Donnie Hart's contract

Remember the left-handed reliever that the Orioles wanted to bring up before Friday night's game against the Rays?

It's Double-A Bowie's Donnie Hart, who is expected to join the team in St. Petersburg, Fla., after tonight's Eastern League All-Star Game.

Sources confirmed today that the Orioles will select Hart's contract from Bowie. They already made space on the 40-man roster by outrighting pitcher David Hale to Triple-A Norfolk and on the 25-man roster by optioning pitcher Jason Garcia to Bowie.

Hart, 25, is 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA in 33 games with the Baysox. He's allowed 10 earned runs (13 total) and 34 hits in 39 innings, with seven walks and 43 strikeouts. Left-handers are batting .158 against Hart this year and right-handers are hitting .284.

Hart, a 27th-round pick in the 2013 draft out of Texas State, made his last appearance at Bowie on Saturday. He's 12-6 with a 2.27 ERA in 125 career relief appearances and has allowed only two home runs in 146 2/3 innings, both of them in 2014.

The Orioles wanted another left-hander to pair with closer Zach Britton, someone who could fill a specialist role. They've also had T.J. McFarland, Ashur Tolliver, Brian Duensing, Ariel Miranda and Jayson Aquino at various points of the season, and they traded Brian Matusz back on May 23.

Matusz allowed one run and struck out six batters last night with Double-A Tennessee in the Cubs' organziation after coming off the disabled list and he's scheduled to join Triple-A Iowa.

Hart is praised in the organization for his command and his composure on the mound. The sidearm delivery also is a nice touch for manager Buck Showalter, who likes varying arm slots among his relievers.

Baltimorebaseball.com first confirmed Hart's promotion.

Meanwhile, the club won't have any concrete updates on outfielder Hyun Soo Kim's strained hamstring until Thursday's workout, but I'm told he's feeling good and should be able to avoid the disabled list. Nothing has changed since Sunday, when the Orioles were fairly optimistic about his condition after speaking with interpreter Danny Lee.