The time has come at last. Dylan Beavers, the Orioles’ top outfield prospect, has been promoted to the majors. The O’s announced this morning that they’ve purchased his contract from Triple-A Norfolk and he’ll join the team in Houston, where he’ll presumably be in the lineup tonight for his major league debut.

The call-up ends weeks of speculation — and fan frustration — about when the club would finally give the hot-hitting Beavers a major league opportunity. The lefty swinger, who turned 24 earlier this week, has torn up Triple-A pitching this season, posting a .304/.420/.515 slash line with 18 homers and 51 RBIs in 94 games for the Tides. He has almost as many walks (68) as strikeouts (76), and he’s added 23 stolen bases for good measure.

It’s been a big leap forward for Beavers, the Orioles’ competitive-balance pick in 2022 at #33 overall. Entering the season, he’d posted solid if not stupendous minor league numbers, but his 2025 breakout has had fans clamoring for his arrival since the trade deadline. After weeks of the O’s sifting through sub-replacement journeymen such as Greg Allen, Daniel Johnson, and Jordyn Adams, it’s finally time for Beavers to get his big league audition.

The timing of the move leaves little doubt as to why the O’s held him in the minors until now. Had they called up Beavers on or before Aug. 15, he would have spent the final 45 days on the Orioles’ roster and lost his rookie status, making him ineligible to win Rookie of the Year next season. Calling him up today, with only 44 days left, preserves his rookie eligibility for next year.

Theoretically, if Beavers is named as a top-100 prospect on at least two of three required lists next season (Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, or ESPN) and then goes on to win AL Rookie of the Year, the O’s would earn an extra draft pick in 2027 via the Prospect Promotion Incentive.

The odds of all those things happening, of course, are so slim that I don’t think it was worth denying Beavers an extra couple of weeks in the majors just for that reason.

The Orioles obviously disagreed. In any case, he’s here now and should get ample playing time for the rest of the year. Beavers has played some center field in the minors but is considered better defensively in the corners. He made the majority of his starts in right field for Norfolk this year.

To make roster room for Beavers, the Orioles designated Greg Allen for assignment.

The O’s bizarrely signed Allen, who hadn’t appeared in the majors since 2023, to a major league deal on Aug. 8. In his brief O’s career, he went 0-for-14 with no walks, five strikeouts, and two GIDPs.

He also screwed up a squeeze bunt attempt that got a runner thrown out at the plate, and he was caught stealing in his only SB attempt. A case could be made that Allen was the least productive Oriole ever to spend more than a week with the team.