Brewers Activate Rob Zastryzny, Transfer Angel Zerpa To 60-Day IL
The Brewers have activated left-hander Rob Zastryzny off the 60-day injured list to rejoin their bullpen, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Righty Carlos Rodriguez is being optioned to Triple-A. Angel Zerpa has been shifted to the 60-day IL in Zastryzny’s place.
Zastryzny pitched for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic but suffered a left shoulder strain in spring training with Milwaukee. He was placed on the 15-day injured list on March 25th and transferred to the 60-day IL in mid-April. That ruled out Zastryzny through the end of May, though he’s now healthy and returning for his third season with the Brewers.
Zastryzny’s had three extended injury absences since joining the Brewers for the 2024 season, so he’s only thrown 29 2/3 innings for them. His results in that sample have been solid. Zastryzny has a 2.12 ERA while allowing just a .580 OPS to opposing hitters since 2024. At the same time, Zastryzny’s fastball sits in the low 90s, and his 4.09 FIP since 2024 shows he benefitted from good luck (and good defense behind him).
That said, the Brewers only need Zastryzny to be a serviceable arm, not a premium back-end reliever. The club’s bullpen is in the Top 10 in the Majors by most metrics, including strikeout rate (24.3%), K-BB rate (13.9%), groundball rate (45.9%), and ERA (3.28). Among eight qualified Brewers relievers, only Trevor Megill and Jake Woodford have ERAs over 4.50. Megill has a a 2.88 expected ERA and strong peripherals, so he’s due for positive regression. Led by the nine-win Aaron Ashby, the other relievers have ranged from solid to excellent. Zastryzny is out of options, so he’ll need to re-establish himself quickly, as he can only be taken off the roster by a DFA.
Zerpa’s move to the 60-day IL is entirely expected. He underwent Tommy John surgery a few weeks ago and will therefore miss all of 2026 and a good chunk of 2027. Zerpa will likely repeat his $1.095MM salary in arbitration as a result. The left-hander had a 4.03 ERA in 118 1/3 innings with Kansas City from 2024-25, along with a staggering 60.5% groundball rate that was fifth-best among qualified relievers. With Zerpa’s current timeline, he’ll have the opportunity to provide a year and a half of serviceable relief before hitting free agency after 2028.
Rodriguez heads back to Triple-A having only made two appearances in his latest stint in the Majors. He was recalled on May 24th and threw two scoreless innings against the Dodgers that same day. Rodriguez’s next appearance on May 30th was less fortunate, as he allowed three earned runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Astros. He’s only 24 and has been optioned and recalled several times this year, so Rodriguez will certainly get more chances in the Brewers’ bullpen.
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Orioles Outright Dietrich Enns
TODAY: Per Roch Kubatko, Enns has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.
May 26th: The Orioles announced that they have recalled left-hander Nick Raquet from Triple-A Norfolk, a move that was reported by Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com earlier. In a corresponding move, the O’s designated fellow lefty Dietrich Enns for assignment.
Enns, now 35, had an intriguing comeback season in 2025. He had made his major league debut a few years prior but wound up pitching overseas from 2022 to 2024. He was back in North America last year and logged 46 1/3 innings between the Tigers and Orioles. He allowed 4.08 earned runs per nine. His 24.5% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate were both a bit better than average. He may have even had better results without a .338 batting average on balls in play, which is why his 3.54 SIERA was a bit lower than his ERA.
The O’s signed Enns for the 2026 season, a one-year deal with a $2.625MM guarantee and a club option for 2027. Here in 2026, a left foot infection put him on the IL for about a month, from early April to early May. Around that IL stint, he has given Baltimore 16 innings with a 3.94 ERA but with worse numbers under the hood. His 18.6% strikeout rate and 15.7% walk rate are both subpar figures. His BABIP and strand rate are now to the lucky side, so his 5.24 SIERA suggests he’s been worse than last year, even though he ERA is slightly better.
The Rays and Orioles went to 13 innings last night. Baltimore ultimately came out on top but it was a bit of a pyrrhic victory, as they had to use six relievers in the process. One of them was Enns, who was pitching for a second straight day. It’s likely that Baltimore’s decision to cut Enns came from a combination of the pitching staff being taxed, him being unavailable, and his uninspiring results this year. He is out of options and needed to be bumped off the 40-man entirely to open an active roster spot.
Enns now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Orioles could take five days to explore trade interest. Given this year’s results and salary, they may not find much interest. If Enns were to clear waivers, he would likely stick around as non-roster depth. He has a previous career outright and would technically have the right to elect free agency in that scenario. But since he has less than five years of big league service time, he would have to walk away from the money he is still owed on his current deal.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Rays Place Craig Kimbrel On 15-Day IL, Announce Other Moves
The Rays have placed right-hander Craig Kimbrel on the 15-day injured list with a right wrist strain, per a team announcement. The move is retroactive to May 28th. The club is also recalling lefty Cam Booser and righty Trevor Martin from Triple-A. In addition, righty Andrew Wantz is being designated for assignment, removing him from the 40-man roster.
Kimbrel joined Tampa Bay on a major league deal last week. That came after he was designated for assignment by the Mets and elected free agency. Kimbrel only got into one game with his new club, striking out two hitters in a scoreless inning on May 26th. Now, he’ll be on the shelf for two weeks, continuing a frustrating age-38 season for the once-great closer.
Kimbrel had a 6.00 ERA in 15 innings with the Mets before joining the Rays. Although his 4.39 expected ERA was much better, that’s obviously still not a good mark and shows that Kimbrel is a shell of his old self even accounting for poor luck. Kimbrel is averaging 93.6 MPH on his four-seamer in 2026, continuing his decline from 2023, when the pitch averaged 95.8 MPH. Dating back to the start of 2025, Kimbrel has a 4.18 ERA in 28 innings, with opposing hitters putting up an .806 OPS against him.
At best, low-leverage relief is what the Rays can expect from Kimbrel when he gets back. Tampa’s starters rank third in the Majors with a 3.11 ERA, but their bullpen ranks 25th with a 4.74 mark. Bryan Baker and Kevin Kelly have both been excellent, especially Baker in the closer role. In contrast, Jesse Scholtens is underperforming his 4.99 expected ERA by two runs, and he’s now on the injured list himself. The other qualified relievers have a 4.67 ERA or higher. Lengthy track record aside, Kimbrel probably has a short leash when he returns from injury, as the Rays won’t risk worsening their bullpen long-term with only a slim lead over the Yankees in the AL East.
In the meantime, Booser and Martin are back in the Majors as fresh arms. Booser was optioned before Opening Day and hasn’t appeared in the Majors this season, though he has a sharp 1.80 ERA in 20 innings at Triple-A. That mark comes with a 6.3% walk rate, so the Rays might be counting on improved control from Booser in the big league bullpen, at least over his 13.3% walk rate last year with the White Sox. The same can be said of Martin, who’s allowed eight walks in 15 innings at Triple-A this year but has generally limited free passes in the minors.
Wantz loses his roster spot after a single game with the Rays. He allowed five earned runs on 54 pitches in 1 2/3 innings yesterday’s 14-3 loss to the Angels. Wantz was only selected the day before, though he was out of options and needed to be designated to be taken off the roster. Wantz has been outrighted before and can technically reject an outright assignment if he clears waivers. However, he’s only thrown three innings in the Majors since the start of 2024, so it’s possible Wantz remains in the organization and waits for a call-up to re-establish himself.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Phillies Designate Zach Pop For Assignment
The Phillies reinstated right-hander Zach Pop from the 15-day injured list and designated him for assignment, the team announced. The club needed a 40-man spot for righty Max Lazar, who was activated from the 60-day IL and optioned to Triple-A.
Pop hit the IL in mid-April with a right calf strain. He began a rehab assignment earlier this month. The veteran righty opened the season in the Phillies’ bullpen. He allowed three earned runs across seven appearances. Pop made his first MLB start in his final outing before the leg injury. He tossed two innings against the Diamondbacks as an opener ahead of Andrew Painter.
The 29-year-old Pop has pitched in parts of six MLB seasons with five different clubs. He joined the Phillies in December. Pop struggled mightily in five outings last year, split between the Mariners and Mets. He was crushed for 11 earned runs over 6 2/3 frames. The righty performed much better this spring, posting a 3.86 ERA across nine appearances during exhibition play.
Lazar opened the season on the injured list with a left oblique strain. He began a rehab assignment on the final day of April, which meant his 30-day rehab clock was expiring. Lazar has made 11 appearances in the minors this year. The 26-year-old has pitched well, tossing 13 1/3 innings with a 2.70 ERA.
Philadelphia added Lazar as a minor league free agent heading into the 2024 season. He debuted in the big leagues that year, pitching in 11 games with the Phillies. Lazar was a semi-regular member of the bullpen last season. He operated mostly in lower-leverage situations. The righty recorded an ERA up near 5.00, supported by a 4.58 xFIP and a 4.57 SIERA. He did pick up his first career MLB save in an 11-inning win against the A’s.
Lazar is in his second minor league option year. He’s unlikely to make a significant impact with the big-league club this season. The Phillies did need a temporary long man in the bullpen with Aaron Nola heading to the paternity list, but it was righty Nolan Hoffman who got the call.
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Luis Severino Placed On 15-Day IL With Shoulder Strain
4:45pm: The A’s have placed Severino on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder strain. Right-hander Michael Kelly was recalled to take his spot on the roster. Kelly broke camp with the club but was optioned to Triple-A in early April.
8:52am: Luis Severino threw only 23 pitches in an inning of work during his start in the Athletics’ 8-2 loss to the Yankees on Friday. While warming up for the top of the second, Severino was visited by the team trainer and eventually left the mound due to what the A’s later announced was a bout of arm soreness.
The issue has bothered Severino for the last week, as the right-hander told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reporters that he came out of his previous start on May 21 with some right triceps tightness. After a bullpen session on Tuesday went well, the A’s still opted to push Severino’s next start to Friday to provide for a little extra rest through the club’s Thursday off-day.
At this point, however, it seems likely that Severino will require a 15-day IL stint to fully recover. No decision has been made yet, as Severino is set to undergo more tests today to further explore the problem. “The biggest [concern] for me is not even my next start. It’s finding something that is going to keep me out for a long time,” Severino said. “If the worst-case scenario is missing one or two starts, I’m happy with that.”
Following the weekend series with New York, the A’s have another off-day on Monday before playing nine games in nine days. The team won’t have to address Severino’s next turn in the rotation until Thursday, yet it looks like the A’s will again have to dip into their rotation depth chart after already losing Aaron Civale to the injured list (with a bout of shoulder tendinitis) earlier this week.
Gallegos suggests that prospect Kade Morris could be called up from Triple-A to make his MLB debut, should the Athletics need a starter to fill in for Severino. Morris isn’t on the 40-man roster, however, so Joey Estes or Mason Barnett could get the call if roster considerations are a factor. Luis Morales is also on the 40-man but has been moved a relief role in Triple-A as the right-hander has continued to struggle.
The A’s remain just 1.5 games out of both first place in the AL West and an AL wild card slot, yet that has more to do with the American League’s parity than it does with the Athletics’ modest 27-30 record. As expected going into the season, the Athletics have been carried by their offense, though the team’s lineup has been more okay than elite. The A’s have gotten okay-ish results from Jeffrey Springs, J.T. Ginn, Civale, and Severino in the rotation, though naturally more is expected from Severino given the three-year, $67MM free agent deal he signed during the 2024-25 offseason.
Severino’s second year in West Sacramento has seen the right-hander improve his ERA to 4.16 and his strikeout rate to 24%, though his 11.4% walk rate is on pace to be the second-highest total of his 11 Major League seasons. Severino was public with his displeasure last year over pitching at Sutter Health Park, and his home/away splits continue to markedly differ. In 2026, Severino has a 3.38 ERA over 37 1/3 innings on the road, and a 5.33 ERA over 25 1/3 innings at home.
Reds Designate Kyle Nicolas For Assignment, Select Lyon Richardson
The Reds are shuffling the bullpen. Right-hander Pierce Johnson is headed to the injured list with right elbow inflammation, the club announced. Righty Lyon Richardson is returning to the big-league club to take his spot. To open up room on the 40-man for Richardson, Cincinnati designated right-hander Kyle Nicolas for assignment.
Nicolas joined the organization via trade from the Pirates in March. Outfielder Tyler Callihan went to Pittsburgh in the deal. Nicolas didn’t break camp with the club, but made his team debut in early April. He was knocked around for seven earned runs over seven appearances. The righty piled up 13 walks over 7 1/3 frames.
The 27-year-old Nicolas struggled in his first outing with the Reds. He ceded three earned runs in mop-up duty and had to be relieved by a position player. Nicolas settled in for four scoreless appearances after the ugly debut. He was tagged for four earned runs in a late April outing against the Rays and was optioned back to Triple-A shortly after.
Throwing strikes has been the main issue for Nicolas. He’s pitched in parts of four seasons in the majors and has yet to post a sub-10% walk rate. The righty has an underwhelming 59.5% strike rate across 93 MLB outings. Nicolas posted a career-worst 38.4% zone rate in his brief stint with the Reds.
After two short stretches with the Reds in 2023 and 2024, Richardson was a regular in the bullpen last season. He pitched to a 4.54 ERA across 37 appearances. The Reds used Richardson in a variety of roles, including occasional late-inning appearances. He picked up three holds, but also covered more than an inning on 14 occasions.
Richardson came up as a starter, and his first four games with the Reds were starts. He struggled to an 8.64 ERA as a rookie in 2023. Richardson began transitioning to a relief role in 2024. He pitched out of the bullpen six times at Triple-A. His lone appearance with the Reds that season came as a reliever. Richardson has been almost exclusively used out of the bullpen since then.
Cincinnati added Johnson on a one-year, $6.5MM deal in January. He delivered a 3.27 ERA across 24 appearances. Johnson picked up four holds and a save. The 35-year-old was removed during an outing against the Mets on Tuesday. He allowed a hit and recorded two outs before getting pulled.
Johnson is the latest high-leverage reliever to go down for the Reds. The club lost closer Emilio Pagan to a significant hamstring strain in early May. He’s about three weeks into his initial four-to-eight week recovery timeline. Right-hander Graham Ashcraft went to the 60-day IL with a UCL sprain on Friday. He hasn’t been ruled out for the season, but he’ll be sidelined for at least a couple of months.
Photo courtesy of Sam Greene of the Enquirer via Imagn Images
Rays Outright Jon Heasley
Right-hander Jon Heasley has cleared waivers and been outrighted to the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate. (Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the move shortly before the team’s official announcement.) Heasley isn’t able to decline the outright assignment, so he’ll return to Durham and await his next selection to the active roster.
The Rays signed Heasley to a minor league deal in April and then selected him to their 26-man roster just three days ago. Heasley pitched the final four innings of the Rays’ 11-2 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday, allowing five runs on eight hits, including a pair of home runs. Tampa Bay then designated Heasley for assignment yesterday, and the right-hander made a quick trip through waivers.
Though Wednesday’s outing was far from memorable, it did mark Heasley’s first MLB game in almost exactly two years. Ironically, Heasley’s last appearance was with the Orioles back on May 23, 2024, and that unsuccessful stint saw him post a 16.88 ERA across four games and 5 1/3 innings of work.
A 13th-round pick for Kansas City in the 2018 draft, most of Heasley’s pro career has been spent in the Royals organization, apart from the 2024 season in Baltimore and his current stint in Tampa. Heasley has exhibited good control but only intermittent strikeout ability even in the minors, and his career ERA now stands at 6.04 over 143 frames with the Rays, Orioles, and Royals. Big league batters have taken Heasley yard a stunning 31 times in that relatively brief 143-inning sample size.
Jarred Kelenic Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Kelenic cleared waivers and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment, according to Brooke Fletcher of the Chicago Sports Network.
MAY 25: The White Sox announced that outfielder Jarred Kelenic has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for them to select infielder/outfielder Rikuu Nishida, a move that was reported yesterday.
Kelenic, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He began the season at Triple-A and put up some encouraging numbers. In 26 games, he slashed .202/.346/.464. That batting average is obviously not pleasant but was held back by an unfortunate .224 batting average on balls in play. The on-base percentage was buoyed by a huge 18.3% walk rate. His six home runs in 104 plate appearances boosted the slugging percentage. The batting line translated to a subpar 97 wRC+ but would have been above average with a bit more batted ball luck.
The White Sox decided to give him another shot in the big leagues, which didn’t work out. He got into 19 games and stepped to the plate 59 times. His 10.2% walk rate was strong but he also struck out at a huge 33.9% clip. Though his .344 BABIP was actually a help in this sample, he nonetheless put up a .226/.305/.321 line and 81 wRC+.
These are fairly small data sets but they do roughly mirror Kelenic’s larger career arc. A former sixth overall pick and top prospect, he has often put up huge numbers in the minors without finding success in the majors. Including this year’s stint with the Sox, he now has 1,547 big league plate appearances. He has been punched out in 30.7% of those and has a .211/.283/.374 line, which leads to an 84 wRC+. He has stolen some bases but hasn’t received strong grades for his glovework.
The overall performance has pushed him into fringe roster status. As mentioned, he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into this season. He has exhausted his option years, so the Sox had to bump him off the 40-man since they no longer want him on the active roster.
Kelenic is now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox could take five days to explore trade interest. The most likely outcome is Kelenic ending up on waivers and clearing. He just cleared waivers in October of last year and he hasn’t done much to raise his stock since then. Players with a previous career outright or three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. Kelenic qualifies on both counts and can head to the open market if he clears waivers in the next week.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Designate Austin Voth, Select Hayden Juenger
The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Austin Voth has been designated for assignment. Right-hander Hayden Juenger‘s contract has been selected from Triple-A, as Juenger will take Voth’s place on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters.
Toronto has now DFA’ed Voth twice this season, and the first designation in early April saw Voth elect free agency rather than an accept outright assignment to Triple-A, though he soon re-signed with the Jays on a new minor league deal. In both cases, Voth was designated after eating some innings in a bullpen game — he allowed one run in 2 2/3 innings in a 3-0 loss to the White Sox on April 5, and was hit hard for five runs over 3 1/3 innings in yesterday’s 6-5 victory over the Orioles.
It seems quite possible history will repeat itself with Voth’s latest trip through the DFA process. Assuming he isn’t claimed off waivers, he might opt for free agency and then re-sign with Toronto again, or he might just streamline things by accepting an outright assignment. Given how the Blue Jays are still dealing with numerous injuries to their starting pitchers, Voth might soon be called upon again to cover some innings, so he might view the Jays as his best route to another big league appearance.
Juenger will provide the Jays bullpen with a fresh arm for today’s game in Baltimore, and the 25-year-old will be making his Major League debut whenever he appears in a game. A sixth-round pick out of Missouri State in the 2021 draft, Juenger isn’t listed as a top-30 prospect in Toronto’s farm system by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline, but a strong performance at Triple-A Buffalo this season has punched his ticket to the Show.
Over 20 innings for Buffalo in 2026, Juenger has a 3.15 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, and 9.1% walk rate. Those numbers come despite a .386 BABIP, as Juenger’s FIP is an even more impressive 2.40. Juenger also hasn’t allowed a home run this year, which speaks to a bit of luck in the other direction though his grounder rate is a solid 44.6%. The Jays have spent the last few years using Juenger as a multi-inning reliever, so he’ll step into the bullpen to soak up as many innings as he can in his taste of the majors.
Mets Select Cionel Perez, Designate Anderson Severino
The Mets announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Cionel Perez from Triple-A Syracuse. To create room on the 26-man and 40-man rosters, right-hander Tobias Myers was optioned to Triple-A and left-hander Anderson Severino was designated for assignment.
Perez signed a minor league deal with the Nationals last offseason and then made the Opening Day roster, thus guaranteeing a $1.9MM salary for the 2026 season. After struggling to a 6.19 ERA over 16 games and innings, Perez was outrighted off Washington’s 40-man roster at the start of May, and he rejected that outright assignment in favor of free agency. The Mets came calling with another minors contract just a couple of days later, and Perez will get another chance to get his 2026 season (and to some extent his career) back in the right direction.
A veteran of nine MLB seasons, Perez’s best work came with the Orioles from 2022-24, when he posted a 3.12 ERA and allowed only four homers over 164 2/3 innings out of the Baltimore pen. The grounder specialist’s ability to keep the ball in the park helped paper over some uninspiring strikeout and walk rates, but since Opening Day 2025, Perez has a 7.41 ERA over 37 2/3 big league innings, with 29 walks and only 30 strikeouts. While he is still generating grounders at an elite rate, Perez has given up five homers in his last two seasons of work, so batters are doing heavy damage when they’re able to get the ball in the air.
It remains to be seen if Perez can get on track in Queens, or if he might soon find himself back in DFA limbo as part of the Mets’ neverending bullpen churn. Brooks Raley, A.J. Minter, and now David Peterson represent other left-handed options in New York’s relief corps, and Perez might just be on board for a cup of coffee as a fresh arm after the Mets went 10 innings in yesterday’s 9-7 win over the Marlins.
Since Perez has more than five years of MLB service time, he was able to retain his 2026 salary even after declining his outright assignment from the Nationals. That means that Washington will owe him the rest of that $1.9MM, with the Mets on the hook for just the prorated portion of a Major League minimum salary for any time Perez spends on the active roster.
Severino’s big league resume consists of six games and 7 1/3 innings (with a 6.14 ERA) for the White Sox in 2022. After being cut loose by the Sox following that season, he spent the next three seasons outside of affiliated baseball, including two years in the Mexican League before the Mets signed Severino to a minors contract in November.
New York selected Severino’s contract to its 40-man roster 11 days ago but optioned Severino to Triple-A, probably indicating that Severino had some kind of opt-out clause in his deal if he wasn’t included on a 40-man roster. His 1.31 ERA and 51.1% grounder rate over 20 2/3 innings for Triple-A Syracuse could draw some attention on the waiver wire, but those impressive numbers are undermined by a .229 BABIP and 13.8% walk rate, plus Severino’s 25% strikeout rate isn’t anything special.
Myers’ demotion to Triple-A is also worth mentioning, as he has a 4.05 ERA over 33 1/3 innings this season (working as a proper reliever in 18 games and making two pseudo-starts as an opener). His ability to pitch multiple innings as been helpful for the Mets, but Myers has allowed at least one earned run in four of his last five outings, and he was charged for two runs during an inning of work yesterday. Myers will probably be called back up before too long, particularly if Perez is indeed just in the Show for a short amount of time.