Here are the latest minor moves, via Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted:
- The Braves re-signed catcher Blake Lalli after recently outrighting him. Lalli, 33, received a brief MLB cameo for the first time in quite a while, but hasn’t spend much time in the majors and figures to remain in the upper minors next year. He carries a .265/.316/.376 batting line over parts of five seasons at Triple-A.
- Meanwhile, the Braves outrighted 26-year-old lefties Matt Marksberry and Andrew McKirahan as well as shortstop Daniel Castro. Marksberry has made 35 appearances over the last two seasons, posting a composite 5.06 ERA, though he was effective in 42 2/2 frames in the upper minors last year, carrying a 2.32 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. McKirahan spent the year recovering from Tommy John surgery. As for Castro, 23, the last two years have come with a fair amount of major league opportunities, but his bat hasn’t been up to the task. Over 239 total plate appearances, he has hit just .217/.250/.265.
- The Pirates re-signed righty Casey Sadler to a minor league deal. Sadler, 26, made a nice spot start in 2016 but spent most of the year working at Triple-A. He wasn’t able to repeat his quality earned run numbers from the prior two seasons in the upper minors, pitching to a 4.22 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 over 81 frames in 13 starts.
- Young Mexican third baseman/catcher Victor Ruiz is heading to the Reds from the Tijuana Toros, Cincinnati announced. Reds director of international scouting Tony Arias says that Ruiz has been on Cinci’s radar for some time, praising the youngster’s hitting ability, his “very good hands and a good throwing arm,” and also his “leadership and competitive qualities.”
Really pulling for Castro, guy plays are and is an excellent player. If he can produce somewhat like he does in the minors, he can find himself as a career backup… which isn’t sexy, but heck… you’d still be getting paid to play a game at the highest level. He’s better than the numbers he put up this year.
He needs to be in the braves dugout for real
With Castro I see a kid with a good overall glove, arm and good hustle but I don’t think he will ever hit major league pitching enough to be a part time back up at best.
Sadler didn’t play in 2016 because of TJ surgery. He made that spot start in 2015.
This move has not been widely reported for some reason, however the Atlanta Braves apparently signed Sam Freeman to a Minor League Contract and assigned him to AAA Gwinnett.
Where did you pull that from? Considering Gwinnett’s season is over you can’t really be assigned to them as minor league teams don’t technically have rosters until spring training roles around.
You can still assign players to a minor league roster. That’s how they outright guys and make room on the 40 man roster for others