The Dodgers have claimed two players off waivers from the Mariners, the teams announced today. Infielder Mike Freeman and righty Chris Heston are now headed to the Los Angeles organization.
Both players have been optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to open their tenures with the new club. To create roster space, outfielder Andrew Toles and southpaw Scott Kazmir were shifted to the 60-day DL.
Freeman, 29, is a left-handed hitter with experience all over the field — the bulk of it coming at second base. He has struggled in two brief cracks at the majors in the past two seasons, but has shown quite a bit more in the upper minors. Indeed, through 1,245 Triple-A plate appearances over parts of four seasons, Freeman owns a .316/.378/.427 batting line with 113 walks against just 180 strikeouts. He also has hit only nine home runs in that span, so clearly it would be unwise to expect much in the power department.
As for Heston, it’s interesting to see him land with the Dodgers, who saw him emerge with the rival San Francisco Giants back in 2015. He ended that year with a no-hitter and 177 2/3 innings of 3.95 ERA pitching on his ledger, but has only thrown ten MLB frames since. Heston, 29, was throwing well in his time this year at Triple-A, though, with a 3.41 ERA and 8.0 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 over 31 2/3 frames.
hunthutch
What happened to Heston he was a good promising rookie that just collapsed , I don’t get why people just gave up on him the dodgers should be able to turn him around they recently have had good success with that
yankees500
Yeah he was decent, but he was just a back end starter or long man out of the bullpen. In his rookie season he held a high 3 ERA with poor peripherals (albeit with that no-hitter). Then he spent all of last year either hurt or underperforming in Triple-A. So he never was too special.
theroyal19
He never seemed to be that great of a pitcher. On MLB network recently someone compared Ty Blach currently with the Giants to Heston. They don’t strike out many people so they have to miss the barrel and if they don’t miss barrels they get into a lot of trouble
jdgoat
He was never good in the MLB. His last time being good in the minors was probably 2012 before this year
jdgoat
Woops i mean 2014
frankiegxiii
Didn’t Chris Heston throw a no hitter not too long ago? Or am I thinking of someone else?
mrmariner
He did
bleacherbum
Yes he did
CTBrowns
Mets
kbarr888
Yup…..Doesn’t mean that much, when you do it just once….
Phillip Humber pitched a Perfect game…….a few years ago, I can’t remember
Armando Gallerraga pitched a Perfect Game (The infamous “Ooops Game”)….
The list of “very average pitchers with a no-hitter” is extremely long.
Heston was a nice grab by the Dodgers, but he has never been a dominant pitcher, and is probably a decent bullpen piece (with occasional spot start potential).
dodgerfan711
I hope Heston will be the next turn around project. Giants would sure love that. Kazmir is jason schmitd 2.0. 48 million down the drain
theroyal19
He was originally a Giant
CoolKidJoeXBL
Man Chris Heston has really fallen off the map since winning a Cy Young in My Player in MLB 2K13
TheMichigan
Tyler Olson won ROY in mine.
How far they fall.
BlueSkyLA
Freeman and Heston are both cannon fodder, but not bad as cannon fodder goes. I would not give either one of them a better than a one-in-ten chance of seeing any major league time.
myaccount
I would take that bet. Neither will ever be regulars in LA, but injuries do happen.
BlueSkyLA
They are being sent to OKC but they will be so far down the depth chart they might as well be going to Mars.
RiverCatsFilms
Welp… his no hitter is his Carter highlight
lovableschmuck
The Dodgers probably did the Mariners a favor by picking up Heston.Seattle has so many AAA type pitchers up in the Majors,or on the DL,I don’t know how they can fit them all on their farm system rosters once everyone starts getting off the DL.On the other hand,knowing Dipoto,he probably will pick up another cast-off from the waiver wire within a day or less.
Rickey O'Sunnyvale
Heston, the missing link in the Dodgers new 9-man rotation.