We’ll track the latest minor signings and other transactions here …
- The Brewers have brought back left-hander Nick Ramirez on a minor-league deal, per a club announcement. Brewer Nation first tweeted word of the signing. He converted from first base to the mound in 2017, turning in rather impressive results. In 79 1/3 frames over 49 appearances, all but one of which came at Double-A, Ramirez ran a 1.36 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. It obviously remains to be seen whether the former fourth-round pick can earn a shot at the majors, but it seems promising that he was able to throttle both right-handed (.214/.260/.305) and left-handed hitters (.167/.273/.240) while working in a multi-inning role.
- First baseman/outfielder Kyle Jensen has a minors deal with the Giants, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). The 29-year-old has only seen brief MLB time but has generally produced quality numbers at Triple-A. In 1,793 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors, he carries a .266/.341/.488 batting line with 178 home runs — though also over a thousand strikeouts. Jensen had a six-game stretch last year with Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, but otherwise did not appear professionally. A former 12th round draft pick of the Marlins, Jensen has also spent time in recent years with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks organizations.
- Also signing a minor-league pact is lefty Keith Hessler, who’ll join the Rockies, according to Cotillo (Twitter link). Hessler, 28, has 34 MLB frames under his belt, over which he has allowed 21 earned runs while recording 23 strikeouts and issuing 17 walks. He has mostly plied his trade in the upper minors in recent years, though he also took an indy ball detour last season. At times, Hessler has produced solid groundball numbers and been very hard on opposing lefties, though neither really held true in his most recent showing. In 45 1/3 Triple-A frames with the Padres in 2017, Hessler carried a 4.57 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9.
The 178 homers were his total milb numbers not just in the triple A at bats, right ?
1793 MiLB PA
The minors have had the hottest of stoves.
Jensen, who I got a chance to see in NOLA while he was a Marlins AAA player, is a lot like Mark Canha. It’s a lot of boom or bust. He’s got a better than average arm, and takes good routes to the ball. Good corner outfielder/1B type. He could handle LF at SF. And, no, I’m not Johnny Superscout, but I do have 30+ years of coaching high school athletes, including some that have played in the majors and minors, so I feel a little qualified to say what I did.
Thanks for the insight
To be fair to Jensen, he had over a thousand strikeouts but covering 3872 minor league PA’s. If the former, there’d be posters of him on kids’ walls. He’d have groupies. The man would be on the highlight reel each day where even I might tune in to watch the different ways he could drum up a strike out.