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Archives for June 2018

Mets Designate Buddy Baumann

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The Mets have designated lefty Buddy Baumann for assignment, per a club announcement. Also departing the active roster is righty Gerson Bautista, who was optioned to Triple-A.

These moves will create the roster space needed for the Mets to activate Todd Frazier and Anthony Swarzak. We covered their activations from the DL earlier today.

Baumann, 30, was hit hard in his three appearances this year with the Mets. He has shown swing-and-miss ability at the game’s highest level, but has yet to fully establish himself in the majors. In 14 Triple-A innings this season, Baumann has allowed only a pair of earned runs on seven hits, with 18 strikeouts and ten walks.

Mets To Activate Todd Frazier, Anthony Swarzak

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The Mets have announced that they will activate third baseman Todd Frazier and righty Anthony Swarzak from the disabled list today, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweets. Corresponding roster moves are not yet known.

Frazier will end up missing just under a month with a hamstring strain. The veteran was off to a solid start to the year before that, slashing .237/.357/.412 with five home runs and a 15.0% walk rate over his first 140 plate appearances with the organization. He inked a two-year, $17MM contract over the winter.

Likewise, Swarzak joined the Mets on a two-year free agent pact; in his case, it came with a $14MM guarantee. But he made only two appearances before going down to an oblique injury.

Both players represent significant pieces of the Mets roster. The news is most welcome given the team’s struggles of late. With a number of players on the DL, the club has carried three catchers and utilized youngster Luis Guillorme quite a lot at second and third.

Given his struggles at the plate, Guillorme could simply be sent down to make way for Frazier. Complicating matters, though, is the fact that Swarzak will require a 40-man spot since he’s coming back from the 60-day DL. Veteran utilityman Jose Reyes has been even worse offensively than Guillorme, and trimming him from the roster would allow the club to maintain greater pitching depth by optioning (rather than designating) a reliever. That said, there are also some reasonable DFA candidates on the current staff and there has been no indication to date that Reyes is at risk.

Day 2 Draft Notes: Assessments, McClanahan, Rocker, Wilcox, Heimlich

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Our brief preview post contains links to many of the best sources for draft information heading into the draft. We also wrote up the Tigers’ selection of Casey Mize with the first overall selection and tracked the first round, compensation, and Round A competitive balance picks (1-30; 31-43). Now, with day two of the draft underway, here are some other links and notes:

  • If you want to catch up on the details of yesterday’s action, there are a variety of places worth a look. The Fangraphs team broke out the drafted players and offered capsules on each team’s early haul. ESPN.com’s Keith Law offers a look at “winners and losers” from the first day in a subscription post. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo provides a preview of today’s action. Among the coverage at Baseball America, Teddy Cahill wrote about the unfortunate timing that saw several players drafted while playing in NCAA tournament games.
  • As many of those evaluations reflect, the Rays were credited by many for taking advantage of their large overall bonus pool to snag top talent despite a mid-first-round position. As one example, Tampa Bay grabbed lefty Shane McClanahan with the 31st selection. The University of South Florida junior had notified teams he wanted a $3MM bonus to sign, per Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs (via Twitter). Now, says McDaniel, McClanahan and the team will likely have to compromise a bit. His selection spot came with a $2.22MM slot allocation, but the Tampa Bay organization will also be working to sign another top talent who came off the board later than expected in first-round pick Matthew Liberatore.
  • While those southpaws are expected to sign, a pair of highly regarded young righties appear to be headed to college after going undrafted to this point. Kumar Rocker strongly hinted in an Instagram post that he’ll matriculate at Vanderbilt, as Teddy Cahill of Baseball America notes on Twitter. And Cole Wilcox left no doubt in his own tweet that he’ll play for Georgia, as BA’s Chris Collazo passed along via Twitter. It seems reasonable to presume that both players simply were not presented with opportunities to earn bonuses sufficient to forego their commitments, if they were willing to do so at all. In all likelihood, those players will not end up being drafted in the first ten rounds, as failing to sign a player in those slots means sacrificing pool money, but will end up being plucked at some point in the later rounds (on the off chance that circumstances change for them and/or a drafting team).
  • If there’s a player who looms large despite not yet being picked, it’s certainly Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich. As impressive as he has been on the field, Heimlich carries a particularly concerning past. Kurt Streeter of the New York Times was among those to take on this story recently, for those who are not familiar. Needless to say, his draft status is extremely controversial, and it was not particularly surprising to see him end up still available after day one. That probably will not last, however, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, who writes that Heimlich is likely to be chosen at some point. A “handful of teams” have not eliminated the left-hander from consideration, says Passan, who says there’s “basically zero” chance that Heimlick won’t join an affiliated organization, almost certainly via the draft. Notably, Passan also reports that the Orioles talked with Heimlich’s camp about signing him last year, when he was eligible to agree to terms after not being selected. There’s loads of interesting information and analysis in Passan’s article, which is well worth a full read.

Drew Hutchison Elects Free Agency

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Righty Drew Hutchison has elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, the Phillies announced today. He had been designated for assignment recently.

Hutchison, 27, worked to a 4.64 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 5.5 BB/9 over his 21 1/3 innings on the year. To be fair, much of the damage came in two long-relief appearances during a stretch in which he appeared just twice in a 26-day span.

In parts of five seasons in the majors, Hutchison owns a 4.92 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 over 439 innings. He’ll surely have little trouble catching on somewhere, though it’s anyone’s guess when he’ll receive his next shot at the MLB level.

MLBTR Poll: Who’s The Favorite In The NL West?

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We’re now through substantially more than one third of the regular season. The competitive picture is still unfolding, to be sure, and the trade deadline promises to bring notable roster changes as well. But the general outlines of the postseason race are at least beginning to reveal themselves.

In most divisions, there’s a yawning gap at some point that separates the still-competitive teams from those that seem too far back to mount a charge. In fact, there are spreads of at least 6.5 games present in every division … except for one.

With ~60 games in the books, the NL West has played itself to a near-standstill.

It wasn’t long ago that the D-Backs were sprinting ahead of the pack with the Rockies chasing after them like an eager young pup. The Dodgers were seemingly stuck in second gear, while the Giants were flying like a wounded duck.

If you can forgive that hodgepodge of metaphors and similes, the general picture was one in which last year’s pair of surprise NL Wild Card winners from Arizona and Colorado were doubling down. Meanwhile, the old guard California clubs were not just turning in a mediocre showing on the field, but were facing increasingly worrisome injury situations.

Wait … are we leaving someone out? Ah yes, the Padres. Despite making a big free-agent investment in Eric Hosmer and extending (rather than trading) closer Brad Hand, the San Diego organization was not even seen as a dark-horse contender in all but the most optimistic quarters. And the team’s early record reflected that questionable outlook, making it easy to assume at the time that they wouldn’t factor into the race except as a potential late-season spoiler.

And now? Well, regression has taken its revenge, and done so swiftly. The teams are lined up neatly in a row, one behind the next. Even the Padres are within 4.5 games of first — closer than all but 8 other teams chasing leaders in other divisions. There’s a rather tight spread of talent distribution, too, particularly with the Dodgers losing Corey Seager for the year and Clayton Kershaw for an as-yet-undetermined stretch.

So, with something approaching a reset in the NL West, which team do you see as the favorite the rest of the way? (Team order randomized; app users can access the poll by clicking here.)

Latest On Braves’ Jose Ramirez, Ronald Acuna

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The Braves have provided updates on the health of righty Jose Ramirez and outfielder Ronald Acuna, each of whom presently resides on the 10-day DL. David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the news (Twitter links).

Ramirez, 28, had been one of the team’s go-to late-inning arms in 2017, when he pitched to a 3.19 ERA in 62 innings. But he stumbled early in the current campaign, allowing a dozen earned runs in just 6 1/3 innings while issuing eight walks against seven strikeouts. Perhaps it wasn’t surprising when it turned out that Ramirez was dealing with a shoulder problem.

Unfortunately, the progress made to date now appears to be at risk. Ramirez had been working back to form but was forced to halt his first live batting practice session today. It’s not clear at this point whether he’ll need to go back to resting or perhaps give throwing another go, but that’s obviously suboptimal news under the circumstances. Continued uncertainty surrounding Ramirez certainly enhances the Braves’ potential need for relievers at the deadline.

As for Acuna, there’s still no reason to fear that he has a significant injury. But he’s still not leaping back to action quite as promptly as seemed possible in the wake of the scary knee hyperextension he suffered while running through the bag at first base.

For the time being, Acuna is still just working on physical improvements. He may resume baseball activities as soon as next week, though that’s not written in stone. Notably, O’Brien adds that the team now anticipates that Acuna will require a rehab assignment. While the Braves are no doubt still grateful that Acuna somehow avoided a much more serious problem, it will likely still be a while before he’s back in action at the MLB level.

2018 MLB Draft Results — Compensation & Competitive Balance Round A

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With the traditional first-round picks in the books, we’ll use this post to track the “sandwich” selections that come before the second round: compensatory picks awarded to clubs that lost QO-declining free agents as well as Round A of the competitive balance picks (tradeable choices that are awarded by lottery to low-revenue/small market clubs).

Here are the picks:

Compensation Picks

31. Rays: Shane McClanahan, LHP, University of South Florida (FL)
32. Rays: Nick Schnell, OF, Roncalli HS (IN)
33. Royals: Jackson Kowar, RHP, University of Florida
34. Royals: Daniel Lynch, LHP, University of Virginia
35. Indians: Ethan Hankins, RHP, Forsyth Central HS (GA)

Competitive Balance (Round A) Picks

36. Pirates: Gunnar Hogland, RHP, Dayspring Christian Academy (FL)
37. Orioles: Cadyn Grenier, SS, Oregon State University
38. Padres: Xavier Edwards, SS, North Broward Prep HS (FL)
39. Diamondbacks: Jake McCarthy, OF, University of Virginia
40. Royals: Kris Bubic, LHP, Stanford University
41. Indians: Lenny Torres Jr., RHP, Beacon HS (NY)
42. Rockies: Grant Lavigne, 1B, Bedford HS (NH)
43. Cardinals: Griffin Roberts, RHP, Wake Forest University

Twins To Sign Cameron Rupp

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The Twins have reached agreement on a minor-league deal with catcher Cameron Rupp, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (via Twitter). It seems he is already in Rochester readying to begin play with the organization.

Rupp, 29, will boost the Minnesota catching depth with Jason Castro expected to miss the rest of the year. Presently, the organization is utilizing Mitch Garver and Bobby Wilson behind the dish at the major-league level.

Though he has yet to see time in the big leagues this year, Rupp was a fixture behind the dish over the past three seasons for the Phillies. In 1,049 plate appearances over that span, he slashed .236/.301/.417 and swatted 39 home runs.

Still, Philadelphia cut Rupp loose late in Spring Training after agreeing initially agreeing to avoid arbitration. The receiver caught on with the Rangers organization shortly thereafter. He is off to a nice start with the bat this year, posting a .264/.328/.509 batting line over 125 Triple-A plate appearances before opting out of his contract recently.

2018 MLB Draft Results — First Round

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The 2018 MLB Draft is underway, and we’ll track the first-round picks as they come in — starting with the first 30 picks (worst-to-first, and excepting teams that sacrificed picks to sign qualifying offer-declining free agents). We’ll fire up another post for the “sandwich” choices: selections awarded to clubs that lost QO-declining free agents and competitive balance Round A picks.

Here are the picks:

  1. Detroit Tigers: Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn University
  2. San Francisco Giants: Joey Bart, C, Georgia Institute of Technology
  3. Philadelphia Phillies: Alec Bohm, 3B, Wichita State
  4. Chicago White Sox: Nick Madrigal, 2B, Oregon State University
  5. Cincinnati Reds: Jonathan India, 3B, University of Florida
  6. New York Mets: Jarred Kelenic, OF, Waukesha West HS (WI)
  7. San Diego Padres: Ryan Weathers, LHP, Loretto HS (TN)
  8. Atlanta Braves: Carter Stewart, RHP, Eau Gallie HS (FL)
  9. Oakland Athletics: Kyler Murray, OF, Oklahoma University
  10. Pittsburgh Pirates: Travis Swaggerty, OF, University of South Alabama
  11. Baltimore Orioles: Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, Central Heights HS (TX)
  12. Toronto Blue Jays: Jordan Groshans, INF, Magnolia HS (TX)
  13. Miami Marlins: Connor Scott, OF, Plant HS (FL)
  14. Seattle Mariners: Logan Gilbert, RHP, Stetson University
  15. Texas Rangers: Cole Winn, RHP, Orange Lutheran HS (CA)
  16. Tampa Bay Rays: Matt Liberatore, LHP, Mountain Ridge HS (AZ)
  17. Los Angeles Angels: Jordyn Adams, OF, Green Hope HS (NC)
  18. Kansas City Royals: Brady Singer, RHP, University of Florida
  19. St. Louis Cardinals: Nolan Gorman, 3B, O’Connor HS (AZ)
  20. Minnesota Twins: Trevor Larnach, OF, Oregon State University
  21. Milwaukee Brewers: Brice Turang, SS, Santiago HS (CA)
  22. Colorado Rockies: Ryan Rolison, LHP, University of Mississippi
  23. New York Yankees: Anthony Seigler, C, Cartersville HS (GA)
  24. Chicago Cubs: Nico Hoerner, SS, Stanford University
  25. Arizona Diamondbacks: Matt McLain, SS, Beckman HS (CA)
  26. Boston Red Sox: Triston Casas, 3B, American Heritage HS (FL)
  27. Washington Nationals: Mason Denaburg, RHP, Merritt Island HS (FL)
  28. Houston Astros: Seth Beer, 1B, Clemson University
  29. Cleveland Indians: Noah Naylor, C, St. Joan of Arc HS (Ontario)
  30. Los Angeles Dodgers: J.T. Ginn, RHP, Brandon HS (MS)

Tigers Select Casey Mize With First Overall Draft Pick

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The Tigers have selected right-hander Casey Mize with the first overall pick of the 2018 Rule 4 amateur draft. The 21-year-old hurler just wrapped up his junior year at Auburn University.

Mize was not even drafted out of high school, so it has been a meteoric rise over his three years in college. Then again, he hasn’t exactly needed to streak up the draft boards over the months leading up to the draft. Instead, Mize planted himself at the top early on and has remained a clear consensus 1-1 option ever since.

Now a polished starter who’s said to possess three swing-and-miss offerings, Mize just turned in a massive season for Auburn. In 16 outings, he threw 109 2/3 innings of 2.95 ERA ball, racking up a whopping 151 strikeouts while issuing only a dozen walks.

The expectation is that Mize will move quickly through the Detroit farm. He’s certainly an interesting addition to a system that features several promising starters among its best-graded prospects. If all goes as hoped, perhaps the rebuilding organization won’t have to wait long for the arrival of a wave of pitching talent at the MLB level.

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