With transactions back in full swing, there’s a constant 40-man roster churn as teams accommodate new signings, waiver claims and more. Many of the players who are designated for assignment around the league will go unclaimed and end up sticking with their clubs as a non-roster player. We’ll keep track of today’s outrighted players here…
- The Red Sox announced Friday that infielder Hudson Potts cleared waivers and has been outrighted to the minors. Boston didn’t specify an assignment to a specific affiliate just yet. The 23-year-old Potts was a first-round pick of the Padres in 2016 and landed with the Sox by way of 2020’s Mitch Moreland trade. Potts has drawn praise for his huge raw power in the past, but the 2021 season was a discouraging one. In his second full season spent at the Double-A level, Potts managed only a .217/.264/.399 batting line with a huge 32.8% strikeout rate. Though he hit well in the minors up through Class-A Advanced, Potts now has 837 plate appearances in parts of three Double-A seasons and just a .216/.277/.385 output there.
- Pirates righty Eric Hanhold, designated for assignment last week, also went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Indianapolis earlier this week. The 28-year-old gave up eight runs in 10 1/3 innings for the Orioles last year and joined the Pirates via waiver claim following the season. Hanhold’s struggles persisted in the minors, evidenced by a 5.19 ERA with Triple-A Norfolk in 2021, but he did have a solid 2019 season in the Mets’ system, pitching to a 3.84 ERA in 63 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Hanhold has been dominant in 40 career innings of Double-A ball but carries an ERA north of 5.00 both in Triple-A and in the Majors.
I’m sure pepper is disappointed
How ironic, man.
Kind of surprised Potts went unclaimed. Showed some potential a couple years ago.
He was really bad last year…..very low OBP….very high strikeout percentage….. he has been passed by a lot of other prospects in the Red Sox system!!
True, but could have been a nice low-risk attempt to salvage him.
No team wanted to waste a 40-man roster spot.
Exactly. He still has potential but teams know their own system and see how he struggled last year at AA.
Dennyd- absolutely! The waiver claiming team must open a spot on the 40-man roster for the claimed player. In most cases that means DFAing another player. I do not think that Potts is better than the player the claiming team would have to DFA. That is why Potts passed through waivers unclaimed.
The remaining question is: Do you allocate at bats to Potts over another player with a higher upside in AA (as Potts would be in AA for a third straight year)?
Now that Potts is off the 40-man, Bloom can trade him to another team who does not need to add him to the 40-man.
Yeah. those few ST AB’s, where he looked lost were just like his AB’s with Portland last year saw on Milb tv when saw him. My 2c is he has hard time recognizing breaking ball, his bat is slow anyway and swing is long as it is, just an awful lot to overcome and would require a huge fixing of his swing mechanics, not even taking into account the hands being slow.
I don’t see him with any future above A ball as a prospect and struggles with any type of velocity on top of that, which forgot to mention.
Harsh critique, but what my 2c was of him from games saw.
Nice summary John. I’m in the minority but I feel similarly with Duran who usually looks overmatched. In his case, such is with big league pitching. Add in he seems hesitant stealing and the worst outfield arm I’ve seen since Mickey Rivers and I just don’t see what others do. Not that he needs to impress me but I still hope I’m wrong.
Unless some other prospects get hurt, I really do not see the at bats available in AA Portland for Potts. I would not be surprised if Potts were simply released.
Maybe Potts can turn it around elsewhere, but he has a long way to go.
40-man rosters have gotten extra clogged as team did not get to see prospects in 2020, so now the teams need to weed out the really talented players from those who have stalled causing roster crunches on almost every team.
He doesn’t look to me like he has a lot of real skills. 3 HRs in 3 years at college. 8 HRs between A- & AA in ~ 800+ PAs. Speed is his calling card, but not to any great advantage.
Except for two good months in AAA, he’d never be in the news.
Just about every team is trying to clean out its 40-man at this point, even teams like Pitt and Baltimore, who have some prospects now with MiLB service time as they enter year 45 of their rebuilds. Potts has shown next to nothing, certainly not enough to waste a valuable 40-man spot.
Doesn’t mean he can’t rebound and work himself back into the discussion, many scouts were enamored of his talents when he came out of high school. But it will have to be as a minor leaguer.
Only the Phillies do 45 year rebuilds.
Hanhold loses grip on Pirates roster.