The Rockies announced a series of roster moves today, with right-hander Antonio Senzatela being reinstated from the injured list and catcher Austin Wynns added to the active roster, the latter having been claimed off waivers from the Dodgers last night. In corresponding moves, catcher Brian Serven was optioned to Triple-A while outfielder Yonathan Daza was designated for assignment.
Daza, 29, has seen significant playing time with the Rockies in recent years, with his ability to play all three outfield positions making him a useful player to have around. Since the start of 2021, he’s played 244 games for the Rockies and taken 819 trips to the plate. That includes 172 games in center field, splitting that position with players including Sam Hilliard, Garrett Hampson and Randal Grichuk. He hasn’t been an elite defender, with Outs Above Average considering him exactly average in center for his career while he has -17 Defensive Runs Saved and a grade of -6.8 from Ultimate Zone Rating.
At the plate, Daza is tough to strike out and generally runs good batting averages but with little else to be excited about. He has a .281 batting average in his career but has just four home runs in 924 plate appearances, despite playing his home games at Coors Field. He’s hitting .270/.304/.351 here in 2023 for a wRC+ of 63, walking at just a 3.8% clip with no homers or even a triple.
The Rockies suddenly had a bit of a crowded center field depth chart, as Grichuk recently came off the injured list and rookie Brenton Doyle was promoted. Those two have seemingly squeezed Daza out of playing time, as he last started back on April 23. Since he’s out of options, the only way to get him off the active roster was to designate him for assignment. The club will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He doesn’t have a previous career outright or three years of service time, meaning that he would stick with the club in the event he goes through waivers unclaimed.
As for Senzatela, he will be making his season debut, having been out of action since suffering a torn ACL in August of last year. He’s been an effective ground ball pitcher for the Rockies in the past, posting a 4.11 ERA over 2020 and 2021. He only struck out 15% of hitters in that time but kept walks down to a 5.1% rate and got grounders on 51.1% of balls in play. It was after that latter season that the club signed him to a $50.5MM extension that runs through 2026 with a club option for 2027. He had a 5.07 ERA last year prior to his injury, but with very similar peripherals and an inflated .383 batting average on balls in play that suggests he was closer to his usual self than it might appear.
He’ll step into a Colorado rotation that’s been dealing with various challenges recently. It was recently reported that Germán Márquez will undergo Tommy John surgery, keeping him out of action for the rest of the year and part of next year as well. Ryan Rolison and Noah Davis are also on the injured list, leaving the club with Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner and Connor Seabold in four spots.
I thought Daza was fine as a high contact centerfielder in the 9 hole. What led up to this?
I’m looking at his stats, I guess 2 HRs in 390 atbats over the last 2 seasons was not what COL was looking for?
Cleveland employs Myles Straw who has a better glove but the same power and worse contact skills
Déjà vu Daza
Yea as an unfortunate Rockies fan I was surprised. I like Daza but he’s just an average outfielder at best and has no power. 4 home runs in 4 years and almost 1,000 ABs at Coors is bad. Veen should get a look soon
I didn’t think the FO would throw in the towel on Daza this quickly. Maybe they’re just gambling that he won’t be claimed and ends up in ABQ. Probably a safe bet since teams will figure if he can’t hit in Denver, he sure won’t do much of anything at sea level.
KC could use help in CF now
Not really surprised by this because he has barely been used since he got hit in the hand, but I was hoping that he would have some trade value. I guess he still can be traded, but not likely.
I’d say there’s a chance that someone will want to trade for him. Could make a decent 4th or 5th outfielder
Yankees or A’s could use him.
I’d wonder if the Phillies took a look. They clearly don’t feel 100% defensively on Marsh and Guthrie, and with Pache out maybe they see him as an upgrade over Guthrie to try a la Mercado, Zimmer, etc.
Yonathan lol!
Yoked to a joke of a name.
That’s actually really funny to anyone who has seen the Dungeons and Dragons movie! Ha
I know baseball has changed but… how does a 280 lifetime batter is disponible just because he doesn”t hit homers?
Look at the team’s record. Heads need to roll; and because ownership and the FO are in cahoots; the on field product has to pay the price.
Fire Bud Black? Nah. Sell off assets and start a rebuild? Never! Change the organizational philosophy? Why do that when the current one is working just fine? Get rid of a .280 hitter just because? Now you’re talking!
Dick Monfort’s delusional world of playing .500 baseball continues to crumble down.
Like the story says, Daza is a one-dimensional OF that doesn’t even play CF that well. Doyle is way better with the glove and Grichuk has a lot more power, not to mention Jones tearing the cover off the ball in AAA. The Rockies make some bad decisions, but this isn’t one of them.
He’d fit in Detroit just nicely.
The White Sox have Billy Hamilton and Adam Haisley as their backup outfielders. Daza would be worth a roster claim.
Nothing against Daza, but he has not stood out in any way since he came up. The only way the Rockies could get him off the roster was to DFA him. If no one picks him up, then he’ll play in ABQ. We may see him back if Doyle doesn’t do better.