Rockies Designate John Curtiss For Assignment, Select Chasen Shreve

The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Chasen Shreve. In a corresponding move, right-hander John Curtiss has been designated for assignment. Their 40-man roster count stays at 39.

Shreve, 34, has been struggling to get to the majors this year. That’s a bit surprising as he’s generally been solid in his major league career and has been producing decent numbers in the minors this year. In 367 big league appearances dating back to his 2014 debut, he has a 3.97 earned run average. His 10.8% walk rate in that time is on the high side but only slightly. His 25.3% strikeout rate is quite strong and he’s also kept 41.6% of balls in play on the ground.

Coming into this year, he signed a minor league deal with the Rangers but opted out in early May and re-signed with that club on another minors pact. In mid-June, he signed a minors deal with the Yankees, presumably after opting out from his Rangers deal yet again. The Yanks released him a few days ago, perhaps due to another opt-out situation, and he quickly landed with the Rockies on another minor league deal.

Across all those deals, he has a 2.61 ERA in 34 1/3 Triple-A innings this year. He has struck out 26.7% of batters faced while walking 9.2% of them. Despite those decent numbers, the Rangers and Yankees didn’t find room for him in their respective bullpens but the Rockies will.

He’ll take the spot of Curtiss, who has been on and off the Colorado roster this year. He was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason and has now twice has his contract selected but has been designated for assignment a few days later in both instances. He has allowed four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings around those transactions, giving him an unsightly 15.43 ERA on the year.

He had some intriguing results a few years ago but hasn’t got his strikeouts back after his Tommy John surgery. With the Rays, Marlins and Brewers in 2020 and 2021, he tossed a combined 69 1/3 innings with a 2.86 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate. He went under the knife in September of 2021 and was then non-tendered by Milwaukee.

The Mets signed him for 2022 and 2023, knowing that he would miss the first year of that stretch. He eventually returned and tossed 19 2/3 innings with the Mets last year but with a 4.58 ERA and 19.8% strikeout rate. He was outrighted off their roster after last year, which led to his deal with the Rockies. He’s tossed 38 Triple-A innings this year with a 4.03 ERA and 18.5% strikeout rate. With the trade deadline now passed, the Rockies will have no choice but to put Curtiss on waivers in the coming days.