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Archives for April 2025

Tim Mayza Shut Down For Six Weeks

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The Pirates are shutting down lefty reliever Tim Mayza for six weeks, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk informs reporters (including Colin Beazley of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Alex Stumpf of MLB.com). The southpaw went on the 15-day injured list over the weekend with a lat strain. Stumpf notes that he’s also dealing with a teres major injury.

A six-week shutdown means Mayza very likely won’t be back until after the All-Star Break. He won’t be cleared to resume throwing until June at the earliest. He’d need multiple bullpen and batting practice sessions before heading on a minor league rehab assignment. A transfer to the 60-day IL is all but assured.

Mayza signed a one-year, $1.15MM free agent deal in February. He’d had a decent run with the Yankees after being released by the Blue Jays. Mayza had been tagged for an 8.03 earned run average across 35 appearances with Toronto. He allowed an even four earned runs per nine through 18 innings in the Bronx, striking out 12 against three walks. The Yanks non-tendered him anyhow, but the solid finish got him a roster spot in Pittsburgh. Mayza looked good in the early going, striking out eight amidst 9 1/3 frames of three-run ball.

The Bucs still have three left-handers in their bullpen. Ryan Borucki and Caleb Ferguson are working in the middle innings, while Joey Wentz can pitch as the long man. Borucki has allowed four earned runs through 10 innings. Ferguson has worked 11 innings of two-run ball. Wentz has surrendered three earned over 12 2/3 frames.

Rangers Select Nick Ahmed, Place Corey Seager On Injured List

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The Rangers announced that they’ve placed Corey Seager on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. Texas selected Nick Ahmed onto the roster in his place. They designated left-hander Walter Pennington for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.

Seager pulled up as he ran out a ground-ball during yesterday’s win in Sacramento. He immediately subbed out of the game. Josh Smith, who had started in center field, came in to play shortstop. Leody Taveras drew into center field off the bench. Any kind of hamstring strain usually results in an IL placement, but the Rangers seem optimistic that they’ve avoided the worst. Kennedi Landry of MLB.com notes that Seager is expected back right around 10 days from now.

The five-time All-Star has started 20 of 23 games at shortstop. Smith has started twice, while the since-optioned Jonathan Ornelas made one appearance. Seager has joined Smith and Wyatt Langford as the most productive hitters in an otherwise struggling lineup. He’s hitting .286/.345/.468 with four homers through 84 plate appearances.

Smith made his first major league start in center field last night. He could move back to the infield on a regular basis while Seager is out. That’d push Taveras back into everyday center field work. The switch-hitting outfielder is off to a .197/.210/.246 start and has yet to hit a home run through 62 plate appearances. If the Rangers want to keep Smith in center, they’d turn to the veteran Ahmed as their starting shortstop.

This will be the 12th big league season for Ahmed, a two-time Gold Glove winner who has spent the majority of his career with the Diamondbacks. Arizona released him late in the ’23 campaign. He divided last season between the Giants, Dodgers and Padres and combined for a .229/.267/.295 batting line across 228 plate appearances. The 35-year-old signed an offseason minor league deal with Texas. He had a big spring, batting .324 with a trio of homers over 15 games.

It wasn’t enough to break camp. Ahmed was granted his release before Opening Day but returned to the organization on a new minor league contract last week. He’d been working out at their Arizona complex rather than playing in Triple-A. Spring Training numbers aside, the Rangers won’t expect much from Ahmed offensively. He should remain a plus on defense. Statcast credited him with nine Outs Above Average across 554 1/3 innings last season.

The roster shuffling squeezes out Pennington, who made 15 relief appearances for Texas last year. The 27-year-old made his big league debut with the Royals last July. Kansas City dealt him to Texas for Michael Lorenzen at the deadline. Pennington carried a 2.26 ERA through 37 Triple-A appearances at the time. He worked 17 1/3 innings out of the Texas bullpen after the trade. While he only allowed six earned runs, he issued 11 walks against 16 strikeouts.

Pennington made four appearances this spring, allowing three runs on eight hits with two walks and strikeouts apiece. Texas initially optioned him to Triple-A but reassigned him to the complex before Opening Day. There hasn’t been any indication of an injury, but Pennington hasn’t made any regular season appearances in the minors.

Texas will have five days to trade Pennington or place him on waivers. Assuming he hasn’t suffered any kind of undisclosed injury, they could attempt to outright him to the minors. (Injured players cannot be outrighted, so they’re almost always released after a DFA.) Last year’s strong numbers in Triple-A could get him some attention on the waiver wire. Pennington has two minor league option years remaining.

Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News relayed the moves before the club announcement.

José Leclerc Shut Down With Lat Strain

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6:18pm: Leclerc will be shut down from throwing for an undermined amount of time, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He’ll go for a second opinion next week and seems to be in for an extended absence.

5:00pm: The Athletics announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported promotion of prospect Nick Kurtz, which is now official. They also recalled pitchers Grant Holman and Hogan Harris. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Max Muncy and left-hander Jacob Lopez, as well as placing righty José Leclerc on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain.

Leclerc was put into last night’s contest but departed after just seven pitches due to shoulder soreness. Manager Mark Kotsay told reporters, including Jessica Kleinschmidt of Baseball America, that it was more of a strain than soreness.

That makes today’s IL stint fairly unsurprising but it’s still unwelcome for the A’s. Leclerc was the club’s big offseason bullpen investment, as they gave him $10MM on a one-year deal this winter. Throughout his career, he has generally been able to rack up punchouts, even if he gives out a high number of free passes. At this point, he has 369 1/3 major league innings with a 3.34 earned run average, 30.8% strikeout rate and 13.1% walk rate.

He’s off to a rough start so far this year but it’s only nine innings and it’s possible that the shoulder has been bothering him even before this IL placement. His fastball is averaging 94.2 miles per hour this year, a drop from last year’s 95.3 mph. All his other pitches are down by similar amounts.

The A’s surely hoped that he would be a key setup guy for closer Mason Miller but the early results have been shaky and he’s now going to be out of action for at least a couple of weeks. Guys like Tyler Ferguson and Justin Sterner have been given some leverage work early on and will try to hold onto those roles while Leclerc is out.

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images

Astros Considering Time In Center Field For Cam Smith

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The Astros are considering some time in center field for Cam Smith, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Rome points out that nothing is imminent and that the club isn’t planning on making Smith an everyday center fielder. It’s more about adding some extra versatility, giving the club the ability to perhaps put someone like Zach Dezenzo in right from time to time.

The club has already been aggressive with Smith. A third base prospect, the Astros moved him to right field during spring training since they have Isaac Paredes at the hot corner. Smith performed well enough to crack the Opening Day roster as the everyday right fielder, despite having almost no experience there. He was also just short on professional experience in general. He was only just drafted by the Cubs last summer before getting into 32 minor league games in the second half of 2024. Only five of those were at the Double-A level and none at Triple-A. He and Paredes both came to the Astros in the offseason trade that sent Kyle Tucker to the Cubs.

All things considered, Smith has taken well to all the aggression. He has a .226/.304/.403 line to start his big league career. His 29% strikeout rate is on the high side but he has three home runs, helping him to a 109 wRC+. It’s hard to read much into a small sample of glovework but both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average consider Smith to be above par in the field so far.

The Astros are clearly happy with the results and feel confident enough in his abilities that they are given him yet another test. Per Rome, they have started getting him some center field reps in pre-game workouts. “When you break down what makes a good center fielder, you’re going to see reactions, routes, speed and an arm. So far, he’s shown the ability to do all those things,” outfield coach Jason Bell tells Rome. “I know it’s early, but from the early signs, you can see the chance that he would have to do that if that was a possibility.”

Rome mentions that this could be a way to add some extra offense on occasion. Houston’s regular center fielder is Jake Meyers, who is a strong defender but has a career batting line of .230/.293/.368 in 1,250 plate appearances, which translates to an 87 wRC+.

Occasionally moving Smith over to center would allow the Astros to bench Meyers and get a different bat into the lineup. Rome mentions Dezenzo as one such possibility. He has mostly played first base in the big leagues but has also seen some brief time at second, third and in the outfield corners. His .238/.282/.363 batting line isn’t better than Meyers’ but he’s only received 85 big league plate appearances. Over 2023 and 2024, he stepped to the plate 636 times in the minors with a .303/.384/.517 line and 139 wRC+.

Getting Dezenzo into the outfield for Meyers could perhaps add a bit more offense but would be a notable gamble defensively. The club is using former second baseman Jose Altuve in left field, so an outfield alignment of Altuve/Smith/Dezenzo would effectively involve three converted infielders. Meyers, on the other hand, has tallied 22 Defensive Runs Saved and 38 Outs Above Average in his career. Having two of those infielders out there with an excellent defender like Meyers is already a bit of a gamble but this new consideration would be pushing that even farther.

It’s a plan that is all still experimental and Rome notes it’s entirely possible Smith never plays in center, but it’s notable that the club is tinkering as guys like Christian Walker, Yainer Diaz and Yordan Alvarez are all scuffling at the plate.

Angels Designate Ian Anderson For Assignment

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The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. and recalled righty Víctor Mederos. In corresponding moves. they optioned righty Michael Darrell-Hicks and designated righty Ian Anderson for assignment.

Anderson was just acquired from Atlanta prior to Opening Day. It was a one-for-one swap with lefty José Suarez going the other way. It seems neither club was particularly committed to the player it acquired. Suarez was designated for assignment by Atlanta on Monday and now the Angels have followed suit with Anderson just two days later.

The results from Anderson have not been good so far this year. A starter for most of his career, the Halos kept him in relief. He tossed 9 1/3 innings over seven appearances but he has allowed 12 earned runs in that time, with eight strikeouts and seven walks.

That performance has bumped him off the roster. Since he’s out of options, the Angels had to remove him from the 40-man roster entirely. They will now have a week to determine what’s next for him. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Angels could take up to five days to explore trade interest.

If any club wants Anderson, it would be based on his results from a few years ago. Over 2020 and 2021, he tossed 160 2/3 innings with the club, posting a 3.25 earned run average in that time. His 10% walk rate was a tad high but he also punched out 24.5% of batters faced and got grounders on 49.9% of balls in play. He also made four postseason starts in each of those seasons, helping Atlanta win the World Series in the latter season.

But it’s been rough sledding since then. His ERA jumped to 5.00 in 2022 and then he required Tommy John surgery in April of 2023, shortly after he had been optioned to the minors. He spent the rest of 2023 recovering. He returned to the mound last year and logged 68 innings over 15 minor league starts. He had a 3.44 ERA in those with a 23.8% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 51.9% ground ball rate.

He exhausted his options during that time, which has led to his current roster bubble situation. Perhaps he can find some club that’s willing to give him a roster spot and some time to get back on track. He hasn’t been good for a few years but health was at least part of that. He’s a former third overall pick, top prospect and even has some past major league success. If he lands somewhere, he has less than three years of major league service, meaning he could be retained for three years beyond this one.

As for Edwards, he’s a veteran journeyman. He actually signed with a Mexican League club in early March but the Angels signed him a couple of weeks later. He has tossed 11 2/3 innings over seven appearances for Triple-A Salt Lake with a 1.54 ERA. His major league career goes back a decade, with a 3.54 ERA in 280 innings, but it’s been almost two years since he was a regular. His 2023 season was ended by a stress fracture in his shoulder and he only made one appearance in the majors last year.

Last night, starter José Soriano only lasted 3 1/3 innings, forcing the Angels to lean heavily on the bullpen. That included Anderson and Darrell-Hicks, who have been swapped out for two fresh arms.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro,Imagn Images

Dodgers Shut Down Blake Snell

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Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell likely won’t be returning to the club soon. Manager Dave Roberts told members of the media, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, that the southpaw “didn’t feel great” after a recent catch session. He will be shut down and it’s possible he’ll be sent for more imaging. He’ll be re-examined when the club gets back to Los Angeles, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. The Dodgers are at Wrigley tonight, then have an off-day Thursday before starting a new homestand on Friday.

Snell started the season healthy but landed on the injured list after just two starts due to shoulder inflammation. An MRI at that time didn’t find any structural damage and the club was hopeful that he wouldn’t miss too much time. It’s now been three weeks since his last appearance and this latest shutdown figures to extend his timeline.

More information will likely be revealed in the coming days as the Dodgers conduct more tests but it’s obviously not encouraging for him to have any kind of setback or recurrence of discomfort. The Dodgers signed him to a five-year, $182MM deal in the offseason, though with some deferrals. He got that big payday on account of strong production on a rate basis. He has only twice pitched more than 130 innings in a season, with both of those seasons resulting in Cy Young awards.

The Dodgers surely were aware that they might have a few IL stints from Snell over the course of his contract, based on past precedent. In other seasons, he has managed to post decent results around his injuries. That was the case last year. He followed up his 2023 Cy Young season with an uneven campaign in 2024. He went on the IL a couple of times due to groin issues and had a 9.51 ERA at the end of June, but then dominated the rest of the way with a 1.23 ERA in the final three months.

That was an extreme example of a general trend in Snell’s career, as he has almost always been a slow starter and strong finisher. For his career, he has a 3.92 first half ERA but a 2.39 ERA in the second half. Time will tell if this is a significant ailment or just another instalment of Snell’s typical magic. The Dodgers surely care more about Snell’s ability to contribute in October, so it makes sense to be cautious with anything at this time of year.

Snell is one of a number of Dodger starters on the injured list. Each of Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan and Gavin Stone are out after undergoing major arm surgeries last year. Clayton Kershaw underwent knee and foot surgery and is still working his way back. Tony Gonsolin suffered a back injury during spring training.

Right now, the healthy rotation consists of Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Gonsolin and Kershaw are both currently on rehab assignments and could return in the coming weeks, though it’s a bit short-handed for now, especially with the club keeping Yamamoto and Sasaki on weekly pitching schedules. Ben Casparius is starting a bullpen game tonight after the Dodgers used six relievers in last night’s extra-innings loss.

Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

Mariners Select Casey Lawrence

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The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence. Fellow righty Sauryn Lao was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding active roster move. To get Lawrence onto the 40-man, outfielder Víctor Robles was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Robles suffered a left shoulder dislocation a couple of weeks ago and isn’t expected back for several months.

Lawrence and the Mariners seem to have an arrangement that is working for both of them. The season is only a few weeks old but this is already the third time he has been selected to the roster. He signed a minor league deal with the M’s in the winter and was called up to the majors on April 9th. A few days later, he was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and elected free agency. He returned on a fresh minor league deal and was back on the roster by April 18th. Once again, he was quickly DFA’d and cleared waivers but is now back on the roster a third time.

Around those transactions, he has served as a multi-inning reliever for the club. He has logged five innings across three appearances thus far, having allowed two earned runs. By continually shuffling him on and off the roster, the Mariners can keep fresh arms moving in and out of the bullpen.

Lawrence is out of options, which necessitates him continually being removed from the 40-man. He has the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright but seems content to circling back to the Mariners each time. From his perspective, he gets to add a bit of major league pay and service time, not a bad outcome for a 37-year-old journeyman.

Emerson Hancock, the least established member of the Seattle rotation, takes the ball tonight for the M’s at Fenway Park. If he gets into trouble, Lawrence will likely be called upon to sop up some innings and save the rest of the bullpen before tomorrow’s day game.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images

Cubs Sign Nicky Lopez, Designate Gage Workman

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The Cubs announced Wednesday that they’ve signed infielder Nicky Lopez to a big league deal. Infielder and Rule 5 pick Gage Workman was designated for assignment to open a spot on the roster. Photographer Sam Bernero first spotted Lopez heading into Wrigley Field this afternoon and tweeted out a photo she snapped. Shane Riordan of 670 The Score subsequently reported that Lopez, an Octagon client, was signing a major league deal.

Chicago also selected the contract of recently acquired lefty Drew Pomeranz, optioned righty Gavin Hollowell to Triple-A Iowa and transferred lefty Justin Steele from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL (thus opening a 40-man spot for Pomeranz). Steele recently underwent elbow surgery and will miss the remainder of the 2025 season, so his move to the 60-day IL was a formality.

Lopez was with the Cubs as a non-roster invitee in spring training but didn’t make the Opening Day club. He opted out of that deal and signed with the Angels, who needed some infield depth due to a handful of injuries. The Halos reinstated shortstop Zach Neto last week and designated Lopez for assignment, after which he elected free agency.

The 30-year-old Lopez appeared in five games and was hitless in six plate appearances in his short stint with the Angels. He’ll hope for a larger look with the Cubs, who have some questions in the infield after optioning struggling top prospect Matt Shaw and seeing the now-designated-for-assignment Workman struggle at the hot corner as well. Veteran utilityman Jon Berti has been seeing more time at third base recently, though he hasn’t hit much either — just .250/.344/.250 in an admittedly small sample of 32 plate appearances.

Lopez, like Berti, brings a versatile and high quality glove to the Cubs. He’s spent the bulk of his career in the middle infield where he grades as a plus-plus defender at both positions. He’s less experienced at third base but still has strong grades in nearly 400 frames there (7 Defensive Runs Saved, 6 Outs Above Average).

Excellent as Lopez is on the defensive side of the coin, his bat leaves plenty to be desired. He’s a career .247/.311/.313 hitter in 2352 plate appearances at the MLB level, and even that modest production is skewed by what now looks like a clear outlier campaign in 2021, when he batted .300/.365/.378. In three-plus seasons since that time, Lopez has limped to a .232/.301/.286 line between the Royals, Braves, White Sox and Angels.

Workman, 25, was selected out of the Tigers organization in December’s Rule 5 Draft and made the Opening Day roster after he hit .364/.420/.705 in 50 spring plate appearances. He hasn’t carried that outstanding production over to the regular season. He’s appeared in nine games but tallied only 15 plate appearances, during which he’s gone 2-for-14 with a walk. Workman never got a true look with the Cubs, which isn’t surprising, as it’s difficult for contending clubs to carry a career minor leaguer who can’t be optioned to the minors.

Workman is viewed as a plus defender at third base with plenty of raw power and too much swing-and-miss in his offensive profile. He spent the 2024 season with the Tigers’ Double-A affiliate, where he batted .280/.366/.476 with 18 homers, 30 steals, an 11.7% walk rate and a bloated 27.5% strikeout rate in his third season of action at that level. He’s yet to appear in a Triple-A game.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Workman will be placed on outright waivers and offered to the rest of the league (excluding the Tigers). If he goes unclaimed, he will by rule be offered back to the Tigers for $50K.

The veteran Pomeranz hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021 due to a lengthy series of injuries. He inked a minor league deal with the Mariners in the offseason and tossed 9 2/3 frames with their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma before being traded to the Cubs for cash. He allowed five earned runs (4.66 ERA) on nine hits and six walks (plus two hit batsmen) during that short stint with Tacoma. Clearly, Pomeranz’s command was an issue, but he also fanned 14 of his 43 opponents (32.6%) and sat 92.3 mph on his heater — a good bit north of the 90-91 mph he was sitting at during minor league stints with the Padres and Dodgers over the past two seasons.

Poll: Should Spencer Torkelson’s Breakout Be Believed?

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Not long ago, Spencer Torkelson seemed to be out of time. The Tigers first baseman was selected first overall in the 2020 draft to plenty of fanfare, and he instantly became a consensus top-5 talent in the minor leagues. A disappointing rookie season in 2022 tempered those massive expectations, but a strong second half in 2023 caused many around the league to think the following year would be Torkelson’s season to shine. That didn’t happen either, as the slugger was once again a below-average hitter overall and wound up optioned to the minors for much of the year. When the Tigers signed Gleyber Torres to push Colt Keith over to first base, it seemed like a bad omen for 25-year-old’s future in Detroit.

Spring Training changed all of that, as the club’s entire outfield mix save Riley Greene wound up on the injured list. That opened up enough roster spots for Torkelson to have a real shot at the Opening Day roster, and he made the most of the opportunity by hitting .340/.389/.680 in 55 plate appearances during camp. Spring stats only count for so much due to the less competitive environment, however, and Torkelson would need to show out in actual major league games if he was going to turn his career around. So far, he’s done just that. Torkelson has not only been the Tigers’ best hitter this year, but he’s been one of the top hitters in the majors.

Across 24 games this year, the slugger has slashed an excellent .273/.377/.591 with a wRC+ of 176. It’s enough to have made him the 12th-best qualified hitter in the major leagues to this point in the year. It’s early enough in the season that the leaderboard still looks fairly unusual; just ahead of Torkelson with a 177 wRC+ is veteran outfielder George Springer, who it goes without saying is unlikely to maintain a .444 BABIP all season long. While there’s plenty of reasons to be skeptical of small-sample performances, many of them don’t apply to the 106 plate appearances Torkelson has taken to this point in the year.

Torkelson’s BABIP is .309, which is the highest of his career but well within the range of expected outcomes for a hitter and not substantially higher than the .285 BABIP he posted last season. The fact that Torkelson is hitting the ball on a line (17.7% line drive rate) more often than last year (15.1%) surely helps his outcomes on balls in play, as well. His 26.4% strikeout rate is also a tick lower than last year’s 27.6%, but none of these are the most encouraging signs regarding Torkelson’s start to the 2025 campaign. The most exciting news here is that he’s not only resumed crushing the ball at the level he was during the 2023 season, but that he’s paired it with newfound patience at the plate.

The 25-year-old is swinging less than ever, at just 44.3% of his pitches. Torkelson’s swing rates both inside and outside of the strike zone are lower than ever, and that newfound patience has allowed him to not only draw walks at a phenomenal 13.2% clip but also make more contact when he does swing. His 10.2% swinging strike rate this year is the lowest of his career, and he’s making contact on 52.2% of pitches he swings at outside of the zone after putting the bat on just 40.6% of those same pitches last year.

That more judicious approach at the plate has allowed Torkelson to rediscover his titanic power after posting a paltry .155 ISO last year. He has seven homers and seven doubles already this year, and that power is backed up by his underlying numbers: he’s managed a phenomenal 17.7% barrel rate that would be by far the highest of his career if maintained over the full season and is nearly triple last year’s 6.1% clip, and 50.0% of his balls have been considered hard hit, good for a 95mph exit velocity or higher.

All of this is extremely impressive, and if Torkelson can keep anything close to this going for the full year, he’ll have finally tapped into the potential scouts saw in him half a decade ago as an amateur. Over his final 300 plate appearances in 2023, Torkelson hit .238/.320/.506 with a wRC+ of 125. His 26.7% strikeout rate was more or less identical over that stretch to this year’s figure. His 16.6% barrel rate and 52.2% hard-hit rate weren’t far off, either. Those numbers are all close enough to serve as a reminder that Torkelson’s first 100 plate appearances this year don’t guarantee his future production will be close to as impactful, although his 2025 numbers do have a few key advantages over his second-half numbers in 2023.

For one thing, Torkelson’s line drive rate is three points higher while his soft contact rate is nine points lower this season. Those figures could help to explain the huge difference in BABIP, which sat at just .262 during his final 300 trips to the plate in 2023. His discipline is also noticeably improved, as he walked 10.0% of the time during that stretch, nearly four points lower than this year. If Torkelson’s improved plate discipline holds up and he continues to make soft contact this sparingly, it’s not hard to imagine him being able to keep up this level of production over the long haul.

What do MLBTR readers think of Torkelson’s hot start? Is this finally the year he puts it all together and looks like the dominant offensive force he was always expected to be, or will this prove to be another flash in the pan like his late 2023 production? Have your say in the poll below:

Mets Expect To Activate Francisco Alvarez, Jeff McNeil On Friday

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The Mets are planning to reinstate catcher Francisco Alvarez and infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil from the 10-day injured list on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to reporters (video link via SNY). Both players will be making their 2025 debuts. Each will play in one final rehab game today.

Alvarez, 23, has appeared in nine rehab games thus far and taken 40 plate appearances. He’s out to a middling start, but the nature of his injury — a fractured hamate bone that required surgery — has a tendency to dull offensive performance early on when hitters return. The slugging backstop has been the Mets’ primary catcher over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .222/.294/.422 with 36 home runs in 765 plate appearances. Alvarez has also emerged as a top-tier pitch framer, though his blocking and throwing abilities lag behind.

So far in 2025, the Mets have gone with journeyman Luis Torrens as their starter and homegrown 28-year-old Hayden Senger as their backup. Torrens hit quite well through his first 11 games but has fallen into a deep slump. The 28-year-old is just 3-for-27 over his past nine games, making Alvarez’s expected return all the more timely. It’s likely that Torrens will continue on as the backup in order to preserve catching depth; he’s out of minor league options, whereas Senger has a full slate of option years left and can be sent directly to Triple-A Syracuse without first needing to clear waivers.

McNeil has been out all year due to an oblique strain. The Mets have gotten him some looks in center field during this rehab stint, although he’s not likely to play the position regularly. Still, with Jose Siri sidelined for upwards of 10 weeks due to a fracture in his leg, the Mets took advantage of McNeil’s rehab stint and versatile defensive profile to get him a start in center.

In all likelihood, McNeil will return and see time at second base, at designated hitter and perhaps in an outfield corner. The Mets opened the year with Luisangel Acuña and Brett Baty sharing time at second base. Acuña has handled things well, hitting .275/.351/.373 and contributing solid glovework.

Baty, after a torrid spring performance, had a brutal two-week stretch to begin the season but has begun to turn things around. The 25-year-old former first rounder crushed a second-deck homer off Zack Wheeler in the Mets’ currently ongoing game against the Phillies and entered play today on a .280/.357/.440 heater over his past eight contests. He’s still hitting just .204/.246/.354, but it’ll take some time to recover from the .111/.111/.148 line he totaled through his first 27 trips to the plate.

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