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Archives for May 2025

Phillies Sign Seth Beer To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies signed first baseman Seth Beer and assigned him to Double-A Reading earlier this week. The deal was announced by the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks, with which the former first-round pick had spent the past month.

Beer, 28, signed with the Ducks during the second week of April. He appeared in 14 games, hitting .239/.426/.565 with four homers and three doubles. He worked 12 walks but struck out 16 times in 61 plate appearances. Beer’s combination of plate discipline and power impressed the Phillies enough to get him another opportunity in affiliated ball.

A Clemson product, Beer was the 28th overall pick by the Astros in the 2018 draft. Houston traded him to the D-Backs as part of the Zack Greinke blockbuster. Beer appeared in 43 games for the Snakes between 2021-22, hitting .208/.294/.292 over 43 games. He spent last season in the Pittsburgh farm system. The lefty hitter divided his time between the top two minor league levels, putting up a .277/.354/.431 slash over a combined 99 games. While he has yet to get much of a look in the majors, Beer brings a career .278/.376/.475 minor league batting line to the Philadelphia organization.

Guardians Place Ben Lively On Injured List With Flexor Strain

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The Guardians placed Ben Lively on the 15-day injured list before the start of tonight’s game against Milwaukee. Lively was diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain in his forearm (relayed by Tim Stebbins of MLB.com). Righty Zak Kent was recalled to take his active roster spot.

Lively started Monday’s series opener against the Brew Crew. He made it through three scoreless innings but exited during his warm-up throws before the start of the fourth. Cleveland initially announced that he was dealing with forearm inflammation, and it seems subsequent evaluation revealed the flexor strain. That makes it highly unlikely that he’ll be back when first eligible a couple weeks from now.

The 33-year-old Lively is in his second season with the Guardians. He signed for barely north of the league minimum going into 2024. It has proven a very shrewd pickup. Lively turned in a 3.81 ERA across 29 starts a year ago. He was unexpectedly tabbed as the Opening Day starter this season after an illness ruled Tanner Bibee out for that assignment. Lively didn’t have a great outing, surrendering three runs over five innings in Kansas City. However, he has been Cleveland’s best starting pitcher through the season’s first month and a half.

Lively owns a 3.22 ERA across 44 2/3 innings. He and Bibee are the only Cleveland starters allowing fewer than four earned runs per nine. He’s succeeding despite a pedestrian 16.3% strikeout rate. He doesn’t throw hard or miss many bats, but he has tossed nearly 200 innings with a combined 3.68 ERA since landing in Cleveland.

The Guardians are off on Thursday, so they can get by without a fifth starter into the early part of next week. Slade Cecconi, who has been out all season with an oblique strain, got up to 68 pitches in a rehab start with Triple-A Columbus on Sunday. He could step into Lively’s rotation spot if the Guards don’t want to recall Doug Nikhazy, who surrendered six runs in three innings in a spot start during his big league debut earlier this year.

Dodgers Place Roki Sasaki On Injured List

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The Dodgers announced they’ve placed Roki Sasaki on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder impingement. Reliever J.P. Feyereisen was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to fill the vacated roster spot.

Manager Dave Roberts said earlier this evening that Sasaki reported some arm discomfort after his start on Friday. The Diamondbacks tagged him for five runs on as many hits and a pair of walks over four innings. Sasaki didn’t record a single strikeout and only induced four whiffs. He now carries a 4.72 earned run average through his first eight big league starts. He has fanned only 15.6% of opponents while issuing walks at an untenable 14.3% rate.

It’s clearly not the manner in which Sasaki envisioned beginning his major league tenure. Of the 133 pitchers who have logged at least 30 innings, only San Diego’s Randy Vásquez has a worse strikeout/walk rate difference. The 23-year-old Sasaki was dominant over his four seasons in NPB, posting a 2.10 ERA with a near-33% strikeout rate. He remains one of the sport’s most talented young pitchers even though his stateside debut hasn’t gone as planned so far.

Sasaki’s injury history was the only knock against his time in Japan. He never reached 130 innings in an NPB season. He was limited to 18 starts and 111 frames last season. Sasaki missed time with an oblique tear and reportedly battled shoulder fatigue in 2024. The Dodgers haven’t provided a timeline for his return.

Roberts said tonight that Clayton Kershaw will return to the rotation on Saturday. He’ll join Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and Landon Knack in the starting five. Sasaki was scheduled to take the ball on Thursday, though the Dodgers could turn to May on four days rest after the team’s off day yesterday. Gonsolin would also be on four days rest for Friday’s start before Kershaw’s activation.

Jordan Luplow Signs With Atlantic League’s High Point Rockers

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Outfielder Jordan Luplow has signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League, the team announced this week. The 31-year-old made his debut yesterday.

Luplow has played for six big league teams across parts of seven MLB seasons. He’s carved out a role as a thorn in the side of left-handed pitching, consistently drawing walks and hitting for power against southpaws. His .227 average against lefties isn’t much, but Luplow has walked in nearly 14% of his career plate appearances when holding the platoon advantage and has slugged .495 in those matchups.

The resulting .268 ISO (slugging minus batting average) ranks 13th among the 226 players who tallied at least 500 plate appearances versus lefties during Luplow’s active years in MLB (2017-23), just behind prominent sluggers like Paul Goldschmidt, Austin Riley and Rhys Hoskins. Overall, Luplow is a .212/.314/.423 hitter in 1060 major league plate appearances. He’s picked up five years of MLB service thanks in large part to his ability to consistently hit for power against lefties.

The 2024 season was the first since 2016 in which Luplow didn’t appear in a major league game. He tallied at least 27 games and 87 plate appearances each year from ’17 to ’23. The 2014 fourth-rounder opened the 2024 season with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate and looked like a prime candidate to join the Phils’ big league club at some point. He hit .255/.343/.450 with 10 homers and a dozen steals in 62 games, but Luplow suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last June, ending his season.

Now that he’s healthy, Luplow will look to shake off any residual rust in the Atlantic League. Based on his track record as a quality role player, big league scouts will surely be keeping an eye on his progress there — particularly those from teams that have struggled against left-handed pitching in 2025. As of this writing, the ten teams with the worst output against left-handed pitching so far in 2025 (by measure of wRC+) are the Guardians, Brewers, Pirates, Rays, Braves, White Sox, Royals, Rockies, Orioles and Angels.

Not all of those teams will be clear fits. Atlanta has a crowded outfield, for instance, and will soon welcome Ronald Acuna Jr. back now that he’s begun a rehab stint. The White Sox and Rockies have younger, controllable players to whom they’d prefer to allocate playing time. But outfield-needy teams who’ve struggled against lefties, such as Kansas City and Cleveland, could make sensible landing spots. Of course, on a minor league deal, most clubs could justify taking a no-risk look at a veteran with Luplow’s track record — so long as he looks to be back in form following that knee injury.

Yankees Sign Anthony DeSclafani To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees signed veteran righty Anthony DeSclafani to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The RailRiders announced the news to Conor Foley of The Yes Network.

DeSclafani’s debut appearance with Scranton will be his first game action in almost two years. He suffered a flexor strain while pitching for the Giants in July 2023. DeSclafani missed the entire second half but attempted to rehab without surgery. He was traded twice over the following offseason, largely as a salary offset. The Giants shipped him to Seattle alongside Mitch Haniger for Robbie Ray. The Mariners flipped him to the Twins as part of the Jorge Polanco return less than a month later.

The Mariners paid down $8MM of DeSclafani’s $12MM salary. The Twins hoped he’d provide affordable back-of-the-rotation output. That wasn’t to be, as he suffered a setback that was later diagnosed as an elbow strain. He underwent flexor tendon surgery at the end of March and spent the entire season on the injured list. DeSclafani qualified for free agency at the end of the year and never threw a pitch with the Twins.

Nearly 14 months since that procedure, he’s evidently healthy enough to get back on the mound. The 35-year-old owns a roughly league average 4.20 earned run average in parts of nine major league seasons. His production has been quite volatile. He’s turned in a pair of seasons with an ERA south of 3.30, but he has also allowed at least 4.88 earned runs per nine on five separate occasions. DeScalafani had arguably the best year of his career in 2021, when he turned in a 3.17 mark with a solid 22.5% strikeout rate over 31 starts for San Francisco.

The Giants re-signed him to a three-year, $36MM free agent deal during the ensuing offseason. That didn’t work out. He allowed a 5.16 ERA while throwing just 118 2/3 innings over the course of that contract. His strikeout rate dropped into the 18-19% range during that time, though he continued his career-long track record of very rarely issuing walks. There’s not much downside for the Yanks in seeing how his stuff plays after surgery. Jake Woodford, Brandon Leibrandt and the recently outrighted Carlos Carrasco are their most experienced depth starters at Triple-A.

Rangers Place Corey Seager On Injured List

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The Rangers announced Tuesday that they’ve placed shortstop Corey Seager on the 10-day injured list. The move is retroactive to May 11. Seager is again dealing with a right hamstring strain — the same injury that sent him to the IL from April 23 to May 3. Catcher Kyle Higashioka has been reinstated from the 10-day IL in a corresponding move. He’d missed the previous 12 days with an intercostal strain.

It’s surely a frustrating situation for Seager and the Rangers. As mentioned, he only just returned from the IL barely a week ago, but it seems he wasn’t 100% healthy. He only played once in the past week and the club has now decided to put him back on the shelf.

Since the move is retroactive, he could potentially return in just over a week. Regardless, the Rangers will be without one of their better bats for a while. The club’s offense has scuffled enough this year to force various changes, including a coaching staff shake-up. Seager has not been a part of the problem when in the lineup. He has a .300/.346/.520 line and 143 wRC+ for the year. He’s one of just three players on the team with at least 100 plate appearances and a wRC+ above 113, with Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith being the others.

Despite that, the club has managed to stay afloat in the American League playoff race, currently sporting a 21-21 record. They will now have to try to keep things rolling without one of their best players.

The last time Seager was on the IL, Smith took over as the regular shortstop, though Smith is himself banged up. He missed Monday’s game due to back soreness and is out again today, with Ezequiel Durán covering short for those two games. Sam Haggerty might be the next line of defense at the position while Smith is out.

Assuming Smith feels better in a day or two, he would jump back in there. As mentioned, he is one of the Rangers having a great year at the plate, currently sporting a .316/.395/.474 line and 149 wRC+. Durán, on the other hand, is hitting .130/.160/.174.

Higashioka’s reinstatement will give the Rangers three catchers. When Higashioka’s injury popped up a few weeks ago, Tucker Barnhart was selected to the roster to serve as Jonah Heim’s backup. Heim is catching tonight with Higashioka in the designated hitter spot. Joc Pederson is often the DH but he doesn’t start against lefties, so perhaps Higashioka will take the small side of a platoon with him at times. The Rangers are facing southpaw Kyle Freeland and the Rockies tonight.

Teams are sometimes reluctant to use a catcher in the DH spot, as an injury to the player behind the plate would then force them to move the DH to the catcher position. Moving a DH into any defensive spot means a team forfeits its DH and puts the pitcher into the lineup. Having a third catcher on hand gives the club a chance to avoid that scenario.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

Cubs Promote Moises Ballesteros

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May 13: The Cubs have formally selected Ballesteros’ contract, per a team announcement. Happ heads to the 10-day IL, as expected, while a 40-man roster spot was freed up by transferring righty Tyson Miller from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Miller has been out all season due to a hip impingement.

May 12: The Cubs intend to promote catching prospect Moisés Ballesteros for tomorrow’s game against the Marlins, reports Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. Ian Happ is headed to the 10-day injured list, Levine adds. Happ has missed the past three games with oblique discomfort. Ballesteros is not on the 40-man roster, so the Cubs will need to make another move in that regard.

Ballesteros, 21, is one of the top young offensive players in the minors. He’s a career .288/.371/.459 hitter over five professional seasons. His production has remained remarkably consistent as he has climbed the ladder. Ballesteros has posted an OPS above .800 at each stop. That includes a ..311/.368/.477 slash for Triple-A Iowa over the past two seasons.

The lefty-hitting Ballesteros has been on fire to begin this year. He’s out to a .368/.420/.522 start over his first 34 Triple-A contests. He has connected on four homers, seven doubles and one triple while limiting his strikeout rate to a minuscule 10.7% clip. Among hitters with 100+ plate appearances, he’s second in the International League in batting average and ranks among the top 11 hitters in both on-base percentage and slugging. He’s seventh in the league in OPS, and every other player in the top 10 is at least 24 years old.

Unsurprisingly, Ballesteros’ bat has always been his calling card on scouting reports. He was viewed as an advanced hitter when he signed for $1.5MM out of Venezuela during the 2021 amateur signing period. He climbed towards the top of an excellent Chicago farm system as he continued to prove himself against higher-level pitching.

Ballesteros ranked among the league’s Top 100 prospects on offseason lists from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, Keith Law of The Athletic and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him outside his offseason Top 100 but ranked him sixth in the Cubs’ system in December. He is up to 37th overall on BA’s in-season update.

The reports are quite similar across the board. He’s praised for his well-rounded offensive ability but faces questions about his defensive fit. Ballesteros is listed at 5’8″ and has a heavyset build (though he’s reportedly slimmed down a bit in recent years). He’s drawn comparisons to Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk as a result. Kirk has developed into a solid defensive catcher but faced questions about his glove as a prospect. There are perhaps even greater concerns about Ballesteros’ receiving acumen and ability to control the running game. Opponents have gone 27-31 in stolen base attempts in his 191 1/3 innings as a catcher this season.

It’s unlikely that he’ll get much work behind the dish in the short term. Carson Kelly has obliterated opponents to a .303/.443/.671 slash over his first 25 games. Miguel Amaya has an impressive .286/.309/.506 line over 22 contests. They’ve been the National League’s most productive catching tandem. Ballesteros can occasionally spell Michael Busch at first base, but his clearest path to at-bats would come as a designated hitter. Seiya Suzuki has drawn into left field while Happ has been day-to-day. Suzuki should play left regularly for the extent of Happ’s IL stint.

Happ has been out to a typically productive start at the top of Craig Counsell’s batting order. He owns a .269/.364/.381 line through 187 plate appearances. His power numbers are a bit lighter than usual, but the on-base mark would be the best of his career. He’d been amidst an 0-14 skid leading up the injury but had collected hits in seven straight games before that. His IL stint can be backdated to May 10, meaning he’ll be eligible to return next week.

It remains to be seen if Ballesteros will stick with the big league club once Happ is healthy. He’s past the point where he can accrue a full year of service time through the traditional means, though he meets the prospect criteria to potentially earn a bonus service year via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’d get a full service year if he finishes top two in Rookie of the Year voting. The Cubs would not receive an extra draft choice in that instance because they didn’t promote him early enough in the season. If this is a permanent promotion, Ballesteros would be well-positioned to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason even if he doesn’t earn the full service year.

Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images.

Jake Bloss To Undergo UCL Surgery

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Blue Jays pitching prospect Jake Bloss will undergo UCL surgery. The club announced the news to reporters, including Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. He’ll be out for the rest of this year and part of 2026 as well.

Though Bloss’ experience in the majors thus far is quite limited, his loss is nonetheless a notable blow to Toronto’s depth. The 23-year-old was one of three players — arguably the top player — the Jays received in last summer’s trade sending Yusei Kikuchi to Houston. Bloss, a 2023 third-rounder, made his MLB debut with the ’Stros last year and was roughed up for nine runs on 16 hits and three walks in 11 2/3 frames. That said, he turned in a terrific 3.18 ERA with a solid 23.3% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate in 93 1/3 innings between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A last year.

With that showing in the upper minors and a taste of big league action already under his belt, Bloss felt on the cusp of breaking through with a real MLB opportunity. The Jays opened the season with Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer and Bowden Francis in the rotation, leaving him without a real spot, but Bloss stood as one of the top depth options in the event of injury.

Had Bloss performed well, he might well have been the very first man up. However, the right-hander was tagged for eight runs in eight spring innings and hasn’t looked right since the calendar flipped to the regular season. Bloss served up eight runs (albeit only three of them earned) in four innings during this year’s Triple-A debut. He followed that with another 10 earned runs in 7 1/3 innings across his next two starts. Fast forward three more starts — the most recent featuring another four earned runs in just 3 1/3 innings — and Bloss is more than halfway to last year’s total of 33 earned runs despite having pitched only about one quarter as many innings.

Today’s announcement lends a likely explanation for the struggles Bloss has endured so far. He now becomes the latest Jays prospect of note to undergo a notable surgery, joining Ricky Tiedemann (Tommy John surgery last year), T.J. Brock (Tommy John surgery in January) and Adam Macko (meniscus surgery in February) in that regard. Toronto is also still waiting on Alek Manoah’s return from last year’s UCL procedure.

Bloss won’t turn 24 until June. He’s in the second of three minor league option years. There’s plenty of time for him to return as a meaningful contributor to the Jays over the long haul. In the short term, however, his struggles and the injury that ostensibly caused them further thin out a depth chart that’s already dotted with notable injuries.

The Blue Jays recently signed Spencer Turnbull and Jose Ureña to major league deals. Ureña has already made a pair of starts. Turnbull will need to build up. Toronto also picked up Connor Overton on a minor league deal and could search for further depth along those lines. They’ve also given lefty Easton Lucas a quartet of starts, two of which were terrific and two of which were disastrous, with the end result being a 7.41 ERA.

Since Bloss was on optional assignment, he isn’t currently accruing major league pay or service time. The Jays could potentially call him up and place him on the major league 60-day injured list. Doing so would allow them to open a 40-man roster spot but would also mean Bloss starts to earn that big league pay and service. Bloss came into this year with 39 days of service time, putting him 133 short of the one-year mark. There are still 138 days left in the season. Even if the Jays want to open a 40-man spot by calling up Bloss, they probably won’t do so in the next week.

Jason Foley Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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Tigers right-hander Jason Foley underwent season-ending surgery. Manager A.J. Hinch announced the news to reporters, including Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic.

It’s been an odd season for Foley, who led the 2024 Tigers with 28 saves. Detroit surprisingly optioned him to Triple-A Toledo after a rough spring training. He took the demotion in stride and carved up Triple-A opposition, firing 6 2/3 shutout innings with a 41% strikeout rate in five appearances. He looked as though he was on the cusp of a return to the majors, but Foley was diagnosed with a shoulder strain in the middle of last month and hasn’t pitched since. Now, he won’t throw again until the 2026 season.

Unfortunately for Foley, he won’t accrue big league service time right now since he’s on the minor league injured list. He could pick up some big league time if the Tigers call him to the majors and place him on the 60-day IL whenever they next need a roster spot. Enough time has passed in 2025 that Foley won’t be able to move from three years of service to four years. The Tigers surely weren’t intending for their original demotion of Foley to buy them another season of club control, but it’s effectively done just that — so long as they tender him a contract anyhow.

Foley and the Tigers agreed to a $3.15MM salary this past offseason, avoiding a trip through the arbitration process. Typically, when a player who’s agreed to an arbitration salary subsequently misses the entire season, he and the team agree to the same salary for the following year. That could well be the case here.

Even with Foley out for the year, there’s good reason for the Tigers to tender him this winter. He was sharp in Triple-A prior to the injury and just last year posted 60 innings of 3.15 ERA ball. Dating back to 2022, Foley has given the Tigers 189 1/3 innings with a 3.18 ERA, an 18.4% strikeout rate, a 5.9% walk rate and a 54% ground-ball rate. He’s saved 35 games and picked up another 40 holds along the way.

Latest On Red Sox’ Rotation

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Right-hander Tanner Houck was lit up by the Tigers last night, the latest chapter in a very frustrating season. In the aftermath of the game, manager Álex Cora wouldn’t commit to Houck getting another start. “We’ll talk about it, of course,” Cora said, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “I’ve got to take a look at the video and we’ve got to see what we’re gonna do. Right now, it’s too fresh. It’s too quick. We have to take a look at it and see if it’s mechanical, usage, or where we’re at.”

Houck only lasted 2 1/3 innings last night, but he allowed 11 earned runs in that time on three walks and nine hits, including two home runs. He did not record a strikeout. Shockingly, that was his second time this year allowing 11 earned runs in a start, the first coming against the Rays on April 14th.

For the whole season, he now has an 8.04 earned run average in 43 2/3 innings. It’s a sea change relative to last season. After years of oscillating between the rotation and the bullpen, he seemingly established himself as a bonafide starter in 2024. He took the ball 30 times for the Sox and logged 178 2/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA. His 20.7% strikeout rate was a tad below average but he had a solid 6.5% walk rate and strong 55.9% ground ball rate.

Everything has gone in the wrong direction so far this year. His walk rate has climbed marginally to 8.4% but his strikeouts are down to a 15.8% clip while he’s only getting grounders 48.3% of the time.

It’s a bit of a mystery as Houck says he can’t find anything physically wrong, which is backed up by the data. His velocity is actually higher than last year. For whatever reason, his splitter is way less effective, which seems to be a big part of the problem. Opponents hit .194 against it last year with a .264 slugging percentage, but those numbers are up to .425 and .475 this year. His sweeper has also declined in impact, though to a lesser degree. That pitch allowed a .230 average and .357 slug last year but .305 and .492 this year.

As Cora laid out, it’s a puzzle they will have to solve, though they may not let Houck work it out in the rotation. Currently, the club is also giving starts to Garrett Crochet, Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Hunter Dobbins. Giolito is the only one in that group with an ERA above 2.78, and he’s only made three starts since coming off the IL.

The Sox also have reinforcements on the way. Walker Buehler, Richard Fitts and Kutter Crawford are each on the IL and making progress towards returning to the club. Buehler landed on the IL earlier this month due to shoulder bursitis but is expected back next week without a rehab assignment. Fitts and Crawford are a bit further away but both have been throwing lately and appear to be nearing rehab assignments. Fitts landed on the IL a month ago due to a right pectoral strain. Crawford has been on the IL all year due to patellar tendinopathy in his right knee.

As those guys return, it will be harder for Houck to continue holding a spot unless he can turn things around. That’s if the Sox even give him another start, which doesn’t seem to be guaranteed. In addition to those injury returnees, there’s also Sean Newcomb, who did a huge solid for the Sox last night. After Houck exited, he absorbed 5 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed. He now has a 3.51 ERA on the year, working both as a starter and reliever. Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski are on the 40-man and putting up good numbers in Triple-A.

Given how good Houck was last year, the Sox might be tempted into giving him a chance to work it out. However, they are currently in the midst of a super tight playoff race and can only afford so much patience. Houck has had previous success as a reliever, so perhaps they could kick him back there. But on the other hand, he has clear upside as a mid-rotation starter, so perhaps they don’t want to give up on that. He does still have options and could be sent down to Triple-A to try to right the ship there. One way or another, decisions will need to be made soon.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

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