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Twins’ Alan Roden To Undergo Thumb Surgery

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August 20: Roden will indeed have surgery, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

August 19: Twins rookie outfielder Alan Roden was ruled out for the season when Minnesota placed him on the 60-day injured list over the weekend. The 25-year-old sprained a ligament in his left thumb, which he aggravated last week on a headfirst slide. Roden tells Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star Tribune that he’s leaning towards undergoing surgery after meeting with a hand specialist on Monday. The procedure comes with a two-month recovery timeline, so it shouldn’t have much of an impact on his offseason.

It’s nevertheless a frustrating situation for Roden, who would have had an opportunity to play regularly down the stretch. Minnesota acquired him and pitching prospect Kendry Rojas in the surprise deadline deal that sent controllable reliever Louis Varland to Toronto. Roden was in Triple-A with the Jays, who have a deep outfield. The Twins immediately recalled him. Roden played in 12 of the team’s 13 games before suffering the injury.

The lefty-hitting Roden struggled in that limited look, batting .158 with a lone home run while striking out 13 times in 40 plate appearances. Roden hadn’t hit much during an early-season MLB stint with the Jays either. He finishes his debut campaign with a .191/.261/.294 slash in 55 games. That won’t be enough to guarantee him a starting spot in next year’s outfield. Roden destroyed Triple-A pitching, though, batting .331/.423/.496 with more walks than strikeouts in 32 games. The former third-round pick has hit at every minor league stop and owns a career .302/.409/.457 slash below the MLB level.

Roden still has a pair of minor league option years after this one. The Twins can keep him in Triple-A for the foreseeable future. He should be healthy entering Spring Training and can compete for an Opening Day roster spot. Minnesota has nine outfielders who’ll be on the 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason.

Byron Buxton is the only one locked into a starting role. Matt Wallner should get a lot of playing time but could see more time at designated hitter rather than playing every day in right field. Former first-rounder Trevor Larnach stands out as a speculative change-of-scenery candidate. Roden could vie with Emmanuel Rodriguez and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. for roles. It also seems likely the Twins will add at least one veteran (ideally a right-handed bat) to raise the floor with so many unproven players.

Latest On Blue Jays’ Rotation

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Manager John Schneider spoke to reporters today about the club’s upcoming rotation plans. Mitch Bannon of The Athletic as well as Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae and Arden Zwelling relayed some of the details. Schneider said that Shane Bieber, José Berríos and Kevin Gausman will start the three games in Miami this weekend with lefty Eric Lauer available out of the bullpen.

Though Lauer will be in the ’pen this weekend, Schneider emphasized that it will be a temporary move. “This is not a move to the bullpen,” the skipper said. “It’s kind of an evolving thing as we go.” He continued: “It’s going to be a fluid situation. For that series he’ll be available out of the pen. It definitely doesn’t take him out of starting contention going forward.”

For the past few months, the Jays have had a stable rotation of Berríos, Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer and Lauer. That gave the club a pretty solid group for the regular season but they decided to chase upside for their playoff rotation by grabbing Bieber, a former Cy Young winner, from the Guardians at the deadline.

At the time of the deal, Bieber was still rehabbing from last year’s Tommy John surgery. That gave the Jays some time to decide on how they would handle their sudden rotation surplus. For now, Lauer is apparently going to miss a start but might still return to a rotation role going forward. They reportedly considered a six-man rotation but won’t be doing that right now.

The schedule might be playing a role. The Jays are off tomorrow and next Thursday as well, meaning they only play six times in the next eight days. After that, they play six more before another off-day September 4th, then three more before yet another off-day September 8th. Put together, that’s 15 games in 19 days. Going to a six-man rotation would mean each guy only throwing about once a week, or sometimes less. That could give the starters extra rest but perhaps also extra rust.

Time will tell how the Jays handle things in the longer term. Based on Schneider’s comments, it presumably depends on health, usage and other factors in the coming weeks. The Jays have a 13-game stretch in the middle of September with no off-days from September 9th to 21st, so perhaps a six-man rotation becomes more viable in that window.

It’s the proverbial good problem to have, as there are plenty of other clubs who would love to have to be making these kinds of tough calls. As Lauer himself put it, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, “It’s going to be interesting. I’m glad I’m not the one making the decisions.”

For Lauer, it’s a bit unfortunate, as he has arguably been the best of the bunch this summer. Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, he has proven to be a tremendous help for the Jays this year. Thanks to Scherzer missing some time and Bowden Francis both struggling and getting hurt, Lauer was able to take over a rotation job and run with it. He has given the Jays 88 innings on the year overall with a 2.76 earned run average, 24.5% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate.

Despite the strong results, there are reasons the Jays likely picked him to dial things back. Last year, he was stuck in the minors and wasn’t throwing especially well. He was released by a few different clubs and only logged 75 1/3 innings, plus another 34 2/3 in Korea, a total of 110. In 2023, injuries limited him to 91 1/3 innings between the majors and minors.

This year, he logged 24 innings in Triple-A before getting called up. When combined with his 88 big league innings, he’s at 112 for the year. That’s fairly in line with his workload last year and the year prior. It’s conceivable he could have seen his effectiveness decline if he had stayed and continued logging rotation innings.

In addition to the workload, the Jays also might not be totally convinced his results are fully sustainable. As mentioned, he wasn’t especially good in the minors last year. He has bounced back tremendously in 2025 but with a .260 batting average on balls in play and 84.3% strand rate. His 3.54 FIP and 3.88 SIERA are still good but suggest regression is a distinct possibility. Since Lauer averages less than 92 miles per hour on his fastball, it’s fair to wonder how long he can walk the tightrope.

As mentioned, the situation is quite fluid and could change rapidly. One injury would obviously change things in a hurry. Scherzer has been battling thumb issues for years now and missed most of the first half of 2025, though he has been quite sharp lately. Over his past seven starts, he has gone at least five innings in all of them and at least six frames in all but one. In that time, he has a 3.14 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. Gausman, Bassitt and Berríos have been quite stable but pitching injuries can often pop up out of nowhere these days. Bumping Lauer to the bullpen is a bit tough for him but a nice safety net for the club as they push towards the final month of the regular season.

As for the roster machinations, the Jays announced after today’s game that right-hander Braydon Fisher has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. That opens an active roster spot for Bieber’s reinstatement on Friday.

Similar to Lauer, it’s a tough development for Fisher, as he has been pitching well. In 38 1/3 innings for the Jays this year, he has a 3.05 ERA, 31.2% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. However, a lot of his best results were earlier in the season. Through July 1st, he had a 1.90 ERA, 37.1% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate. Since then, it’s been a 4.91 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate.

The shuffles speak to the deep pitching staff the Jays have built since by multiple arms at the deadline. Rosters expand from 26 to 28 in September, with the pitcher limit going from 13 to 14. Fisher could return next month though likely not at the beginning. Optional assignments for pitchers come with a 15-day minimum unless someone else is going on the injured list.

Bieber will also need a 40-man spot but the Jays opened a spot there a week ago when infielder Buddy Kennedy was designated for assignment as the corresponding move for Andrés Giménez being activated from the 10-day IL.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images

Which Other Players Could End Up On Waivers This Month?

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The second half of August brings an uptick in waiver placements. Beyond the trade deadline, waivers are the only real option for player movement from one team to another. A few teams that were fringe contenders at the end of July know now that they're almost certainly going to miss the postseason. Placing veterans with semi-notable salaries on waivers gives them a chance to dump the final few weeks of a contract. Other teams aren't going to claim a terrible contract, but there's sometimes a balance where the player's salary is solid value but isn't of much use to a team that is going to miss the playoffs anyway.

This can take on added importance for teams that are right up against the luxury tax. The Angels kicked this practice into gear two years ago, offloading Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López and Matt Moore to slide narrowly below the CBT threshold. That at least allowed them to recoup a better draft pick when Shohei Ohtani walked in free agency. It's not only about tax avoidance, though. A lot of teams would welcome the opportunity just to cut a few hundred thousand dollars off the books in a losing season.

Within the past week, Rangers righty Jon Gray has already gone unclaimed on waivers. He was subsequently placed on the injured list due to thoracic outlet syndrome and will probably remain on the IL for the rest of the season. Marlins starter Cal Quantrill hit waivers within the past day or two; it's to be seen whether another team will pick up the approximate $734K that he's owed through season's end. Waiver placements that are not preceded by a DFA aren't publicly announced by teams. They're often leaked to reporters, but it's entirely possible there have already been a few notable names who have cleared or are on waivers that haven't gotten out.

The late-August timing isn't coincidental. Players must be in an organization by the start of September to be eligible for postseason play. Teams can still go the waiver route in September, but other clubs are less likely to place a claim next month because those players cannot help in the playoffs. Waiting until the end of August gives the current team as much time as possible to see where they're at in the standings. It also reduces the cost to a potential claiming team to around four weeks of salary, perhaps making someone more likely to place a claim at the end of the month than they would have been a few weeks ago (when the remaining salary would be around twice as high).

It's worth reiterating that the teams placing the player on waivers are hoping another team makes a claim. Sending a veteran through unclaimed has little to no benefit. Most of them have the five-plus service years to refuse a minor league assignment, so teams usually proceed as if nothing happened if the player goes unclaimed. They could place them back on waivers in a week or two to see if another club is more willing to bite because of the lower remaining salary and/or intervening injuries.

Which players could find themselves on waivers within the next 10 days? There's a clear team with which to start -- a club that bought at the deadline but has been in a free fall ever since while they sit right against the luxury line.

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Félix Bautista Undergoes Shoulder Surgery, Expected To Miss 12 Months

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The Orioles announced today that right-hander Félix Bautista has undergone surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in his right shoulder. He is expected to miss the next 12 months. Jake Rill of MLB.com was among those to relay the news.

The news is obviously brutal for the O’s and Bautista. He just missed the entire 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He got back on the mound this year and showed some flashes of his old self. However, he’s now going to miss the remainder of the 2025 season and a huge chunk of 2026 as well. Given the estimated timeline, any kind of setback could lead to him missing another entire season.

Prior to the injury setbacks, he had established himself as one of the most dominant relievers in the game. Over the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, he gave the O’s 126 2/3 innings with a tiny 1.85 earned run average. His 10% walk rate was a bit on the high side and his 39.9% ground ball rate wasn’t special but he punched out a massive 40.4% of batters faced.

As mentioned, he showed some hints of that form in 2025, though also with some rust. He logged 34 2/3 innings this year with a 2.60 ERA. His 35.2% strikeout rate was technically a drop-off but still a great figure. Meanwhile, his grounder rate jumped to 50.7%. On the worrying side, his walk rate spiked to 16.2%.

Perhaps he would have continued refining things as he got more innings and shook off the rust, but that won’t happen now. He landed on the 15-day IL in July due to shoulder discomfort. It was announced by the team in August that his injury was “significant” and that he wouldn’t be coming back this year. Today’s news provides more clarity on how dire the situation is. It’s possible that Bautista eventually throws less than 40 innings for the 2024-26 stretch. If he returns late next year, he could push a bit beyond that number, but likely not by much.

Bautista is controllable through 2027. He is making just $1MM this year. He will be due a raise in arbitration for 2026 and 2027 but the missed time cuts into his ability to substantially increase his salary. Given his ceiling, the O’s will surely tender him a contract with the hope of him contributing late in 2026 and/or for the entire 2027 campaign.

For the O’s, it’s the latest kick to the nuts in a season that has seen them pummeled by injuries. They came into the year knowing that Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells would be rehabbing from last year’s surgeries, but then they have also seen guys like Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Andrew Kittredge, Albert Suárez and others miss significant time. On the position player side, Tyler O’Neill, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, Ryan Mountcastle and others missed chunks of time.

Those injuries helped push the O’s down in the standings. Though they came into the year with clear postseason aspirations, they wound up deadline sellers. Cedric Mullins, Kittredge, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Domínguez, Bryan Baker, Charlie Morton, Ramón Urías, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn were all flipped prior to the deadline.

The club is now playing out the string on the 2025 season, so the Bautista injury is fairly moot for the short term. But his extended timeline obviously hurts for 2026. As mentioned, the O’s already flipped four relievers last month, putting a big dent in the bullpen. Bautista is an even bigger loss.

Though they sold at the deadline, it’s assumed that the club intends to rebound and compete again in 2026, as they have a young and exciting core to build around. Presumably, the Orioles already planned on making a few bullpen moves in the coming offseason. This news should only enhance the need.

For Bautista personally, it’s another delay in him unlocking a notable paycheck. The late bloomer didn’t crack the big leagues until he was in his age-27 season. Despite his excellent results, he’s now 30 and hasn’t made more than $1MM in a season, which is barely above the league minimum. The two lengthy surgery absences will dampen his earning power in arbitration. He’s not slated to reach free agency until after his age-32 campaign. It’s possible he’s healthy by that point but the injury track record will be still be noted by clubs.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images

Tigers’ Ty Madden Not Expected To Return In 2025

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Tigers right-hander Ty Madden won’t pitch competitively this year, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Evan Woodbery of MLive) yesterday. While the Tigers have announced that Madden is working on a return-to-play throwing progression, Hinch revealed that the goal of that program is to set him up for a “productive offseason” rather than to try and get him back on the mound for game action before the year ends.

Madden, 25, was a first-round pick by the Tigers back in 2021, drafted 32nd overall after the club took Jackson Jobe with the third overall pick. He was a quick riser through the minors who made his big league debut in his third professional season after entering the 2024 campaign ranked as the club’s #2 pitching prospect behind Jobe. The right-hander’s debut came last year even in spite of him struggling badly at the Triple-A level with a 7.97 ERA in 18 starts, though his strikeout and walk rates were quite good despite those inflated run prevention numbers. He made six appearances for the Tigers last year in the majors, where he pitched much better than those brutal results with Toledo would otherwise suggest.

In 23 innings of work across six appearances (including one start), Madden posted a 4.30 ERA with a 16.8% strikeout rate and an 7.9% walk rate. While that strikeout rate is rather low, his ability to avoid giving up walks and home runs allowed him to post a solid enough 3.99 FIP. That brief cup of coffee in the majors offered some reason for optimism that Madden could provide value as at least a back-end starter or swing man going forward. Unfortunately, it’s also his last work at any pro level to date. Madden suffered a rotator cuff strain in his throwing shoulder during Spring Training. He was transferred to the 60-day IL shortly after Opening Day to make room for outfielder Brewer Hicklen on the club’s 40-man roster and has remained there ever since.

While Madden won’t pitch in the majors this year, it’s certainly possible he could be involved in the club’s pitching staff next year. Alex Cobb, Charlie Morton, Chris Paddack, Rafael Montero, Kyle Finnegan, Paul Sewald, and Tommy Kahnle are all set to hit free agency this winter. Jack Flaherty has a player option for the 2026 campaign. Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize are slated for free agency after 2026. With so much room opening up on the Tigers’ pitching staff both this coming offseason and then again after next year, an arm capable of handling work in either the rotation or the bullpen like Madden could be an asset for the Tigers as they look to recreate their pitching staff and keep their current window of contention open.

Reds Place Tyler Stephenson On Injured List With Thumb Fracture

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The Reds announced today that catcher Tyler Stephenson has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a thumb fracture. In a corresponding move, the club has selected the contract of catcher Will Banfield from Triple-A. He’ll take the 40-man roster spot of Jake Fraley, who was designated for assignment over the weekend and claimed off waivers by the Braves yesterday.

Stephenson, 29, was selected 11th overall by Cincinnati back in 2015 and has been the club’s primary catcher since 2021. Long considered a bat-first option behind the plate, he’s also seen occasional time at DH and first base over the years but entered the 2025 season with a solid .267/.343/.427 (107 wRC+) slash line for his career, including a 113 wRC+ during the 2024 campaign. Unfortunately, he’s struggled to produce at the plate this year and has ceded much of his playing time to Jose Trevino behind the dish. Stephenson gotten into 72 games this year, with a .226/.313/.393 (90 wRC+) line in 288 plate appearances. Most concerning is his massive 34.4% strikeout rate, which is eleven points north of his career mark of 23.4%.

That Stephenson is injured isn’t exactly a surprise, seeing as he suffered the injury on a pitch caught from Hunter Greene last week against the Phillies. He’s played just one game since then due to the issue, and now that he’s on the shelf it’s unclear when he’ll be back in the lineup. The Reds have given no indication about his timeline for return at this point, and that leaves Trevino to take over regular duties behind the plate after spitting time with Stephenson throughout the year.

After getting his start with the Rangers back in 2018, Trevino developed into a top-tier defender behind the plate before being traded to the Yankees. He posted a wRC+ of just 81 across his three seasons in the Bronx but won a platinum glove for his work at catcher before being shipped to Cincinnati in exchange for Fernando Cruz and Alex Jackson over the offseason. The 32-year-old hasn’t looked quite as good this year behind the plate and is hitting just .176/.205/.206 since the start of July, but remains a plus pitch framer. Still, for a club with an excellent rotation but a lackluster offense, losing Stephenson’s bat from the lineup is a considerable blow as the Reds look to sneak their way into the NL Wild Card conversation.

For the time being, Trevino will be backed up by Banfield. The 25-year-old spent his whole career in the Marlins organization before electing free agency and signing a minor league deal with the Reds last November. He’s struggled badly at the plate in 73 games at Triple-A this year, hitting just .220/.277/.304 with a wRC+ of 53. Brutal as that slash line may be, however, Banfield is viewed as a solid defender behind the plate who should serve as an adequate backup for Trevino while Stephenson’s thumb recovers. Behind Banfield, the club’s additional catching depth leaves much to be desired. P.J. Higgins and Eric Yang are both in the club’s minor league system but Yang has just one game of big league experience and is hitting poorly at Triple-A while Higgins is generally viewed as a lackluster defender behind the plate, hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2022, and has hit just .210/.291/.348 (85 wRC+) in 83 games at the big league level for his career.

MLBTR Podcast: The Pohlads Aren’t Selling The Twins, Nathaniel Lowe, And Service Time Manipulation

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Are there some notable relievers who could be on waivers this month? Also, what happens to a player when he is on waivers? (44:55)
  • If I told you that the Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker, would you believe me? (52:40)
  • What’s the craziest out-of-nowhere team to make the playoffs and could a team do it this year? (56:35)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images

Latest On Aaron Judge’s Flexor Strain

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Aaron Judge is currently limited to DH-only duties after he was briefly sidelined by a right flexor strain last month. He’s still hitting a solid .229/.426/.429 in 11 games since coming off the injured list, but manager Aaron Boone cast some doubt on his ability to return to full strength this year when it comes to throwing yesterday. As noted by The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, Boone said in both a radio appearance on WFAN and an appearance on Jomboy Media’s Talkin’ Yanks podcast that Judge may not be “throwing like normal” again this year.

Notably, Boone did not say that Judge won’t throw again this year. On Talkin’ Yanks, Boone suggested that Judge will probably need “to play with a little bit of a governor” on his throws before adding that he won’t return to the field until he can throw safely. Kirschner adds that Boone went on to suggest that his comments may have been “a little” overstated, while Judge challenged his manager’s framing of the situation by noting that Boone hadn’t seen him throw in two weeks before adding that he’s “pretty confident” he’ll get back to throwing at full strength this year. At the same time, Judge emphasized that he’s going to “be smart about it” in order to ensure he doesn’t aggravate his ailing elbow and miss more time than his initial ten-day stint on the shelf.

Judge’s injury has forced the Yankees into a difficult balancing act. Any day where the reigning AL MVP can’t hit for the Yankees is a crushing blow, so giving him as long as he might need to act as a pure DH and rest his elbow makes plenty of sense. At the same time, Giancarlo Stanton has been incredibly productive (hitting .299/.377/.576) in 44 games since returning from the injured list earlier this year. A laundry list of past injuries and the likelihood that playing the field could cause additional wear and tear on Stanton’s body has essentially made him into a full-time DH of late, and his recent appearances in right field while Judge has been forced into the DH slot have been his first outings on the grass since 2023.

Stanton has not appeared in more than 38 games in the outfield since 2018, suggesting that playing Stanton in the field can’t be viewed as more than a short-term solution. With Stanton hitting well and unlikely to be able to handle regular outfield work for long, the Yankees will be better off the sooner Judge can return to the field—so long as Judge doesn’t cause himself to miss time by doing so. The change has also caused Ben Rice to get more starts behind the plate in order to allow both him and Paul Goldschmidt to stay in the lineup on a regular basis, cutting the playing time of Austin Wells. Of course, Wells has struggled at the plate recently with a .119/.172/.186 slash line since the All-Star break, so he may well have been in line to lose some playing time even before Judge took over at DH.

While the club waits for Judge to be healthy enough to play the field, they’re locked in a tight playoff race. The Blue Jays have opened up a five game lead over New York to take control of the AL East, but the Yankees are just one game ahead of the Red Sox and Mariners among the AL’s Wild Card teams, with Kansas City lurking just 2.5 games back of a playoff spot and Cleveland only three games out. The final few weeks of the season will be crucial as those five clubs vie for their league’s three Wild Card spots, and if the playoff race tightens further that will only give further importance to the Yankees’ decision-making going forward regarding Judge and Stanton.

The Opener: Messick, Phillies, Royals

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Messick to make MLB debut:

The Guardians are bringing southpaw Parker Messick up to the majors for his MLB debut today. The club’s second-rounder back in 2022 has climbed the minor league ladder fairly quickly to emerge at Triple-A this year, where he’s posted a solid 3.47 ERA and 29.1% strikeout rate across 98 2/3 innings of work. Those are impressive numbers for the 24-year-old, and now he’ll get the opportunity to see if his high strikeout rate can translate into the majors. The Guardians have managed to hang around the AL Wild Card picture despite soft selling this summer, but with Shane Bieber in Toronto and Tanner Bibee in the midst of a tough season they’ll need contributions from young arms like Messick if they’re going to stay relevant down the stretch.

2. Harper, Castellanos race towards milestone:

Phillies veterans Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos are both a considerable way into their respective careers at this point. While Harper’s status as a two-time MVP far eclipses Castellanos’s resume as a two-time All-Star, both have had impressive careers where they’ve generally served as above-average hitters across their combined 27 years in the major leagues. Now the two teammates are chasing the same milestone: 400 career doubles. They’ll likely become the 199th and 200th players in MLB history to reach that benchmark in the coming weeks, as Harper currently sits at 397 career doubles while Castellanos sits just one behind him at 396 two-baggers for his career. The pair will look to tee off of Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo (3.48 ERA) as the Phillies go for the sweep against Seattle this afternoon.

3. Royals pushing for Wild Card spot:

Kansas City made the somewhat surprising decision to buy at the trade deadline despite being slightly below .500 at that point and on the periphery of the AL Wild Card race, but that decision is paying off to this point. An 11-6 record in the month of August has put them just 2.5 games back of the Red Sox and Mariners in the race for a playoff spot with a 65-61 record. Deadline additions have improved the club considerably, with Randal Grichuk, Adam Frazier, and Mike Yastrzemski all injecting life into a previously weak offense while Ryan Bergert has settled in as a quality rotation arm with a 2.70 ERA in three starts for the club. Today they’ll go for their second consecutive series sweep when they face the Rangers and an as-of-yet unannounced starting pitcher. Whoever starts for Texas will have to contend with rookie Noah Cameron, who has a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts.

Guardians To Promote Parker Messick

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The Guardians list left-hander Parker Messick as the probable starter for tomorrow’s series finale in Arizona. He’ll go opposite Brandon Pfaadt in his major league debut. Cleveland has an opening on the 40-man roster after outrighting reliever Trevor Stephan last week. They’ll only need to make an active roster transaction tomorrow.

Messick, 24, was a second-round pick out of Florida State in 2022. The 6’0″ southpaw has never blown evaluators away with his velocity, but he has carved through minor league hitters behind an excellent changeup. Messick has only used the changeup around a quarter of the time in Triple-A this year. He has gone to his four-seam fastball, which sits between 92 and 93 MPH, half the time. He has both a slider and curveball, neither of which get more than fringe-average grades from scouts, and infrequently uses a sinker.

It has seemingly left evaluators split on his value. Baseball America and MLB Pipeline each rank him between 12th and 15th in the Cleveland farm system, projecting him as a stable back-end arm. Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs has him much higher, slotting him fourth among Guardians prospects and among the top 50 prospects in the sport. Longenhagen projects Messick as a league average starter and grades the changeup as a potential plus-plus offering. While it doesn’t seem there’s a huge gap in his perceived upside, FanGraphs appears to place a higher value than do the other outlets on Messick’s big league proximity and minor league success.

That’s all the more true now that Messick has shown it at the top minor league level. After recording 165 strikeouts between High-A and Double-A a year ago, he has spent this whole season at Triple-A Columbus. Messick has turned in a 3.47 earned run average across 20 starts, striking out 29% of batters faced. He has issued walks at a career-high 10.3% clip while averaging fewer than five innings per start, but he has worked at least into the sixth inning in six of his past seven appearances.

Messick last pitched on Thursday, so he’ll be operating with an extra day of rest. The Guardians optioned Joey Cantillo over the weekend, giving Messick a good chance to hold a rotation spot for the rest of the season. John Means could be a late-season factor as he works back from elbow surgery, though that could also come in long relief. For now, Messick slots behind Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi and Logan Allen in Stephen Vogt’s starting five. The Guardians have fallen three games back in the Wild Card picture after being swept by Atlanta over the weekend.

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