The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of infielders Kyle Karros and Aaron Schunk. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported on those promotions prior to the official announcement. In corresponding moves, they have placed infielder Orlando Arcia on the 10-day injured list due to right elbow inflammation, transferred infielder Thairo Estrada to the 60-day IL and placed right-hander Angel Chivilli on the restricted list. It’s unclear why Chivilli has been placed on the restricted list.
Karros, 23, is the son of Eric Karros. The younger Karros was Colorado’s fifth-round draft pick in 2023. Since then, he has been climbing the minor league ladder, generally putting up good numbers. He has taken 1,010 minor league plate appearances across multiple levels with an 11.5% walk rate, 20.4% strikeout rate, .304/.393/.459 batting line and 135 wRC+. That includes a .301/.398/.476 line this year, mostly at Double-A but also with a few games at the Complex League and at Triple-A.
Baseball America currently lists him as the #14 prospect in the Rockies’ system. Their report notes that he is a strong defender at third base with a good arm. His offensive profile is highlighted by his contact ability, which matches with his numbers. His strikeout and walk numbers are good but he doesn’t appear to have a ton of power. He hit 15 home runs in High-A last year but has just six so far in 2025.
Schunk, 28, was outrighted off the roster in June. He has a dismal .230/.254/.311 line in 127 big league plate appearances. His minor league work has been better but still subpar. From 2023 to the present, he has 1,065 Triple-A plate appearances. His .293/.344/.469 line in that time looks impressive at first glance but actually translates to an 87 wRC+ in the context of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
The Colorado infield took a few recent hits. Estrada landed on the 10-day IL two days ago due to a right hamstring strain. With today’s transfer to the 60-day IL, his season is done. With Arcia landing on the 10-day IL today, that’s two infield vacancies created this week. The club also lost Ryan Ritter to the IL last month due to a finger laceration.
Those injuries have created openings for Karros and Schunk. The Rockies don’t have a lot to play for this year but have long-term opportunities available. Aside from Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop, there’s not much certainty in the infield for future seasons. Guys like Warming Bernabel and Adael Amador are already getting some big league at-bats and now Karros and Schunk can join them.
Circling back to Estrada, this is the final nail in the coffin for his very challenging season. He had a solid three-year run with the Giants from 2021 to 2023. He slashed .266/.320/.416 for a 105 wRC+ in that time while stealing 45 bases and bouncing around the diamond to all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base.
He had a rough campaign last year, however. He went to the IL multiple times due to left wrist sprains and slashed just .217/.247/.343 for a 65 wRC+. The Rockies gave him $4MM for 2025 with the hope of a return to form, a logical bet for a rebuilding club. If Estrada had been able to get back to his previous level of production, he could have been an intriguing midseason trade candidate.
That did not come to pass. He was hit by a pitch in spring training and broke his right wrist. That put him on the IL for the first two months of the season. He also missed time with a sprained left thumb and now this hamstring strain has put him out for the rest of the campaign. Around those injuries, he only got into 39 games and hit .253/.285/.370. He can be retained for 2026 via arbitration but is surely going to be non-tendered. He will return to the open market but his appeal should be light on the heels of these two injury-marred seasons.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
A new Karros in the NL West? Someone tell r/NLBest
So far he hasn’t shown to have his father’s bat but nice to see another son of a big leaguer hit the show
.779 OPS with 284 HRs in the majors is no slouch. Low WAR is due to no defensive value.
TBF, Eric had 5 seasons of 30 home runs. If Kyle gets to that the Rockies are probably thrilled.
They both have to be taken in perspective. Eric wasn’t Willie Mays, but he was a solid bat in the top half of a lineup for half a decade and continued to be a solid bat another 5 or so. Kyle is a 14th ranked organizational prospect on a team that just graduated a bunch of guys. He was awesome last year and kind of came out of no where to make a real impact at the plate with major league quality patience and just great at bats. He’s probably no Eric Karros but he went from being a nobody to a potential solid contributor in the majors over the last year and a half.
Eric Karros had 1724 hits in the major leagues. That is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it is something to be very proud of. If Kyle even gets around halfway to that mark, it will be amazing because very few players ever get to 1000 career hits
TGO
The vast majority of players don’t have that bar
Regardless of how inspired you are
cp
“he was a solid bat in the top half of a lineup for half a decade and continued to be a solid bat another 5 or so”
EK’s yearly wRC+ from highest to lowest
143
133
124
–3 seasons as a very good bat
113
110
109
–3 seasons as an above average bat
99
96
95
—3 seasons as averagish bar
88
—1 below average season
He was a “solid bat in the top half of a lineup” for – definitely 3 years. Maybe 3 more years. A decade? Nah.
TGO
“he didn’t have a career worthy of comparing.”
What does that even mean?
One can compare any two players
And it certainly seems reasonable to compare a son and father.
His dad was known for his bat. Not that it was great, but because everything else was less, and because he was a Dodger.
If nothing else Eric was consistent. Every season from 1992-2000 you basically knew you were getting 25+ Home Runs and 80+ Runs driven in out of what was usually the 4 or 5 spot in the lineup
Rsox
“If nothing else Eric was consistent. Every season from 1992-2000”
His wRC+ ranged between 88 and 143.
He had 3 seasons below 100 and 3 above 120.
I don’t see how that’s “consistent”.
Eric was an above average hitter for his career (108 wRC+) with 3 seasons above 120.
I would be shocked if Kyle reaches those numbers.
TGO
Are you comparing minor league numbers to major league numbers? You must be because Kyle doesn’t have any major league numbers.
He doesn’t have strong scouting marks from what I’ve seen and the protections don’t love him either.
No one knows what his major league career is going to look like
I would be shocked if he hits as well as his father.
Any random prospect hitting as well as Karros would be a surprise.
In the minor leagues. That doesn’t always transfer to the big leagues. Thus far he has done nothing. He has never even gotten on base once, let alone getting on base more.
I swear, some of y’all would argue over anything.
I wouldn’t summarize his career by saying “he was a 10 WAR player”. He blossomed late and faded after half a decade or so. There are various reasons also why I think his WAR during several seasons isn’t very accurate. Everything from extremely poor judging of 1B defense with metrics like range (largely due to popups) to playing much of his career in the time when steroid use is starting to inflate the offensive mean. But at the end of the day it was a 5 year window of being a pretty good player. I see similar WAR numbers with many 1B who I believe were better. I didn’t see Karros play defense but it sort of reminds me of Adam Laroche who was very solid defensively (anyone who played with him or watched him could tell you this) but never really impressed the few bias metrics used at 1B. So he is at 14 WAR. 1B have too hard of a time generating WAR. They do more than people realize. Meanwhile we reward those that can’t even play a position effectively like David Ortiz by allowing all their would be negative WAR to not count against them. We have several 1B who are among the worst in negative value (Howard, Fielder) but we have none that are anywhere remotely near the highest value. How is that? Until we take those stretches into account correctly we will never realize the actual value (or lack of it).
Rishi
“we reward those that can’t even play a position effectively like David Ortiz by allowing all their would be negative WAR to not count against them”
This is not true
The positional adjustment for 1B is 12.5 runs below average
The positional adjustment for a DH is 17.5 runs below average.
A DH absolutely gets the same “negative WAR” as a first baseman. More even.
If you have two hitters who put up the exact same offensive numbers, say those numbers are exactly league average.
You’d have to league average players – before considering defense.
The first baseman would lose 12.5 runs of value (assuming they were a légué average 1B defensively). Leaving them with 7.5 positive runs.
The DH would lose 17.5 runs of value. Leaving them with 2.5 positive runs.
While that is very helpful and I truly appreciate that post I think the reasoning behind that seems bias. Again based on not being able to properly factor in the true value of a 1B. I have problems with the DH thing too (a lot) but let’s stick to 1B. We know 1B are involved in more plays than anyone else. The belief has been that their value on those plays tends to be minimal. My argument is that we are not effectively taking into consideration the difference that stretching makes (and the difference that we cannot measure in things that help prevent throwing errors from fielders (height, reliability, getting to the bag to set a target)). Is there any stat that actually takes into account the difference that the extra foot or two of stretching towards a baseball makes on every individual play? If so is this factored into any value stats we tend to use? Until it is, and is valued above all other stats like range, I see these as vastly unreliable. Many believe stretching doesn’t make as big of a difference as it does. It does so because you have two objects moving (relatively) fast-the runner and the ball. But it isn’t just a matter of the stretch itself. It is terribly hard to be loose and quick enough to wait to see where the throw takes you and react by doing a split in that direction. Most players that play even SS couldn’t do that without serious time at 1B to practice. Because we don’t measure this well we don’t see the huge difference between a good 1B and an average or poor one. Because the good ones have a LOT more value than the stats imply.
My main comment is below this one. I’m not criticizing the DH thing because I know stats have to start somewhere. And I thank you for the information. In everything else I do I am a big nerd who goes massively into every book and detail I can find but my interest in MLB is not what it was as a kid/teen so my understanding of metrics, while above average, leaves much to be desired. In terms of 1B I do acknowledge there is a scoops stat. But even that doesn’t take into consideration that those who stretch further have to scoop less balls (also the fielders probably make less mistakes because they trust them so much).
Rishi
“scooping”
The positional adjustment has absolutely nothing to do with scooping. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.
Scooping is factored into the a player’s defense at 1B. If you want to argue that scooping isn’t adequately accounted for in 1B defense – sure. Knock yourself out. But, scooping is not a factor at all in the positional adjustment – which is what we are talking about here.
*******************
Think of the positional adjustment like this:
Imagine you had a team of 26 players who played every inning of the season and took every plate appearance. And imagine that every player performed at an exactly average level – at everything – hitting, pitching, fielding, baserunning. Everything exactly average.
How would you expect that team to perform?
Well, in 2024, your team (and every individual player) would have hit .243/.312/.399. All of your pitchers’ ERA’s would have been 4.08. Your defense would have had 0 Outs Above Average, etc…
Hopefully, you know that we should expect that team to score an exactly average number of runs and allow an exactly average number of runs. And a team that both scored and allowed an exactly average number of runs would be expected to win an exactly average 81 games.
And if you add up all the WAR numbers for all of your players and add them to the replacement level number of wins it will equal 81.
Make sense so far?
But, you don’t have an average player at every position.
Your first baseman is worse than average, for example. That’s because the average first baseman hit .247/.322/.414 for a 107 wRC+. But, yours only hit .243/.312/.399 for a 100 wRC+
How much below average was your first baseman? 12.5 runs. A first baseman has to produce 12.5 runs more than the average player to be average FOR THEIR POSITION.
Similarly, your catcher was better than average. The average catcher only hit .234/.300/.378 for a 91 wRC+ while yours hit .243/.312/.399 for a 100 wRC+. How much above average was your catcher? 12.5 runs better. A catcher can produce 12.5 runs less than the average player and still be average FOR THEIR POSITION.
The positional adjustment compensates for those differences. It makes the average player at each position equal to each other.
THAT is the purpose of the positional adjustment.
Literally already understood everything you just posted (your original post was helpful in the details however). I was merely stating that the 1B defense has such a low value factor because it is believed that 1B defense is less valuable than any other position except DH. My point is that I believe that to be false and that one day we will perhaps understand stretching in a similar way that we have come to understand framing. I only brought up scoops to say I am aware that there is a stat that at least attempts to account for one of the various things a 1B does besides a generic “range” that ultimately is largely from popups. I know it is not used here. But in regard to Karros and the original discussion my very point is that I feel 1B are not measured very well with WAR because of all this (particularly not measuring what they actually do that matters most and basically starting them with this negative positional value you are referring to).
Rishi
Sure. I meant “stretching”, not “scooping”. And if you wanted to argue that some defensive WAR should be transferred from other infielders to 1Bmen because the 1Bmen are making the play with stretches, I’d certainly be willing to listen.
But what do you mean by this
“1B have too hard of a time generating WAR. They do more than people realize. Meanwhile we reward those that can’t even play a position effectively like David Ortiz by allowing all their would be negative WAR to not count against them.”
It’s what I was addressing with my comment.
First baseman have a harder time generating WAR because of the positional adjustment.
My point was merely the positional adjustment may be inaccurate (hence underrating certain players which is why this was brought up). In regards to the DH thing I understand now that it tries to adjust, but it’s very unsatisfactory, yet you have to start somewhere. I know the objective value (lack of) is the same but if I’m looking at who is better between Ohtani and David Ortiz in a season I don’t think it’s fair that they both have the same DH positional adjustment. The fact is one has to DH because they cant field and the other is DHing because they can do everything imaginable. No stats are perfect. I get that. But we need to keep discussing their limitations without turning into the guy who posts the anti-WAR comment every chance yet has never even watched a 60 second video clip to try to understand the basics of it.
Rishi
“My point was merely the positional adjustment may be inaccurate”
I would agree with that. Mostly because there are fewer balls in play. So, makes sense there’s less of a difference between positions.
“I’m looking at who is better between Ohtani and David Ortiz in a season I don’t think it’s fair that they both have the same DH positional adjustment. The fact is one has to DH because they cant field and the other is DHing because they can do everything imaginable. ”
Remember, WAR doesn’t try to say who is better. It only measures who produced more on the field during a specified time span.
Ohtani produces no more defensive value when he DH’s than Ortiz did.
I get you I just think if you were truly a terrible fielder being a DH would increase your value by shielding you (even with the positional adjustments). When we look at awards and HOF, or just reference almost exclusively with WAR it is gonna be a big deal. Ryan Howard was a terrible fielder who hurt himself fielding if I recall. Could he have been closer to a HOFer with DH? But we look at all these guys like he looked at Karros and just say…10 WAR…not that good. Well what if Karros is being unfairly judged because it is believe 1B have less value than they actually do (and so are subjecting him to positional adjustments that rob him of WAR he may be due). I haven’t seen his metrics either but they look at little of importance for a 1B imo so there is that too. That’s what I mean.
I played catch at a Dodger event with Kyle when he was like 8, seemed like a solid player then. Better than most 8 year olds.
a high OBP and good defense will play.
A’s still in search for 3b help, would be nice if prospect for proapecr deals were more common
Well, there aren’t that many proapecrs available.
They might have to settle for amateur apecrs.
All of this proapecrs discussion is pure supposition, we need to see some hard evidence before moving forward.
But why would the Rockies want to trade away a 3B prospect when they haven’t got the position figured out yet either? If they still had Ryan McMahon, I could see it happening. But Karros is probably the top option until hopefully Ethan Holliday is ready in a couple years.
hf
“why would the Rockies want to trade away a 3B prospect when they haven’t got the position figured out yet either? ”
Because they have a lot of positions they didn’t6 have figured out and they think the prospect they are trading for is better than Karros – is the most obvious reason.
Teams still wouldn’t do that. No GM wants to be the guy that traded away Prospect X who becomes a star for Prospect Y who does not. It’s gutless, but it’s the way it is.
hF
You asked why it would happen, I gave you a reason it would happen
Yes, prospect for prospect trades are rare, but they happen.
Dodgers recently traded Michael Busch to Chicago for Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope. For example.
One of Wilson or De Vries will probably be at 3B by the time they head for Vegas so right not it’s going to be stopgap fillers like Urias, Urshela, Scheumann and Muncy and whoever they add in-between
Muncy could still end up being more than a stopgap. He has a .900 OPS over 325 at bats in AAA.
GJ
Are you suggesting that these guys can’t read or do math? That seems unnecessary.
GJ
:skeptical:
If you’re going to try and insult them, at least be brave enough to admit it
If you’re not, my mistake
GJ
Muted
Thank you for your service. Unless you were on the other side.
Don’t let these commies push you around.
Getting easier and easier to create roster of players that are father/son, brothers or related any other way nowadays. Probably got enough to field two full teams.