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Trevor Story Undergoes Hernia Surgery
The Red Sox announced that shortstop Trevor Story has undergone surgery to address a sports hernia. He was placed on the 10-day injured list last week. The Sox didn’t announce a timeline in today’s announcement but reporting from last week indicated Story was considering a surgery that would sideline him for six to ten weeks.
Story got out to an awful start this year, hitting .206/.244/.303 through 41 games before hitting the IL. After landing on the shelf, he told reporters that he had been dealing with discomfort since spring training, which perhaps contributed to his poor results. Ideally, the surgery will correct the issue and he can get back on track in the second half of the season.
Injuries have played a huge role in his time with the Red Sox. He and the club signed a six-year, $140MM deal going into the 2022 season. He only played 163 games over the first three years of that deal, missing time due to various issues, most notably internal brace surgery on his throwing elbow.
He was able to stay healthy last year and had a mostly good season, getting into 157 games. His walk and strikeout rates weren’t strong and he got poor grades for his glovework but he hit 25 home runs and stole 31 bases. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep it rolling into 2026. As mentioned, he got out to a poor start and is probably going to be out of action until the All-Star break, give or take.
More to come.
Pirates Promote Esmerlyn Valdez
May 22nd: The Bucs have made it official, announcing they have realled Valdez and optioned Cook.
May 21st: The Pirates are going to promote first base/outfield prospect Esmerlyn Valdez, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Fellow outfielder Billy Cook will be optioned as the corresponding active roster move, per DK Pittsburgh Sports. Valdez, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game, is already on the 40-man roster.
Valdez was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic, securing a $130K bonus. He has since been climbing the minor league ladder with a pretty heavy three-true-outcomes approach. He can draw walks and hit the ball over the fence but can also be vulnerable to strikeouts, though he has shown improvement in terms of the punchouts.
Last year, Valdez split his time between High-A and Double-A, hitting 26 home runs in 529 plate appearances. He drew free passes in 10.6% of those trips to the plate. His 24.6% strikeout rate was a bit high but a notable decrease from the 30.6% rate he posted in Single-A the year prior. He finished 2025 with a combined .286/.376/.520 line and 155 wRC+. He got some help from a .344 batting average on balls in play but it was a strong showing regardless.
The Pirates added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America ranked him the #11 prospect in the system coming into this year, noting that he’s not a strong runner or defender. Here in 2026, he’s been in Triple-A and has been posting really strong results. In 194 plate appearances, he has a huge 17% walk rate and a 21.1% strikeout rate. He has already hit ten home runs. His .253/.381/.506 line leads to a 131 wRC+. BA recently bumped him to #5 in the system.
Pittsburgh opened the year with Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds in two outfield spots. With Spencer Horwitz at first base and Marcell Ozuna the designated hitter most days, Ryan O’Hearn was spending most of his time in an outfield corner. Jake Mangum and a few others also chipped in from time to time. O’Hearn hit the IL a few days ago due to a quad strain, which opened up some playing time. The Bucs already recalled Jhostynxon García and are now adding Valdez into the mix as well.
It’s unclear how the Bucs will divvy up the playing time now. Both García and Valdez are righties, so perhaps there will be some platoon situations at play. Cruz is a lefty and has notable platoon splits in his career but reverse splits in 2026. Reynolds and Mangum are switch hitters with fairly neutral career splits.
Horwitz is a lefty and is usually platooned, so perhaps Valdez will see most of his playing time at first base. The Bucs had been using O’Hearn at first base for a lot of the games starting by a left-handed opponent, with Mangum taking O’Hearn’s spot in the outfield in those instances. Perhaps García and Valdez will combine to pick up O’Hearn’s slack in that dual outfield/first base role. Infielder Jared Triolo, who hits right-handed, recently picked up a few outfield starts but that might be less necessary now.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Rangers, Joe Ross Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed veteran righty Joe Ross to a minor league contract, Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News reports. Ross was recently released by the D-backs. He’d been pitching with their Triple-A club in Reno.
Ross made Arizona’s Opening Day roster this season after signing a minor league deal in free agency, but the Snakes designated him for assignment after 3 2/3 innings. He elected free agency and returned on a minor league deal.
Ross, who turned 33 yesterday, enjoyed decent results in a hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting. He threw 21 innings for the D-backs’ Triple-A club, most of them in long relief, and logged a 4.29 ERA. His 14% strikeout rate is way below average, but Ross’ 5.8% walk rate was excellent and his 47.8% grounder rate was strong. He also induced plenty of weak contact, evidenced by an 87.7 mph average exit velocity and 38% hard-hit rate.
This year’s brief run in the majors with Arizona brought Ross up to nine partial seasons in the majors. He’s one day shy of eight years of service time. Ross showed glimpses of breaking out as a quality big league starter early in his career, but much like his older brother (Tyson Ross) was routinely set back by injuries. He’s had a pair of Tommy John surgeries in his career in addition to a procedure to remove bone spurs from his elbow. Ross has also had multiple IL stints due to lower back injuries and shoulder troubles.
Ross had a nice season with the ’24 Brewers, tossing 74 innings with a 3.77 ERA and rate stats that were only slightly worse than league average. He was hit hard in a partial season with the ’25 Phillies though, yielding a 5.12 ERA with a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate. Overall, the 6’4″ righty has a 4.37 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 43% ground-ball rate in 572 major league frames.
The Rangers haven’t specified what type of role Ross will fill. He’ll head to Triple-A Round Rock and presumably continue to operate at least as a long reliever — if not a member of the rotation. The Rangers’ big league staff includes Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. The depth options behind that quintet aren’t great, and the latter three have all had varying levels of struggles. Rocker’s hold on a rotation spot appeared to be fading, but he just rattled off 7 2/3 shutout innings behind an opener in his most recent appearance. That brings him to 12 2/3 straight scoreless frames, dropping his ERA from north of 5.00 all the way to 3.60 (albeit with subpar rate stats that suggest some regression).
Veteran righty Cal Quantrill has pitched well in a long relief role, so it’s unlikely Ross will quickly jump to the majors in a swingman capacity. That said, if Texas incurs an injury in the rotation, that could nudge Quantrill into a starting role and create a space for Ross. Ross himself could be a rotation option at some point, too. He’s not fully stretched out right now but has made multiple three-inning relief appearances this season — most recently in early May.
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Cardinals Recall Bryan Torres For MLB Debut
May 22: These moves have now been formally announced by the club. Church was diagnosed with a left shoulder strain. A timetable for his return is not yet clear.
May 21: The Cardinals will promote second baseman/outfielder Bryan Torres for their weekend series in Cincinnati, reports former big leaguer Carlos Baerga. Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat reports that outfielder Nathan Church will land on the 10-day injured list in a corresponding move. Church was scratched from this afternoon’s lineup with an undisclosed issue and will miss at least the next week and a half.
St. Louis added Torres to their 40-man roster in November, so they won’t need any further transactions. The 28-year-old would otherwise have qualified for minor league free agency. Torres was coming off an excellent .308/.441/.464 season with Triple-A Memphis.
A native of Puerto Rico, Torres joined the professional ranks more than a decade ago. He signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent in 2015. Torres never made it out of rookie ball in the Milwaukee system. He had a brief stop in the Giants organization and was playing in the independent ranks as recently as 2023. The Cardinals evidently liked what they saw, as they added Torres on a minor league deal going into the ’24 season. He spent that year in Double-A and climbed to Triple-A a season ago.
Baseball America ranked Torres the #27 prospect in the St. Louis system over the offseason. They credit him with an above-average hit tool and average speed. Torres has minimal power but offers a bit of defensive flexibility and an OBP-oriented skillset off the bench. He’s out to an even better start in Memphis this year, running a .336/.454/.477 slash with more walks than strikeouts in 166 trips. He very rarely chases off the plate and makes a lot of contact, and he’s 10-12 in stolen base tries.
Torres is nearing his 29th birthday, so he’s not a traditional prospect. He’s in the top five among International League hitters in on-base percentage and doesn’t have much more to show versus minor league pitching. He can replace Church as the left-handed side of a left field platoon with José Fermín and Thomas Saggese for the time being.
Giants To Select Victor Bericoto
The Giants will select the contract of outfielder Victor Bericoto from Triple-A Sacramento today, as first reported by journalist Manolo Hernández Douen. San Francisco already has an open 40-man spot. Corresponding moves aren’t yet clear, but Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests that Jung Hoo Lee could need to miss a few more games or perhaps even head to the injured list. He’s been day-to-day with a back issue recently.
It’s the first call to the majors for the 24-year-old Bericoto. He’s generally not considered to be among the organization’s top 30 prospects, but he’s enjoying a nice start to his season with the River Cats. In 186 plate appearances, the righty-swinging outfielder has slashed .299/.355/.449 with six homers. He’s walked at a slightly below-average 8.1% clip, but his current 18.8% strikeout rate would be a career-low mark over a full season.
Bericoto has played all three outfield spots and first base in his professional career. He’s spent the bulk of his time in right field and at first base, however, and hasn’t appeared in center field since 2024, when he logged only six games there. In January 2025, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote that Bericoto has plus power but contact skills that were “toward the very bottom of the acceptable range.” He’s made some modest gains in that regard. His 73.5% overall contact rate is still below the major league average (76.8%), but he’s connected on 85.5% of the swings he takes on pitches within the zone, which is right in line with MLB average.
Cubs Promote Pedro Ramirez, Place Matt Shaw On Injured List
The Cubs have called up top prospect Pedro Ramirez for his major league debut, per Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Fellow infielder Matt Shaw heads to the 10-day injured list (retroactive to May 20) due to tightness in his back. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first noted that Ramirez was in the clubhouse at Wrigley Field this morning.
Ramirez, 22, is one of the top prospects in Chicago’s system. He’s elevated his status with a brilliant start to his season in Des Moines, home of the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate. The Venezuelan-born infielder has taken 196 turns at the plate and delivered a robust .312/.395/.547 batting line. By measure of wRC+, that’s 36% better than league average.
Ramirez has swatted nine homers and added 11 doubles and a triple. He’s 19-for-21 in stolen base attempts and has walked at a hearty 10.7% clip against a 16.3% strikeout rate that’s considerably lower than the 22.1% major league average. He’s drawn praise for above-average raw power in the past, but it hadn’t fully manifested until this season. His nine long balls are already a career-high.
A switch-hitter with above-average tools across the board, Ramirez can also play either second or third base. He won a minor league Gold Glove for his work at the latter position in 2025. This year’s terrific start has catapulted Ramirez onto several top-100 prospect rankings. He’s currently 80th at FanGraphs and 85th at both Baseball America and MLB.com.
Though Ramirez is clearly an exciting prospect, it’s fair to question how he fits into the long-term picture. Chicago has Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner all signed long-term. Michael Busch is locked in at first base and controlled through 2029. Pete Crow-Armstrong is entrenched in center field. Moises Ballesteros doesn’t even have a full year of service yet. He’s a long-term option behind the plate and/or at designated hitter.
Perhaps there’s a scenario where both Ramirez and Shaw slide into the corner outfield vacancies that’ll be created this winter when Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki become free agents. Either could settle in as a multi-position, semi-regular as well. It’s a crowded mix of talented players. Obviously, that falls into the “good problem to have” bucket, and there’s no need to answer any such questions in the immediate future, with both Ramirez and Shaw being optionable. It’s still a scenario that’ll loom in the background, and it’s easy to imagine Ramirez and/or Shaw commanding interest at the trade deadline, as other clubs take note of the Cubs’ stock of young big league-ready players.
As for Shaw, he’s cooled considerably after a hot start. His .242/.291/.400 is a near mirror image of last year’s .226/.295/.394 batting line as a rookie. Both are a couple percentage points shy of league average. Shaw has spent the season acclimating to the outfield, as the Bregman signing filled the infield and left him only sparse playing time on the dirt. He’s continued to show good contact skills but employ a swing- and chase-heavy approach that’s undercut his on-base percentage.
It’s not clear how long Shaw will be sidelined, but the backdated nature of his IL stint means he could be back as soon as next weekend. In the meantime, Ramirez can fill in around the infield as needed. The Cubs recently gave him his fifth career game in left field as well, so they could at least consider using him in the corners.
Twins Recall Gabriel Gonzalez For MLB Debut
The Twins announced they’ve recalled outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez from Triple-A St. Paul. Infielder Tristan Gray has been placed on the paternity list in a corresponding move. Marcos Grunfeld of El Emergente first reported the Gonzalez promotion. He’s already on the 40-man roster after Minnesota selected his contract last November to protect him from being taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
Gonzalez’s first big league call will probably be brief. A player’s stint on the paternity list can last up to three days. They’ll occasionally take an extra day or two on the restricted list, but Gray should be back during Minnesota’s series against the White Sox at the beginning of next week.
Minnesota didn’t want to make a 40-man roster move for such a short-term absence. They only have four healthy position players on optional assignment to St. Paul. They just sent Matt Wallner and Royce Lewis down this week to get them on track. That left Gonzalez and fellow outfielder Hendry Mendez as the two logical options; the latter was only just promoted to Triple-A two weeks ago.
A high-profile amateur signee by the Mariners out of Venezuela, Gonzalez headlined Minnesota’s return for Jorge Polanco in 2024. His prospect stock has dipped a little since that trade. He had a middling season in High-A while battling a back injury in his first year with the organization.
The 22-year-old rebounded to hit his way to Triple-A last year, but his numbers have dipped this season. Gonzalez has a .216/.294/.392 line over 197 plate appearances. That’s weighed down largely by a .231 average on balls in play. Gonzalez has connected on eight home runs and has kept his strikeout rate to a manageable 20% clip.
Baseball America ranks the righty batter the #10 prospect in the Minnesota system. They credit him with an above-average hit tool and solid raw power, but his in-game power output has been held back by an aggressive approach and a high ground-ball rate. Gonzalez is a below-average runner who can’t play center field, putting a lot of pressure on the bat. He clobbered lefties last season (.368/.430/.592) and has hit them well this season (.263/.328/.544) even amid an overall downturn in production, so there’s a good chance he’ll be in the lineup tonight against Boston southpaw Payton Tolle.
The Opener: Cole, Valdez, Guardians
The league’s two highest-scoring offenses will face off this weekend. It’ll be the Braves taking on the … Nationals? Washington surprisingly paces the league in runs so far. MLBTR’s Leo Morgenstern dove into the Nats’ offense in this piece.
1. Cole, Caballero rejoining Yankees
Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole will make his long-awaited return tonight against the Rays. The six-time All-Star missed all of 2025 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. Cole cruised through 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball in his final rehab outing, striking out six. New York will also get infielder Jose Caballero back in the mix. The versatile veteran will return after a minimum stint on the injured list with a fractured finger. Outfield prospect Spencer Jones will head back to the minors to clear room for Caballero. Jones went 4-for-24 with 12 strikeouts in his first taste of the majors.
2. Valdez gets the call
Pirates prospect Esmerlyn Valdez is expected to be promoted for a series against the Blue Jays. He’ll take the spot of outfielder Billy Cook. Valdez is a consensus top 10 prospect in the organization. The 22-year-old has shown solid power in the minor leagues, including 26 home runs across two levels in 2025. Valdez has already popped 10 homers in 46 games at Triple-A this year. Perhaps more importantly, he’s trimmed his strikeout rate to a reasonable 21.1%. Valdez has mostly played the corner outfield spots with Indianapolis this season. He also has experience at first base. Valdez will be an option at both first and right field with Pittsburgh with Ryan O’Hearn sidelined.
3. Red-hot Guardians sweep sputtering Tigers
Cleveland beat Detroit on Thursday afternoon behind a strong outing from lefty Joey Cantillo. Recent trade acquisition Patrick Bailey launched his first home run with the club. The Guardians took all four games from the Tigers and have now won six straight and nine of 10. With the White Sox falling to the Mariners, Cleveland now has a 3.5-game lead in the AL Central. Detroit has gone in the exact opposite direction. The club has dropped six straight and nine of 10, sinking to last in the division. The Tigers had managed to stay afloat despite injury issues heading into May, with an even .500 record. The team is now 20-31 on the year. Detroit will look to get back on track in Baltimore this weekend.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Oehler of the Poughkeepsie Journal, via Imagn Images