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Athletics To Select Kade Morris
The Athletics are calling up pitching prospect Kade Morris, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. The club will need to open active and 40-man roster spots for the right-hander, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Morris, 24 this month, was a third-round pick of the Mets in 2023. He was flipped to the A’s at the 2024 trade deadline in the deal which sent Paul Blackburn to Queens. At the time of the deal, Morris was still at the High-A level but he has since bumped up to the upper tiers of the minor leagues. He got a very brief look at Triple-A at the end of that 2024 season but started 2025 at Double-A. He got promoted to Triple-A more permanently a year ago, making his first 2025 Triple-A start on June 1st.
In that past year, he has made 30 starts for Triple-A Las Vegas. He has logged 159 innings, allowing 4.92 earned runs per nine in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. His 18.5% strikeout rate is a few ticks below major league average but his 9% walk rate is around par while he has induced grounders on about half the balls in play he has allowed. His four-seamer and sinker both average around 94 miles per hour. His slider is his most-used secondary pitch.
Most prospect evaluators put Morris just outside the top ten prospects in the club’s system. That includes Baseball America, who had Morris at #13 coming into the season but now list him at #11. The BA report notes that he has good control of his arsenal but his main vulnerability is not having a good weapon for lefties since his changeup isn’t strong. Lefties have a .277/.409/.511 line against him this year and the line was .332/.395/.533 last year.
FanGraphs is a bit more bullish. In April, they gave Morris the #3 spot in the system, behind only Leo De Vries and Gage Jump. The report notes that a slight improvement to his changeup would make him a playoff-caliber starter, though he’s currently more of a back-end guy.
The A’s have taken a few rotation hits lately. Shoulder tendonitis sent Aaron Civale to the injured list a week ago. A shoulder strain put Luis Severino on the IL over the weekend. Those two injuries have led to the A’s reaching into their depth, with Gunnar Hoglund not an option since he required season-ending hip surgery. Jump got the call last week to replace Civale, joining the rotation alongside Jeffrey Springs, J.T. Ginn and Jacob Lopez.
Perhaps Morris is getting the call to take Severino’s rotation spot, or maybe to serve as a long reliever. The A’s also have Mason Barnett, Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang, Luis Morales and Joey Estes on the 40-man roster, so they have some other options who could be mixed in while Civale and Severino are on the shelf. Since this is the first time Morris has been given a roster spot, he has a full slate of options and could be easily sent back to Vegas if he’s not sticking around for an extended audition.
Photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian, Imagn Images
Giants To Select Wilkin Ramos
The Giants are calling up right-hander Wilkin Ramos, reports Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. San Francisco will need to open space on both the active and 40-man rosters for Ramos, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
More to come.
Marlins Announce Several Roster Moves
The Marlins announced a handful of roster moves ahead of Monday’s game. Right-handers Zach Brzykcy (pronounced “brick-see”) and Tyler Zuber had their contracts selected from Triple-A Jacksonville and will be with the major league club tonight for their road game against the Nationals. To make room on the active roster, Miami optioned righty Josh White and placed righty Josh Ekness on the 15-day injured list with a calf strain. To create 40-man space for Brzykcy and Zuber, the Fish transferred left-hander Andrew Nardi and first baseman/outfielder Griffin Conine to the 60-day injured list.
Brzykcy, 26, will be facing off against the team that originally signed him and gave him his major league debut if he gets into a game this series. He’s pitched in parts of two seasons with the Nats and been tagged for an unsightly 10.05 ERA in 28 2/3 frames. He’s pitched 22 1/3 innings with Jacksonville since signing a minor league deal over the winter and has a 5.24 ERA with a strong 26.3% strikeout rate against a problematic 12.1% walk rate. Nine of the 13 earned runs he’s yielded have come across two of his most recent outings. Through Brzykcy’s first 15 1/3 innings this season, he allowed only one run on seven hits and eight walks with 18 punchouts.
The 30-year-old Zuber has a similarly nondescript big league track record with big minor league strikeout numbers. He’s pitched in parts of four major league seasons and surrendered a 6.26 ERA in 64 2/3 frames. He’s set down just under one quarter of his opponents on strikes but walked 15.2% of the batters he’s faced. This season in Triple-A, Zuber has a gaudy 33.9% strikeout rate in 27 2/3 innings but also a 12.6% walk rate. His fastball velocity is only a bit above average, but Zuber piles up swings and misses on a slider he’s been throwing at extreme levels (57.2%) in Triple-A so far.
Nardi hit the injured list recently due to a stress reaction in his ribcage. Manager Clayton McCullough said at the time of his 15-day IL placement that he could miss several months, so the quick shift to the 60-day IL comes as no surprise. He’s pitched to a 5.16 ERA in 22 2/3 innings this season.
Conine suffered a hamstring strain in early April, necessitating surgery. He was given a timetable of six to eight weeks for recovery, though the process has played out a bit more slowly. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported over the weekend that Conine was probably still a week or two from going out on a rehab assignment. Given that he’s been on the IL since April 11, he wasn’t going to make it back to the roster within 60 days anyhow. His shift to the lengthier injured list is merely a formality, then. A return at some point later this month still seems to be in play.
Padres To Select Jase Bowen
The Padres are calling up outfielder Jase Bowen, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The Friars will need to open space on the active and 40-man rosters for Bowen, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Bowen, now 25, was originally an 11th-round pick of the Pirates back in 2019. As a hitter, he has shown some pop but there have been some concerns regarding his approach. Through the end of 2024, he had over 2,000 plate appearances on the farm. He hit 64 home runs but his 7.5% walk rate and 25.6% strikeout rate were both subpar figures. He had a combined .243/.315/.406 line and 99 wRC+ in that time.
His 2025 numbers were a little bit intriguing. He missed time due to injury and only made 366 plate appearances but produced a strong .272/.353/.449 line, leading to a 124 wRC+. He improved his walk rate to 10.7% but was punched out at a 28.7% clip. His output was aided by a .376 batting average on balls in play. He didn’t have a roster spot at season’s end and became a minor league free agent, which is when the Padres signed him to a minor league deal.
This year, he has been with Triple-A El Paso and putting up good numbers, but with similar caveats to last year. He has 13 home runs, a 9.5% walk rate, a .292/.362/.600 line and 121 wRC+. However, his 26.6% strikeout rate is still a bit high and he again benefitted from a high BABIP, this time a .349 mark.
Even if his offense over the past two years isn’t totally sustainable, he can contribute in other ways. Back in April, FanGraphs ranked Bowen the #17 prospect in a weak Padres’ system. They raised concerns about his approach at the plate but noted he is a strong runner, which helps him on the basepaths and in the outfield. He stole at least 16 bases in each season from 2021 to 2025. Defensively, he’s spent time in all three outfield slots. If he can maintain any of his recent offensive numbers, that would be great. But even if not, he profiles as a decent fourth outfielder who can run down the ball and swipe a bag from time to time.
The Padres have recently had Fernando Tatis Jr. covering second base, leaving them with an outfield of Gavin Sheets, Jackson Merrill and Ramón Laureano. On the bench, they’ve got Nick Castellanos and Bryce Johnson, but both of them have been struggling. Castellanos has a .191/.221/.339 line while Johnson is at .188/.257/.250. Neither of them are optionable, so perhaps one of those two will be designated for assignment to open roster space for Bowen.
It’s also possible someone in that group is headed to the injured list with an unreported injury. If that’s the case, then the Friars could open a 40-man spot by moving someone to the 60-day injured list. Nick Pivetta would be a good candidate since he’s already been on the 15-day IL for almost two months, initially landing there April 13th. He hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment and therefore isn’t in line for a near-term activation.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Rangers To Select Robby Ahlstrom
The Rangers are selecting the contract of left-hander Robby Ahlstrom from Triple-A Round Rock, MLBTR has learned. The 26-year-old lefty will make his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game. Texas has a full 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make at least one corresponding transaction once the move is officially announced.
Texas originally acquired Ahlstrom alongside righty Albert Abreu in the 2022 trade sending catcher Jose Trevino to the Yankees. He’s regularly turned in solid ERAs and quality strikeout rates with shaky command — at least until this season. In 2026, Ahlstrom has taken his overall game to new levels. He’s sitting on a 2.76 ERA in 29 1/3 innings out of the bullpen and has fanned 28.4% of his opponents against a tidy 6.9% walk rate.
In the past, Ahlstrom has worked primarily off a four-seamer sitting 93-94 mph. This year, he’s begun to feature a sinker as well, throwing the pitch at a 21% clip thus far (in addition to a 35% clip for his four-seamer). Both fastballs are averaging 94.8 mph — the best mark of the mustachioed southpaw’s career. Ahlstrom also features an 85 mph slider, an 87 mph changeup and a show-me curveball that sits in the upper 70s (but has only been thrown at a 4% clip this year).
The Rangers have carried three lefties in the bullpen this season: Jacob Latz, Tyler Alexander and Jalen Beeks. All three have posted solid earned run averages, though the latter’s rate stats don’t really support his 3.86 ERA. If they plan to continue carrying all three, an optionable rookie like Peyton Gray or Gavin Collyer could be sent out in order to get Ahlstrom into the mix, though that wouldn’t clear a 40-man spot. Fellow lefty Robert Garcia, currently on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation, has already missed more than six weeks and isn’t yet on a minor league rehab assignment, so moving him to the 60-day IL could potentially accommodate Ahlstrom’s promotion.
Rangers Sign Jarred Kelenic To Minor League Deal
The Rangers announced that they have signed outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league deal. The client of THE·TEAM will report to Triple-A Round Rock. Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News was among those who passed the news along.
Kelenic, 26, just elected free agency a couple of days ago after being outrighted by the White Sox. He began the year on a minor league deal with that club and posted some encouraging Triple-A numbers. That got him a shot in the majors that he wasn’t able to take advantage of. He struck out in 33.9% of his plate appearances with the Sox and slashed .226/.305/.321 for a wRC+ of 79.
That came in a very small sample of 59 plate appearances but continued a career-long trend for Kelenic. A former sixth overall pick and ballyhooed prospect, he has often put up big numbers on the farm. That has led to many big league chances that he hasn’t capitalized on. He has 1,547 major league plate appearances to this point in his career with a 30.7% strikeout rate. His .211/.283/.374 line translates to an 84 wRC+, indicating he’s been 16% worse than league average on the whole.
That performance has led to him exhausting his option years, which has pushed him into fringe roster territory. He was outrighted by Atlanta at the end of last season and had to settle for a minor league deal with the White Sox. The other 29 clubs just passed on the chance to grab him from the waiver wire and he has been left to sign a minor league deal yet again.
For the Rangers, there’s little harm in adding some extra outfield depth without using a roster spot. They currently have Evan Carter, Brandon Nimmo and Alejandro Osuna taking up most of the outfield playing time, with Michael Helman and Sam Haggerty also in the mix. Carter has missed the past two games after getting hit on the foot by a pitch. Nimmo has battled hamstring and ankle injuries this year.
If they need to reach into their depth, Kelenic could get the call, though guys like Jonah Bride and Nick Pratto are also in the system as non-roster depth. Down the line, they may get pushed down the depth chart, as Wyatt Langford began a rehab assignment this weekend. He has been on the injured list for a little over a month due to a flexor strain. That was initially expected to require a minimal IL stint but has lingered longer than hoped. It’s unclear how long the Rangers want to have him rehabbing but such assignments for position players have a 20-day maximum.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Reds Place Elly De La Cruz On Injured List, Promote Edwin Arroyo
The Reds announced Monday that they’ve placed star shortstop Elly De La Cruz on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right hamstring and recalled top infield prospect Edwin Arroyo from Triple-A Louisville for his major league debut. Cincinnati also selected the contract of lefty Brandon Leibrandt and designated right-hander Yunior Marté for assignment in a corresponding move. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com reported that the Reds would place De La Cruz on the IL and promote Arroyo shortly before the formal team announcement.
De La Cruz suffered his hamstring injury in Sunday’s game. Upon driving a ball into the right-center field gap for what looked like an easy double — if not a triple, given his speed — he instead pulled up at first base in obvious pain (video link). A quick visit from the training staff concluded with an early exit from the game. He subsequently underwent an MRI that revealed the strain. Cincinnati has not yet provided a possible timeline for his potential return or revealed the grade of hamstring strain with which De La Cruz has been diagnosed. Manager Terry Francona will likely provide more details prior to tonight’s game against the visiting Royals.
An injury to the 24-year-old De La Cruz is about as impactful an injury absence as possible for Cincinnati. The switch-hitting dynamo was putting together perhaps the best season of his exciting young career, delivering a .280/.346/.509 slash (134 wRC+) with a dozen homers, 13 doubles (14, were it not for this injury), five triples and 10 steals. He’s hitting for power at the highest rate of his career, and after struggling immensely from the right-handed batter’s box through the first three seasons of his career, De La Cruz was having a breakout showing in that regard as well (.299/.342/.642 in 73 plate appearances versus southpaws).
If there’s a silver lining for Reds fans, it’s that the De La Cruz injury serves as a catalyst for the promotion of Arroyo — one of the hottest-hitting prospects in all of Minor League Baseball at the moment. A fellow switch-hitter, Arroyo is just 22 years old but was laying waste to Triple-A pitching with a .323/.383/.562 batting line through an even 250 plate appearances. He’s homered 11 times and added nine doubles, five triples and nine steals. He’s been hitting at a particularly absurd level over the past month: .368/.406/.705.
Originally drafted by the Mariners with the No. 48 overall pick back in 2021, Arroyo was traded to the Reds as part of the deal sending Luis Castillo back to Seattle. He was a consensus top-100 prospect at the time. His stock dipped in subsequent seasons, in no small part due to a shoulder injury that required surgery and wiped out his entire 2024 season. However, Arroyo’s torrid 2026 output has thrust onto the tail end of the top-100 lists at MLB.com and Baseball America. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel listed him as the top riser in Cincinnati’s system just this morning, noting that Arroyo’s power looks to be back in full force after an understandable dip last year in the return from that shoulder operation. Arroyo hit just three long balls in 120 games last year.
Arroyo has primarily been a shortstop in his professional career, but he’s played some second base and third base in recent seasons as well — likely in recognition that shortstop isn’t going to be opening up in Cincinnati anytime soon, so long as De La Cruz remains healthy. He’ll step into De La Cruz’s shortstop spot for the time being, but if Arroyo hits the ground running, it’s not at all out of the question that he could parlay this initial call to the majors into a more prominent role at third base and/or second base once De La Cruz returns. Neither third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes nor second baseman Matt McLain has hit at all this season — and that’s egregiously true in the case of the former (.142/.195/.225 in 128 plate appearances). Hayes is currently on the injured list a disk injury in his back, continuing a long history of back ailments.
The 33-year-old Leibrandt is the son of former big league pitcher Charlie Leibrandt. He’s pitched in parts of two minor league seasons: the 2020 campaign with Miami and the 2024 season with Cincinnati. He’s allowed nine runs in 15 1/3 major league frames. The younger Leibrandt has been tagged for a 5.23 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts this season, though a disproportionate amount of the damage against him came in his most recent start. Leibrandt logged a solid enough 4.29 ERA through his first 10 starts before being tattooed for six runs in just 1 1/3 innings against the Twins’ Triple-A club last time out.
Injuries have thinned out both the Cincinnati bullpen and rotation. The Reds have Hunter Greene, Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson all on the injured list. Depth starters like Chase Petty, Julian Aguiar and Jose Franco have pitched poorly in Triple-A. The Reds already brought veteran Chris Paddack aboard following his release in Miami; he’s allowed a total of nine runs with eight strikeouts against seven walks across a trio of five-inning starts. In the bullpen, relievers Graham Ashcraft, Emilio Pagan and Pierce Johnson are on the injured list; Ashcraft was recently placed directly on the 60-day IL due to a UCL sprain.
Marté, 31, was just called up last Friday when Ashcraft hit the IL. The journeyman right-hander appeared in one game, faced six batters and allowed five of them to reach. He wound up being charged with four runs in one-third of an inning. Marté has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, totaling 113 2/3 innings with a 5.94 ERA. He throws hard and can miss bats but has regularly shown shaky command while struggling to limit damage against left-handed hitters in particular. He’ll be traded, placed on waivers or released within the next five days.
Braves Outright Carlos Carrasco
The Braves announced this morning that righty Carlos Carrasco went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. Carrasco has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.
One way or another, Carrasco will likely be back with Atlanta. He’s been designated for assignment by the Braves three other times dating back to last August and has returned on new minor league deals each time. Carrasco also re-signed a minor league deal with the Braves in free agency this past winter. It’s always possible he’ll just accept the outright assignment, but elected free agency and quickly negotiating a new minor league pact gives his camp the opportunity to secure some perks (new opt-out dates, upward mobility clause, slight salary increase, etc.) that aren’t in the current deal.
The 39-year-old Carrasco has pitched well when the Braves have summoned him to the majors this season. He’s tossed 7 1/3 innings and held opponents to a pair of runs on six hits and no walks with four strikeouts. He’s been sharp in Gwinnett, too, logging a flat 3.00 ERA (21 K%, 5.6 BB%) in 30 innings of work there.
Both Carrasco and the Braves front office have been very comfortable with the setup that sees him act as an unofficial 41st man on the roster. He can’t be optioned, so Carrasco is frequently selected to the roster, used as needed, passed through waivers and then returns on a new minor league deal. He’s already picked up 24 days of big league service and salary in 2026 this way, and there’s a good chance he’ll have several similar stint through season’s end.
Brusdar Graterol Undergoes Back Surgery
Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol underwent back surgery yesterday and could miss the remainder of the season as a result, reports Jack Harris of the California Post. The right-hander, already on the mend from Nov. 2024 shoulder surgery, missed all of the 2025 season and hasn’t thrown in a big league game since the 2024 playoffs.
Specifics of Graterol’s surgery aren’t clear, but it’s a frustrating setback for an extremely talented right-hander who simply hasn’t been able to avoid the injured list. Graterol pitched only seven regular-season innings in 2024 due to recurring shoulder troubles. He’s pitched in parts of six MLB seasons but has only 50 innings in one of those six seasons. Graterol boasts a terrific 2.78 earned run average in his career but has only managed to pitch 190 2/3 frames dating back to his late-season debut with the Twins in 2019.
Minnesota traded Graterol to the Dodgers in the 2019-20 offseason deal that sent Kenta Maeda the other direction. In retrospect, it’s been a pretty fair deal for both sides. Both pitchers missed substantial time with injury but were largely effective when healthy enough to take the mound with their new teams. Graterol has a 2.69 ERA in 180 innings as a Dodger (not including the playoffs) and was dominant in the healthiest season of his career (2023): 67 1/3 innings, 1.20 ERA, 19 holds, seven saves, 18.7% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and a colossal 64.4% ground-ball rate.
The surgery could very well spell the end of Graterol’s tenure in Los Angeles. It doesn’t sound as though it’s a foregone conclusion that his season is finished, but if this does shelve him for the remainder of the year, he’s slated to become a free agent for the first time in the 2026-27 offseason.
At the very least, Harris notes that Graterol is facing a monthslong absence. Perhaps he can return for a handful of late appearances, as he did in 2024, but the Dodgers will again navigate the summer without one of their most talented bullpen arms. Graterol had begun a rehab assignment in early May before suffering a setback a couple weeks in.
The Dodgers already had Edwin Diaz on the 60-day IL after he required surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. Evan Phillips is nearing the one-year anniversary of his Tommy John surgery and is still a ways from returning. Brock Stewart has managed to pitch only two innings this season owing to shoulder and foot injuries. Ben Casparius has been out since mid-April due to shoulder inflammation.
Despite that slate of injuries, L.A.’s bullpen has been dominant. Dodgers relievers rank fourth in the majors in ERA (3.12), first in FIP (3.15), fifth in SIERA (3.36), second in strikeout rate (25.6%) and ninth in walk rate (9.2%). Their top seven relievers by innings pitched — Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Will Klein, Jack Dreyer, Kyle Hurt, Edgardo Henriquez and Blake Treinen — all have ERAs of 3.43 or better.