Red Sox To Begin Playing Marcelo Mayer At Shortstop
The Red Sox will be without Trevor Story for some time after the two-time All-Star underwent sports hernia surgery this week. Interim manager Chad Tracy said Friday that’ll spur a primary position change for Marcelo Mayer, who has been a full-time second baseman this season (link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic).
Mayer remains at second base for tonight’s series opener against the Twins. Tracy said the 23-year-old infielder is still ironing some things out in drills with interim bench coach/infield instructor José David Flores. The Sox are hoping to have Mayer make his first MLB start at shortstop on Sunday.
The fourth overall pick in 2021, Mayer was a shortstop throughout his minor league career. Most prospect evaluators felt he’d stick at the position despite his 6’3″ height and fringy speed. That was mostly a testament to his fluidity, instincts and arm strength — even if he’s unlikely to be the flashiest defender.
Mayer hasn’t had the opportunity to play shortstop at the major league level; he has three career innings there over two late-game appearances. His first MLB call last May came as the corresponding move for an Alex Bregman injured list placement. Mayer spent nearly two months as the primary third baseman while Bregman rehabbed a quad strain. He moved to second base when the veteran returned. Mayer himself went down with a wrist injury not long after and underwent season-ending surgery.
The Sox stuck with Mayer at the keystone for his first full MLB campaign. They’d initially given some thought to moving Mayer back to third while playing Caleb Durbin at second. Former skipper Alex Cora preferred Durbin at the hot corner. Tracy stuck with that arrangement, as Durbin has played excellent defense despite his lack of production at the dish.
Mayer hasn’t done a whole lot at the plate either. He’s hitting .221/.290/.313 across 146 plate appearances. Mayer has only connected on two home runs without hitting many line drives. He has played pretty well at second base but has been part of a Boston infield that, with the exception of Willson Contreras, hasn’t contributed offensively.
Story was also out to a very poor start (.206/.244/.303). Mayer’s move to shortstop will leave second base to a combination of utility players Nick Sogard, Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Sogard, who started at shortstop tonight, has also begun taking third base reps over Durbin. The Sox have one of the best shortstop prospects in the sport, Franklin Arias, but the 20-year-old is at Double-A and not a factor in the short term.
Rockies Place Mickey Moniak On Injured List
The Rockies announced they’ve placed Mickey Moniak on the 10-day injured list with right ankle tendinitis. Rookie outfielder Sterlin Thompson is up from Triple-A Albuquerque to take his spot on the roster. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the moves before the official announcement.
It’s the second IL stint of the season for Moniak, who missed the first week and a half with a finger sprain on his right hand. Manager Warren Schaeffer tells team reporter Kelsey Wingert-Linch that Moniak injured his ankle when he collided with the wall during a mid-May series against the Pirates. He has played through the injury for a couple weeks but will need some time on the shelf.
Moniak has probably not coincidentally been in a slump since that series. He’s 2-20 over his last seven games. Moniak had been one of the more productive hitters in the sport before that and still carries a strong .280/.335/.607 slash line across 164 plate appearances. He leads the team with 12 home runs, a top 10 mark in the National League.
The former first overall pick has found his stride since signing with the Rockies on the eve of Opening Day 2025. He’s a .272/.314/.541 hitter in 625 plate appearances over his year-plus in Colorado. That’s almost all against right-handed pitching and has disproportionately come at Coors Field, yet Moniak has certainly hit well enough to put himself on the radar as a midseason trade candidate. He’s making $4MM and under arbitration control through 2027. If he’s healthy, he could be a platoon corner outfield/designated hitter target for a contender.
Thompson, a supplemental first-rounder from the 2022 draft, is up for the second time in his MLB career. He went 1-8 in a three-game stretch last week before being optioned back to Triple-A. The Florida product is in the lineup at DH tonight against Arizona righty Michael Soroka. Colorado is shorthanded in the outfield with Moniak and Brenton Doyle landing on the injured list in consecutive days. Thompson should get fairly regular playing time as part of an outfield that also includes Jake McCarthy, Troy Johnston and Tyler Freeman.
Phillies Trade Andrew Baker To Rockies
The Phillies announced they’ve traded minor league reliever Andrew Baker to the Rockies for international bonus pool space. Baker is not on the 40-man roster.
It’s the second time in as many months that the Phils traded for bonus pool room, as they acquired $500K in allotments from the Dodgers for Griff McGarry. Matt Gelb of The Athletic notes that the Phillies are adding to their bonus pool to facilitate the signing of amateur pitcher Chan-min Park, a 17-year-old righty from South Korea.
The 26-year-old Baker was Philadelphia’s 11th-round pick out of junior college in 2021. He has spent parts of five seasons in Double-A. That includes some strong work this season, as the righty has worked to a 2.65 ERA across 17 innings. Baker has fanned 25 opponents against five walks. He has never had any trouble missing bats, but that kind of control would be the best of his career if he’s able to maintain it.
Baker has gone unselected in the Rule 5 draft a few times. Although he’s not a premium prospect, he’s a potential up-and-down bullpen arm for the Rox. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs gave him an honorable mention in his January writeup of the Philly system, writing that Baker has a 96-98 mph fastball and a plus slider with below-average control. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible again next offseason if the Rox don’t give him a 40-man roster spot.
Anthony Volpe To Start Second Base Work
The Yankees will begin to have Anthony Volpe taking drills at second base, manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Friday (link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Volpe remains on the big league roster even with José Caballero back from the injured list. New York optioned rookie outfielder Spencer Jones last night.
Caballero had a minimal IL stay due to a fracture in his right middle finger. The Yankees recalled Volpe to handle shortstop for the past week and a half. Boone said at the time he viewed Caballero as the starting shortstop. The manager was a little less firm on that today, saying he’ll “make (that) decision every night,” but Caballero indeed drew back in today against Nick Martinez for the start of a big weekend series against the division-leading Rays.
Volpe has played more than 4000 innings at the MLB level, all of which have come at shortstop. He started two games at second base in A-ball five years ago. That said, it’s common for shortstops to move fairly easily to other infield positions. Boone said the Yankees don’t intend to have Volpe take any reps at third base. They’ll hopefully quickly get to a point where they’re comfortable using him at either middle infield spot.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. remains the primary second baseman. He’s starting his 48th of 52 games there tonight. Amed Rosario has gotten the other four starts to occasionally spell the lefty-hitting Chisholm against an opposing southpaw. Chisholm has had a tough year against pitchers of either handedness, but his .239/.317/.372 line in a down season is still better than what Volpe provided at the plate over his first three seasons.
Volpe appeared in eight games while Caballero was out. He had five hits, including two doubles, while drawing seven walks in 30 plate appearances. He showed enough that the Yankees opted not to send him back to Triple-A, though it remains to be seen if they’ll get him into the lineup on a semi-regular basis.
They’re not going to use Volpe only against left-handed pitching. Rosario is a better hitter against lefties and a cleaner fit in that role, not that the Yankees use Chisholm as a strict platoon player regardless. Caballero has more established positional versatility and was out to a strong start to the season. He’s the team leader with 13 stolen bases while hitting .259/.320/.400 across 147 plate appearances. Caballero was a full-time shortstop early in the season with Volpe rehabbing last fall’s shoulder surgery. He could bounce to third base or the outfield if the Yankees want to mix Volpe in at shortstop. They haven’t gotten much from Ryan McMahon at the hot corner all year.
Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Anthony Franco
- Good afternoon, hope all is well!
- Looking forward to another of these, let's get going
Drew
- If you’re Andrew Friedman, which of the Dodgers outfield prospects are untouchable and which are in the mix in Skubal trade
Sandy at 90
- I know it is early but assuming that Skubal comes back from surgery and the Tigers fall out of the race, opinion on this deal to Dodgers. Skubal to LA for Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Kellon Lynsey. Who says no?
Scott Harris
- Should I worry about my job or Hinch's? With the season slipping away, what is the max value Tarik Skubal would bring in a trade, once he's pitched effectively in a regular-season game? With Valdez, Mize, Montero, Anderson and some other starters soon to return, pitching isn't the issue - hitting is. Would a Skubal trade for a controllable OF/3B/1B bat be feasible? Perhaps a three-way for Devers if the Giants turn sellers? That might at lease let us improve offensively to compensate for Skubal's loss. Speaking of offense, Tork has produced very little; Keith has a nice BA but 0HR/6RBI isn't a 1B profile, either. Should Tork head to Toledo and Anderson get a shot? Keith to 1B until a trade brings another bat?
Anthony Franco
- Understandably a handful of Skubal questions. Tigers are going to take this to the wire but obviously the odds of a midseason trade keep going up the more they lose. Four-game sweep at the hands of the biggest threat in the division is brutal
- Don't think any of the Dodgers' prospects should be untouchable for Skubal. Assuming he comes back before the deadline, he's the player who'd most single-handedly improve their World Series odds
- De Paula's the one I'd most want to avoid trading, but if the Tigers were insistent on him as the headliner, I'd have a tough time walking away
- Hope + Ryan feels like a reasonable starting point. If Tigers do trade Skubal, it'd be more multiple young players. They're not going to have any interest in Devers
John B
- When Webb comes off the IL does Mahle get waived? I know it's a chunk of money but he's been awful and McDonald has been their best starter so far.
Anthony Franco
- Can't send McDonald down, I agree. Guessing it's Houser to the bullpen given the amount of money they invested in him and Mahle but those guys have both had brutal starts
- Houser's results have been a little better lately but still about an equal number of walks and strikeouts. It's rough
- I was fully out on Mahle but thought Houser would be better than this, even if I would not have gone to 2/22
- With all due respect to Trevor Story, is his injury an opportunity for the Red Sox to make an improvement to the infield on both sides of the ball?
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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.
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.
Angels Notes: Closer, Moncada, Grissom
The Angels continue to operate without a defined closer, manager Kurt Suzuki tells Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. That comes after Kirby Yates blew a save by surrendering a ninth-inning homer to Jeff McNeil on Wednesday. The A’s would go to win that game by plating the free runner against Chase Silseth in the top of the 10th.
Yates was going for his first save of the season. The 39-year-old missed the first six weeks to right knee inflammation. He’d worked scoreless appearances in three of four outings before the ill-timed longball yesterday.
The Halos have been the worst team in the league, so it’s not a surprise that they have the fewest saves in MLB. That said, it’s remarkable that four of their five saves all year were by the since released Jordan Romano within the first two weeks of the season. They have one save in the last six weeks, which went to Ryan Zeferjahn against the White Sox on May 5.
Aside from Yates, Silseth technically has their only other blown save this month. That came in the sixth inning, so it was more accurately a missed opportunity for a hold. The Halos didn’t have a save opportunity tonight, but they went right back to Yates in a situation typically reserved for a team’s closer — to pitch the top of the ninth in a tied game. The righty worked around a Vaughn Grissom error to toss a scoreless inning.
Grissom got the nod at the hot corner for the third consecutive game. The last two have come against right-handed starters Aaron Civale and Luis Severino. That’s not a coincidence, as Suzuki confirmed to Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register that they’re reducing playing time for scuffling third baseman Yoán Moncada.
Re-signed to a $4MM deal over the offseason, Moncada has hit .189/.308/.297 across 130 plate appearances. Although he has avoided the injured list, the 30-year-old confirmed he’s still dealing with discomfort in his right knee related to the injury that cost him five weeks last summer. The switch-hitter said the knee bothers him when he bats from the right side. The Halos have accordingly limited his exposure to left-handed pitching for a second straight year.
Moncada had been productive from the left side of the dish last season, posting an .815 OPS against righties. That’s down to a .225/.330/.360 line with 34 strikeouts in 104 plate appearances this year — more or less leading to an unofficial benching.
“That’s the route that we’re going to go,” Suzuki told Fletcher. “I talked to him and he knows what he has to do. … Right now, this is where we’re at. I’m not saying it’s going to be like this the rest of the year. It might change. It might not.”
The Angels took a flier on the right-handed hitting Grissom in an offseason deal with Boston. A minor sprain of his left wrist sidelined him for a couple weeks to begin the season. Grissom came out on fire when he was activated, hitting .342 with a homer and four doubles in 13 games through the end of April. His bat has gone ice cold since the calendar flipped, and he’s now hitting .226/.308/.355 over 108 plate appearances. The Halos have used an Oswald Peraza/Adam Frazier platoon at second base but could get Peraza more work at the hot corner if Grissom doesn’t pick back up.
Denzel Clarke Out Beyond All-Star Break With Hamstring Strain
The Athletics announced this evening that center fielder Denzel Clarke suffered a high-grade strain of his left hamstring while playing in a rehab game. The A’s won’t even have a defined return timeline until he’s reevaluated at some point after the All-Star Break.
Clarke sustained the injury on Tuesday with Triple-A Las Vegas. He was working back from a bone bruise in his right foot that had already cost him a month. The hamstring seems to be far more significant, as it’ll be a couple months before they consider a return to play. That all but ensures he won’t be ready for MLB action until at least August.
One of the most talented defensive players in the sport, Clarke has missed most of the past calendar year with injuries. He lost almost all of the 2025 second half with an adductor strain. The injuries have robbed the A’s of their starting center fielder and Clarke of much needed reps to develop at the plate.
The 26-year-old has appeared in 69 games at the big league level. He has struck out 85 times while batting .214/.262/.323 over 219 plate appearances. Clarke has already racked up an impressive highlight reel on the other side of the ball, pulling off multiple home run robberies while grading as one of the top outfielders in MLB. Statcast credits him with 14 Outs Above Average in a little over 500 innings in center field.
Zack Gelof initially handled center field when Clarke went on the injured list in late April. They’ve moved him to third base of late, giving the center field responsibilities to Henry Bolte and Lawrence Butler. The latter hasn’t gotten going in his return from last fall’s patellar tendon procedure. Butler is hitting .174/.273/.265 over 150 plate appearances. Bolte is batting .269 with one double in his first seven MLB games.
The A’s enter play tonight with a 25-24 record that has them narrowly above the Rangers and Mariners in the AL West. It’s unlikely they’ll invest much prospect capital to upgrade center field on the trade market, though they’ll need at least one of Bolte or Butler to get on a roll offensively. They’ll move Clarke to the 60-day injured list the next they need to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Rockies Select Chad Stevens
The Rockies announced they’ve selected infielder Chad Stevens from Triple-A Albuquerque. Colorado placed outfielder Brenton Doyle on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 20, with a left oblique contusion. The Rox also recalled right-hander Blas Castaño and optioned lefty reliever Sammy Peralta to Triple-A. Colorado designated southpaw Carson Palmquist for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Stevens.
Stevens, who signed an offseason minor league contract, has been on a tear in the minors. He’s hitting .362/.435/.523 with three homers, 13 doubles and a triple over 40 games with Albuquerque. That’s carried by a .500 average on balls in play, as Stevens has struck out at an elevated 26.2% rate. The former 11th-rounder has a .300/.378/.473 line in just shy of 800 trips to the dish at the Triple-A level in his career.
The 27-year-old Stevens has played in five MLB games, all of which came with the Angels in early July. He went 2-14 with seven strikeouts. Los Angeles optioned him back to Triple-A after a week and designated him for assignment in September. He’ll provide an extra infielder behind Ezequiel Tovar, Willi Castro, Kyle Karros and Edouard Julien off Warren Schaeffer’s bench.
It’s a little odd that Colorado brought up an infielder to replace Doyle, as they’re operating with a rather thin outfield. Jake McCarthy is in the primary center field role, while Mickey Moniak occasionally moves into center. Tyler Freeman and designated hitter/corner bat Troy Johnston are the other outfield options on the active roster.
Stevens’ selection spells the end of Palmquist’s time on the roster. Colorado’s previous front office regime drafted the 6’3″ southpaw in the third round in 2022. The Miami product struggled over nine MLB appearances last year. The Rockies moved him to the bullpen late last summer. Palmquist has spent this season on optional assignment to Triple-A. He has started his past few times out but is still working 2-3 inning stints.
Palmquist has allowed 7.20 earned runs per nine over 25 frames with Albuquerque, walking 15% of opponents against a modest 19% strikeout rate. The Rockies will trade him or put him on waivers within the next five days. Palmquist has never been outrighted in his career, so he’d remain in the organization if he clears waivers.
Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the Stevens call-up before the team announcement.