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A’s Relocation Vote Reportedly Set For November

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Major League Baseball’s owners will vote on the A’s relocation application during owners meetings scheduled for November, reports Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Neither the team nor MLB have announced the news.

The A’s relocation proposal has been in the committee stage. A three-person ownership contingent of Mark Attanasio (Brewers), John Middleton (Phillies) and John Sherman (Royals) has been reviewing the application. They’ll soon make recommendations to the league and an executive council, which will then relay its own findings to all 30 ownership groups.

November’s vote among the ownership groups is decisive. The A’s will need approval from 75% to finalize their relocation. It is generally seen as a fait accompli that they’ll be approved, likely by unanimous vote. If/when that happens, they’ll officially begin their move to Las Vegas.

Akers writes that construction of the A’s $1.5 billion retractable roof facility at the site of the current Tropicana hotel (which would be demolished and rebuilt at an adjacent site) is tentatively scheduled for early 2025. The plan is for the stadium to be ready by the start of the 2028 season.

It remains unclear where the A’s would play in the intervening years. Their lease at the Oakland Coliseum runs through the end of next season. They don’t have plans finalized for 2025-27. A’s brass has floated the possibility of a short-term lease extension at the Coliseum, though it’s not clear whether Oakland would have any interest in that arrangement. Other speculated possibilities to bridge the gap include playing at their Triple-A ballpark (also in Vegas) or sharing Oracle Park with the Giants.

Marlins Outright Daniel Castano

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The Marlins have sent left-hander Daniel Castano outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. He was unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment on Tuesday.

Castano has made two appearances for Miami on the year, allowing eight runs over three innings. The 28-year-old southpaw has pitched for the Fish in four straight seasons, topping out at 35 2/3 frames a year ago. He has a career 4.47 ERA over 24 appearances, 17 of which have been starts. While his 12.4% strikeout rate is well below-average, he has generally thrown strikes and kept the ball on the ground when given opportunities as a depth starter.

This is the third time this year in which the Fish have sent Castano through waivers. He accepted the previous stint and has started eight of 16 contests in a swing capacity with Jacksonville. Over 57 2/3 innings there, he owns a 4.06 ERA with average strikeout and walk marks (22.4% and 8.9%, respectively). The Baylor product has allowed 4.02 earned runs per nine through 170 career innings at the top minor league level.

As a player with multiple career outrights, Castano has the ability to elect free agency. It isn’t clear whether he’ll do so. He’d reach minor league free agency at the start of the offseason unless the Marlins add him back to the 40-man roster regardless, so he could choose to stick in Jacksonville as multi-inning depth for the season’s final couple weeks.

Previewing The 2023-24 Free Agent Class: Shortstop

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With the regular season winding down, a number of teams (and their fanbases) are already starting to turn their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking an early look at the players who’ll be available on the open market.

As we continue around the diamond, we’ll finish up the infield at its most demanding position. It’s an exceptionally thin group, a marked contrast to the star-studded classes of the last two offseasons. There have been eight nine-figure deals for shortstops since 2021 (not including the contract for Marcus Semien, who stayed at second base despite shortstop interest). Not only will no one in this year’s group approach that range, there aren’t many candidates for a multi-year contract of any sort.

Note: only players who have been on an MLB roster in 2023 are included. Ages listed are for the 2024 season.

Potential Everyday Options

Rosario has been a shortstop for the bulk of his career, but the Dodgers have played him more frequently at second base since adding him at the deadline. One of the youngest players in the entire free agent class, Rosario hits the market coming off a down year. He was a roughly league average hitter from 2021-22 but has slumped to a .259/.300/.374 line over 520 plate appearances. He’s hitting for more power in Los Angeles than he had with the Guardians — largely because the Dodgers have more selectively deployed him in favorable platoon situations — but has reached base at just a .278 clip with L.A.

The righty-swinging Rosario has performed well against left-handed pitching throughout his career. He’s a well below-average offensive player versus righties. Some teams may prefer to keep him in more of a short side platoon role, but the middle infield class is weak enough that he figures to land an everyday job somewhere.

That may be better suited at second base. Rosario has gotten serviceable grades from public defensive marks in a minute sample of 162 innings at the keystone. His much-longer track record at shortstop isn’t as rosy. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average have pegged him as a below-average defender throughout his nearly 7000 career innings at the position. The numbers are particularly poor this year, as he’s rated anywhere between 10 and 16 runs below par by those metrics. His raw error count is 10th-highest at the position.

It’s admittedly a stretch to consider Urshela a possible everyday player at shortstop. He’s soon to turn 32, has been a third baseman for the bulk of his career, and suffered a season-ending pelvis fracture in June. If he’s going to play regularly at any one spot next year, it’s likelier to be on the corner infield.

Urshela is one of the more well-rounded players among potential shortstop options, though. He has been an above-average hitter as recently as 2022, when he posted a .285/.338/.429 line for the Yankees. His power disappeared in his limited run with the Angels, but he hit .299 and got on base at a .329 clip in 62 games. He makes plenty of contact and typically hits for high enough averages to post solid on-base marks without drawing many walks. In a typical offseason, he probably wouldn’t be a viable shortstop target. Perhaps the scarcity of other options this winter makes that a more realistic possibility.

Utility Options

Hernández got a shot as the Red Sox’ starting shortstop to begin the season. He’d never really had consistent run at the position before. The Sox gambled on Hernández’s plus defensive marks at other key positions translating, but the experiment didn’t work out. He’s tied for fourth with 14 errors at shortstop, and the three players with higher totals have nearly or more than double the innings. Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average weren’t much kinder.

As a result, the Sox began to move Hernández back to his customary utility role — which has continued since a deadline trade to the Dodgers. He can still handle shortstop on occasion but seems better suited for second base or center field. He’s also amidst a second straight well below-average offensive season, hitting .236/.294/.353 over 469 plate appearances. Things have turned around since the trade. After posting a .222/.279/.320 line in Boston, he owns a .267/.329/.427 slash through 146 plate appearances in L.A. He’ll likely land another guaranteed deal but seems hard-pressed to match the $10MM salary he received from the Red Sox last September.

Kiner-Falefa has started just one game at shortstop for the Yankees this season, logging the rest of his at-bats over the three outfield positions and at the hot corner. He topped 1000 shortstop innings in both 2021 and ’22, though, drawing decent enough defensive grades that teams could consider moving him back there considering the shallowness of the class overall.

The righty-hitting Kiner-Falefa is a middling offensive player. He puts the ball in play without much impact and runs below-average walk totals. He’s a contact-hitting utility option who owns a .253/.312/.333 mark since landing in New York alongside Josh Donaldson shortly after the lockout.

Wendle has bounced around the infield throughout his career, seeing the bulk of his time between second and third base. The Marlins pushed him up the defensive spectrum as part of their effort to improve the offense out of the infield. Wendle has logged a career-high 708 1/3 innings at the position, a rare gambit for a player in his age-33 season. Defensive metrics have rated him as a fine option, ranging from slightly below-par (-2 runs per Statcast) to a bit above average (+5 DRS).

While he has acquitted himself well enough with the glove, Wendle hasn’t hit at all. He owns a .222/.257/.323 line with just two homers over 299 trips to the plate. He’s hitting just .243/.279/.343 in 204 games since being dealt from the Rays to the Marlins over the 2021-22 offseason.

Rebound Fliers

It’s increasingly hard to envision Mondesi playing at all this season. He has encountered repeated setbacks since tearing the ACL in his left knee while playing for the Royals in April 2022. The former top prospect has shown elite speed and promising switch-hitting power potential at times, but injuries have kept him from topping 500+ MLB plate appearances in a season. He has only surpassed the 300-PA mark once. Even when healthy, Mondesi’s tantalizing physical tools have been undercut by an overaggressive approach that has led to a meager .280 career on-base percentage.

DeJong had started the season reasonably well for the Cardinals, at least showing some power that had disappeared during his 2020-22 struggles. As the year has gone on, his production has plummeted. DeJong owned a .233/.297/.412 line at the deadline, when he was flipped from St. Louis to Toronto. He’s hitting .133/.132/.189 with 34 strikeouts and no walks in 91 plate appearances since then. He was released by the Jays within a few weeks and hasn’t fared better since catching on with the Giants. DeJong is still a good defender, but he owns a .200/.273/.351 slash in nearly 1200 plate appearances over the last four years.

Glove-First Veteran Depth

Ahmed was recently released by the Diamondbacks after a 10-year run in the desert. One of the sport’s best defenders at his peak, he secured two Gold Gloves and tallied double-digit home run totals in 2018-19. Ahmed has never been a good hitter, but he was sufficiently productive at the dish to serve as a fine bottom-of-the-lineup regular when paired with his elite glove. The offense has collapsed over the past three seasons, though, as he’s hitting .219/.272/.336 since the start of 2021. He lost most of last year to a shoulder injury that required surgery and posted a .212/.257/.303 slash before being let go this summer. Ahmed can still defend at a high level, but he’ll probably have to move into a utility role at this point of his career.

Andrus has gotten into 101 games for the White Sox this season. He’s hitting .254/.312/.353 with five longballs across 363 plate appearances. That’s more in line with the numbers he posted from 2018-21, making last year’s 17-homer showing look like a blip. Andrus is still a good baserunner and can play either middle infield spot, but he’s better suited for a utility role than regular playing time at this stage of his career.

Crawford is struggling through the worst season of his 13-year MLB career. The three-time All-Star owns a .199/.272/.316 slash with six homers over 299 trips to the plate. He is striking out at a personal-high 25.4% clip and has gone on the injured list three times — once each for a right calf, left knee and left arm issue. Public metrics are divided on how effective the four-time Gold Glove winner remains on the other side of the ball. Statcast still gives him a slightly positive grade, while Defensive Runs Saved pegs him as one of the worst shortstops in the league this year. Crawford had an unexpected resurgence two years ago to secure a fourth-place finish in NL MVP balloting at age 34. He hasn’t maintained that pace, hitting .218/.294/.333 going back to the start of 2022.

Minor League Depth

Adrianza has been out since May with elbow and shoulder injuries. The switch-hitting utility infielder has gotten into only five games for the Braves this year. Adrianza is a glove-only depth option who has appeared in parts of 11 big league campaigns.

Camargo played in eight games for the Giants, starting four at shortstop. He’s better suited for third or second base. A .219/.272/.344 hitter since the start of 2019, he has bounced around Triple-A for the bulk of 2023. Camargo hit .250/.335/.429 in the upper minors between three teams’ affiliates.

Owings got into 11 games for the Pirates, including seven starts at shortstop. It’s his 11th straight season logging some amount of MLB action. He has spent the majority of the year in Triple-A, putting up a .235/.341/.442 line with 14 homers in 80 contests.

Player Options

We don’t need to spend much time on this one. Báez has hit .229/.271/.356 in a little under 1100 plate appearances as a Tiger. He’s not opting out the final four years and $98MM remaining on his six-year free agent contract.

Club Options

This will be one of the more interesting option decisions of the winter. The White Sox can keep Anderson around for $14MM or buy him out at $1MM, leaving them with a $13MM call. Six months ago, that seemed a rubber stamp. While Anderson was coming off an injury-plagued second half, he’d hit .301 and secured his second straight All-Star selection a season ago.

Yet in a season full of underwhelming performances for the White Sox, the extent of Anderson’s drop-off is still surprising. The former batting champ owns a .240/.284/.294 line and has managed just one home run in 475 plate appearances. It’s well off the .288/.316/.442 career mark he carried into the year. Anderson just turned 30 in June, so it’s hard to see this as age-related decline. Yet he’s hitting ground-balls at an enormous 62.5% rate and striking out at a 23.4% clip that’s his highest since 2018. Paired with defensive marks ranging anywhere from mediocre (-1 runs per Statcast) to disastrous (-16 DRS), it has been a sub-replacement level showing.

New GM Chris Getz now has a surprisingly tough call to make. If the Sox part with Anderson, he’d probably jump to the top of this class. Still, a $13MM decision is a not insignificant sum to wager on a rebound from an unexpectedly poor season.

Previous installments: catcher, first base, second base, third base

Phillies Weighing Bullpen Role For Michael Lorenzen

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The Phillies could deploy Michael Lorenzen out of the bullpen down the stretch, writes Matt Gelb of the Athletic. Manager Rob Thomson said Tuesday that the Phils had yet to make a final decision but suggested they were likely to move back to a five-man rotation after today’s off day.

Philadelphia’s front four is locked in. They’ll go with Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, Taijuan Walker and Zack Wheeler over their next few appearances. If they go back to a five-man staff, they’ll need to decide between Cristopher Sánchez or Lorenzen for next Tuesday’s start in Atlanta.

Sánchez has been the more effective for the Phils. The 26-year-old southpaw owns a 3.40 ERA over 87 1/3 innings on the season. After striking out 10 Braves hitters in 7 1/3 frames last night, he has a quality 23.6% strikeout percentage to go with a huge 56.4% grounder rate. He has demonstrated excellent control, cutting his walk rate below the 4% mark.

Lorenzen hasn’t found the same level of success overall in Philadelphia. He started his tenure brilliantly, rattling off eight innings of two-run ball during his team debut in Miami and no-hitting the Nationals at home in his second start. Things have spiraled in the few weeks since that historic outing. Lorenzen has allowed four-plus runs in each of his last five appearances, topping out at six innings. Since the no-hitter, he has a 7.96 ERA with a minuscule 11% strikeout rate.

The 31-year-old’s overall production is still solid. Including his strong first half with the Tigers, he owned a 3.23 ERA across 122 2/3 innings a month ago. Even after the rough few weeks, he’s allowing 4.06 earned runs per nine altogether. Yet he’s also in uncharted territory from a workload perspective, with his 148 2/3 frames easily topping his previous career high of 113 1/3 innings as a rookie back in 2015.

Lorenzen had worked almost exclusively out of relief for the Reds from his second season onward. Upon reaching free agency in the 2021-22 offseason, he prioritized a rotation spot and signed a one-year pact with the Angels. He logged 97 2/3 innings a season ago, with injuries capping him at 18 starts. That was still a heavier load than he’d shouldered during his time in the bullpen but fell shy of a typical starter’s capacity.

The righty hasn’t shown obvious signs of physical decline. His velocity this month is in line with his early-season level. The results have fallen off sharply, though, perhaps reflecting a more subtle dip in Lorenzen’s execution.

Gelb suggests the Phils have given some thought to deploying Sánchez and Lorenzen as a tandem duo in the fifth starter’s spot. That’d allow them to keep an eye on the workload for each, though it’s arguable they’d be better served acting more definitively. Both pitchers have handled themselves well when turning a lineup over, so there’s not a pressing need to mitigate either’s ’times through the order’ splits. They each have experience working as relievers, with Lorenzen particularly familiar with a high-leverage short relief role from his time in Cincinnati.

The Phils occupy the top Wild Card spot in the National League and are in strong position to secure a playoff spot. Both Sánchez and Lorenzen would likely play relief roles in October, at least in the opening three-game Wild Card series. They’ll conclude the regular season with 16 games in 17 days, starting tomorrow.

Lorenzen is headed back to free agency in the offseason. Even if he’s kicked to the bullpen for the last couple weeks, he’s in position for a much stronger pact than the $8.5MM guarantee he received from Detroit a year ago. He’s going into his age-32 campaign and could find three- or four-year offers this time around.

Rich Hill Remains On Waivers

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Sept. 14: Bradford has issued a correction, tweeting that Hill’s waiver period does not expire until today. Hill has not yet formally gone unclaimed.

Sept. 13: Padres southpaw Rich Hill went unclaimed on waivers, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI (Twitter link). San Diego doesn’t have to outright him to a minor league affiliate. In all likelihood, he’ll remain on the Friars’ roster for the final couple weeks of the season.

The Padres put the veteran southpaw on waivers earlier this week. With their playoff hopes dashed, they tried to offload the roughly $817K remaining on his $8MM contract. No other team bit, leaving San Diego on the hook for that sum.

It’s not an especially surprising development. Players acquired after August 31 are ineligible to participate in the postseason. Hill is an impending free agent, so he’d only be available to another team for the final two and a half weeks of the regular season. Even with clubs permitted to carry 14 pitchers on the roster in September, there wasn’t enough upside to absorb Hill’s above-minimum salary for just a few weeks.

The 43-year-old also simply hasn’t pitched well of late. He has been tagged for a 9.25 ERA over 24 1/3 innings since the deadline trade that sent him from the Pirates to San Diego. That includes two innings of two-run ball last night against the Dodgers. (Teams are permitted to continue using a player who is on waivers pending resolution of the claim.) He has allowed multiple runs in all but one of his eight outings as a Padre and has only gone beyond four innings once.

While there’s no sugarcoating his performance over the past six weeks, Hill was a reasonably effective back-end option for Pittsburgh. He worked to a 4.76 ERA through 22 starts for the Bucs, striking out 19.6% of batters faced against an 8.9% walk rate. Those are below-average marks but serviceable for a fifth/sixth starter, enough to pique San Diego’s interest at the deadline.

Overall, Hill sports a 5.53 ERA across 143 1/3 innings in what is his 19th year logging MLB action. He can work in a multi-inning relief capacity or make another start or two as San Diego plays out the string. He’ll have to take a cut relative to this year’s salary if he wants to continue playing, but he’d surely at least find minor league interest if he’s interested in prolonging his career.

White Sox’s Jimmy Lambert To Undergo Minor Ankle Surgery

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White Sox reliever Jimmy Lambert will undergo surgery to remove a bone spur from his right ankle, reports Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. It’ll end his 2023 campaign but isn’t expected to linger too deep into the offseason.

Lambert has pitched in each of the last four big league seasons. He had his best showing in 2022, logging a career-high 47 innings with a 3.26 ERA. He didn’t recapture that success this year, allowing 5.26 earned runs per nine over 37 2/3 frames. He struck out a decent 23.8% of batters faced but walked opponents at an alarming 11.6% clip.

It seems likely Lambert has pitched through some measure of ankle discomfort for the bulk of the season. This is his second injured list stint of the year. He first landed on the shelf with inflammation in late May, missing around three weeks of action.

Lambert entered this season with one year and 134 days of major league service. He surpassed the two-year threshold but seems likely to fall a little shy of Super Two arbitration qualification thanks to a pair of optional stints that accounted for roughly six weeks in Triple-A this summer. He’ll be out of options next season, meaning the Sox would have to keep him in the MLB bullpen or take him off the 40-man roster entirely.

Ryan Mountcastle Being Evaluated For Shoulder Issue, Heston Kjerstad Promotion Possible

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Ryan Mountcastle departed this evening’s loss to the Cardinals. He was injured during his first inning at-bat and removed from the game when his turn in the order came around two innings later. The O’s announced that he’d experienced left shoulder discomfort.

While Mountcastle is day-to-day at the moment, the O’s could turn to a top prospect to replace him. Danielle Allentuck and Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner report that Heston Kjerstad is en route to Baltimore. It isn’t yet clear if a promotion is contingent on a potential Mountcastle IL stint.

Speaking with the team’s beat postgame, Baltimore’s first baseman expressed concern about the injury. Mountcastle said he felt his shoulder pop on a swing (via Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun and Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball). After leaving the game, he tested the injury by attempting to swing in the batting cage but continued to feel soreness. He’ll go for more imaging tomorrow.

The team will surely provide more information when it becomes available, but it’s a suboptimal time for the O’s to potentially lose one of their hottest hitters. Tonight’s loss cut their lead in the AL East to two games over Tampa Bay. The Rays are headed to Baltimore for a four-game set that could have significant ramifications for the division. It’s quite arguably the biggest regular season series of the year for both clubs, since the eventual division champion will get a first-round bye and very likely have home field advantage in the postseason until the World Series.

Mountcastle has been one of the better hitters in the majors over the past two months. He’d opened the year with one of the worst offensive stretches of his career, hitting .227/.262/.421 over his first 60 contests. Baltimore placed him on the injured list with vertigo symptoms in mid-June, keeping him out of action for around a month. Since returning on July 9, Mountcastle has raked at a .327/.406/.497 clip over 197 plate appearances.

The silver lining is that Baltimore has a number of high-upside offensive players who could take on larger roles if necessary. Ryan O’Hearn has taken a significant step forward after struggling with the Royals. He’s hitting .301/.332/.500 while dividing his time between first base, the corner outfield and designated hitter. O’Hearn is already in the lineup on most days but could take on a more regular role at first base.

That’d leave some rotational at-bats for the 24-year-old Kjerstad should the O’s decide to promote him. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic wrote this morning that the Arkansas product had put himself on the radar for a possible MLB debut but that the O’s were concerned they might not have enough at-bats to spread around. Mountcastle’s injury might open up that opportunity just a few hours later.

The O’s tabbed Kjerstad with the second overall pick in the 2020 draft. It was a bit of a surprise, as most public pre-draft rankings felt he would land in the back half of the top 10. Kjerstad unfortunately didn’t have an opportunity to reward the O’s faith for a while. He contracted myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) in 2020 and was sidelined for the entire subsequent season.

It wasn’t until June 2022 — nearly two full years after his draft date — that Kjerstad was able to make his professional debut. He understandably struggled somewhat in High-A late last summer, but he has flashed the potential impact offensive tools the organization had envisioned this year.

Kjerstad has split the season between the top two minor league levels, mashing at a .303/.376/.529 clip over 121 contests. He has connected on 21 homers, 29 doubles and eight triples while striking out at a lower than average 18.5% clip. Baseball America slots him 44th on their most recent Top 100 prospects update.

Baltimore’s 40-man roster is capacity. If they decide to select Kjerstad’s contract (presumably in tandem with a 10-day IL stint for Mountcastle), they’d need to make an additional 40-man move.

Dylan Carlson To Undergo Ankle Surgery

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Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson will undergo surgery on his injured left ankle, skipper Oli Marmol told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). The procedure comes with a recovery time between two and three months. If all goes as anticipated, he should be ready for Spring Training.

It’s an expected development. Carlson has been considering a surgical procedure at least dating back to the middle of August, when he landed on the injured list for the second time. He initially hurt his ankle in May, suffering a sprain that took him out of action for a month. He has also been dealing with bone spurs, Goold notes. Both issues will be addressed when he goes under the knife.

Carlson had a middling age-24 season. He tallied 255 plate appearances, hitting .219/.318/.333 with only five home runs. It was his worst offensive output since an abbreviated rookie showing back in 2020. While he has never broken through as the impact hitter some expected when he was a top prospect, Carlson posted a slightly above-average .253/.331/.412 slash in over 1100 trips to the dish from 2021-22.

He paired those decent offensive numbers with strong ratings for his glove in center field. Just over a year ago, Carlson still seemed to be a franchise building block. He was jumped by Lars Nootbaar late last summer, while the Cards turned to Jordan Walker and Tyler O’Neill as their primary corner outfield tandem. That pushed Carlson into fourth outfield duty even when healthy.

As a result, opposing teams inquired about his availability at the trade deadline. No deal came together and Carlson ended up going back on the IL a couple weeks thereafter. The ankle surgery complicates his status headed into the winter, but he’ll surely be on the radar of clubs seeking outfield help. Carlson is headed into his first year of arbitration eligibility. He’ll go through that process three times and won’t qualify for free agency until after the 2026 campaign.

Even if he just recaptures his 2021-22 form, he’d profile as a decent everyday center fielder. There are presumably some clubs that feel he can yet reach a higher ceiling in his mid-20s based on his prospect potential. While Carlson’s trade appeal is probably at its lowest point since he reached the major leagues, the St. Louis front office will still receive a number of calls.

The Cardinals mostly dealt away short-term players at the most recent deadline. They didn’t make any notable subtractions from their collection of controllable position players. Carlson again figures to be one of their likeliest trade candidates as they look for ways to add stability to the rotation in hopes of putting this disappointing season behind them.

Nationals Promote Jackson Rutledge

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September 13: The Nats have now made it official, recalling Rutledge with righty Mason Thompson optioned in a corresponding move.

September 12: The Nationals are recalling pitching prospect Jackson Rutledge to make his major league debut tomorrow against the Pirates, skipper Dave Martinez told reporters (including Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com). Grant Paulsen of 106.7 FM The Fan first reported Rutledge was en route to Pittsburgh this afternoon.

Rutledge, 24, was Washington’s first-round draftee back in 2019. A Texas junior college product, the 6’8″ righty has appeared among the Nats’ top 10 prospects at Baseball America entering each of the last four seasons. He’d been nagged by injury concerns early in his professional career but he has shown a promising raw arsenal.

As one might expect given his size, Rutledge has a mid-90s fastball and a mid-80s slider which BA suggests could be a plus offering. The outlet placed him seventh among Washington minor leaguers on their midseason update, writing that he has a chance to stick at the back of a major league rotation.

Rutledge has made 23 minor league starts this season, splitting the year almost evenly between the top two levels. He worked to a 3.16 ERA over 12 outings for Double-A Harrisburg before posting a 4.44 mark in 11 starts at Triple-A Rochester. Overall, he has allowed 3.71 earned runs per nine through 119 innings. His 21.3% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk percentage are both middling, but the results were solid enough for the Nats to give him an initial look.

Washington added Rutledge to the 40-man roster last winter to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. They’ll need only to make an active roster transaction to accommodate his promotion tomorrow. He could take three or four starts down the stretch as he tries to put himself on the radar for a spot in next year’s starting staff.

Royals’ Austin Cox, Freddy Fermin Require Surgeries

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Royals left-hander Austin Cox has been diagnosed with a full ACL tear and partial MCL injury in his left knee, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. While he’s going for a second opinion, the expectation is that he’ll require surgery.

Cox was injured last week in Toronto. Scrambling to cover first base on a grounder that had deflected to the right side of the infield, he twisted his knee when he lunged to try to find the base. The Royals immediately placed him on the 60-day injured list. While the club initially termed the injury as a knee sprain, the ACL tear is a more unfortunate diagnosis.

It’ll surely keep him out well into next season, potentially costing him more than half the year. The Royals could keep Cox on the 60-day IL during the season, but they’d have to carry him on the 40-man roster throughout the winter. It doesn’t seem out of the question they’ll non-tender the former fifth-round draftee to clear an offseason roster spot.

A Mercer product, Cox logged 35 2/3 big league innings as a rookie. He posted a 4.54 ERA, striking out a respectable 22.1% of batters faced but walking opponents at a lofty 11.4% clip. He had similar strikeout and walk marks in 47 1/3 innings at Triple-A Omaha, where he worked to a 3.61 ERA.

In other Royals news, backup catcher Freddy Fermin underwent surgery to address a fractured right middle finger, according to Rogers. He’s done for the season but is expected to be ready for Spring Training. Fermin solidified his spot on the roster with a solid showing in a part-time role. The 28-year-old backstop hit .281/.321/.461 across 235 plate appearances. He should go into 2024 with a hold on the #2 catching job behind Salvador Perez as a result.

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