Luis Campusano Undergoes Thumb Surgery, Expected To Miss Eight Weeks
Padres catcher Luis Campusano underwent surgery on his ailing left thumb, manager Bob Melvin told the team’s beat (relayed by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune). He’s expected to be sidelined around two months.
Campusano has already been on the 10-day injured list for nearly a month. He landed on the shelf on April 17 with a sprain that apparently hasn’t healed as the club had initially hoped. IL stints can be backdated to the start of a player’s absence, so it now seems a formality Campusano will be transferred to the 60-day IL once the Friars find a need for a 40-man roster spot.
The 24-year-old was somewhat recently one of the sport’s top prospects. He’s performed well in the minor leagues but has yet to get an extended opportunity at the highest level. Campusano has seen some action for the Padres in each of the last four years but picked up a total of 114 plate appearances over 35 games. He carries just a .198/.237/.302 line with three homers in that scattershot playing time.
This year’s injury came at a particularly inopportune time. Starting catcher Austin Nola had been off to a rough start and San Diego had expressed an intent to give the young backstop more playing time. Before that could really come to fruition, he hurt his thumb while catching a bullpen session. Nola has continued to struggle and is now sitting on a .152/.256/.215 slash in 27 games. San Diego has turned to rookie Brett Sullivan as Nola’s backup, but he’s hitting only .208/.240/.417 through his first 25 big league plate appearances.
The door seemed open for Campusano, who owns a .296/.364/.511 mark over two seasons in Triple-A. Instead, he’ll now be out of action until around the All-Star Break in the best case scenario. He won’t have much time to seize the starting job before the August 1 trade deadline. If Nola and Sullivan are still struggling offensively, catcher looks like an obvious area of concern for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and his front office.
Upgrading behind the plate midseason can be challenging — clubs tend to be hesitant about tasking deadline pickups with too much work in acclimating to a new pitching staff — but San Diego may have to look into options at the trade deadline. Yasmani Grandal (White Sox), Yan Gomes (Cubs) and Eric Haase (Tigers) are among the veteran backstops who are performing well on clubs that could fall out of contention by July.
Astros Shut Down Michael Brantley Due To Shoulder Inflammation
Astros outfielder Michael Brantley was diagnosed with inflammation in his surgically repaired right shoulder, skipper Dusty Baker told reporters this evening (relayed by Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle). The veteran hitter will be shut down for an indeterminate period of time.
It’s an obvious setback that’ll keep him from making his season debut as expected. The Astros had hinted last weekend that Brantley could be back in the lineup early in the week. That didn’t come to fruition, and while the Astros were typically reticent with any substantive injury updates, they announced that Brantley had left the team for further evaluation a couple days ago. That examination apparently revealed the new concern.
Brantley hasn’t appeared in a major league game in over ten months. His last appearance came on June 26, 2022. Brantley landed on the injured list with a shoulder problem and underwent season-ending surgery to repair a labrum tear in August. He hit free agency but returned for a fifth season in Houston on a one-year, $12MM guarantee over the winter. The contract contains up to $4MM in additional plate appearance incentives, beginning at 400 trips to the dish.
Unfortunately, the five-time All-Star hasn’t been able to get back to the diamond yet. He opened this season on the IL as he continued working back from the shoulder procedure. Houston sent him on a rehab stint with Triple-A Sugar Land on April 23. Brantley played in nine games and tallied 37 plate appearances for the Space Cowboys. That appeared to set him up for a major league return until the shoulder inflammation that arose on the cusp of his reinstatement.
Houston had planned for Brantley and Yordan Alvarez to split their reps between left field and designated hitter. Alvarez has divided his time almost evenly between the two positions, appearing 16 times at DH and on 15 occasions in left. Corey Julks and David Hensley have picked up the most extra playing time in Brantley’s absence. Neither rookie hitter has performed well. Julks carries a .260/.265/.365 batting line, while Hensley is hitting .145/.244/.203.
The Astros have also had to weather an injury to center fielder Chas McCormick, pushing Jake Meyers into the lineup a bit more than anticipated. McCormick was activated after a month-long IL stint on Monday but has only played once since then as he’s experienced renewed back discomfort.
Drew Rasmussen Shut Down For Two Months With Flexor Strain
4:53pm: Rasmussen will be shut down from throwing entirely for two months, Topkin reports (on Twitter). If all goes as planned, he could restart a throwing program in the middle of July. That’d be a multi-week process involving bullpen sessions, batting practice and likely multiple minor league rehab starts. It’d be a surprise if he’s back on an MLB mound before August, but it at least appears the club is hopeful he’ll be able to return for the stretch run.
3:04 pm: The Rays have been dealt another huge blow to their rotation. As first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay placed starter Drew Rasmussen on the 60-day injured list after the righty was diagnosed with a flexor strain in his forearm. He’ll be out until at least the All-Star Break.
It’s an out-of-the-blue development. Rasmussen pitched just yesterday and didn’t show any signs of being hampered. He twirled seven shutout innings in a win over the Yankees, striking out seven while allowing just two baserunners. The velocity on each of his fastball, slider and curveball was right in line with his previous work this season.
Surprising as it is, Rasmussen apparently came down with a severe forearm issue from that appearance. Topkin tweets that he’s hopeful of avoiding surgery but he’s obviously in line for a notable absence in any event. The Rays wasted no time in putting him on the 60-day IL, indicating they didn’t feel there was any chance of him being back on an MLB mound before July.
It’s horrible news for the 27-year-old hurler. Rasmussen has a checkered injury history. He underwent Tommy John surgery midway through his sophomore year at Oregon State in 2016. The Rays drafted him in the first round the following year, but issues with his post-draft physical led the team to decline to sign him. Rasmussen subsequently underwent a second Tommy John surgery and didn’t pitch as a senior, causing him to fall to the sixth round of the 2018 draft.
Selected by Milwaukee, Rasmussen debuted in the majors as a reliever with the Brew Crew in 2020. The Rays acquired him alongside J.P. Feyereisen for Willy Adames and Trevor Richards in May 2021. Tampa Bay began to stretch him back out to starting at the end of that season and has seen him blossom into an excellent starting pitcher over the past couple years.
Rasmussen started 28 games and tallied 146 innings last season. He worked to a 2.84 ERA with a decent 21.4% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.3% walk percentage. He’d been off to an even better start this year. Last night’s performance brought him to 44 2/3 frames of 2.62 ERA ball over eight outings. He punched out 26.6% of batters faced and upped his ground-ball rate to a strong 52.6% clip.
His stellar early-season work was among the reasons the Rays have sprinted to a 30-9 start. They’re remarkably five games up in a division in which every team is at least three games above .500. It has been an incredible first few weeks for Tampa Bay, but they’re navigating a mounting number of rotation injuries. They were always going to be without Shane Baz for the bulk of the season after last year’s Tommy John procedure. Tyler Glasnow has been out all year after a Spring Training oblique strain. He’s on a minor league rehab assignment and should be back within the next couple weeks, but left-hander Jeffrey Springs is out for the season after undergoing a Tommy John procedure of his own.
Rasmussen’s injury leaves Shane McClanahan as the last starter who has been a constant all year. Offseason signee Zach Eflin missed some time with low back tightness but returned a couple weeks ago. He’s been excellent through six starts. Tampa Bay has gotten their first look at top pitching prospect Taj Bradley, who seems likely to return from Triple-A Durham to eventually take Rasmussen’s rotation spot. Josh Fleming and Calvin Faucher have worked in a swing capacity and could take some starts, as could one-time starter Yonny Chirinos. Cooper Criswell and Luis Patiño are on the 40-man roster and working out of the rotation in Durham.
Depending on Rasmussen’s long-term prognosis, it’s possible the Rays eventually look outside the organization for rotation depth. They’re going to be left to rely mostly on internal options until the trade deadline draws nearer, though.
Rasmussen will be paid around the MLB minimum rate and collect big league service while on the injured list. He’s slated to be eligible for arbitration for the first time at the end of this season and is controllable through 2026. He and the organization will obviously hope he’ll be able to avoid another serious arm procedure and return to the mound without too extended of an absence.
Rays Select Chris Muller
The Rays announced they’ve selected reliever Chris Muller onto the major league roster. He’ll take the active and 40-man spots of Drew Rasmussen, who was placed on the 60-day injured list with a flexor strain.
Muller, 27, entered the professional ranks six years ago. Tampa Bay selected him in the 17th round of the 2017 draft out of UT San Antonio. The Dallas native has worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen for his entire career. He’s spent some time on the injured list but showed an impressive enough arsenal that Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs named him the #46 prospect in a deep Tampa Bay system over the winter. Longenhagen praised his mid-90s fastball and a slider and split that both can miss bats but expressed concerns about his strike-throwing.
The 6’5″ hurler went unselected in last year’s Rule 5 draft. He was assigned to Triple-A Durham to open 2023 and has made 14 appearances there. Over 17 innings, he’s allowed nine runs (seven earned) with 19 strikeouts and ten walks. Muller worked 58 2/3 frames of 4.91 ERA ball in Triple-A last season; he’s up to a 4.64 ERA with an intriguing 27.6% strikeout rate but elevated 12.9% walk percentage at the top minor league level.
Muller adds an arm with some swing-and-miss capability to Kevin Cash’s bullpen. He’ll be in his first of three minor league option years, so the Rays can freely bounce him between Tampa and Durham for the extended future if he hangs onto his 40-man roster spot.
Cubs Place Nico Hoerner On Injured List
The Cubs announced they’ve placed second baseman Nico Hoerner on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 9, due to a left hamstring strain. Utility player Miles Mastrobuoni was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his spot on the active roster. Chicago also reinstated reliever Brandon Hughes from the IL and optioned swingman Javier Assad to Iowa.
Hoerner has gotten off to a nice start to the year. After signing a three-year extension in Spring Training, the 25-year-old infielder has put together a .303/.348/.395 line over 164 plate appearances. He’s already stolen 12 bases in 14 attempts and has kept his strikeout rate to a customarily excellent 10.4% clip. The Stanford product has gotten typically strong reviews from public metrics for his defense at second base.
The Cubs have deployed Hoerner at the top of the lineup. Since he came up with the hamstring issue a few days ago, Nick Madrigal and Christopher Morel have gotten some looks at second base and in the leadoff spot. That’ll continue for at least the next week, with Mastrobuoni also again in the picture after hitting .291/.494/.455 over 18 games in Iowa.
Hughes, 27, figures to return to a high-leverage role out of the bullpen. The southpaw was excellent as a rookie last year, tossing 57 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball with a strong 28.5% strikeout rate. He’d seen some time in the ninth inning by year’s end and picked up eight saves. He’s twice gone on the IL because of left knee inflammation thus far in 2023, though, limiting him to five MLB appearances.
Pirates Outright Chase De Jong
Pirates reliever Chase De Jong has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He’s gone unclaimed on waivers multiple times in his career, giving him the right to elect minor league free agency.
De Jong has spent parts of three seasons with Pittsburgh. He started nine games with middling results in 2021 but found more success upon moving to the bullpen last year. De Jong threw 71 2/3 innings over 42 appearances for the Bucs, compiling a 2.64 ERA. It was mostly low-leverage work and De Jong’s peripherals weren’t aligned with his strong run prevention.
The right-hander struck out a below-average 20.1% of batters faced while walking 10.2% of opponents. De Jong’s run prevention and ability to work multiple innings nevertheless secured his 40-man roster spot throughout the winter. The Bucs kept the out-of-options De Jong in their season-opening bullpen, but he lost his roster spot with a slow start. Through 9 1/3 frames, he’s allowed 11 runs on 13 hits and five walks. De Jong’s swinging strike rate fell from a serviceable 10.5% rate to a modest 5.2% clip.
De Jong will now decide whether to report to Indianapolis or scour the market for other opportunities. He’d likely be limited to minor league offers as a free agent but could look elsewhere for clearer paths back to the MLB roster and/or a potential opt-out date in a non-roster contract. De Jong has pitched parts of seven seasons in Triple-A, working to a 5.59 ERA with a 19.3% strikeout percentage over 211 innings.
Orioles’ Terrin Vavra Taking Catching Drills To Expand Versatility
The Orioles recalled utility player Terrin Vavra from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the week. Vavra has MLB experience at second base and in both corner outfield spots, so it was clear he’d add some defensive flexibility to the Baltimore bench, but he’s expanding his versatility in an interesting way.
As Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes, the Orioles have experimented with Vavra as a possible emergency catcher. He appeared behind the plate twice with Norolk during his most recent optional assignment, logging four combined innings. Vavra didn’t start any games — the Tides deployed him only in mop-up work — but it’s possible he eventually logs time behind the dish a little more frequently.
Kubatko notes the O’s have considered giving Vavra some catching time since last year. He did some work there in Spring Training drills and the Minnesota product tells Kubatko he’d caught some offseason bullpen sessions from Dodger reliever J.P. Feyereisen (who lives near Vavra over the winter). The four innings with the Tides marked his first game action behind the dish since high school, however.
The O’s aren’t going to throw Vavra into an important catching role out of the gate. Baltimore has one of the sport’s top backstops in Adley Rutschman, while veteran James McCann is on hand as the backup. The O’s don’t have any other catchers on the 40-man roster, though Luis Torrens is presently in DFA limbo. Manager Brandon Hyde confirmed it’d take an emergency situation, presumably injury substitutions from the top two backstops, for Vavra to log any MLB time there in the short term. The 25-year-old is clearly amenable to working on the position in an effort to increase his value off the bench over the longer haul.
A left-handed hitter, Vavra has tallied 31 MLB plate appearances this year. He’s up to 134 trips to the dish in his career, posting a .252/.333/.313 batting line with one home run. The former third round draftee has walked in a quality 11.2% of his plate appearances against a decent 20.1% strikeout rate.
Angels, Meibrys Viloria Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with catcher Meibrys Viloria, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake. It’s their second non-roster deal of the day, as they also added reliever Reyes Moronta this morning.
It’s a sensible depth addition for Los Angeles. The Halos have been dealt a serious of injuries to their catching core. Rookie Logan O’Hoppe had his blistering start cut short by a labrum tear in his shoulder last month. He’ll miss most or all of the season. Expected backup Max Stassi opened the season on the injured list with a hip strain. Sam Blum of the Athletic wrote yesterday that Stassi has been attending to a family emergency and is without a timetable for his return.
That left the Angels counting on Matt Thaiss as their starter. They selected veteran backstop Chad Wallach from Triple-A but quickly lost him to concussion-like symptoms. The Halos then tabbed Chris Okey — a career .208/.283/.333 Triple-A hitter — as Thaiss’ backup. It’s understandable they’d look to add a player with upper level experience to the organization.
Viloria, 26, has appeared in parts of five major league seasons between the Royals, Rangers and Guardians. He’s functioned in a depth capacity for the majority of that time, tallying 280 cumulative plate appearances. He’s just a .198/.270/.279 hitter against big league pitching, but he’s been quite a bit better in Triple-A. The lefty-swinging backstop owns a .257/.395/.412 line over 430 trips at the top minor league level.
The Guardians carried Viloria on the MLB roster as their third catcher to start the season. He barely played, hitting just four times in roughly a month before being designated for assignment. Upon clearing waivers last week, he elected minor league free agency and quickly finds a new opportunity. The Halos’ injuries figure to give him a good shot at returning to the MLB roster. Viloria is out of minor league options, so if he’s promoted at any point, the Angels will have to keep him in the majors or DFA him themselves.
According to the transaction log, the Angels also optioned veteran first baseman Jake Lamb to Salt Lake. As a player with over five years of major league service, Lamb would ordinarily have the right to decline any minor league assignment in favor of free agency. However, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports (on Twitter) that Lamb had agreed to a 45-day window from the start of season in which the Halos could send him down without exposing him to waivers.
That would have closed this weekend, so the Angels decide to send him down. The lefty-hitting Lamb is hitting only .216/.259/.353 through 54 plate appearances. He’ll remain on the 40-man roster but moves into a depth capacity as the Angels near the return of Jared Walsh. The 2021 All-Star will begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend as he works back from insomnia that delayed his start to the season.
Giants Place Austin Slater On Injured List
The Giants announced this evening they’ve placed outfielder Austin Slater on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain. Bryce Johnson was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take his spot on the active roster.
It’s a rough break for Slater, who pulled up while running during yesterday’s loss to the Nationals. Slater had also lost the first three weeks of the season to a left hamstring strain. It’s been a tough opening to the year for the 30-year-old, who has been limited to just six starts thus far. He’d played well in that limited look, hitting .368/.455/.421 with two stolen bases through 22 trips to the plate.
The right-handed hitting Slater has been a productive role player for San Francisco for a few seasons. He’s now appeared in parts of seven campaigns and set his career high in playing time last year. Slater tallied 325 plate appearances of .264/.366/.408 hitting while starting a little less than half the club’s games in 2022. He’s taken particular advantage of favorable platoon matchups. For his career, Slater is a .291/.381/.473 hitter against left-handed pitching.
Slater’s absences have contributed to the Giants’ struggles against southpaws. San Francisco ranks just 26th in on-base percentage (.294) and 27th in slugging (.362) against left-handed pitching. Johnson adds a switch-hitter to the outfield mix but is more of a speed and defense type than a major offensive threat.
Mariners’ Offseason Trade Acquisitions Off To Slow Starts
The Mariners mostly shied away from the free agent market on the heels of their drought-ending playoff berth. Instead, Seattle turned to trade to add to a lineup that had been a bit top-heavy in 2022. Their two most notable transactions took place within the first few weeks of the offseason: reliever Erik Swanson and pitching prospect Adam Macko were shipped to Toronto for slugger Teoscar Hernández, while the M’s dealt Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro to the Brewers for second baseman Kolten Wong.
Both Hernández and Wong are in their final seasons before free agency. Milwaukee had exercised a $10MM club option on Wong before trading him in what amounted to a roughly cash-neutral deal considering they took back Winker’s salary. Seattle took on a decent chunk of 2023 money to accommodate Hernández, who’d earn $14MM for his final season of arbitration eligibility (compared to the $1.25MM Swanson is making in his first of three arbitration years).
Hernández, in particular, could eventually net the club a compensatory draft choice by rejecting a qualifying offer and signing elsewhere next offseason. Yet both trades were primarily about bolstering the lineup in 2023 while avoiding the longer-term downside associated with a multi-year free agent deal.
To this point, neither player has met Seattle’s expectations. Hernández is sitting on a .215/.260/.396 batting line over 154 plate appearances. That’s nowhere close to the .283/.333/.519 line he’d compiled between 2020-22 to pick up a pair of Silver Slugger awards and down-ballot MVP finishes. His raw slash stats always seemed likely to dip somewhat with the move from Rogers Centre to T-Mobile Park. This has been a far more significant drop-off than is solely attributable to park factors and Hernández is performing worse on the road than he is in Seattle.
Hernández has popped seven home runs, putting him on a 27-homer pace over 600 plate appearances. He’s still barreling the ball up and making hard contact when he puts the ball in play. The middle-of-the-order form he’d shown for years in Toronto still looks to be there. Yet his plate discipline has been rough thus far, resulting in a career-worst 3.2% walk rate and a massive 35.1% strikeout percentage.
Selectivity has never been Hernández’s specialty. He’s always been an aggressive hitter, one who’s willing to trade some walks for power impact. He has pushed that too far to the extreme through his first few weeks in Seattle, though, as he’s chased nearly 40% of pitches outside the strike zone. It’s the 23rd-highest rate among 204 hitters with 100+ plate appearances; Hernández was closer to league average in that regard during his last few seasons in Toronto.
Wong, meanwhile, has been one of the least effective hitters in the majors to this point. He’s yet to connect on a homer in 94 trips to the plate, posting a .195/.287/.220 line overall. He has played well through his first five games in May after carrying a .171/.263/.186 slash through the end of April. The Mariners weren’t counting on Wong to be an impact bat but surely hoped for something approximating the solid .262/.337/.439 showing he put together over two years in Milwaukee.
The lefty-hitting Wong has long been a quality, well-rounded regular. He’s typically hit around a league average level, compensating for fringe power with plus contact skills. At his peak, he’s been a Gold Glove second baseman and a plus baserunner. His typically stellar defensive marks dropped off during his last season with the Brewers, as both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average gave him subpar grades in 2022.
Wong attributed his defensive drop to playing through leg injuries, offering some hope he’d turn things around after an offseason of rest. The early returns haven’t been promising, however. DRS has pegged Wong as an MLB-worst eight runs below average through 226 2/3 innings of second base work; Statcast has him one run worse than expected. Public defensive metrics can be wildly variable in small samples, but it’s a discouraging start for the 32-year-old’s efforts to recapture his formerly excellent form with the glove.
Without many early contributions from Hernández or Wong, Seattle’s position player group hasn’t been especially good. They’re 22nd in runs scored (157) and 25th in both on-base percentage (.302) and slugging (.372). After accounting for their pitcher-friendly ballpark, they’re 19th in offensive production as measured by wRC+. Their pitching and defense has kept them around average overall — they’re in fourth place in the AL West at 18-19 with a +14 run differential — but they’ll need more out of the lineup to earn a repeat playoff berth in an American League playoff mix that has 10 to 12 teams with realistic aspirations.
There’s certainly time for Seattle’s top offseason acquisitions to get things back on track. The M’s have by no means played themselves out of contention. Whether they make a serious run for the division and/or a Wild Card spot could be determined in large part by how quickly Hernández and Wong find their previous levels. With both players headed to the open market six months from now, their free agent outlooks are also to be determined based on their performances this summer.