The White Sox Have Decisions To Make With Munetaka Murakami
Slugger Munetaka Murakami had to settle for a two-year “prove-it” deal with the White Sox this past offseason. It’s still early in the major league career but he is quickly proving it, which means the Sox have to decide on the path forward.
Murakami’s power was never in doubt. His time in Japan had yielded dozens of massive moonshots. The strikeouts were more concerning. He struck out almost 30% of the time in his final NPB seasons. Coming over to North America to face a greater caliber of pitching would probably lead to even more strikeouts. There were particular concerns around his lack of success against high velocity, which he would certainly see more of in MLB.
It’s hard to be a valuable hitter with that many punchouts, though it can be done. In 2025, Mike Trout and James Wood were good hitters despite striking out at least 32% of the time. Ryan McMahon and Oneil Cruz were also in that range and produced below-average results.
Many evaluators thought some team would bite the bullet and invest in Murakami regardless. It’s very rare to have a chance to sign this level of hitter for his age-26 season. There’s risk he could be like Joey Gallo but the upside play is that he resembles Kyle Schwarber. MLBTR predicted he would secure an eight-year deal worth $180MM. Other outlets were not far behind. FanGraphs predicted $154MM over seven years. The Athletic was at $158.5MM over eight years.
Murakami did not get anything close to that. Whether it was due to the strikeouts or his lack of defensive value, teams didn’t want to make a long-term commitment. He signed a two-year, $34MM deal with the White Sox.
We don’t know what other offers Murakami got. Maybe some teams floated three- or four-year arrangements. But from his perspective, if he didn’t get the real long-term offer, going short makes sense. As mentioned, he is still quite young. This deal gives him a chance to spend two years proving himself against big league pitching. He’ll be 26 and 27 in those seasons and will have another chance to seek a long-term deal ahead of his age-28 campaign.
It was thought that maybe there would be an adjustment period for Murakami, but so far he’s doing just fine. The strikeouts are certainly high, as he’s at 32.1% through 109 plate appearances. But he also has ten home runs and a massive 19.3% walk rate. He has a .253/.394/.598 line and a 170 wRC+.
The production is not exactly Schwarber-esque but is pretty close. Schwarber has a 28.5% strikeout rate in his career and hasn’t finished a full season above 31%. He has drawn walks at a 14.2% clip and has been in that range for most of his career. He used to be good for 30ish homers annually but it’s been more like 50ish in recent years. It’s still really early, but Murakami is striking out more often while showing even more power and greater on-base abilities.
Time will tell how it plays out over a larger sample. It’s possible that pitchers find a way to attack him and reduce his effectiveness. Despite the concerns about velocity, he’s doing most of his damage against fastballs. Statcast gives him a .286 batting average and .786 slugging percentage on fastballs, compared to .200 and .400 against breaking pitches and .267 and .467 against offspeed stuff. It’s also possible he continues to get more acclimated to MLB pitching and shaves off some punchouts.
If he continues to be an effective hitter for another few months, it will put the White Sox in an interesting position. It doesn’t feel like Murakami is going to be part of their long-term plans. They are currently rebuilding and aren’t expected to contend this year. The Sox are getting better relative to recent years but are 10-15 and should be on the outside of the playoff race this summer. 2027 could be more viable, but contending next year is no guarantee.
The White Sox could try to sign Murakami to an extension, giving him the nine-figure deal he didn’t get in free agency, but it would be out of character for them to do so. The Sox are one of just two teams, along with the Athletics, who have never given out a nine-figure contract. The largest contract in White Sox franchise history is the five-year, $75MM deal they gave to Andrew Benintendi. If he continues performing anywhere close to this level, he could reasonably ask for twice that much (if not more) on a new long-term deal.
If the Sox are going to break precedent, it should probably be for someone safer, an elite shortstop or center fielder perhaps. A strikeout-prone first baseman is a risky bet, even if it’s someone as exciting as Murakami. If the deal turned into an albatross, it would handcuff the team just as they are looking to put this latest rebuild in the rearview mirror.
This situation would lead to an obvious solution in most cases. If you’re a rebuilding club and you have an attractive player with a short window of club control, you trade him for prospects or other younger players who can contribute to the next competitive window. Trading Murakami this summer would yield a greater trade return than next year. The acquiring club would get Murakami for two playoff races instead of one, which adds to the appeal and the price they would be willing to pay.
But Murakami’s situation is a bit more complex than that. For a team signing a star Japanese player, part of the appeal is on the business side. In addition to whatever Murakami is providing on the field, he is presumably adding to the club’s ratings and merchandise sales in Japan. Given his strong start, he might be adding to those revenue streams on this side of the Pacific Ocean as well.
That could make the calculus more complicated. Trading Murakami this summer would be the best time to maximize his value in terms of a trade return, but it would also surely lead to a reduction in those revenue streams and frustrate the fan base. It’s also possible it could complicate discussions with Japanese free agents in the future, who may not love the prospect of a likely sign-and-trade scenario.
If the Sox decide to hold Murakami, they can keep those revenues flowing for longer. They could then see if contention in 2027 looks more viable. If not, they could still trade him that summer for a notable return, even if it’s less than trading him now. Should they contend and hold him all the way through 2027, they could give him a qualifying offer, which would net them a draft pick if he ends up signing elsewhere. That pick would be nice, but the Sox should be able to get something more attractive via trade. There’s also the risk of Murakami tanking his value by next summer, either due to injury or a decline in production.
It’s an interesting position for the Sox, who are in a transitional phase. In addition to rebuilding, they are on an unusual road to an ownership change. Jerry Reinsdorf has agreed to a succession plan with minority owner Justin Ishbia. For now, Ishbia is investing in the club and has a somewhat open-ended path to majority ownership. From 2029 to 2033, Reinsdorf can decide to finalize the sale of a majority stake to Ishbia. If not within that window, Ishbia gains the right to purchase the majority stake beginning in 2034.
As mentioned, the possibility of a Murakami extension doesn’t seem likely, based on the club’s past spending patterns. While the club is in flux, does that make them even less likely to sign a big deal? It’s also possible the next collective bargaining agreement features some sort of salary floor beginning in 2027, so the Sox may need to spend more money regardless. Perhaps they would want some clarity on that before committing to Murakami or anyone else.
Put it all together and Murakami could be one of the more intriguing players to watch in the coming months. The Sox can make various different choices about how to proceed. They could try to lock him down with a long-term deal but would likely have to shatter their franchise record to do so. A trade this summer would net a big return but would hurt them on the business side. Holding him for a trade in the winter or at next year’s deadline, or even all the way through 2027, could be a better short-term business decision but perhaps worse long-term baseball decision.
Photos courtesy of Ed Szczepanski, Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Acquire Willie MacIver, Designate Tyler Fitzgerald For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that they have acquired catcher Willie MacIver from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A. The Rangers, who designated him for assignment yesterday, get cash considerations in return. To open a 40-man spot for MacIver, the Jays have designated Tyler Fitzgerald for assignment.
MacIver, 29, has a limited major league track record. With the Athletics in 2025, he got into 33 games but put up a meager .186/.252/.324 batting line in those. His minor league production has generally been better. During the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he put up a huge .323/.399/.534 line at Triple-A. That production came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but was nonetheless good for a 123 wRC+, indicating he was 23% better than the average hitter in that league.
He got squeezed off the Athletics’ roster at the end of last year. The Rangers claimed him off waivers and sent him to Triple-A but he got out to a slow start this year, slashing .170/.333/.255 for Round Rock. The Rangers bumped him off their roster when making some pitching moves yesterday.
For the Jays, they are in need of some extra catching depth. They lost Alejandro Kirk to thumb surgery a couple of weeks ago. They’ve since been using the duo of Tyler Heineman and Brandon Valenzuela. The depth beyond those two was thin, with no other backstop on the 40-man. CJ Stubbs was the only other catcher in the system with major league experience. That experience was just one game with the Nationals last year. He’s also on the minor league injured list now, having not played in a couple of weeks.
The Jays will continue with the Heineman-Valenzuela pairing in the big leagues for now. Should an injury arise before Kirk comes back, then they can turn to MacIver. Valenzuela also has options and currently sports a .161/.188/.258 line in 32 big league plate appearances, so it’s possible they could swap in MacIver for Valenzuela at some point.
Fitzgerald, 28, was acquired in a similar DFA cash deal three weeks ago. The Jays had just lost Leo Jiménez since he was out of options and didn’t crack the Opening Day roster. He was flipped to the Marlins and then the Jays acquired Fitzgerald to replace some of that lost infield depth, with Fitzgerald getting optioned to the minors. A few days later, Addison Barger hit the IL and Fitzgerald was called up.
A few days after that, the Jays acquired Lenyn Sosa from the White Sox and bumped Fitzgerald back down to the minors. George Springer also hit the IL and the Jays have been using Sosa both on the infield and in the designated hitter spot.
It appears the Jays felt that catching depth was a greater need than infield depth at this point. Springer and Barger seem likely to return soon, well before Kirk will be back in the mix, so Sosa could be bumped down the depth chart in the coming weeks.
Fitzgerald can be in DFA limbo for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays can take five days to field trade interest. It seems likely that Fitzgerald will garner interest from someone. He still has options and can play anywhere on the diamond except catcher, meaning a lot of teams could use him somewhere.
His offense is more of a question. He burst onto the scene with the Giants in 2024 by putting up a .280/.334/.497 line. There were some yellow flags there, as Fitzgerald struck out at a 31.7% clip and benefited from a .380 batting average on balls in play. The inevitable regression was a bit more extreme than expected, as Fitzgerald had a grisly .217/.278/.327 line in 2025. Around his transactions, he has an awful .094/.147/.125 line at Triple-A this year. Despite the offensive struggles, clubs will probably like the idea of stashing Fitzgerald in the minors and hoping for a bounceback, even if getting to his 2024 level would be a tall ask.
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Brewers Designate Luis Matos For Assignment
The Brewers announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Tyler Black and left-hander Shane Drohan. In corresponding moves, they have optioned right-hander Carlos Rodriguez and designated outfielder Luis Matos for assignment.
Matos, 24, was once a top prospect with the Giants. However, he struggled to click in the majors and exhausted his option years. Coming into 2026 out of options, the Giants couldn’t fit him onto their Opening Day roster, so he was designated for assignment.
The Brewers took a shot on him, sending cash considerations to San Francisco in exchange. Matos has been on their bench so far this year. He has stepped to the plate 21 times in nine games, producing a .200/.238/.200 line in those. He has now been squeezed into DFA limbo yet again, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Brewers could take as long as five days to see if there’s any trade interest.
The major league track record doesn’t provide much optimism, as Matos now has a .230/.279/.363 line in 614 plate appearances spread across four seasons. Any interest would be based on his past prospect pedigree and minor league production. He was a notable international signing and was considered a top 100 guy a few years ago. He’s been a better hitter in the minors but he’s been more good than great lately. He slashed .268/.329/.469 on the farm over 2024 and 2025 for a 104 wRC+.
If Matos lands somewhere else, he will need to be on the active roster, due to his out-of-options status. He has between one and two years of service time. If he does click on another roster, he can be controlled for four seasons after this one. If he were to clear waivers, the Brewers could keep him as non-roster depth.
Parting with Matos allows the Brewers to call up Black. He has also been a notable prospect in recent years but hasn’t been able to carve out much big league playing time. He was sent to the plate 70 times over the 2024 and 2025 seasons and was only able to produce a .211/.357/.263 line in that small sample.
He’s been much better in the minors. Dating back to the start of 2023, the first year he reached the Triple-A level, he has a combined .270/.395/.453 line and 128 wRC+. His 15% walk rate and 19.7% strikeout rate in that span are both a few ticks better than average.
His future defensive home has been more of a question. He has some experience at the non-shortstop infield positions and the outfield. The Brewers haven’t had him at second base since 2022 and he hasn’t played third since 2024. Even though they’re not getting much production from the left side of the infield right now, Black apparently won’t help in that regard.
He’s been playing the outfield corners more than first base this year, so perhaps the Brewers will have him in the outfield mix, since Jake Bauers is doing okay at first. They currently have Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and Akil Baddoo on the injured list. That leaves them with Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Brandon Lockridge getting the playing time in the outfield, with Greg Jones and Blake Perkins on the bench. Mitchell is the only guy in that healthy group with a wRC+ above 95 at the moment, so perhaps Black can charge in ahead of the other guys. There’s also the designated hitter spot to consider, though the Brewers are largely using that to split playing time between catchers William Contreras and Gary Sánchez.
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Mariners Trade Casey Legumina To Rays
2:08pm: The teams have announced the swap. Tampa Bay opened a spot on the 40-man roster by transferring Uceta from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.
12:55pm: The Rays are going to acquire right-hander Casey Legumina from the Mariners, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Mariners, who designated Legumina for assignment last week, will receive minor leaguer Ty Cummings in return, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make the deal official. Legumina is also out of options and will need an active roster spot when he reports to the team.
Legumina, 29 in June, is in his fourth major league season. He got limited looks with the Reds in 2023 and 2024. He was designated for assignment before the 2025 season and flipped to the Mariners. Seattle gave him a decent amount of time in the big leagues last year but he didn’t do much with the opportunity. He tossed 49 2/3 innings, allowing 5.62 earned runs per nine. His 25.1% strikeout rate was pretty good but he also gave out walks at a high clip of 11.4%.
As he struggled to produce decent results, the Mariners optioned him to the minors a few times. That burned his final option and left him out of options here in 2026. He held his roster spot to begin the year but couldn’t turn a corner. In 11 2/3 innings, his 4.63 ERA was an improvement compared to last year but with less impressive underlying numbers. He showed better control by only walking 5.7% of opponents but also saw his strikeout rate drop to 17%.
Maintaining that ERA was going to be tough, as a big factor is that he hasn’t allowed a home run yet. Also, his velocity is noticeably down. His four-seamer averaged 94.3 miles per hour last year but is down to 93.5 so far this year. His sinker has gone from 93.8 to 93 mph while his slider has dropped from 81.1 to 79.7 mph.
That got him bumped off the Seattle roster but the Rays will take a shot on him. Tampa is out to a strong 13-11 start but it’s no thanks to their bullpen. Their relief pitchers have a collective 5.64 ERA, worse than every team in the majors apart from the Astros and Royals. Injuries have taken a toll on the depth. They lost Manuel Rodríguez to Tommy John surgery last year. Both Steven Wilson and Edwin Uceta began the season on the injured list due to spring injuries. Since the regular season started, they have lost Garrett Cleavinger and Mason Englert to the IL.
The healthy guys haven’t stepped up. Yoendrys Gómez, Ian Seymour and Griffin Jax have each thrown at least nine innings and no one in that trio has an ERA below 7.00. Bryan Baker, Hunter Bigge, Kevin Kelly and Cole Sulser have been a bit better but each member of that quarter has an ERA above 4.00. There’s room in there for Legumina to earn some innings, especially if he can regain some of last year’s strikeouts and velocity.
To get Legumina on their big league club, the Rays are subtracting from their farm system. Cummings, now 24, was acquired as the player to be named later in the 2024 trade which sent Randy Arozarena to Seattle. Now the Mariners get Cummings back a little over a year later.
The right-hander has mostly worked as a starter in his minor league career. Prior to the first trade, he tossed 116 1/3 High-A innings in 2024 with a 4.17 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate. In 2025, he pitched in Double-A and Triple-A, logging 123 innings. His ERA improved to 3.29 but with a reduced 17.6% strikeout rate and 47.1% ground ball rate. So far in 2026, he’s been pitching in relief in Double-A. He tossed 5 1/3 innings over three appearances with a 1.69 ERA, 33.3% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate.
Perhaps the Mariners are intrigued by that recent bullpen move or maybe they will want to stretch him back out. Either way, they are probably happy to get back a guy they drafted, while giving up a guy they had already cut from their roster. Cummings will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this December if not added to the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Phillies Recall Alex McFarlane For MLB Debut
The Phillies announced that they have recalled right-hander Alex McFarlane from Double-A Reading. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The Phils had an open roster spot due to yesterday’s moves, where they released Taijuan Walker and optioned Alan Rangel while recalling Nolan Hoffman.
McFarlane, 25 in June, was a fourth-round pick in 2022. The Phils tried him as a starter in the lower levels without much success. He underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2023 and missed all of 2024. Back on the mound in 2025, the Phils tried stretching him out again for a while, but moved him to a relief role late in the year. His final ten appearances were out of the bullpen. He wasn’t particularly impressive in those, with a 4.50 earned run average, 22.4% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate.
The Phils still believed in McFarlane th the point that they didn’t want him to get scooped in the Rule 5, so they added him to their 40-man roster in November. Baseball America ranked him the club’s #19 prospect coming into the year. FanGraphs put him at #14, highlighting the huge spin on his slider. He threw a splitter as a starter but both BA and FG suggest he would likely move to be more of a fastball/slider guy as a reliever.
He has started this year back at Double-A with some intriguing results. It’s only 6 1/3 innings but McFarlane has only allowed one earned run while striking out ten. However, there is some wildness, as he has walked four and thrown two wild pitches.
The Phils have been pushing their pitching staff a bit lately. Today will be the eighth game in a stretch of ten without an off-day. In the past five, their starter/bulk guy hasn’t gone more than 5 1/3 innings. That has left the relief group to pitch a lot, including five relievers in yesterday’s ten-inning loss to the Cubs.
McFarlane will give the club a fresh arm for tonight’s game. It’s possible he’ll be optioned back down right after. The Phils are planning to reinstate Zack Wheeler from the injured list to start Saturday’s game, so someone will have to be sent out for him. Since it could just be a short assignment, the Phils are going with McFarlane since he’s on the 40-man roster, skipping him over Triple-A. After the game, perhaps he will be sent back to Double-A Reading but heading to Triple-A Lehigh Valley is also a possibility.
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Nationals To Recall Riley Cornelio For MLB Debut
April 24th: This is now official, as the Nats announced they have recalled Cornelio and optioned Fernández.
April 23rd: The Nationals are going to recall right-hander Riley Cornelio, reports Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic. The Nats announced that righty Julian Fernández was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after today’s game, so Cornelio is presumably the corresponding move.
Cornelio, 26 in June, was a seventh-round pick of the Nats in 2022. As a minor leaguer, he has been working primarily as a starter. In 2025, he climbed from High-A to Double-A and then Triple-A. Across those three levels, he threw 134 1/3 innings, allowing 3.28 earned runs per nine. His 10.1% walk rate was a tad high but he struck out 24.8% of batters faced.
The Nats didn’t want him to be exposed in the Rule 5 draft, so they gave him a 40-man spot in November. He came into big league camp but made just two official appearances before being optioned to the minors. He has started his season with four Triple-A starts, posting a 2.45 ERA in 18 1/3 innings. His four-seamer and sinker are both averaging around 95 miles per hour, as he also mixes in a mid-80s slider and changeup.
Presumably, Washington wants Cornelio to potentially provide length out of the bullpen. Fernández pitched the past two games, including two innings this afternoon, so he may not have been available tomorrow. Miles Mikolas is the scheduled starter tomorrow and he hasn’t been able to go deep into games. His five starts this year have ranged from five innings on the high end to three innings on the low end. Being short-handed in the bullpen would be less than ideal if Mikolas ends up getting another quick hook, so Cornelio replacing Fernández makes sense.
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Royals Release Plans For New Stadium
The Royals announced plans for a new ballpark in downtown Kansas City, specifically in the Crown Center neighborhood. A joint venture with Hallmark Cards, the project will also featured mixed-use elements, including new headquarters for both the club and the company. It is expected to cost about $3 billion in total with the stadium itself accounting for about two thirds of that. It will be funded with a mix of private and public sources. Kacen Bayless and Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star and Dave Skretta of the Associated Press were among those to provide further details.
John Sherman purchased the Royals in 2019 and has been focused on getting funding for a new stadium for much of the interim. Kauffman Stadium opened in 1973 and is one of the five oldest ballparks in the league, with only Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium being older.
The path to a new stadium hit a setback a few years ago. The Royals and the NFL’s Chiefs were hoping to get public funding for new stadiums from Jackson County, where Kansas City, Missouri is located. However, voters rejected a sales tax measure in April of 2024. That seemingly played a part in the Chiefs leaving the state, as they plan to play in Kansas City, Kansas starting in 2031.
Unlike the Chiefs, the Royals are going to stay in Missouri. It’s still not clear if Jackson County will provide any of the funding but the project has money coming from other sources. The Royals announced that they would be the primary funders, with over $2 billion in private funding in total. The state of Missouri and the city of Kansas City are also providing some. Missouri passed a law last year which allows the state to fund up to 50% of major stadium construction projects. Last week, the city passed an ordinance authorizing the city manager to negotiate a deal with the Royals worth up to $600MM.
Some details are still not clear. The specific timing of the planned moved hasn’t been announced. The team’s lease at Kauffman runs through 2031, so they have time in that regard. As mentioned, it’s unclear if Jackson County will provide any funds. The exact amount contributed by the state of Missouri hasn’t been reported. Kansas City council still has to give final approval and it’s possible the council could push for a public vote.
“We are so far away from a done deal,” councilman Johnathan Duncan said to the Star this week. “We still need a development agreement. We need a TIF (tax increment financing) plan. We need a CID. And we need some type of actual plan from the Royals that says this is what we’re going to be using the $600 million of bonds for.”
A formal club announcement doesn’t necessarily mean everything will proceed as planned. For instance, the Rays previously announced plans for a new stadium in St. Petersburg on the same site as Tropicana Field. But hurricane damage to the Trop led to fighting about repairs and ultimately squashed the deal. That’s a rare example and it’s unlikely something like that will happen in Kansas City but it illustrates that they still have to dot some i’s and cross some t’s.
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Rangers Select Peyton Gray, Designate Willie MacIver For Assignment
The Rangers announced that left-hander Robert Garcia has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 20th, with left shoulder inflammation. Right-hander Peyton Gray has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Gray, catcher Willie MacIver has been designated for assignment.
Garcia’s last appearance was on April 16th, a game he departed due to shoulder soreness. He and the Rangers opted not to put him on the IL immediately. It appears that a week of rest hasn’t allowed him to fully heal up, so the team has now put him on the shelf. An IL placement can be backdated if a player hasn’t been playing but there’s a three-day maximum, so the Rangers could only backdate it to Monday.
His injury will allow Gray to crack a major league roster for the first time, which is a nice story. As laid out by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News in March, Gray spent time pitching in the minors and independent ball, in addition to winter ball stints in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Along the way, he worked for UPS, DoorDash and cut trees. He’s now going to the show just ahead of his 31st birthday, which will be in June.
Gray came into camp with the Rangers on a minor league deal. He turned some heads with a solid spring. He tossed 10 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs via six hits and one walk while striking out 18. He has reported to Triple-A and has continued to put up good numbers. He has thrown 12 2/3 scoreless innings over seven appearances, allowing eight hits and two walks while striking out 15. Last year, he also gave the Rangers 61 Triple-A innings with a 3.84 earned run average, 25.8% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate.
This year, he’s mostly a fastball/changeup guy. His fastball, which is averaging 92.9 miles per hour, has been thrown 48.8% of the time this year. His 83.2 mile-per-hour change has made up 40.7% of his offerings. He has also mixed in a cutter and a slider. He’ll see if that recipe works on major-league hitters whenever he makes his major league debut.
MacIver, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Athletics in November. He’s been in Triple-A this year and is off to a rough start, with a .170/.333/.255 line through 60 plate appearances. He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Texas could take five days to explore trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers at any point before then.
His major league track record is limited and unimpressive. He got into 33 games for the A’s last year and hit .186/.252/.324 in those. He has shown the potential for more in the minors. Over 2024 and 2025, he slashed .323/.399/.534 in 604 Triple-A plate appearances. He is off to a much slower start this year but perhaps his track record enough to generate interest from other clubs. He still has options remaining and could be stashed in the minors as depth, as the Rangers were doing in recent weeks.
Since MacIver has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, he would not have the right to elect free agency in the event he clears outright waivers. The Rangers might want that situation to come to pass since Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka are now the only two catchers on the 40-man roster.
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Mets Place Francisco Lindor On Injured List
3:05pm: Mendoza said reporters, including Joel Sherman of The New York Post, Lindor’s strain is worse than Soto’s and he will therefore miss a decent amount of time. Mendoza added that Mauricio will get the majority of shortstop time while Lindor is out.
2:13pm: The Mets announced that shortstop Francisco Lindor has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain. Infielder Ronny Mauricio has been recalled in a corresponding move. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reported on Mauricio’s call-up prior to the official announcement. They also announced their previously-reported recall of Christian Scott, with righty Austin Warren optioned as the corresponding move.
It’s a symbolic gut punch for the Mets. With Juan Soto on the IL for the past few weeks, they endured a 12-game losing streak. Last night, they got Soto back and finally snapped that streak with a win, but they lost Lindor in the process.
Lindor appeared to be in discomfort during the game and was removed after four innings. The team later announced that his departure was due to left calf tightness. Manager Carlos Mendoza later told reporters, including Mike Puma of The New York Post, that Lindor would undergo an MRI. Around the same time, Romero reported on Mauricio’s recall, making it seem likely that Lindor was bound for the IL.
It’s an unsurprising move given the events of last night but it’s unusual in the grander scheme of things, as Lindor has been very rarely hurt in his career. In the nine full seasons from 2016 to 2025, he played in at least 125 games in each. Only once was he below 143 and only twice did he come in under 152. This is his first trip to the IL since 2021.
Due to Lindor’s iron man nature, the Mets have been operating without a proper backup for most of this season. Third baseman Bo Bichette, who was primarily a shortstop prior to this year, has been Lindor’s emergency backstop and covered the spot after Lindor was removed last night. Brett Baty came off the bench to cover third.
Lindor is out to a slow start this year, with a .226/.314/.355 line, but in a small sample of 105 plate appearances. In that sample, his walk and strikeout rates are good but he is being held back by a .264 batting average on balls in play. His much larger career track record shows he’s an above-average hitter, defender and baserunner who is usually good for five to eight wins above replacement annually. It’s possible his somewhat slow start is due to a fractured hamate he suffered in February, which he recovered from in time to crack the Opening Day roster.
It’s unclear if the Mets plan to have Bichette cover short now. He wasn’t a great defender at that spot earlier in his career and he finished last season battling a knee injury. As a free agent in the most recent offseason, it didn’t seem as though many clubs had interest in signing him to play that spot. In the end, the Mets won the bidding and have had him at third. His third base defense appears to be about average so far in a small sample, but he’s off to a rough start at the plate, currently sporting a .220/.255/.290 line for the year.
It’s possible the club could keep him at third most of the time, since he’s still getting acclimated to the position, though that would mean playing Mauricio at short pretty much every day. Mauricio has a strong .293/.349/.638 slash in Triple-A this year but hasn’t hit in the majors yet, currently sitting on a career .234/.294/.359 line.
Playing Bichette at short would open up more line possibilities for the club, as Baty or Mark Vientos could cover third base. Neither of those two are hitting well this year but each has shown better form in the past. It’s also possible the Mets don’t firmly commit to one lane or another, as they could make in-game substitutions depending on the situation, opting for Bichette at short when hoping for more offense and moving him to third when prioritizing defense.
However the playing time gets sliced up, it’s not ideal for the Mets to lose a player of Lindor’s caliber. That’s especially true in light of their rough start. Though they snapped the losing streak last night, they are 8-16 on the year and tied with the Phillies for last in the National League. They just endured Soto’s absence and now will try to climb out of that hole without Lindor.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Dillon Dingler Keeps Getting Better
There was a time not too long ago where Dillon Dingler seemed to be on track to be a backup catcher. That’d have been a perfectly fine career, but it now seems he is so much more than that, which is great for him and the Tigers.
Dingler was a second-round pick of the Tigers in 2020. For most of his time in the minors, the book on him was that he had a great defensive skill set but his ceiling would be capped by a propensity for swinging and missing.
In 2022, Dingler spent the entire year at Double-A. He hit 14 home runs in 448 plate appearances and drew walks at a solid 10% clip, but his 31.9% strikeout rate was far too high high. For reference, the MLB average was 22.2% last year. The highest qualified hitter was Ryan McMahon at 32.3%. Players generally strike out more as they climb the minor league ladder and face tougher competition. With Dingler already whiffing at a high rate in Double-A, it would be natural to expect his rates to increase as he got to Triple-A and then the majors.
That season dimmed his stock a bit. Baseball America had him as the No. 4 prospect in the Tigers’ system going into 2022 but bumped him to No. 7 ahead of the 2023 season. Going into 2022, FanGraphs had Dingler at No. 4 in the system and even slotted him in as the game’s No. 108 prospect. Tthe following year, Dingler was off the Top 100, dropped to No. 7 in the system, and given a 45 FV (future value) on the 20-80 scale. The May 2024 scouting report from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen provides a good snapshot of how Dingler was viewed at that time:
“The athleticism and receiving to be a do-it-all defender behind the dish is here, and much of Dingler’s prospect variance is tied to whether his hit tool and medium-sized frame will enable him to be a primary catcher or just a luxury backup. He swings through a ton of in-zone fastballs and really struggles to get on top of anything in the upper third of the zone. There aren’t many catchers capable of punishing mistakes with power the way Dingler does, but his bat-to-ball ability is also comfortably worse than the typical hitter at that position. He shares quite a few similarities with Jake Rogers and should end up playing a lot, producing about 1.5 annual WAR in a low-end primary catching role.”
The 2023 season didn’t improve the way he was viewed. Injuries limited him to 89 games, including 26 at the Triple-A level. He punched out in 31.2% of his plate appearances and put up an ugly .202/.266/.384 line. Going into 2024, the Tigers gave him a 40-man spot to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, but BA knocked him down to No. 9 in the Detroit system. FanGraphs bumped him down to No. 10 and dropped his FV to 40+ (again, on the 20-80 scale).
Dingler’s 2024 was something of a mixed bag. His results at the Triple-A level were very encouraging. He took 301 trips to the plate and trimmed his strikeout rate to 20.3% — a massive improvement. His 10% walk rate was still good, and he hit 17 home runs. His .308/.379/.559 line translated to a 145 wRC+. That got some help from a .337 batting average on balls in play, but there were a lot of good signs regardless.
However, Dingler also got his first taste of the majors and delivered more worrisome results. It was a small sample size of 87 plate appearances, but his 34.5% strikeout rate was the exact kind of thing that prospect evaluators were concerned about in previous seasons. His .167/.195/.310 line was obviously unpleasant.
Last year was a breakout. An early injury to Rogers opened up some playing time, and Dingler ran with it. By the end of the year, he had appeared in 126 games. His defense received strong grades, as expected for a guy who was considered a glove-first prospect. He was credited with six Defensive Runs Saved, putting him among the top 15 catchers for that stat. FanGraphs had him as one of the game’s 10 best pitch framers. Statcast had him in the top ten in terms of framing, throwing and blocking. He won the American League Gold Glove for the catcher position.
The offense was arguably more notable, given his past reputation. Dingler’s 23.5% strikeout rate was a bit higher than average but very tolerable and certainly better than his minor league work. His 4.9% walk rate was subpar, but he hit 14 home runs and slashed .278/.327/.425 for a 109 wRC+. That was juiced by a .345 BABIP but was encouraging nonetheless.
So far in 2026, he’s been even better. It’s a tiny sample of 83 plate appearances but his walk rate has moved up a bit to 6%, still well below average but an uptick nonetheless. His strikeout rate is all the way down to 16.9%. He has a .264/.346/.528 line and 145 wRC+, despite a subpar BABIP of .264. Statcast puts his average exit velocity in the 84th percentile of qualified hitters. His hard-hit rate is 96th and barrel rate 95th.
As mentioned, that is a small sample and maybe he can’t maintain it. But at this point, Dingler has 639 career plate appearances. Even with his nightmare start in 2024, he has a combined .261/.311/.421 line, 104 wRC+, 4.9% walk rate and 24.1% strikeout rate. That walk rate may even increase, since he usually walked about twice as much in the minors.
Maybe the strikeouts will creep back up, but there are some encouraging indicators under the hood. Dingler had a decent eye, hence the walks in the minors, but he would miss when he did decide to swing. As mentioned in the pull quote above, a big problem was him missing balls in the strike zone, not so much a problem with chasing.
His contact rate in Double-A in 2022 was 67.8%. For context, the major league average last year was 76.4%. In 2023, when he was still striking out a lot in the minors, his contact rate was 70.6%. But in 2024, he got that up above 76%, both in the majors and in the minors. He was at 77% last year and is at 78.5% so far in 2026.
It’s possible that pitchers adjust how they attack Dingler. Perhaps due to his reputation, 53.8% of the pitches he saw last year were in the strike zone. That was well above the league average of 41.9%. In the early going here in 2026, only 47.8% of pitches he has seen have been in the zone. That’s still above par but a big drop from the year before. If pitchers continue to throw him fewer strikes, he may have to adjust his approach, but he’s not a free swinger right now. His 48.5% swing rate last year was above average but barely, as the league-wide mean was 47.4%. Since he was getting attacked more, it makes sense that he would swing more. He is up to 49.5% this year, despite seeing fewer pitches in the zone, though he is still getting balls over the plate a lot.
The overall package has been valuable so far. Dingler has appeared in 174 big league games. Thanks so his contributions on both sides of the ball, FanGraphs has credited him with 5.0 wins above replacement. Dating back to the start of last year, Cal Raleigh and Shea Langeliers are the only backstops with more fWAR. Baseball Reference is a bit more bearish, giving him 3.9 WAR so far. Time will tell if Dingler can hold his gains on the strikeout side of things, but the defense gives him a strong floor and he can clearly put a charge in the ball when he does connect.
Dingler’s breakout is a great development for the Tigers. They are about to lose Rogers to free agency in a few months. If Dingler were a strikeout-prone backup, as expected, Detroit would have been looking for a new catcher in the coming offseason. Instead, they should be able to just roll with Dingler.
They may have to replace Rogers, but that could also be done in house. Eduardo Valencia is already on the 40-man roster and has some helium thanks to a .319/.405/.622 showing in Triple-A last year. His numbers aren’t as strong so far in 2026, currently sporting a .182/.308/.299 line, but with an unfortunate .222 BABIP. There are questions about whether he can stick behind the plate, but the Tigers are still trying. He’s been in the catcher position for 101 innings this year, compared to 53 1/3 at first base. FanGraphs currently considers him the No. 8 prospect in the system.
Dingler is controlled through 2030, so there are also long-term questions to be answered. A couple of Detroit’s top prospects are catchers. Thayron Liranzo and Josue Briceño are consensus top five guys in the system. Briceño is generally considered a top-100 prospect. Liranzo is already on the 40-man roster but hasn’t yet reached the Triple-A level. He spent most of 2025 at Double-A and struck out at a 31.7% rate. He was slowed by an oblique strain this spring and is only now getting ramped up. Briceño also reached Double-A last year and hit better but has more questions about his ability to stick at catcher. He recently underwent wrist surgery and is likely to miss a few months of this year. Neither of these two are knocking on the door yet but could be at some point.
Even if Briceño is ultimately pushed to first base and designated hitter, the Tigers have Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter under club control through 2028. It’s possible the Tigers will get to a point where they feel someone from that group can be traded.
Even if they don’t build up enough of a surplus to trade someone, Dingler’s development is great for the long-term spine nonetheless. Kevin McGonigle is now signed through 2034 and could be the everyday shortstop for much of that span. Max Clark is one of the top prospects in all of baseball and is currently playing in Triple-A. He should be up at some point this season and could be the center fielder in Detroit through 2032.
Along with that long-term core, the Tigers have financial flexibility. Thanks to an aversion to long-term free agent contracts in recent years, their books are fairly clean. The Javier Báez deal is done after 2027. Framber Valdez is signed through 2028 but can opt out of the final year. All their other players making eight-figure salaries are slated for free agency after the current season. Pretty soon, the McGonigle and Colt Keith extensions will be the only guaranteed deals on the books, and those aren’t especially onerous.
The Tigers will probably need more pitching. Valdez can opt out after 2027. Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Justin Verlander and Casey Mize are free agents after the current season. That clean payroll outlook will give the front office space to sign guys, and as mentioned, they could also find themselves with a position player logjam that leads to a trade.
Detroit could also explore a Dingler extension if they were so inclined. He would probably be amenable to one. Catchers don’t age especially well due to the rigors of the position, which means they rarely receive big free agent deals — at least relative to other position players. J.T. Realmuto got to $115.5MM back in 2021, and he’s still the only free agent backstop to crack nine figures. That’s a big number, but dozens of infielders and outfielders have beaten that handily.
Dingler was a bit of a late bloomer, as he didn’t reach the majors until his age-25 season and didn’t break out until he was 26. His window of club control already goes through his age-31 season, meaning he would hit the open market ahead of his age-32 campaign. If the Tigers wanted to lock him up and add another year or two, it seems fair to assume he would be interested.
Extensions for catchers this early in their careers are rare. Most of the notable recent deals for catchers came when they pushed into their arbitration years. Will Smith signed his $131.5MM deal with the Dodgers when he had over four years of service time. Alejandro Kirk was also in that bucket when the Blue Jays gave him $58MM. Raleigh and Sean Murphy had between three and four years of service when they got $99.4MM and $73MM, respectively.
The one recent deal that aligns with Dingler’s current status is the eight-year $50MM deal signed by the Nationals and Keibert Ruiz. Apart from the fact that both catchers have between one and two years of service, it’s not a great comp. Ruiz hadn’t had as much success then as Dingler has now. The deal was mostly a bet on Ruiz’s prospect pedigree, which has not panned out so far. Ruiz has mostly struggled and the deal looks like an albatross. It’s safe to presume he’d top that deal by a comfortable margin.
Contract talk aside, Dingler is making the Tigers stronger now and can continue to do so for years to come. Detroit will face some challenges with none of their starters signed long-term, but the Tigers have a strong foundation on the position player side to utilize, with Dingler rapidly emerging as a key piece of that core.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images