Padres Nearing Deal With Jose Leclerc
The Padres are close to a deal with veteran reliever José Leclerc, as first reported by journalist Mike Rodriguez. It’ll be a minor league deal for the Munger English Sports Management client once it’s complete, Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds.
Leclerc missed the bulk of the 2025 season after suffering a severe lat strain and eventually requiring shoulder surgery. He threw a bullpen session for interested clubs a couple weeks ago and was said at the time to be targeting a return around July. The Padres will hope his recovery goes well in the next few months, thereby allowing him to bolster their pitching staff midseason.
It’s a buy-low move for the Padres, who are known to be working under some budgetary restraints. The past few offseasons have seen them mostly stick to modest contracts. Even when they have splurged a little bit, such as their deals for Nick Pivetta and Michael King, they have backloaded the money in order to lower the near-term hit.
Leclerc is just over a year removed from earning a $10MM deal from the A’s. That was somewhat surprising at the time but he did have some intriguing stuff on his track record. From 2018 to 2024, he tossed 299 2/3 innings for the Rangers, allowing 3.24 earned runs per nine. His 11.8% walk rate was quite high but his 31.8% strikeout rate was very strong.
In that time, he had worked both as a closer and a setup guy, earning 41 saves and 58 holds. He mixed in six different pitches, with his four-seamer and sinker sitting in the mid-90s as he also threw a high-80s cutter and changeup, a low-80s slider and a curveball in the high-70s.
His 2025 season was mostly lost. He only made ten appearances for the A’s before the aforementioned lat injury put him on the shelf. He will still be recovering from his surgery for another few months. It hasn’t been reported what salary he will make if selected to the Padres’ roster but it is presumably well below $10MM.
The Padres have a strong bullpen, even though they let Robert Suarez walk in free agency. Mason Miller is one of the best closers in the game and he’ll be joined by Adrián Morejón, Jeremiah Estrada and David Morgan. Perhaps Jason Adam can be healthy by Opening Day but he’ll be back in there at some point regardless.
Over a long season, pitcher injuries are inevitable and the outlook will change. As Leclerc is potentially getting back in game shape in July, the Padres will ideally be looking to bolster their roster ahead of the August 3rd trade deadline. If Leclerc looks to be in good form by then, perhaps that will subtract one item from their shopping list.
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Carson Benge To Make Mets’ Roster
Outfield prospect Carson Benge is going to break camp with the Mets, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. He will be the starting right fielder on Opening Day, per Chelsea Janes of SNY. The Mets will need to open a 40-man spot in order to officially select Benge’s contract.
The move is notable but not shocking. During the offseason, president of baseball operations David Stearns consistently said that Benge would have a chance to break camp with the club. The 19th overall pick from 2024, he mashed his way through High-A and Double-A last year.
He seemed to stall out at Triple-A, with a .178/.272/.311 line in 24 games to finish the year, but there were reasons to not worry about that too much. His 18.4% strikeout rate was good and his 8.7% walk rate around average. His .188 batting average on balls in play was tiny. It seemed more like fluky bad luck than a young hitter being overmatched.
The Mets, as mentioned, wanted to leave a path open for him to reach the big leagues. They did bring in some contingency plans. They signed Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal. MJ Melendez got a 40-man spot but still has an option. It felt like the right field job would be Benge’s to lose and he didn’t do anything to lose it. He hit .366/.435/.439 in Grapefruit League action. That line got some help from an unsustainable .469 BABIP but the Mets were trending towards giving Benge the job as long as he didn’t look overwhelmed.
Melendez was optioned to the minors last week. The Mets were perhaps trending towards rostering both Benge and Tauchman, but the latter tore the meniscus in his left knee a few days ago. That only gave Benge a firmer hold on the job.
There’s always risk in handing a job over to a prospect, as even some very talented young players struggle when first called up, but Benge has shown he deserves a shot. Even including his Triple-A swoon, he hit a combined .281/.385/.472 last year for a 150 wRC+. He stole 22 bases. His defensive abilities are considered strong enough for him to be a plus corner outfielder and maybe even a decent center fielder. He’ll begin the season in right but it’s not out of the question that he eventually spends a decent amount of time in the middle spot with center field manned by the oft-injured Luis Robert Jr..
By carrying Benge on the Opening Day roster, the Mets will open up the possibility of the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’s a consensus top 25 prospect in the league. If he stays in the majors for enough of the campaign to earn a full year of service, he could net the Mets an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or with a top three finish in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
If things don’t go well with Benge, then the Mets will have to turn to some backup plans. Tauchman has an opt-out in his minor league deal but presumably won’t trigger it while hurt, so he’ll be back in the mix whenever he’s healthy again. Melendez will be on optional assignment in Triple-A, alongside Jared Young and Nick Morabito. Brett Baty is going to be in a super utility role now that Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien are at third and second base respectively. Tyrone Taylor will be on the bench as a glove-first fourth outfielder. The Tauchman injury might also allow Vidal Bruján to stick on the bench in a utility role.
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Phillies Shopping Garrett Stubbs
The Phillies are going to start the season with Rafael Marchán as J.T. Realmuto‘s backup catcher. That will squeeze out Garrett Stubbs. Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Phils will try to trade Stubbs to another club before Opening Day rosters need to be set on Wednesday.
Realmuto has taken the majority of the playing time behind the plate in Philadelphia for seven seasons now. He became a free agent after last year’s campaign but re-signed with the Phils on a new three-year deal.
Stubbs and Marchán have both served as his backup in recent years, often with the other getting regular playing time in the minors. Marchán exhausted his final option season in 2024 and Stubbs exhausted his final option last year. Going into 2026, push would have to come to shove if all three were healthy at the end of camp.
If seems that the Phils will keep Marchán going forward, which is understandable. He is 27 years old, whereas Stubbs will turn 33 in May. Marchán also comes with an extra year of club control, as he can be retained through 2028, while Stubbs is slated for free agency after 2027. Marchán has also fared better with the bat, with a .245/.308/.394 line and 93 wRC+ in his career, compared to a .215/.293/.310 line and 70 wRC+ for Stubbs. Marchán’s defense also grades out a bit better than Stubbs.
The Phils will see if there’s another club out there in need of catching help with interest in Stubbs. Market forces might be working against them as Stubbs isn’t the only out-of-options catcher available right now. The Twins are shopping Alex Jackson. The White Sox aren’t going to roster Korey Lee, so he should be available as well. It seems like Andrew Knizner might get cut loose by the Mariners. The Mets will probably have to put Ben Rortvedt on waivers this week.
It’s possible that Stubbs ends up on waivers and sticks with the Phils in a non-roster capacity. As a player with at least three years of big league service time, Stubbs would have the right to elect free agency after clearing outright waivers. However, since his service clock is under five years, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments by heading to the open market.
Stubbs and the Phils avoided arbitration in November by agreeing to a deal that pays him $925K in the majors and $575K in the minors. That latter figure is pretty close to the major league minimum, which will be $780K this year, and well north of the $36K Triple-A minimum. Given the numbers on that deal, it seems there would be a decent chance he sticks around in the event he clears waivers. If he does end up elsewhere, the top depth options for the Phils will be Mark Kolozsvary and René Pinto, who have both been signed to minor league deals.
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Pirates Finalize Pitching Staff
The Pirates finalized their Opening Day pitching decisions, with Jason Mackey of MLB.com covering the notable details. Carmen Mlodzinski will get a rotation spot while José Urquidy and Hunter Barco will start the season in the bullpen and Mike Clevinger will head to Triple-A. Alex Stumpf reports that Clevinger had an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal but it appears that didn’t lead to a roster spot with any of the 30 clubs in the league.
The Bucs went into the winter with loads of pitching and used that to bolster their position player group. They included Mike Burrows in the three-team trade that netted them Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum, as well as reliever Mason Montgomery. They flipped Johan Oviedo to the Red Sox in a five-player trade, with the headliner for the Bucs being outfielder Jhostynxon García. They still have a strong front four consisting of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. By the end of camp, Mlodzinski, Urquidy, Barco and Clevinger appeared to be battling for the final spot.
Mlodzinski enters the season with a 3.25 earned run average in 185 2/3 innings as a swingman. He has struck out 21.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.2% clip, both fairly average marks. His 47.1% ground ball rate is a few ticks north of par.
There seems to be some belief he could find a new gear. Mlodzinski tells Mackey that he’s feeling much better now compared to a year ago thanks to the development of his splitter and curveball. He threw both of those pitches at the big league level for the first time last year. It’s hoped that the more diverse arsenal can help him find more success as he turns a lineup over. Mlodzinski has allowed a line of .214/.281/.294 when facing a lineup for the first time as a starter but a massive .381/.422/.607 line the second time through.
For what it’s worth, he had a great camp. Spring performances always need to be taken with a grain of salt but he posted a 2.92 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 56.8% ground ball rate. The Bucs will give him a chance to carry that forward into the regular season.
Jared Jones will be returning from his surgery at some point in the coming months and will need a rotation spot but other injuries will likely pop up between now and then. Mlodzinski does still have an option and could be sent to the minors but that’s also true of Ashcraft, Chandler and Jones. Time will tell how it all shakes out.
For now, there are domino effects for the other guys who were in the mix. Urquidy has had a decent career but missed most of 2024 and 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Bucs gave him a big league deal but he didn’t have a good camp, allowing 11 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings. He’ll seemingly start the season as a long reliever, presumably for mop-up duty.
As for Barco, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him on the Opening Day roster. He has options and is still expected to be a valuable starter in the long run, so there was an argument for having him stretched out in Triple-A.
Mackey suggests his path forward could mirror that of Ashcraft, who tossed 69 2/3 innings in the majors last year and 48 1/3 in the minors. The major league work was split between eight starts and 18 bullpen appearances, most of which were for more than an inning. Ashcraft went into 2025 having never thrown more than 73 innings in a season. He got to 118 last year, between his minor league starts and that big league hybrid role. That should put him in place to jump to something resembling a full starter’s workload in 2026.
Barco got to 102 1/3 innings last year between the majors and minors, a personal high for him. Ideally, he will push that up this year in order to keep building towards a full starter’s workload. For now, that will be in the big league bullpen. He has options and could be sent down for regular Triple-A work at some point or perhaps injuries will open a rotation role in the majors.
As for Clevinger, it’s been a few years since he was an effective starter in the big leagues, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal this offseason. His velocity was up this spring, an encouraging sign, but the results weren’t enough to grab a roster spot. He struck out 25% of batters faced in spring games but also gave out walks at a 16.7% clip and posted a 5.02 ERA.
He’ll presumably be in the Triple-A rotation, staying ready for a potential call-up at some point. The fact that he’s not on the 40-man roster could work against him. Thomas Harrington and Wilber Dotel have 40-man spots and will also be making Triple-A starts while on optional assignment.
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Gavin Lux To Begin Season On Injured List
The Rays will be without Gavin Lux to begin the season. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reports that Lux will begin the season on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder impingement. Richie Palacios had been optioned a few days ago but will now make the Opening Day roster in place of Lux.
Lux didn’t get to have much of a spring training. He was delayed by some oblique soreness earlier on and then his right shoulder became “cranky” in recent days, in the words of manager Kevin Cash, per Topkin. Around those issues, he got into just seven Grapefruit League contests and hit .190/.190/.238.
Perhaps the shoulder is still bugging him or the Rays want Lux to spend more time getting into a groove on a rehab assignment, as opposed to playing at the big league level. Whatever the reasoning, the Rays are starting the season with both of their planned middle infielders on the shelf. Shortstop Taylor Walls has a right oblique issue and will miss the first three or four weeks of the season.
The Rays acquired Lux in the offseason and had planned on him being their everyday second baseman. With the Reds last year, he put up roughly league average offense while bouncing around the diamond, spending time at second base, third base and left field. The Rays opened second base when they traded Brandon Lowe to the Pirates. They acquired Lux and expressed confidence that the best path forward for him was to be planted at the keystone, as opposed to moving around to different spots.
That plan will now be on pause for the time being. At this point, there’s nothing to indicate this is a major issue. Opening Day IL stints can be backdated by three days, so it’s possible Lux only misses a week to start the season.
The middle infield feels like a weak spot for the Rays. Walls was going to be the shortstop, despite the fact that he hasn’t hit in his career. His injury has seemingly opened the door for Carson Williams to get some reps at short. Williams has notable skills but massive strikeout issues. There’s also some playing time open at second base now, with guys like Palacios, Ben Williamson and Ryan Vilade in the mix there. Jadher Areinamo is on the 40-man but hasn’t yet played at the Triple-A level, so the Rays presumably want to keep him on optional assignment.
Until Lux and/or Walls come back, that appears to be the middle infield group. With other teams making their final roster decisions ahead of Opening Day, some players will become available by being released, opting out of their contracts or getting put on waivers. Even before these injuries, the Rays felt like they needed a bit more middle infield depth. They acquired guys like Tsung-Che Cheng and Brett Wisely during the offseason but couldn’t hold them. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them adding a guy or two in the coming days.
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Guardians Outright Nolan Jones; Hunter Gaddis, George Valera Likely Starting Season On IL
TODAY: Jones accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
MARCH 20: The Guardians outrighted outfielder Nolan Jones off the roster, reports Zack Meisel of The Athletic. That indicates the Guards passed him through waivers in recent days. Their 40-man count drops to 39. Jones has the right to elect free agency but likely won’t do so because he would have to forfeit his $2MM salary. Meisel adds that right-hander Hunter Gaddis and outfielder George Valera are highly likely to begin the season on the injured list.
Jones, 28 in May, seemed to have a breakout season with the Rockies in 2023. He had a 20-20 season that year in just 106 games. His .297/.389/.542 batting line translated to a 137 wRC+. He got some help from a .401 batting average on balls in play but it would have been a strong campaign even with more neutral luck in that department. On the whole, FanGraphs considered him to be worth 3.7 wins above replacement that year.
He has been far less productive since then. His offense cratered in 2024. The Rockies traded him back to the Guardians, his original organization, ahead of the 2025 season. Returning to Cleveland didn’t help him get back on track. He has a .218/.307/.311 line and 71 wRC+ since the start of the 2024 season and his defensive metrics have also declined. Despite the diminished production and the fact that Jones is out of options, the Guards tendered him a contract this winter. Jones and the club avoided arbitration with a $2MM pre-tender deal in November.
Jones also hasn’t had a good spring, having hit .152/.222/.303 in 36 plate appearances. Given the downward trend with his performance, his out-of-options status and his salary, it’s unsurprising that no club claimed him via waivers.
Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to walk away from their remaining salary commitments in doing so. Jones has three years and seven days of service. If he were to elect free agency, he would have to leave $2MM on the table. It seems highly likely that he’ll head to Triple-A and look to get back on track at that level.
As for the injuries, Meisel didn’t provide specifics but both players have been slowed by minor issues in recent weeks. Gaddis made just one in-game appearance this spring, which was back in late February. He then experienced some forearm tightness and underwent imaging, which came back clean, per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. His timeline still isn’t clear. A season-opening stint on the 15-day IL can be backdated three days, so he could be back less than two weeks into the season, though that scenario is obviously dependant on him building back up to readiness in that time frame.
Gaddis has been a key setup arm for the Guards in recent years, with 68 holds since the start of 2024. He posted a 3.11 earned run average last year while striking out 26.6% of opponents and limiting walks to a 7.7% clip. For whatever time Gaddis misses, guys like Shawn Armstrong and Erik Sabrowski will move up to leverage roles in front of closer Cade Smith.
Valera was diagnosed with a mild left calf strain about a week ago, per Stebbins. Assuming he hits the 10-day IL to start the year, that subtracts him from the Opening Day outfield mix. If the injury proves to be mild, perhaps he could be back a week into the season with the three-day backdating, but his timeline from a health perspective isn’t clear.
Meisel notes that Steven Kwan will play at least some center field this year. He had primarily been a left fielder in recent seasons, with just one inning in center since 2022. Time will tell how often they’ll put Kwan in the middle spot but that should give them greater flexibility to work in other guys. Valera will be in that outfield rotation when he’s healthy. For now, Chase DeLauter, Ángel Martínez, C.J. Kayfus and Daniel Schneemann appear to be jockeying for the outfield playing time. Petey Halpin was optioned today, per Meisel, so he’ll start the season in Triple-A.
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RJ Petit Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
Rockies right-hander RJ Petit underwent Tommy John surgery with an internal brace on Friday, per Thomas Harding of MLB.com. He will miss the entire 2026 season and likely part of 2027 as well.
Petit, 26, was the top pick in the most recent Rule 5 draft. The Tigers left him unprotected even though he had just finished a strong 2025 season. He tossed 66 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 2.44 earned run average, 29.5% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 42.1% ground ball rate. While Petit was doing that, the Rockies were losing 119 games, therefore getting the top Rule 5 pick.
The righty made a few spring training appearances but it was revealed a couple of weeks ago that he had suffered a sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament. It seems that Petit and the Rockies took some time to consider the options before it was decided that surgery was necessary.
Petit should be placed on the 60-day injured list whenever the Rockies need a 40-man roster spot. He’ll spend the 2026 season earning big league pay and service time. The 60-day IL goes away five days after the World Series, so the Rockies would need to give him a spot at that time or else put him on waivers. If he clears waivers, he would have to be offered back to the Tigers.
Normally, a team gains full control of a Rule 5 player after holding him for a full season. However, the player has to be active for at least 90 days. If the Rockies want to keep Petit, they would have to keep him on the roster throughout the 2026-27 offseason. They could theoretically put him on the injured list to start the 2027 campaign and then activate him once he’s healthy. If were healthy in time to be active for 90 days in 2027, they would then gain his full rights. That would end the Rule 5 parameters and the Rockies could then option him to the minors.
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Grayson Rodriguez To Begin Season On Injured List
TODAY: Suzuki told reporters (including Jack Janes) today that Rodriguez will indeed be placed on the IL. This sets Kochanowicz and Johnson up as rotation members, and Walbert Urena will also make the team in a long relief role. The 22-year-old Urena will be making his big league debut whenever he makes his first appearance for the Halos.
MARCH 19: Angels right-hander Grayson Rodriguez may begin the season on the injured list. Manager Kurt Suzuki told reporters, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, that Rodriguez has a “dead arm” and will be slowed down. With Opening Day now just a week away, that makes it possible Rodriguez starts the season on the 15-day injured list, depending on how things progress in the coming days.
At this point, it doesn’t appear to be a major issue. Rodriguez isn’t even being shut down, with Fletcher noting that he still threw today, but it’s concerning nonetheless. Injuries have been in the spotlight for Rodriguez in recent years. He made 43 starts for the Orioles in 2023 and the first half of the 2024 season. He hasn’t made an official start since July of 2024, primarily due to shoulder issues.
He underwent elbow debridement surgery in August of last year. He was flipped to the Angels early this offseason in a one-for-one-trade for outfielder Taylor Ward. After that deal, Rodriguez spoke about his health and seemed optimistic. He said that he had been dealing with bone spurs in his elbow for three or four years. He believed this was adding stress to his shoulder and causing his numerous problems with that part of his arm.
For Rodriguez to now be dealing with arm problems once again is less than ideal. Perhaps it will remain a fairly minor issue but the Angels don’t have a lot of margin for error. They came into camp with a rotation projected to include José Soriano, Yusei Kikuchi, Reid Detmers, Alek Manoah and Rodriguez. Soriano and Kikuchi are fine but the group is fairly questionable after that.
Detmers had a 3.96 ERA in relief last year but a 6.70 ERA as a starter the year prior. He has a 7.27 ERA in spring training so far. Like Rodriguez, Manoah is looking to bounce back after a lengthy injury absence, but he has a 9.39 ERA this spring.
If Manoah gets optioned or Rodriguez needs to spend some time on the IL, that could open a spot for Jack Kochanowicz. He’s having a good spring but posted a 6.81 ERA in the big leagues last year. Fletcher suggested yesterday that Ryan Johnson has a chance to earn a spot, getting an aggressive Opening Day nod yet again. The Angels gave him a spot in their bullpen to begin last season even though he hadn’t yet played a game as a professional. He posted a 7.36 ERA through early May, at which point he was optioned down to High-A.
It’s worth reiterating that there’s still nothing to indicate Rodriguez is dealing with any kind of major issue. He may still avoid the IL if he feels better in the coming days. Even if he lands on the shelf, Opening Day IL stints can be backdated three days, so he could be back in less than two weeks.
But the Angels are going into a season where they hope to contend but need a lot of things to go right in order to that to be possible. They went 72-90 last year and didn’t make strong moves to upgrade the roster this winter. The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs give them just a 4.9% chance of cracking the postseason. The PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus are even more pessimistic, giving the Halos just a 0.1% chance.
A minor setback for a club’s fourth starter wouldn’t always be a cause for worry but it looms larger for the Angels than with other clubs since any setback can further diminish already-slim those odds.
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Angels Release Chris Taylor
TODAY: The Angels officially announced Taylor’s release.
MARCH 20: Veteran infielder/outfielder Chris Taylor was in camp with the Angels on a minor league deal. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Taylor has opted out of his deal and has been informed that he will not make the club. He’ll be a free agent whenever he is officially released. He was one of several veterans who could opt out of minor league deals this week.
Taylor, 35, spent many years with the Dodgers as the league’s top super utility guy. From 2017 to 2023, he hit .256/.336/.444 while stealing 76 bases and playing every position outside of first base and the battery. But he hit just .202/.298/.300 in 2024 and was worse in 2025, getting released. He ended up with the Angels but finished the season with a combined .186/.256/.301 line.
He returned to the Angels this offseason but had to settle for a minor league deal. He had a good showing in camp, putting up a .231/.388/.410 line in 49 plate appearances, but it appears the Angels are putting more stock in his larger sample of regular season work over the past two years.
The Halos have had an open battle for their second base job this spring and the decisions appear to be coming into focus. Christian Moore was optioned a few days ago. Vaughn Grissom has a left hand injury and may start the season on the injured list.
With Taylor now out, that seemingly leaves Adam Frazier to get the job. He has hit .310/.429/.414 this spring and his left-handed bat would help to balance a lineup that otherwise skews to the right. Oswald Peraza has had a nice spring and seemingly earned a job on the bench. Switch-hitter Jeimer Candelario could also get a roster spot if Grissom does indeed hit the IL.
If Frazier and Candelario both make the team, they would need spots on the 40-man roster. One spot can easily be opened by placing Anthony Rendon on the 60-day IL, since he’s not expected to play this year. Robert Stephenson could be another 60-day IL candidate since he may have damage in the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.
Taylor will head to the open market and to see what opportunities await him. He won’t be helped by his performance in 2024 and 2025 but his defensive versatility could help him fit with many clubs and his bat looked a bit better in camp just now, for whatever that’s worth.
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Braves Reassign JR Ritchie To Minor League Camp
Atlanta announced a series of camp cuts today. Arguably, the most notable name in the bunch is that of right-handed pitching prospect JR Ritchie, who has been reassigned to minor league camp.
Ritchie is still quite young, turning 23 in June, and isn’t on the 40-man roster. He didn’t come into spring training with a great path to a season-opening roster spot but his odds kept improving as guys ahead of him on the depth chart kept dropping off.
Spencer Schwellenbach hit the 60-day injured list as soon as camp opened due to elbow inflammation. Hurston Waldrep also had an elbow issue pop up and both pitchers underwent surgeries to remove loose bodies from their elbows. Their respective timelines aren’t clear but each will likely be out for at least a few months. A few weeks later, Joey Wentz tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, meaning he’s already done for the year.
Those three subtractions nudged Ritchie into the conversation. Atlanta still had Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López and Grant Holmes in four spots but those guys all have varying levels of health question marks. Bryce Elder, José Suarez, Martín Pérez and others were around as options for the fifth spot, with Ritchie potentially in that mix as well.
Last year, Ritchie surged from High-A to Double-A and then Triple-A. Across those three levels, he posted a 2.64 earned run average. His 9.6% walk rate was close to par while his 24.8% strikeout rate and 49.6% ground ball rate were both a bit better than average. He popped up at the back end of most top 100 prospect lists coming into this year.
In the small sample of spring training, Ritchie did his best to force his way into the picture. He made four starts with a 2.25 ERA. His 11.6% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 32.6% of batters faced and induced grounders on 45.5% of balls in play.
The club had different paths available, with pros and cons to each. Ritchie is the upside play and he would have put the Prospect Promotion Incentive on the table, but giving him a shot would have meant sacrificing depth. Elder and Suarez are both of options. If they don’t have spots on the active roster, they would need to be removed from the 40-man. Pérez can opt out of his minor league deal if not added to the roster.
If Ritchie had the fifth starter spot, one other pitcher could be in the bullpen as a long reliever but they would probably have to let go of at least one, if not two of those other guys. By sending Ritchie down to start the season in the minors, they can perhaps have Elder in the fifth starter spot, with Suarez and/or Perez in the bullpen.
It seems Atlanta will take the latter path, which has less upside but allows them to keep more arms in the mix. It’s an understandable decision, given the likelihood of further injuries. Sale has been very injury prone in recent years, making more than 20 starts just once since 2019. Strider missed most of 2024 recovering from elbow surgery and was mediocre in his return last year. López made just one start in 2025 due to shoulder surgery. Holmes was diagnosed with a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament last year. He opted for non-surgical rehab and now appears healthy but there’s naturally still some worry about him going forward.
Teams generally need 10 to 15 starters to get through a season. Atlanta has already seen their depth tested. With plenty of question marks still in the mix, it’s defensible to opt for preserving what they have. Time will tell how they juggle the Elder, Suarez and Pérez mix. Ritchie will head to Triple-A and try to position himself to get a call when the time comes.
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