Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Michael Fulmer Elects Free Agency

By | at

TODAY: Fulmer cleared waivers and was outrighted off Boston’s 40-man roster, but MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith writes that Fulmer has chosen to become a free agent rather than accept the outright assignment.

APRIL 18: The Red Sox announced that they have designated right-hander Michael Fulmer for assignment. That opens a roster spot for righty Hunter Dobbins, who has been recalled to the big league club. The Sox also reinstated third baseman Alex Bregman from the paternity list and optioned infielder/outfielder Nick Sogard.

Fulmer, 32, was just selected to Boston’s roster a few days ago. On Monday, starter Tanner Houck was obliterated by the Rays, allowing 11 earned in in 2 1/3 innings. Fulmer came in and tossed 2 2/3, allowing three earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out two. He hasn’t pitched since then but the Sox needed to make room for Dobbins, who is making a spot start tonight, which has bumped Fulmer off the roster.

It may end up being a pretty unceremonious end to a fairly long pairing between the Sox and Fulmer. He underwent UCL revision surgery late in October of 2023 and was going to miss the entire 2024 season. He then signed a two-year minor league deal with the Red Sox, to cover his recovery and potential return in 2025.

The Red Sox stretched him out as a starter this year, an interesting choice as he had been working in relief prior to signing with them. He had a 0.79 ERA in the spring and then a 3.09 ERA in three minor league outings before coming to the big leagues for his aforementioned mop-up outing on Monday.

It’s a pretty small sample and tough to draw many conclusions from it. Now that he’s been sent into DFA limbo, the Sox will have a week to either trade him or pass him through waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours so any trade talks would have to come together in the next five days.

Prior to his lengthy layoff, Fulmer had some interesting career highlights. He won American League Rookie of the Year in 2016, tossing 159 innings for the Tigers with a 3.06 ERA. His results dipped a bit in the following years and then he missed 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He returned and found some success in a move to the bullpen, with a 2.97 ERA in 2021.  But that ERA jumped to 3.39 in 2022 and 4.42 the year after, before he required another trip to the surgeon’s table.

Perhaps Fulmer will find some interest based on that track record. If he clears waivers, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Nicky Lopez Elects Free Agency

By | at

April 20: Lopez has elected free agency, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

April 18: The Angels announced that shortstop Zach Neto has been reinstated from the injured list. It was reported yesterday that Neto was likely to be reinstated for this weekend. In a corresponding move, infielder Nicky Lopez has been designated for assignment.

Lopez, 30, signed with the Halos just before Opening Day. He had signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the winter but opted out of that pact when he wasn’t going to break camp with the Cubbies.

For the Angels, they were looking to cover up for a number of infield injuries. Neto underwent shoulder surgery in November and was going to miss the early portions of the 2025 season. Third baseman Anthony Rendon required hip surgery in February and is going to be out of action for a while. To help fill in the infield depth, the club brought in Lopez, Yoán Moncada, Tim Anderson, Kevin Newman and J.D. Davis. Moncada has also been hurt and is currently on the IL due to a thumb sprain.

Despite all of the injuries, Lopez hasn’t really received any playing time. He has six plate appearances across five games, not reaching base in any of them. Anderson had taken over the shortstop position. He didn’t hit much but his glovework received decent grades in his small sample of work. With Neto’s return, he’ll be downgraded into a bench role anyhow. Luis Rengifo is holding down third while Kyren Paris is having a breakout, taking over the second base position while hitting .326/.426/.717.

Lopez already seemed somewhat superfluous on the roster, with Neto’s return squeezing him out even further. The Angels will now technically have a week of DFA limbo time to figure out what’s next, but Lopez has enough service time to reject an outright assignment, so he seems likely to be a free agent within a week’s time.

Generally speaking, he’s been a light-hitting glove-first infielder in his career. He has a .247/.311/.313 batting line in 2,352 big league plate appearances, with that line translating to a 73 wRC+. Reviews on his shortstop glovework are mixed as he has -11 Defensive Runs Saved but 33 Outs Above Average. He also has lots of experience at the other infield positions with good marks there, and some brief left field work as well.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Dodgers To Select Eddie Rosario, Place Shohei Ohtani On Paternity List

By | at

The Dodgers are going to select outfielder Eddie Rosario to their roster. He will take the active roster spot of designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who is going on the paternity list. Right-hander Edgardo Henriquez will go on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Rosario. The club hasn’t announced any of the moves yet. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic first reported that Rosario was with the club in Arlington and that Ohtani would be going on the paternity list. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register relayed that Henriquez would be the corresponding move.

Rosario, 33, signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers in the offseason. He has started the season in Triple-A and put up a massive .339/.406/.542 line in 14 games at that level. That’s in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and he won’t be able to run a .419 batting average on balls in play forever, but he has a couple of home runs and is drawing walks at an 11.6% pace.

He has been incredibly streaky in recent years, so the Dodgers will see if they can ride the hot hand while Ohtani is attending the birth of his child. Rosario was actually pretty steady from 2017 to 2020, hitting .281/.317/.493 in that time for a 112 wRC+. But in 2021, he was down to .254/.296/.389 and an 88 wRC+ when he was flipped to Atlanta. He turned hot again at that time, hitting .271/.330/.573 for a 137 wRC+ with his new club. His hot/cold act continued into the playoffs, as he won NLCS MVP by hitting .560/.607/1.040 in that series. He then dropped to .227/.346/.318 during the World Series but Atlanta won it all regardless.

The seesaw production has continued since then. He hit .212/.259/.328 for a 63 wRC+ in 2022, then .255/.305/.450 for a 100 wRC+ in 2023, before dropping to .175/.215/.316 and a 45 wRC+ last year. As mentioned, he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Dodgers coming into this year. He had a rough .154/.241/.423 line in the spring before getting in a groove with Oklahoma City.

Paternity list stints last just one to three games, so Rosario might be in for a short stint on the roster while Ohtani is away. Perhaps he could stick around if he continues his recent hot streak, but that would mean giving up on someone else. Andy Pages is the only position player on the roster who can be optioned, and he’s getting regular playing time in the outfield. Players like Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernández aren’t hitting much but they provide more positional flexibility than Rosario, who can only play the outfield corners.

As for Henriquez, in early March, he suffered a left foot fracture in mysterious fashion. Manager Dave Roberts said only that there was some off-field “mishap”. His timeline is unclear but this transfer means he’s ineligible to return to the club until the middle of May at the earliest.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Twins Designate Matt Canterino For Assignment

By | at

The Twins have designated right-hander Matt Canterino for assignment, reports Phil Miller of the Minnesota Star Tribune. That’s the corresponding move to open a 40-man spot for prospect Luke Keaschall, whose promotion was reported yesterday. Catcher/infielder Mickey Gasper has been optioned to Triple-A Saint Paul to open an active roster spot for Keaschall.

Canterino, 27, underwent season-ending shoulder surgery about a month ago. Injured players aren’t allowed to be placed on outright waivers. Unless some club out there wants to trade for Canterino, he’ll be on release waivers in the coming days.

That recent surgery is just the latest in a series of health issues that have derailed Canterino’s trajectory. Once upon a time, he was a very promising prospect. The Twins selected him in the second round of the 2019 draft. He then put up a 1.44 earned run average in his first 25 professional innings.

He hasn’t been able to pitch much more than that in the subsequent years. The 2020 minor league season was canceled by the pandemic. Canterino logged 23 innings in 2021 with a 0.78 ERA and 37 innings in 2022 with a 1.95 ERA, battling through ongoing elbow problems. He eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in August of 2022.

The talent was enough that the Twins didn’t want him to be exposed to the Rule 5 draft, so he got a 40-man roster spot in November of 2022. He then missed all of 2023 while recovering from his surgery. A return in 2024 seemed possible until shoulder problems set him back. As mentioned, those shoulder issues ultimately resulted in surgery about a month ago.

At this point, Canterino hasn’t pitched in any official game action since the summer of 2022 and he won’t be returning soon. The numbers have been good, including huge strikeout totals, but the health problems have been so considerable that the Twins would be forgiven for running out of hope about his future.

Sometimes, in these situations, a player will be released and then rejoin his club via a minor league deal. The Twins would likely have interest in that scenario, as they could keep Canterino around without giving him a roster spot. However, he would have the ability to speak with the 29 other teams before signing a new pact.

Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Grayson Rodriguez Getting Second Opinion On Shoulder

By | at

April 18: Hyde said today that Rodriguez is getting a second opinion after receiving the results of his MRI, per Weyrich.

April 17: Orioles manager Brandon Hyde provided a troubling update about right-hander Grayson Rodriguez today, with video shared by Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun. Hyde says that Rodriguez recently had a side session canceled due to some shoulder soreness and was sent for an MRI today.

The results of that imaging haven’t come back yet but it’s a less than ideal development regardless. Rodriguez started the season on the 15-day injured list due to some soreness in his elbow/triceps area. He’s been trying to ramp back up lately, throwing bullpen sessions, but that now all seems to be up in the air.

For a pitcher to be dealing with simultaneous elbow and shoulder troubles is a worrisome state of affairs in any context, but it’s also notable given his track record. Rodriguez dealt with shoulder problems at times last year as well. He had a stint of almost three weeks on the IL in May, with right shoulder inflammation listed as his official ailment. He was back on the IL in early August due to right lat/teres discomfort. The injury was initially described as mild and the O’s hoped to have him back late in the year but that ultimately did not come to pass. A notable lat strain also impacted him as a prospect in 2022, shutting him down for about three months and delaying his major league debut until the 2023 campaign.

Needless to say, it’s not what the Orioles want. They came into this season with Rodriguez and Zach Eflin as the top two pitchers in the projected rotation. Rodriguez has been out all season with his elbow inflammation and now has shoulder problems on top of that. Eflin made three starts before himself landing on the IL due to a lat strain. He played catch yesterday for the first time since that IL placement, per Weyrich, and still seems to have some boxes to check.

There are other injuries as well. Kyle Bradish had Tommy John surgery in June of last year and won’t be available until the second half even in a best-case scenario. Tyler Wells also had UCL surgery in June of last year. Chayce McDermott is on the IL with a lat strain, like Eflin. Trevor Rogers is on the IL with kneecap subluxation. Swingman Albert Suárez is also on the shelf, in his case due to shoulder inflammation.

Going into the offseason, many observers expected the O’s to be aggressive in adding to their rotation. They had lost Bradish to his surgery and Corbin Burnes to free agency. With a new owner in place, it was expected that some new payroll parameters could allow them to play at the top or perhaps the middle of the free agent market.

Instead, the O’s added some veteran back-end guys. They gave a one-year deal to 41-year-old Charlie Morton and another one-year pact to Tomoyuki Sugano. The latter is a bit younger than the former but is 35 and came into this year with no big league experience, looking to make the move from Japan.

With all the injuries, things aren’t going great. Morton has an 8.84 ERA thus far. Sugano’s 3.86 ERA looks better but an 84.2% strand rate is helping him work around an 8.1% strikeout rate. Cade Povich has stepped up and posted a solid 3.60 ERA in three starts but Dean Kremer is at 6.41.

Kyle Gibson will join the group eventually but he is still building up due to a late signing. He got up to 3 2/3 innings in his most recent minor league start. Brandon Young has no major league experience but is on the 40-man and putting up good numbers in Triple-A. Cody Poteet is also on the 40-man but has been working in relief in the minors, with nine earned runs allowed in five innings.

The season is still very young but the O’s are 7-10 and currently in the basement of a very competitive American League East. They entered spring training with a top-heavy rotation featuring two front-end guys in Rodriguez and Eflin and a lot of back-end candidates, though they’ve gotten almost nothing from that Eflin/Rodriguez duo so far. Ideally, both will be getting back to the team in the coming weeks/months, but this update adds an unsettling level of uncertainty.

Rays Select Chandler Simpson

By | at

The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Chandler Simpson. Outfielder Richie Palacios is heading back to the injured list with a right knee sprain. Right-hander Alex Faedo has been transferred to the 60-day IL as the corresponding move to get Simpson onto the 40-man. Faedo started the season on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation. His current status is unclear but he’s now ineligible to return until late May at the earliest. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

Simpson, 24, is one of the most interesting prospects in baseball on account of his base-stealing acumen. The Rays drafted him with the 70th overall pick in 2022, a Competitive Balance Round B selection. In his first full professional season in 2023, he stole 81 bases in 93 attempts, appearing in just 91 games. Last year, he got into 110 minor league games and swiped 104 bags in 121 attempts. He is 8 for 11 so far here in 2025.

His work at the plate has been competent enough, in a powerless sort of way. He has 1,120 minor league plate appearances thus far across various levels. He has just one home run, which was of the inside-the-park variety. But has walked more than he has struck out, a 9.6% rate of free passes compared to an 8.8% rate of punchouts. That has helped him produce a bizarrely level slash line of .324/.389/.371. That translates to a 123 wRC+, indicating he’s been 23% above league average overall.

It’s a very intriguing combination. Many recent speed specialists have had their production undercut by an inability to put the bat on the ball and/or get on base. Billy Hamilton spent many years as baseball’s fastest man but he hit just .239/.292/.325 in his big league career. While he was a good bet for 50-plus steals annually and some highlight-reel catches, the lack of offense made him difficult to roster. Guys like Juan Pierre, Rajai Davis and Dee Strange-Gordon were somewhat similar, swiping hundreds of bags but with subpar hitting.

If Simpson can get on base a bit more than guys in that group, perhaps he can be a bit more of a difference maker. Though even if not, a player with elite speed and can still be plenty valuable on the basepaths and in the outfield.

Prospect evaluators are a bit split on what kind of big league impact Simpson can make. FanGraphs is one outlet that is especially bullish, as they ranked him the #72 prospect in all of baseball heading into this season. They noted that his contact ability is almost at the level of guys like Luis Arráez and Steven Kwan, though a smidge below. However, they also caution that speed-and-defense players like Myles Straw and Nick Madrigal offer a sort of cautionary tale of how things could go wrong for Simpson with little offensive impact.

The report from FanGraphs also adds that the defense is a work in progress. Simpson was a second baseman in college and is still getting used to the outfield. They note that his routes aren’t always great but his speed gives him a lot of room for error. If he can continue to develop his routes, there’s a tremendous ceiling there.

ESPN gave Simpson the #91 spot heading into the season but Simpson didn’t crack the top 100 with Baseball America, MLB Pipeline or Keith Law of The Athletic. BA ranked him #8 in the Rays’ system coming into the year, seemingly with a bit more concern about the defense and lack of power.

The divisive scouting reports mean that the prospect promotion incentive is not at play here. To be PPI eligible, a player must be on two of the BA/ESPN/MLB Pipeline lists and Simpson only cracked one. It’s too late in the season now for Simpson to get a full year of service time. Even if he’s up for good, he won’t be able to qualify for free agency until after 2031, though he has a chance to reach arbitration after 2027 as a Super Two player.

The Rays have three outfielders on the IL in Palacios, Jonny DeLuca and Josh Lowe. Their outfield playing time has been going to Kameron Misner, Christopher Morel, Jake Mangum and José Caballero lately. Simpson will slot into that group and test his mettle against big league pitching.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Mike Clevinger

By | at

April 18: Clevinger cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He has enough major league service to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

April 16: The White Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Steven Wilson. In a corresponding move, fellow righty Mike Clevinger has been designated for assignment. The Sox also announced that righty Justin Anderson, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte.

Clevinger, 34, had some good years as a starter but never seemed to get back on track after Tommy John surgery. From 2017 through 2020, he posted a 2.96 earned run average and 28% strikeout rate across 489 1/3 innings in the majors. But he missed 2021 while recovering from TJS and hasn’t been able to get the punchouts back. From 2022 to 2024, he had a 4.20 ERA and 19.4% strikeout rate.

In 2024, he lingered unsigned into April before signing a $3MM deal with the White Sox. After a ramp-up period, he joined the club in May, making four starts before landing on the injured list with elbow inflammation. In July, he underwent season-ending disc replacement surgery in his neck.

Going into 2025, the Sox re-signed him via a minor league deal with the plan of trying him out in the bullpen. He tossed six scoreless innings in the spring and cracked the Opening Day roster but the regular season hasn’t been kind to him. So far, he has made eight appearances but logged just 5 2/3 innings. He has struck out three opponents but issued eight walks and allowed five earned runs.

It seems the Sox have decided to quickly pull the ripcord on the experiment. Given his poor results and $1.5MM salary this year, it’s unlikely there will be much interest from other clubs around the league. As a player with at least five years of service time, Clevinger has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping his salary in place. Unless he wants to report to Triple-A Charlotte and continue the relief experiment, he seems likely to be a free agent at some point in the next week.

Wilson, 30, was outrighted off the club’s roster in February. That left him to start the season in Triple-A, which has gone well so far. He has thrown 5 1/3 innings with one earned run, ten strikeouts and one walk. His big league track record consists of 140 2/3 innings between the Padres and White Sox with a 4.03 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate. He still has a full slate of options, so he’ll give the Sox an extra bullpen arm with some roster flexibility.

Anderson has hit the three-year mark in terms of service time, which gives him the right to reject his outright assignment. However, since he has less than five years, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary to elect free agency. He and the Sox avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $900K salary this year. Presumably, he’ll want to keep that coming and will report to Triple-A Charlotte. He’ll give the Sox some non-roster depth and try to work his way back to the big leagues.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Orioles To Promote Brandon Young For MLB Debut

By | at

Orioles right-hander Brandon Young will start Saturday’s game, making his major league debut. Jake Rill of MLB.com was among those to relay the update. Young has been added to the taxi squad for now and will be officially recalled prior to his start. He is already on the 40-man roster, so the O’s will only need to make a corresponding active roster move.

Young, 26, is one of Baltimore’s top pitching prospects. He went undrafted in 2020, the year in which the draft was shortened by the pandemic to just five rounds. He signed with Baltimore and has since been climbing through the minors and raising his stock, though Tommy John surgery led to him missing most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Around that long rehab process, he has tossed 265 minor league innings, allowing 3.57 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 28.5% of opponents while only giving out walks at an 8% clip. Last year, he tossed 111 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.57 ERA. His strikeout and walks rates matched his overall track record, coming in at 28.5% and 8% respectively.

That was strong enough that the O’s didn’t want to risk losing him in the Rule 5 draft, so they added him to their 40-man roster in November. Baseball America ranked him the club’s #20 prospect coming into this year, suggesting he could become a back-end starter in the big leagues. His somewhat tepid fastball velocity, which averaged 92.5 miles per hour last year, seemed to make BA a bit bearish. FanGraphs is a bit more bullish, recently giving Young the #6 spot in the organization, believing that improvements to his curveball and changeup give him a bit of a higher ceiling.

He has started this year in the Triple-A rotation, posting a 2.76 ERA in his first three starts. Though Young has been putting up good numbers, his promotion perhaps says more about what’s going on elsewhere on the roster. The Orioles have Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells, Trevor Rogers, Albert Suárez and Chayce McDermott all on the injured list. That leaves them with a current rotation core of Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Dean Kremer and Cade Povich.

The O’s have been able to get by with a four-man rotation recently. Eflin was the most recent injury, landing on the IL April 8th. Since then, the off-days on April 10th and 14th gave the club some natural breathing room. But they are now halfway through a six-game stretch and then an off-day on Monday will be followed by nine straight.

Young will come up and make at least one start to keep the rotation on track. He could perhaps stay a bit longer but the O’s will have Kyle Gibson entering the mix eventually. Gibson signed in the second half of March and agreed to be optioned in order to ramp up after missing spring training. He has made two Triple-A starts thus far, both between three and four innings long, so he shouldn’t be too far off.

Perhaps Young will just get one start for now or perhaps he’ll stick around for a lengthier stay. That will likely depend upon his own performance as well as the health of the other pitchers on the roster going forward.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Twins To Promote Luke Keaschall

By | at

The Twins are going to promote prospect Luke Keaschall, reports Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. He is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the club will need to open a spot for him. The club is off today, so that corresponding move might not be reported until tomorrow.

Keaschall, 22, was selected by the Twins in the second round of the 2023 draft. Since then, he has been cruising through the minors, showing strong plate discipline. He has taken 662 plate appearances across 147 games for multiple minor league clubs since being drafted. In that time, his 13.6% walk rate is almost as high as his 17.5% strikeout rate. That has helped him produce a combined .297/.415/.470 batting line and 151 wRC+.

He has shown other attributes as well. He has 38 stolen bases in 45 tries. Defensively, he has played the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as center field. He required Tommy John surgery in August but has already returned to the field, since position players can return from that procedure much faster than pitchers.

That performance has made him a consensus top 100 prospect. Baseball America has him at #43, FanGraphs at #56, MLB Pipeline at #57, ESPN at #43 and Keith Law of The Athletic at #62. Scouting reports on him generally heap praise on his abilities at the plate, with bigger questions about his defense. He isn’t considered especially strong anywhere in the field. If he can stick at second, there will be less pressure on him to hit, whereas eventually getting bumped to first base or an outfield corner will give him a higher bar to clear offensively.

Despite his obvious skills, it’s a bit of an aggressive promotion, probably faster than the Twins had initially planned on. As mentioned, he just had Tommy John surgery not too long ago. He has been back on the field, playing second base and serving as the designated hitter, but has yet to play his other possible positions.

In an ideal world, the Twins probably would have given him more time to build up his post-surgery repertoire but the injury bug has hit them hard, particularly in the infield. Royce Lewis is on the major league injured list while Austin Martin and José Miranda are each on the minor league IL. Carlos Correa and Willi Castro are each still on the active roster but both are banged up. Correa didn’t start yesterday due to some wrist soreness, with Castro getting the nod at shortstop. However, Castro was removed with some oblique tightness, forcing Correa to sub in defensively. In addition to all those infield injuries, outfielder Matt Wallner also landed on the IL today.

Those injury issues have left the Twins scrambling a bit. They acquired infielder Jonah Bride, who had been designated for assignment by the Marlins, in a cash deal. He has experience at all the non-shortstop infield positions. The Twins have Ty France and Edouard Julien getting regular playing time at first and second base, respectively. Brooks Lee should be able to cover shortstop or third. If Correa or Castro feel better soon, they would obviously be in the mix.

There’s also the designated hitter spot, which has mostly been filled by Trevor Larnach this year. However, Wallner’s injury might push him into the outfield more regularly, alongside Byron Buxton and Harrison Bader, with DaShawn Keirsey Jr. around as well.

Time will tell exactly how the Twins want to arrange the defensive alignments, but with so many key contributors on the shelf or banged up, they can use all the help they can get. Perhaps Keaschall and Julien will platoon a bit at second, since Keaschall is a righty and Julien a lefty, though the Twins presumably prefer to have a key prospect like Keaschall playing more regularly than in a short-side platoon role.

At this point, it’s too late in the season for Keaschall to earn a full year of service time, at least in the traditional way. That means the Twins will not be eligible to receive an extra draft pick via the prospect promotion incentive. It will be possible for Keaschall to retroactively earn a full year if he finishes in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, though guys like Kristian Campbell and Jacob Wilson already have a headstart on him. It’s also possible that the Twins get some guys healthy again in the coming weeks and return Keaschall to the minors. Though if he continues hitting the way he has on the farm, he might make that a tough call for them.

Photos courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Rockies Fire Hitting Coach Hensley Meulens, Clint Hurdle Named Replacement

By | at

The Rockies announced that hitting coach Hensley Meulens has been relieved of his duties. Special assistant to the general manager Clint Hurdle has been named hitting coach for the remainder of the season.

It’s an unusual move, as coaching changes don’t usually happen so early in a season. There’s no denying that the results haven’t been pretty for the club in the early going. They are currently 3-15, the worst record in the majors. Their team-wide batting line of .220/.285/.344 translates to a 65 wRC+, also worst in the majors.

But that’s not exactly a surprising development. The club finished the past two seasons with more than 100 losses and did very little to improve the team in the winter. They are one of the few clubs that came into the 2025 season with no real hopes of contending. It would be hard to lay all of the blame on the hitting coach when the roster mostly features unestablished young players and veteran journeymen.

Presumably, the Rockies once felt that Meulens was the right guy to help their young hitters develop. If not, then they probably should have made this move in the winter as opposed to 18 games into the campaign. Perhaps more information will come to light and help put this into context, but for now, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher.

Meulens, 57, played in the majors from 1989 to 1998. After his playing days ended, he pivoted to a coaching career, starting in the minor leagues. He got his first major league coaching gig in 2010 when he became the hitting coach of the Giants. That club won the World Series three times while he was in the dugout. He then had stints as the bench coach for the Mets and assistant hitting coach for the Yankees before joining the Rockies as hitting coach ahead of the 2023 season.

Hurdle, 67, also has a lengthy baseball track record. He played in the majors from 1977 to 1987. He quickly pivoted to a managerial career, getting started with some minor league work after his playing days ended. He joined the Rockies organization in 1994, working as a minor league instructor, and eventually got the big league skipper job in 2002. He held that role for many years and was at the helm for the club’s run to the World Series in 2007, though he was fired partway through the 2009 season.

He served as the Rangers’ hitting coach in 2010 and then got another managerial job a year later, joining the Pirates for the 2011 campaign. He skippered the Pirates through 2019, steering the club to their only three postseason appearances this millenium, which were from 2013-2015. He returned to the Rockies as a special assistant to the general manager in November of 2021 but is now set to return to the dugout.

Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top