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Brewers Notes: Pitching, Hall, Wilson, Roller

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As the Brewers continue to manage significant injuries in both the rotation and bullpen, the team is continuing to look for “all pitching,” as a source on a rival club tells FanSided’s Robert Murray.  The recent acquisitions of Aaron Civale of the Rays and Dallas Keuchel from the Mariners might be just the first steps for the Brew Crew in bolstering the pitching staff for a possible postseason run, as Milwaukee holds a six-game lead in the NL Central despite dealing with a patchwork rotation.

The Civale/Keuchel moves could provide some insight into the types of deals the Brewers may pursue, as acquiring starters for upside or depth purposes seem likelier than a blockbuster trade for a clear-cut ace.  The latter type of a move would probably come at either (or both) a significant financial or prospect cost, which the Brewers might not want to pursue given both their payroll limitations or the added importance of their minor league pipeline within this more limited financial landscape.  This doesn’t mean president of baseball operations Matt Arnold won’t explore all options in improving the team, of course, as any number of unexpected deals could emerge on Milwaukee’s radar.

The extent of the Brewers’ deadline plans will also naturally hinge on how many of their own pitchers are healthy by July 30.  Some help is coming on this front soon, as DL Hall tossed three innings in a minor league rehab start yesterday, and Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (X link) writes that Hall’s next appearance is expected to be in the majors.

Hall’s last appearance in the Show came on April 20, as he was placed on the 15-day and then the 60-day injured list due to a left knee sprain that involved some MCL damage.  The left-hander is trying to pitch through the discomfort to some extent, and the Brewers have seemingly given Hall plenty of runway in the form of eight minor league rehab outings.  With a 1.84 ERA over those eight games and 14 2/3 total innings, Hall looks to be in good form, though he has only twice hit the 61-pitch plateau, and hasn’t thrown more than 62 pitches.

As Hogg notes, Hall wouldn’t necessarily be returned to the Brewers’ rotation once he is activated, as he could instead work out of the bullpen.  Hall posted a 7.71 ERA in four starts prior to his IL placement, but he had a 3.26 ERA over 19 1/3 frames working out of the Orioles’ bullpen in 2023.  While small sample sizes abound for a pitcher who has only 49 1/3 career innings as a big leaguer, Hall’s relief work last season was highlighted by a 6.2% walk rate — a significant improvement from the control problems Hall has shown throughout much of the rest of his career in both the majors and minors.

Moving Hall to the pen for now wouldn’t close the door on his starting future, of course, as Hall is still just 25 and has long been a staple of top-100 prospect lists.  The Crew could re-examine his potential as a starter next spring or even later this year as circumstances develop, but using Hall as a reliever (and perhaps a multi-inning reliever) might be a canny way of helping the team achieve more immediate success this season.

While it is a reach to say that the Brewers may soon have a surplus of rotation options, Civale’s addition has already led the club to move Bryse Wilson back to the bullpen.  Wilson’s 78 innings rank third among all Milwaukee pitchers this season, as he has started nine of his 20 appearances and worked as a bulk pitcher behind an opener in three more of those outings.

Moved into this pseudo-starter role in the wake of other injuries, Wilson’s initial results have been solid on the whole, if inconsistent.  The righty has a 4.27 ERA over his 78 frames, but a laundry list of below-average Statcast numbers reveal that Wilson has received some good fortune, such as a .261 BABIP and a .321 wOBA that is well below his .355 xwOBA.  Keeping Wilson as a swingman provides Milwaukee with added depth, and his career numbers as a reliever are better than his work as a starter, even if the bulk pitcher/reliever designations don’t provide an entirely clear picture of those stats.

In other Brewers news, the team outrighted outfielder Chris Roller to Triple-A yesterday after he cleared waivers.  Roller was designated for assignment last week, and since this was the first time Roller has been outrighted in his career, he couldn’t reject the assignment in favor of free agency.  He’ll now return to Triple-A Nashville, where he has posted a .201/.238/.321 slash line over 168 plate appearances this season.

The 27-year-old Roller is a veteran of seven pro seasons, all with the Dodgers and Guardians before the Brewers acquired him in a trade last August.  His time in Milwaukee has been highlighted by his Major League debut, as Roller played three innings as a defensive sub on May 15 and received one plate appearance in the Brewers’ 10-2 win over the Pirates.  This marked Roller’s only appearance in the Show, as the Brewers only temporarily needed some extra outfield depth and soon optioned him back to Nashville.

The Opener: NL Powers Clash, Red Sox/Yankees, Baz

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As Shohei Ohtani celebrates his 30th birthday today, let’s look at three headlines from around baseball heading into weekend action…

1. NL’s best square off this weekend

Possible playoff previews abound as the National League’s three division leaders and top wild card team are paired off in three-game series beginning today.  The league-leading Phillies head to Atlanta to kick off a three-game set with the Braves, beginning with a fun Aaron Nola vs. Max Fried pitching matchup in tonight’s game.  Philadelphia enjoys a healthy nine-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East race, though the Braves have won two of the three games between the two division rivals already this season, and 10 remaining head-to-head meetings gives the Braves some opportunity to directly chip away.  Atlanta could be fortunate to be catching the Phils when Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are both out of action, though the Phillies are 4-2 since their two sluggers were placed on the 10-day injured list.

In a battle of division leaders, the NL Central-leading Brewers head to Los Angeles to face the NL West-leading Dodgers.  The newly-acquired Aaron Civale will make his Milwaukee debut in tonight’s start, taking the hill against a former Rays teammate in Tyler Glasnow.  Among the storylines to watch in the series is the status of Jason Heyward, who will undergo an MRI today on his left knee after suffering an injury in yesterday’s game with the Diamondbacks.  Manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the L.A. Times) said Heyward was hurt while jumping to try and snag Joc Pederson’s first-inning home run, and Heyward was pulled from the game prior to the start of the third.

2. Red Sox vs. Yankees

One of baseball’s signature rivalries is renewed in the Bronx this weekend as the Red Sox and Yankees open up a three-game series with both teams in a playoff position.  New York is the AL’s top wild card team, while Boston has taken a half-game edge over the Royals for the third and final wild card slot.  The two clubs last met in a three-game series on June 14-16 that now seems like a bit of a turning point for both sides.

After an 8-1 loss to New York on June 14, the Red Sox won the next two games to capture the series.  That started the run of 12 wins in 16 games that has now firmly put the Sox back into the postseason hunt.  Meanwhile, the Yankees have gone in the opposite direction, with a dismal 4-13 record in their last 17 games.

3. Shane Baz returns after two-year layoff

Shane Baz is expected to start for the Rays against the World Series champion Rangers tonight, marking the end of the right-hander’s long injury rehab.  It was almost exactly two years ago (on July 10, 2022) that Baz made his last MLB appearance, as Tommy John surgery derailed his career and then his already-lengthy comeback trail was extended by an oblique strain this past spring.  Formerly one of baseball’s top prospects, Baz posted a 4.02 ERA over 40 1/3 big league innings in 2021-22, showing just some glimpses of his potential.  Nobody expects Baz to be a frontline arm right away, yet becoming a solid rotation piece and simply getting some Major League innings under his belt would be a nice result for the 25-year-old and his team.

A recent hot streak has got the Rays back over the .500 mark at 44-43, and they sit 3.5 games back of the Red Sox for the last wild card spot (with the Royals and Astros in between).  Tampa Bay will be one of the more interesting teams to watch as the trade deadline approaches, as the Civale deal is an early sign that the club will be looking to both buy and sell in its constant attempt to both manage a tight payroll and build a contending roster.

Report: White Sox Explored Extension With Garrett Crochet, Aiming For Deadline Trade

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As the White Sox look to sell at the trade deadline, the team is reportedly open to discussing pretty much everyone on the roster, ranging from short-term veterans to more controllable players like Garrett Crochet.  However, the Sox also recently had some talks with Crochet and his reps at CAA Sports about a contract extension, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.  These negotiations were “brief” and the team has “no optimism towards reaching an agreement,” and thus Nightengale writes that the White Sox are now indeed planning to move Crochet at the deadline, even though he is still under arbitration control through the 2026 season.

Crochet is on the hill against the Rockies today for the 18th start of a breakout campaign.  The southpaw has a 3.05 ERA over 94 1/3 innings, with a league-best 130 strikeouts and 12.4 K/9, plus a 34.9% strikeout rate that ranks in the 98th percentile of all pitchers.  This ability to miss bats has been paired with limited free passes, as Crochet’s 5.4% walk rate is a key stat given how he had dealt with some control issues in his young career.  Crochet’s cutter and his 96.9mph fastball are both among the deadliest pitches in the league, leaving batters fooled unless they can capitalize on his below-average slider.

This kind of production isn’t exactly a surprise, given that Crochet was the 11th overall pick of the 2020 draft and was seen as an advanced enough prospect that he made his debut that very season, tossing six innings over five appearances.  Chicago further eased him into the majors in 2021 by using him as a reliever, and Crochet delivered a 2.82 ERA over 54 1/3 innings out of the Sox bullpen.  However, the injury concerns that long surrounded Crochet struck in 2022, as a Tommy John surgery cost him the entirety of that season and limited him to 12 2/3 frames in 2023.

Though it is quite rare to see midseason extensions actually finalized, it is common practice for clubs to at least broach the idea of a longer-term deal with potential trade candidates.  After all, if a player has enough value to draw trade attention from multiple rival teams, that same player can provide value to his own team, so there’s no harm in a club seeing if any common ground could be found on a multi-year contract.

This logic even extends to a team like the White Sox, who are a lot closer to a full-on fire sale than they are to contending in the near future.  Crochet only just turned 25 this month, and has been so impressive in his first season as a starting pitcher that he looks like he could be a front-of-the-rotation staple.  Even if the Sox might internally acknowledge that it’ll take a few years to fully right the ship, Crochet is still young enough that it is possible to see him as the ace of the next contending White Sox club….as long as he isn’t traded, of course.

Interestingly, Nightengale floats the idea that a long-term contract might also factor into Crochet’s trade situation, as Crochet and his representations might quickly seek out an extension with a new team.  Since Crochet has already thrown more innings (94 1/3) in 2024 than in the rest of his pro career combined (85 1/3 innings in the majors and minors from 2020-23), Nightengale suggested that Crochet might seek out some extra financial security to mitigate the extra risk if a new team asks him to put a lot more innings on his arm over the course of the regular season and potentially into October.

In terms of how the White Sox themselves intend to manage Crochet, Nightengale writes that the club “and Crochet already have a firm plan in place to greatly limit his workload.”  This description runs somewhat counter to the looser arrangement Sox manager Pedro Grifol described to The Associated Press and other reporters earlier this week.  Grifol didn’t describe the situation as an actual innings limit, citing a hypothetical scenario where Crochet might sail through several innings in a start on a low pitch count.

“It’s not something we’re going to put out and say, ’Here’s what we’re doing,’ because nothing in this game is black and white…He’s slowly detraining through the course of the year so he can finish the season,” Grifol said.  “We’re not going to detrain him and build him back to the capacity where he was at the start of the season. This is going downhill now. We have to really monitor his workload.”

A team that acquired Crochet would surely have these same innings-management concerns in mind, which adds another wrinkle to his trade market.  Could a team with some rotation depth problems but with a fairly stable top two or three pitchers use Crochet as a starter to ensure they reach the playoffs, and then use Crochet as an (overqualified) relief weapon in the postseason?  Could a team multiple decent starters but not a clear-cut ace perhaps insert Crochet as part of a six-man rotation, in order to try and keep him fresh for the playoffs?  Or, could a team that is only a borderline contender this season acquire Crochet and stick to Chicago’s plan, perhaps more with an eye towards a full-fledged run at contention in 2025?

There is no shortage of interest in Crochet, as Nightengale reports that 15 teams have checked in with the White Sox front office about the left-hander’s services.  The Sox have already turned down one offer from the Dodgers, who stand out as a logical suitor for several reasons — their win-now mentality, their rotation needs amidst several injuries to starters, and a deep farm system that would theoretically meet Chicago’s sky-high asking price.

In terms of other White Sox trade chips, Luis Robert Jr. continues to generate interest, but Nightengale feels the Sox might not have as much motivation to move the outfielder by the deadline.  Robert missed close to two months of the season with a hip flexor strain and has only a .206/.280/.486 slash line over his first 118 plate appearances, albeit with eight home runs.  With this latest injury and Robert’s modest production in mind, the White Sox wouldn’t exactly be selling high if they dealt Robert by July 30, so the team could wait until the offseason to more fully gauge offers (after Robert has presumably finished off the 2024 season in healthy and productive fashion).  Robert’s contract comes with a pair of club options that control his services through 2027, so the White Sox have some flexibility in waiting to see if an acceptable trade offer emerges.

The Sox are also “openly shopping” Andrew Benintendi, Nightengale writes, which comes as zero surprise.  If Crochet and Robert are Chicago’s top trade chips, Benintendi represents the other end of the spectrum, as a pricey veteran who is struggling through his second consecutive rough seasons.  Since Benintendi is owed $47.5MM over the 2025-27 seasons, the White Sox would either have to eat all or virtually all of that remaining salary to facilitate a trade, or swap Benintendi for another unfavorable contract.  Neither scenario would provide much benefit to the Sox, so Benintendi could remain one for the more immovable players in the sport.

Blue Jays Acquire Yerry Rodriguez

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The Rangers and Blue Jays have completed a trade, as both clubs announced that right-hander Yerry Rodriguez is heading to Toronto in exchange for minor league righty Josh Mollerus.  Rodriguez has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo, while the Rangers assigned Mollerus to their high-A affiliate.

Texas designated Rodriguez for assignment earlier this week, and today’s trade officially ends Rodriguez’s decade-long run in the Rangers organization.  An international signing out of the Dominican Republic in September 2015, Rodriguez made his MLB debut in 2022 and has a 7.11 ERA over 31 2/3 big league innings for the Rangers over the last three seasons.  This year in particular, Rodriguez has a 6.88 ERA in 17 frames, allowing five homers and recording almost as many walks (11) as strikeouts (12).

Almost something of a control specialist during his earliest days as a prospect, Rodriguez’s walk rates have become increasingly problematic over three-plus years at the Triple-A level.  The righty has a 5.42 ERA in 151 career Triple-A innings, and his walk rate spiked up to 15.2% this season over 13 1/3 frames at Round Rock.

On the plus side, Rodriguez is a hard thrower who has a 28.16% strikeout rate in his Triple-A career.  While this swing-and-miss ability hasn’t translated yet to Rodriguez’s big league work (18.9K% in the majors), Rodriguez has stuff to appeal to other teams, and Toronto scouts may have seen something to make them think they can fix Rodriguez’s control problems.

If nothing else, the trade adds an MLB-ready reliever to the depth chart of a Blue Jays team in sore need of bullpen help.  Between the number of injuries and ineffective arms in the Jays relief corps, Rodriguez is an optionable reliever who can shuttled up and down from Triple-A a few more times when the Blue Jays are in need of a fresh arm.  A starter earlier in his career, Rodriguez has mostly transitioned over to full-time relief work, and can operate as a multi-inning reliever.

Mollerus is a University of Oregon product who was a 10th-round pick for Toronto in last year’s draft.  Mollerus’ early results have also yielded a high number of strikeouts and walks, as the right-hander has a 32.26% strikeout rate and a 15.05% walk rate over 42 1/3 pro innings.  Starting at A-level Dunedin last season, Mollerus has pitched with high-A Vancouver in 2024.

Giants Designate Spencer Howard For Assignment

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The Giants announced that right-hander Spencer Howard has been designated for assignment.  Fellow righty Landen Roupp was called up from Triple-A Sacramento in the corresponding move.

Howard signed a minor league deal with San Francisco last September, and he made it to the big league roster a month ago when his contract was selected to the Show.  Working as a starter, reliever, opener, and bulk pitcher behind an opener, Howard was holding his own until a rocky outing against the Dodgers yesterday, when he was tagged for six earned runs over 2 2/3 innings.

The tough night boosted Howard’s ERA to 5.63 over 24 innings, and prompted the Giants to remove Howard from the roster in order to bring a fresher arm in Roupp back to the majors.  Howard is out of minor league options, so the Giants had to designate him in order to attempt to send Howard down to Triple-A.

The DFA is the latest twist in the career of the former top-100 prospect, who was a second-round pick for the Phillies in the 2017 draft.  Howard was once seen as a future star during his time in Philadelphia’s farm system, but the Phils sent him to the Rangers as part of a six-player trade at the 2021 deadline, and the righty has yet to find any form against Major League batters.

Howard has a 6.93 ERA over 139 career innings with the Phillies, Rangers, and Giants, and the transition to relief pitching from starting work hasn’t seen much of an improvement in his results.  Given his past prospect pedigree, another team might put in a waiver claim to see for themselves if any late bloomer potential is there for Howard as he approaches his 28th birthday.

Guardians Reinstate Gavin Williams From 60-Day IL, Option Triston McKenzie

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The Guardians announced that Gavin Williams has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, after the right-hander has been sidelined the entire season due to elbow discomfort.  Williams will take the rotation spot of fellow righty Triston McKenzie, who has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus.  To open a spot for Williams on the 40-man roster, Cleveland designated right-hander Darren McCaughan for assignment.

While Cleveland has long been known for its starting pitching, the rotation has been a surprising weak link for the first-place Guardians, and McKenzie’s 5.11 ERA in 75 2/3 innings has contributed to those struggles.  McKenzie leads the majors in both home runs (19) and walks (49), and his -1.0 fWAR is the lowest of any pitcher in baseball with at least 70 innings pitched.  Logan Allen is second on that list with -0.5 fWAR and Carlos Carrasco is sixth with 0.1 fWAR, speaking to the Guards’ overall rotation issues.

Some rust was to be expected for McKenzie, considering that he missed virtually all of the 2023 season recovering from a right teres major strain and then a right UCL sprain.  However, his struggles have been so severe that a stint in Triple-A might be the best course for McKenzie to get some confidence back, and to work out the control issues that weren’t nearly this severe during his 2020-22 seasons.  The former top-100 prospect looked like quite a solid pitcher in those first big years in the Show, and since he is only 26 and still under arbitration control through 2026, the Guardians would naturally love to see McKenzie get his career back on track.

It isn’t exactly a silver lining, but Williams’ own situation gave the Guardians some leeway in optioning McKenzie, as Williams represents a ready-made rotation replacement.  Since his rehab assignment began on May 29, the Guards had to activate Williams this weekend, as his 30-day rehab window was about to expire.  After his elbow began giving him problems during Spring Training, Williams began the season on the IL and has slowly been ramping up his workload over six minor league outings.

Selected 23rd overall in the 2021 draft, Williams delivered quickly on his top prospect status with an impressive rookie season in 2023.  The right-hander posted a 3.29 ERA over 82 innings, though a 4.61 SIERA reflected some middling secondary metrics for Williams, as well as the benefits of a .270 BABIP and 78.3% strand rate.

If Williams can deliver something even midway between his 2023 ERA and SIERA in his return to the mound, the Guardians would probably be satisfied, given both their need for any kind of reliable pitching and the bigger-picture acknowledgement that Williams is still early in his pro career.  Since Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively have been the only reliable members of Cleveland’s rotation, the Guards would love to get at least decent work from Williams as a third starter option before seeing if any pitching help is needed at the trade deadline.

McCaughan has already allowed five home runs over 10 2/3 combined innings with the Guardians and Marlins this season, inflating his ERA to 1181.  Beyond those extreme problems at keeping the ball in the park, McCaughan also has nine walks and only three strikeouts, making him the odd man out of the Guards’ 40-man roster.  A longtime member of the Mariners organization who made his MLB debut in Seattle in 2021, McCaughan was acquired by Miami in a cash considerations deal with the Mariners in February, and the Guardians then picked him up in a similar trade in May.

It’s possible McCaughan could find himself on the move again via trade or waiver claim, though the extent of his struggles might give any interested teams a second thought.  The 28-year-old righty has a 5.50 ERA and 10 homers allowed over 54 Triple-A innings as well this season, and while McCaughan’s past Triple-A track record has somewhat comparable bottom-line stats, those numbers were at least posted when pitching with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

Rockies Designate Elehuris Montero, Reinstate Elias Diaz From 10-Day IL

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The Rockies announced that first baseman Elehuris Montero has been designated for assignment.  The move opens space for the return of catcher Elias Diaz, who has been activated from the 10-day injured list after missing just short of three weeks due to a strained left calf.

Montero was one of five players Colorado obtained from the Cardinals in the Nolan Arenado trade in February 2021, and was arguably the highest-profile name of the group, considering how Montero drew some top-100 prospect buzz from Baseball America prior to the 2019 season.  His star has already started to dim after a lackluster showing at Double-A ball in 2019, and he missed a year of development when the pandemic shut down the 2020 minor league season, yet Montero emerged from that hiatus with a big performance at Triple-A Albuquerque in 2021.

More minor league success in 2022 paved the way for Montero’s MLB debut that season, but the production simply hasn’t come over Montero’s three seasons in Colorado.  After hitting .239/.283/.428 over 492 plate appearances in 2022-23, Montero’s numbers have cratered even further this year, as he has only a .206/.268/.305 slash line in 246 PA.  Among all players with at least 240 plate appearances in 2024, Montero ranks last in all of baseball in both wRC+ (48) and fWAR (-1.8).

Even though the Montero has improved his walk rate and drastically cut back on the strikeouts that plagued him over his first two big league seasons, he is still making contact at a below-average rate.  Montero also doesn’t provide much value on the basepaths or in the field, as his glovework has been subpar as both a third baseman and first baseman.

Kris Bryant’s injuries opened the door for Montero to receive pretty regular playing time at first base this season, but this might have essentially served as his last chance to prove himself as a part of the Rockies’ future.  Michael Toglia has already seemingly moved into the starting first base job, and with Charlie Blackmon and now Diaz both back from the IL, the roster was getting too crowded for the Rox to keep giving at-bats to a player going through such extreme struggles as Montero.

Since Montero is out of minor league options, however, a new team would have to either give Montero playing time at the big league level, or else DFA him again in order to potentially send him to Triple-A.  If Montero clears waivers, the Rockies might part ways entirely with a release, or option him to Triple-A after outrighting him off the 40-man roster.

Diaz was hitting .303/.352/.439 with five home runs in 216 PA at the time of his injury, and it is good news that the catcher is able to return in relatively short order.  Since Diaz is a free agent after the season, he stands out as a logical candidate to be moved at the trade deadline, though the Rox could have designs on trying to sign the catcher to another extension.

Yankees Designate Phil Bickford, Select Josh Maciejewski

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The Yankees announced that right-hander Phil Bickford has been designated for assignment.  The move opens a roster space for left-hander Josh Maciejewski, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A.

Bickford’s own minor league contract was selected to New York’s roster just on June 21, and the veteran righty allowed eight earned runs over five innings (in five appearances) for an ugly 14.40 ERA.  The majority of that damage took place in Saturday’s game, as Bickford was charged for five runs in just two-thirds of an inning of relief work in the Yankees’ 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays.

Today’s move brings a fresh arm into the Yankees bullpen, and returns Bickford to the DFA wire for the third time in his career.  Bickford’s previous designations resulted in a change of uniform — the Dodgers claimed him off waivers from the Brewers in May 2021, and the Mets acquired Bickford as part of a deadline day trade last August.  Since Bickford is out of minor league options, the Yankees had to designate him and risk losing him on waivers before the club is free to outright him off the 40-man roster.

Maciejewski was designated and outrighted himself back in April, shortly after he made his Major League debut in the form of a single inning of relief work in New York’s 7-0 win over the Marlins on April 8.  A 10th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2018 draft, Maciejewski is more of a pitch-to-contract type of hurler than a strikeout artist, and he has a 4.95 ERA over 83 2/3 career Triple-A innings.  His second trip to the majors will see Maciejewski join Caleb Ferguson and Tim Hill as the left-handed options in New York’s relief corps.

Cardinals Option Gordon Graceffo, Select Jacob Bosiokovic, Designate Kolton Ingram

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The Cardinals announced that pitching prospect Gordon Graceffo has been optioned to Triple-A, in order to clear a 26-man roster spot for righty Jacob Bosiokovic.  In a corresponding move for the selection of Bosiokovic’s contract, lefty Kolton Ingram was designated for assignment.

A 19th-round pick for the Rockies in the 2016 draft, Bosiokovic is now poised to make his debut as a big leaguer.  The 30-year-old Bosiokovic was drafted as a first baseman but, after his progress at the plate was stalling out, he turned to pitching during the 2019 season.  That position change has now paved Bosiokovic’s path to the Show, as he continued to develop on the mound after joining the Cardinals organization in late 2019.

Bosiokovic spent two years in the Cards’ system before becoming a free agent and signing with Charleston of the independent Atlantic League for the 2023 season.  Resigning with St. Louis this past winter, Bosiokovic has a 3.00 ERA in 30 innings for Triple-A Memphis, along with a 29.7% strikeout rate.  While the right-hander can miss bats and can keep the ball in the park (47.8% grounder rate), Bosiokovic’s control is a big concern, as he has a 17.2% walk rate during his time in Memphis this season.

St. Louis will give Bosiokovic a look while also bringing a fresh arm into the bullpen, as Graceffo pitched 4 1/3 innings in yesterday’s 9-4 loss to the Reds.  Making his own MLB debut, Graceffo looked pretty solid in the long relief outing, limiting Cincinnati to a run on three hits and two walks, while Graceffo racked up four strikeouts.

Ingram has become a familiar name on MLBTR’s pages in 2024, as the southpaw has been designated for assignment four times by four different teams, and then claimed away on waivers from another club.  Beginning February as a member of Detroit’s organization, Ingram has bounced from the Tigers to the Angels, Mets, Rangers, and Cardinals without getting any time in the big leagues.  The left-hander’s Major League resume still consists of his five appearances and 5 1/3 innings with the Angels last season.

Ingram has a 4.26 ERA over 25 1/3 combined innings with three different Triple-A affiliates this year, which is quite solid considering the added tumult of continually changing teams.  Given how his 2024 has gone, nobody would be surprised if yet another team in need of left-handed bullpen depth claims Ingram off the Cardinals’ waiver wire.

Mets Select Matt Festa, Tyler Jay; Designate Duke Ellis

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The Mets announced a set of roster moves, including the news that right-hander Matt Festa and left-hander Tyler Jay have had their contracts selected from Triple-A Syracuse.  The two pitchers will take the 26-man roster spots created when Tylor Megill and Danny Young were optioned to Triple-A yesterday.  To create room on the 40-man roster, the Mets designated outfielder Duke Ellis for assignment, and moved left-hander Brooks Raley (who had Tommy John surgery last month) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL.

Festa and Jay will provide the struggling Mets bullpen with a couple of fresh arms.  Young had been pitching well before a downturn over the last week, as the southpaw has allowed two earned runs in each of his last three outings.  This ballooned Young’s ERA to 5.11 over 12 1/3 innings, after he’d posted a sparkling 0.87 ERA in his first 10 1/3 frames.

Young threw 1 1/3 innings in New York’s 9-6 loss to the Astros yesterday, and Megill got the start and gave up four runs over 5 1/3 frames of work.  Megill has a 5.08 ERA over 39 innings and eight starts, with all but one of those starts coming after a seven-week stint on the IL due to a shoulder strain.

With Megill struggling, his demotion was seen as a way for the Mets to bring some relief help up from Triple-A over the next four days.  The Athletic’s Will Sammon figures that the Mets will call up one of Christian Scott or Jose Butto to take Megill’s place in the rotation, and the team could need to cycle several arms through the rotation and bullpen in order to get through a tough stretch of the schedule.  Last Thursday marked the Mets’ last off-day until the All-Star break, as the club is two games into a string of 17 games in as many days.

For Festa, he’ll now be in line for his first big league action of the 2024 season, and the Brooklyn native will have the bonus of pitching close to home.  The 31-year-old Festa signed a minor league contract with the Mets last month after he was released from his minor league deal with the Padres, as a 4.50 ERA in 16 innings with San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate didn’t catch the Friars’ attention.  Festa has looked quite good in Syracuse, however, delivering a 1.76 ERA in 15 1/3 relief innings.  A veteran of four MLB seasons with the Mariners, Festa has a 4.32 ERA over 93 2/3 career frames in the Show.

Jay is back in the majors for the second time this season, as New York designated him for assignment and then outrighted the southpaw to Triple-A after throwing four innings over two appearances with the Mets back in April.  These two games marked Jay’s first taste of MLB action, as the sixth overall pick of the 2015 draft finally made it to the big leagues after a long journey marked by injuries and stints in independent ball.

Ellis also made his Major League debut this season, appearing in eight games for the White Sox (mostly as a defensive sub and pinch-runner) before Chicago designated him for assignment two weeks ago.  The Mets claimed Ellis away on waivers, but he only played in two games with Double-A Binghampton before returning to the DFA wire.  Ellis has hit only .241/.329/.333 over 965 career plate appearances in the minors, but he is known for his excellent baserunning, as he has 117 steals in 134 chances during his minor league career.  This speed and his ability to play all three outfield spots makes him an interesting pickup for any other clubs that might be looking to the waiver wire for outfield depth.

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