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Mariners Option George Kirby To Triple-A, Select Jacob Barnes

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TODAY: Mariners manager Scott Servais went into more detail on the Kirby option today, telling reporters (including Jen Mueller of Root Sports) that beyond saving Kirby some innings, it also allows the Mariners to add a fresh bullpen arm to the active roster.  Servais noted that the M’s will make a similar move with Kirby later in the season, to further preserve his arm.  Kirby is slated to make a short start for Triple-A Tacoma, and he’ll rejoin the Mariners after the All-Star break.

JULY 9: In addition to the six roster moves announced earlier today, the Mariners have also made two more transactions.  Right-hander George Kirby has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, while righty Jacob Barnes’ contract has been selected.

As noted by The Athletic’s Corey Brock and other reporters, Kirby’s demotion isn’t about performance, but rather the Mariners’ plans to manage his workload.  Between Seattle’s off-day Monday and then the July 18-21 All-Star break, Kirby’s next big league outing likely isn’t coming until late July, though he’ll probably get a couple of brief outings at Triple-A to stay warm.

This will actually be Kirby’s first time at Triple-A ball, as the M’s promoted him straight from Double-A in early May.  Between the majors and minors this season, Kirby has tossed 89 total innings — already the most he has tossed over four pro seasons.  While some pundits disagree about the old “Verducci Effect” rule of thumb about the dangers of a big inning increase for young arms, Kirby’s previous season high was 67 2/3 frames in 2021, and of course Kirby didn’t pitch in any official games at all in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season.

With a 14-3 record over their last 17 games, the Mariners have gotten back over the .500 mark and back into the hunt for a wild card berth.  Surely the team hopes Kirby can continue to be a big part of Seattle’s push to finally end its drought of postseason baseball, and that means picking and choosing when Kirby pitches in order to keep him as fresh as possible for big games in September (or, the M’s hope, even into October).

Some service-time elements could also be in play, in regards to Kirby’s future Super Two status.  The Mariners didn’t select Kirby to the MLB roster until May 8, so if he spends two weeks in Triple-A, that could put him on the borderline for future Super Two consideration if a future cutoff point is on the higher side.  Missing on a fourth arbitration-eligible year would cost Kirby some serious money, though he will be getting some bonus this year under the new collective bargaining agreement’s performance bonus program for pre-arb players.  As well, Kirby would automatically lock in a full year of service time and even more bonus money if he scores a top-two finish in AL Rookie Of The Year voting, though several other impressive AL rookies (including teammate Julio Rodriguez) seem favored for higher finishes in the balloting.

Kirby has looked good in his first taste of the big leagues, posting a 3.78 ERA/3.45 SIERA over 64 1/3 innings for Seattle.  The 20th overall pick of the 2019 draft has allowed a lot of hard contact and his Statcast numbers aren’t overly impressive, but Kirby has an elite 3.3% walk rate that ranks in the 99th percentile of all pitchers.

Barnes posted a 6.10 ERA over 20 2/3 innings with the Tigers this season before Detroit cut him loose in June, and the Mariners inked Barnes to a new minor league contract.  He has yet to pitch for the M’s at the big league level.  A solid relief arm with the Brewers in 2016-18, Barnes has been trying to recapture that form ever since, posting a 6.48 ERA over an even 100 innings with six different clubs over the last three-plus years.

Reds’ Vladimir Gutierrez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Vladimir Gutierrez will undergo Tommy John surgery, the Reds right-hander told reporters (including The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale) today.  As per the normal recovery timeline for TJ surgery, Gutierrez will be out of action until July 2023 at the earliest, and his entire 2023 season could be in jeopardy if his rehab is on the higher side of the usual 12-15 month window.

Gutierrez was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a UCL strain about a month ago, and the Reds shifted him to the 60-day IL earlier this week.  That move to the 60-day IL came after Gutierrez felt a new kind of arm discomfort following a bullpen session last Tuesday, and a fresh set of tests revealed more severe damage.

“It looked like it was worse than it was the first time I got my MRI,” Gutierrez said via a translator.  “It looked like there was a lot more liquid.  The doctor told me if you keep going through rehabs and rehabs, you’re going to come back here and we’re going to go through the same process again, so you’ll never get better.  Or it’s surgery.”

Gutierrez is in his second Major League season, debuting last year with a 4.74 ERA over 114 innings and 22 starts.  His advanced metrics were largely below average, though Nightengale noted that Gutierrez struggled near the end of the season due to fatigue — the right-hander’s last six starts and 21 innings saw him post an ugly 9.43 ERA.

Those struggles continued into 2022, as Gutierrez posted a 7.61 ERA over 36 2/3 innings before going on the injured list.  It will now be at least a year before Gutierrez can get back onto a big league mound, which represents the latest setback in his pro career.

The 26-year-old was an international signing out of Cuba in 2016, with the Reds making a sizeable $9.5MM investment ($4.75MM in signing bonus, and an equal amount in penalty fees for exceeding the old international signing bonus limit) to land his services.  While Gutierrez was a highly-regarded member of the 2016-17 int’l class, he posted only okay numbers throughout his minor league career.  He also missed the entire 2020 season and part of April 2021 due to an 80-game PED suspension.

The Reds were surely hoping that Gutierrez would be a viable member of their starting rotation by now, but his absence now creates another question mark on the pitching staff.  Cincinnati is hoping that Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Graham Ashcraft can form the core of the rotation going forward, but Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle are both major trade candidates as the deadline approaches.

Tigers Acquire Cody Sedlock From Orioles

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The Tigers have acquired right-hander Cody Sedlock from the Orioles in exchange for cash considerations, as announced by the O’s.  Sedlock was designated for assignment and then outrighted to Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate last month.

Sedlock made his MLB debut earlier this season, tossing three innings in a single appearance for Baltimore.  This cup of coffee represented the end of a difficult journey for Sedlock in his career, as he has had to overcome multiple major injuries — thoracic outlet surgery, plus injuries to his forearm and shoulder.  Sedlock was the 27th overall pick of the 2016 draft, but between his injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, he has tossed only 396 1/3 innings over his six pro seasons.

Between some control problems and various stops and starts on the injured list, Sedlock unsurprisingly had some rocky numbers in the minor leagues, with a 4.52 ERA to show for his time in the Orioles’ farm system.  Still, the 27-year-old was a well-regarded prospect earlier in his career, with Baseball America ranking Sedlock second among all Baltimore minor leaguers back in 2017.

It could be that the Tigers see Sedlock as a change-of-scenery candidate, or perhaps Detroit is simply looking for low-cost starting candidates for its injury-riddled rotation.  Almost every member of the Tigers rotation has missed some amount of time on the IL this season, with Casey Mize’s Tommy John surgery representing the longest-term absence.  It also isn’t known when (or if) Eduardo Rodriguez will return to the team, as the southpaw has been on the restricted list for almost a month while dealing with a personal matter.

Rays Place Wander Franco, Kevin Kiermaier, Jeffrey Springs Injured List

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July 10: The Rays have officially announced that Franco and Kiermaier have been placed on the 10-day IL, while lefty Jeffrey Springs has been placed on the 15-day IL due to right lower leg tightness. Righty Calvin Faucher was also optioned to Triple-A Durham. To take over those four spots on the roster, they have indeed recalled Raley and Aranda, as well as lefty Josh Fleming and righty Phoenix Sanders.

July 9: The Rays have lost two regulars to the 10-day injured list, as Wander Franco and Kevin Kiermaier have both been sidelined.  As reported earlier, Franco left today’s game due to an injury in his right hand and wrist area, and manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that the initial diagnosis is that the injury is related to Franco’s hamate bone.  Franco will visit doctors on Monday to determine the extent of the problem, and if surgery is required, he could miss roughly 6-8 weeks.

Franco had to be removed after his very first at-bat, a first-inning strikeout against Hunter Greene.  On the second-last pitch of the plate appearance, Franco looked shaken up after fouling off a Greene fastball, and he was replaced in the field for the bottom of the inning.

Kiermaier played most of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Reds, as the center fielder was replaced for a pinch-runner after singling in the ninth inning.  During the game, however, Kiermaier experienced more discomfort in his left hip — that same issue forced Kiermaier to the IL in late June, though he missed only the minimum 10 days before being activated.

Given the recurring nature of the hip problem, it seems likely that Kiermaier will miss more than 10 days, though the upcoming All-Star break could cover four days of that IL stint.  Unless the Rays want to monitor Kiermaier to ensure that the hip soreness is entirely behind him, Kiermaier could be activated as early as July 22, when the Rays kick off their second half with a series in Kansas City.

Even if Franco can avoid surgery, he’ll still need at least a few weeks of recovery time.  The second-year star has hit .260/.308/.396 over 247 plate appearances this season — still above-average (1o4 wRC+) production, but naturally a letdown given the high expectations created by Franco’s top-prospect status and excellent 2021 rookie season.  Franco got off to a great start before quad injuries hampered his play in May, and that quad problem eventually sent him to the IL for four weeks.

Topkin writes that outfielder Luke Raley and infielder Jonathan Aranda are likely to be called up to replace Franco and Kiermaier on the active roster.  Aranda made his MLB debut in cup-of-coffee fashion earlier this season, playing in two games.  He’ll likely step into Taylor Walls’ utility infield role, as Walls will probably resume everyday shortstop duty (as he did during Franco’s last IL stint).

Raley is also a left-handed hitting outfielder, so in that sense, he’s an easy replacement for Kiermaier in Tampa Bay’s outfield mix.  However, there’s obviously no way to easily replace Kiermaier’s all-world defense, though backup Brett Phillips is a solid defender in his own right (even if right field is Phillips’ best outfield position from a glovework standpoint).  Phillips and Josh Lowe are the likeliest candidates to handle center field while Kiermaier is out, and Vidal Brujan also figures to chip in up the middle.  Manuel Margot is out until at least late August due to a patellar tendon strain, and while the Rays are optimistic Margot will play again in 2022, anything he can contribute going forward might be seen as a bonus.

While neither Franco or Kiermaier have excelled at the plate this season, their twin absences will likely only intensify the Rays’ already clear need for more hitting help at the deadline.  Especially if Franco is sidelined until September, Tampa will need more consistent production from the lineup if the team is going to both qualify for the postseason and then be legitimate contenders in October.  As usual, the Rays aren’t likely to break the bank on a new acquisition, but position-player depth (whether an everyday name or a multi-positional part-timer) certainly seems like a priority.

AL Notes: Gausman, Forst, Athletics, Olson, Refsnyder

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Kevin Gausman won’t start tomorrow’s game against the Mariners, as the Blue Jays righty is still recovering from a bone bruise on his right ankle.  Gausman hasn’t pitched since suffering the injury on July 2, but Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and other reporters that the team is hoping Gausman can return to the mound on Tuesday when the Blue Jays host the Phillies.

Toronto’s struggling rotation hasn’t been helped by Gausman’s absence, as the Jays’ lack of depth was already being stretched by a recent doubleheader against the Rays, and Ross Stripling’s move to the rotation to replace the injured Hyun Jin Ryu.  Since June 14, the Blue Jays have a 9-16 record, and their pitchers have a cumulative 5.49 ERA — the second-highest total of any team in baseball in that stretch.  Rotation help certainly seems like the Jays’ top priority heading into the trade deadline, but in the short term, the club is just trying to hang onto its status as a wild card team.

More from around the American League…

  • In a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard, A’s general manager David Forst discussed his team’s struggles, the young talent on the roster and in the farm system, the pitching development team, and many other topics.  Forst also noted how the continued uncertainty over the Athletics’ future in Oakland impacts long-term planning, saying “this is sort of almost cliché at this point, but it’s hard, without a ballpark direction and timeline, to really make a plan on what the next few years look like.  Even internally, it’s hard to know what the team will look like the next couple of years.”
  • Forst also talked some trade possibilities both in the future and in the past, noting that of all the Athletics’ moves during the winter, the deal that sent Matt Olson to the Braves “was the one that we had most discussed prior to the lockout.”  Most of the other notable deals were largely negotiated post-lockout, however, leaving the A’s with little time to both remake their roster and bring in new talent.  “That’s why I sort of say there weren’t enough days to make those deals — which again, we knew we were gonna have to do — and also find ways…to get the current team to the level that we’ve sort of become accustomed to,” Forst said.  No such time crunch exists with the upcoming trade deadline, and to that end, Forst (unsurprisingly) said “there’s no panic” about moving Frankie Montas prior to August 2.  “We didn’t trade him in Spring Training because there wasn’t a trade that made sense for us.  That will continue to be the case.  Whether it’s at the deadline or next offseason or whatever, there’s not a feeling at all that in the next 30 days we have to trade Frankie Montas.”
  • Rob Refsnyder has been an unexpected hero for the Red Sox, posting a .931 OPS over 69 plate appearances since Boston selected his contract on June 10.  Refsnyder inked a minor league deal with the Sox just prior to the lockout, and he also drew interest from the Yankees during the offseason, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (hat tip to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).  It would’ve been something of a reunion for Refsnyder in the Bronx, as he was a fifth-round draft pick for the Yankees back in 2012, and he was a well-regarded prospect during his time in New York’s farm system.  However, Refsnyder didn’t hit much in limited playing time in 2015-17, and a trade to the Blue Jays in 2017 kicked off a journeyman stretch for the utilityman — the Red Sox are the ninth different organization of Refsnyder’s career.

Mets Release Chasen Shreve

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The Mets announced that left-hander Chasen Shreve was released.  Shreve was designated for assignment earlier this week, to make room for Max Scherzer’s activation off the injured list.

Shreve signed a minor league deal with the Mets shortly after the lockout, returning to Queens after spending 2020 with the Mets and then the 2021 season with the Pirates.  While Shreve was eligible for arbitration last winter, the Pirates essentially gave him an early non-tender by outrighting him off the 40-man roster after the season, and Shreve then opted for free agency.

After making New York’s Opening Day roster, Shreve locked in a $1.5MM salary for himself, but his performance over 26 1/3 innings had plenty of ups and downs.  As recently as June 10, Shreve had a respectable 3.86 ERA, but then allowed 10 runs over his next 5 1/3 innings of work.  In total, the southpaw has a 6.49 ERA for the season, with an above-average 25.4% strikeout rate but plenty of subpar Statcast numbers in other major categories.  Shreve’s old problems with the home run ball have also resurfaced, as he has given up six homers in his 26 1/3 IP.

The Mets are responsible for paying the remainder of Shreve’s guaranteed salary, so any new team will owe him only the prorated portion of a minimum salary.  With teams constantly on the lookout for (especially left-handed) bullpen help, Shreve seems likely to catch on somewhere, particularly since his 2022 performance is something of an outlier.  Over 181 1/3 relief innings from 2017-21, Shreve had a solid 3.72 ERA, despite some unimpressive walk totals.

Mariners Announce Six Roster Moves

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Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer) about a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game with the Blue Jays, including catcher Luis Torrens being activated from the 10-day injured list.  Torrens joins minor league callups Matt Brash and Matt Festa as new faces on Seattle’s roster, while right-hander Ken Giles was placed on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation, catcher Andrew Knapp was designated for assignment, and right-hander Erik Swanson was placed on the paternity list.

Left shoulder inflammation sent Torrens to the IL back on June 27, so he’ll return after missing only just beyond the 10-day minimum.  The Mariners were hoping Torrens’ good numbers in 2021 meant he was ready to take a step forward as a part-time DH and catcher this season, but he has struggled to a .222/.280/.241 slash line over 118 plate appearances.  Cal Raleigh has started to emerge as a solid regular starter behind the plate, and Tom Murphy is gone for the season due to shoulder surgery, so there would seemingly be room for Torrens to remain as the backup catcher for the remainder of the year.

Seattle selected Knapp’s contract when Torrens hit the injured list, and Knapp has appeared in two games in a Mariners uniform.  Due to Knapp’s service time and the fact that he has been outrighted off a 40-man roster in the past, he has the freedom to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate — Knapp already chose free agency when the Pirates DFA’ed him in May, which paved the way for Knapp to sign with the Mariners.  It remains to be seen if Knapp will become a free agent again, or if he’ll choose to remain at Triple-A Tacoma (assuming he clears DFA waivers) as a depth option.

After missing all of 2021 due to Tommy John surgery, Giles then suffered a strained tendon in his right middle finger that delayed his M’s debut until June 21.  The veteran reliever has allowed no runs and only one hit over 4 1/3 innings of work, albeit with four walks in that small sample size.  Unfortunately for Giles, he’ll now be sidelined again with this latest injury.

Brash and Festa will look to fill the holes in Seattle’s bullpen, and Brash is making his return to the big leagues in a new relief role.  Beginning the year as a starting pitcher, the former top-100 prospect posted a 7.65 ERA over five starts and 20 innings, recording almost as many walks (17) as strikeouts (19).  The Mariners made the aggressive decision to promote Brash to the majors without any time spent at Triple-A, so Brash got his first taste of the top minor league level when the M’s demoted him in May and then converted him to relief pitching.

The results have thus far been impressive.  Over his last 17 innings, Brash has posted a 1.59 ERA, a whopping 37.9% strikeout rate, and only a 7.57% walk rate.  The hard-throwing Brash has the stuff to be a dominant reliever on paper, should he keep his past control problems in check.

AL East Notes: Franco, Orioles, Elias, Red Sox

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Wander Franco left today’s game after his first plate appearance, due to what the Rays described as discomfort in the shortstop’s right hand and wrist.  Franco has already been ruled out of Sunday’s game, and he is set to visit a doctor on Monday when the Rays return home after a road trip.

The situation doesn’t sound promising, as even if Franco has avoided a serious injury, another trip to the injured list could be beckoning if the Rays want to be cautious with the young star.  The All-Star break could play a role in Tampa Bay’s decision, as Franco’s 10-day minimum absence could be partially absorbed by the league-wide break in the schedule.  Franco already missed four weeks due to a quad strain, and wasn’t particularly productive in the weeks leading up to that last IL placement as he was trying to play through the injury.  Since returning from the injured list, Franco has registered a hit in 11 of 13 games, but with only a .634 OPS over 56 plate appearances. [UPDATE: Manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters that Franco seems to have suffered a hamate bone injury, which usually requires 4-6 weeks of recovery time.]

More from around the AL East…

  • Today’s victory over the Angels extended the Orioles’ winning streak to seven games, and Baltimore now has a 42-44 record.  After years of rebuilding, the O’s may seem a little ahead of schedule, as they find themselves on the outskirts of the wild card hunt.  However, GM Mike Elias didn’t give reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) any hint that the team would be planning to add rather than subtract at the trade deadline, just saying that “everything that I do or that we do has tradeoffs, and all I can say is, we do everything from a very global, a very thoughtful perspective about what is the right thing to do for the health of the Orioles’ franchise….I think that we’re in store for a lot of good stuff in the next few years, and I’m very happy that it’s kind of reflected right now during this stretch of play so plainly for our fans.”
  • Elias also noted that the front office has been more focused on the upcoming amateur draft than on trade possibilities, and that the Orioles are considering five players for the first overall pick.
  • At this point, the Red Sox are planning to be “cautious buyers” at the deadline, a source tells Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe.  The 45-39 Sox hold the second AL wild card spot, though a wild card is likely the best they’ll be able to do, given how the Yankees are running away with the division.  However, Abraham notes that the Red Sox have an extremely difficult schedule for the rest of July, which could impact their status to the point that the Sox might even consider selling if they fall behind in the postseason race.

Red Sox Place Connor Seabold, Christian Arroyo On Injured List

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The Red Sox announced a series of moves, including the placement of right-hander Connor Seabold on the 15-day injured list and utilityman Christian Arroyo on the 10-day IL.  Right-hander Phillips Valdez and infielder Jeter Downs were called up from Triple-A in corresponding moves.  As reported earlier today, Boston also selected the contract of Kaleb Ort, while designating Michael Feliz for assignment.

Seabold has an extensor strain in his right forearm, which forced him out of last night’s game with the Yankees in the third inning.  While extensor strains aren’t always a precursor to Tommy John surgery, any forearm-related injury is naturally a concern, and Seabold will undergo further examination before a recovery timeline is known.

With the injury bug taking a big bit out of the Sox rotation, Seabold was called up in late June and has made three starts.  The results haven’t been pretty, as he has an 11.91 ERA over 11 1/3 innings — Seabold sandwiched a respectable one-run performance against the White Sox between a pair of seven-run blowouts to the Blue Jays and Yankees.

Chris Sale is slated to be activated from the IL on Tuesday, and the veteran southpaw will join a makeshift rotation of Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Josh Winckowski and top prospect Brayan Bello.  However, the Red Sox have more than an entire rotation’s worth of arms on the injured list, as Seabold joins Sale, Garrett Whitlock, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill, and James Paxton.  Eovaldi is tentatively set to return next weekend, but the Sox might have to wait until after the All-Star break to get any semblance of a healthy starting five.

The team will also lose bench depth, as the versatile Arroyo will miss time due to a left groin strain.  Arroyo’s placement opens the door for Downs’ latest opportunity at the MLB level, as the star prospect made his big league debut with a single game earlier this season.

Downs has been on fire in the 14 Triple-A games since his return, as his offense has hugely improved since cutting down on his leg lift during his swing.  (Hat tip to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.)  His role on Boston’s active roster will be of some interest, as Downs has almost exclusively played shortstop this season, with only a single game at third base.  Rafael Devers is currently battling a bad back, and with Downs now up, this could hint that the Sox are considering a precautionary IL placement for Devers.  However, it is also possible Downs might get only another cup-of-coffee stint if Devers’ back heals up after a weekend off.

Cardinals Notes: O’Neill, Bader, Molina

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The Cardinals activated Corey Dickerson from the 15-day injured list earlier today, but it will still be a while before the St. Louis outfield is back at full strength.  Tyler O’Neill was expected to be reinstated from his own IL stint this weekend, but the Gold Glover (sidelined since June 20 due to a hamstring strain) is now dealing with a bruised right wrist after being hit by a pitch in a minor league rehab game on Wednesday.

“There’s definitely some serious inflammation in there,” O’Neill told reporters, including Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  “At least there was [Thursday] but it’s gone down a good bit.  The next 48 to 72 hours are going to be key for me.”

O’Neill remained in the game after being hit, and while he will undergo more tests on his wrist, initial x-rays were negative.  Even if the wrist problem does end up being relatively minor, it still represents another setback in an injury-plagued year for O’Neill, who has played in only 45 games due to his hamstring injury and a previous shoulder problem that also required a visit to the injured list.  O’Neill has hit only .241/.292/.361 over 185 plate appearances, a big step backwards after his breakout 2021 campaign.

Harrison Bader’s return is also questionable, as manager Oliver Marmol told reporters (including MLB.com’s John Denton) today that Bader likely wouldn’t return from the IL until after the All-Star break.  Bader has already missed more than the minimum 10 days due to plantar fasciitis, and while he is participating in some “light baseball drills,” the outfielder is wearing a protective walking boot when not training.

Bader “needs to be close to it where he feels like he can explode, hold his back side when he’s hitting and not feeling like he’s compromised defensively,” Marmol said.  “The heel is still grabbing at him.  Not nearly as much, but if he ramps up, he might be back at ground zero.”

Without Bader and O’Neill, Dylan Carlson is the only player remaining from the Cardinals’ first-choice starting outfield.  Dickerson’s return will help fill the void, and the emergence of rookies Brendan Donovan and Juan Yepez has allowed the Cards to further make up for those lost regulars.  However, St. Louis was certainly for O’Neill to perhaps help spark a struggling lineup, as the Cardinals have been shut out four times in their past seven games (including today’s 1-0 loss to the Phillies).

Yadier Molina is another missing regular, as the catcher went on the IL due to knee soreness in mid-June.  In the latest update on Molina’s condition, Cards president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters (including the Belleville News-Democrat’s Jeff Jones) that Molina isn’t yet ready to start baseball activities, though the catcher did say he is making some progress.

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