Tigers Claim James Outman
The Tigers announced Thursday that they’ve claimed outfielder James Outman off waivers from the Twins. Detroit’s 40-man roster was full, but they created space by shifting infielder/outfielder Javier Báez from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. The Tigers will need to create an active roster space for Outman before tomorrow’s game, given that he’s out of minor league options.
Outman, 29, gives the Tigers another option in center field with both Báez and Parker Meadows on the injured list. That pair has been shelved since April. Detroit has been using Matt Vierling and Wenceel Pérez in center field for the past six weeks, though both are better suited for infield or corner outfield work. Outman, with above-average sprint speed and arm strength, gives manager A.J. Hinch a more credible defensive option.
While Outman may be a fine defender, however, his bat has typically undercut any value he adds with his glove or his legs. He impressed as a rookie with the Dodgers in 2023, hitting .248/.353/.437 despite a sky-high 32% strikeout rate. His contact problems have only increased since, which has relegated Outman to a backup role for the most part.
Dating back to 2024, Outman has taken 374 big league plate appearances but turned in a woeful .144/.235/.284 slash. He’s walked at a respectable 8.8% clip, but his 39.3% strikeout rate is far and away the worst among the 444 players who’ve totaled 300 or more plate appearances in that time. Jose Siri is second-worst, sitting two percentage points lower. No other hitter is within four percentage points of Outman’s strikeout rate.
The Twins acquired Outman from the Dodgers at last year’s deadline in a trade sending talented but oft-injured reliever Brock Stewart to Los Angeles. It was a head-scratching move even at the time. Minnesota’s roster was deep with lefty-swinging outfield options (Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, Kody Clemens, Alan Roden), and the Twins’ top two prospects — Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez — are both lefty-swinging outfielders who’d perhaps already have debuted this season were it not for injuries. Add in that Outman was going to be out of options in 2026, and the fit was all the more curious.
Perhaps the Twins felt they could cut down on Outman’s swing-and-miss troubles, but the opposite has played out. This year’s 41.4% strikeout rate is the highest in baseball for any of the 428 players with even 40 plate appearances on the season. Outman has four steals but has also been caught twice. His defense in the outfield has been solid, but Minnesota still designated him for assignment a few days ago.
If nothing else, Outman gives the Tigers a late-game option when they need a pinch-runner or a defensive upgrade in the outfield. Given his penchant for strikeouts and the overall anemic offensive output since what now looks like an outlier rookie showing back in ’23, it’ll be hard for him to stick on the roster for the rest of the season, barring a massive turnaround.
The Tigers are hopeful that Meadows — who suffered a concussion and a broken forearm in an April outfield collision with teammate Riley Greene — will return this summer. Báez’s return appears less certain. Hinch said late last month that the veteran’s sprained ankle hasn’t healed as hoped, and Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reported earlier this month that Báez was being shut down entirely due to ongoing discomfort. The Tigers will presumably remain on the lookout for outfield help. If they continue their recent hot streak — today’s win gives them seven victories in their past nine games, at a time when Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize are set to return — then bringing in some additional center field help could be a point of focus at the trade deadline.
Kyle Isbel Diagnosed With Grade 3 Plantar Fascia Tear
The Royals placed center fielder Kyle Isbel on the 10-day injured list last night due to plantar fasciitis. Manager Matt Quatraro announced at the time that Isbel was undergoing an MRI to determine the severity of the issue. That imaging came back with unfavorable results, it seems. The Royals announced this morning that Isbel has a Grade 3 tear of a portion of the plantar fascia in his left foot. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that the team isn’t putting a formal timetable on his return but that it’ll be quite some time before he’s even able to resume baseball activity — let alone embark on a rehab assignment or return to the big league roster.
There’s better news on righty Seth Lugo, who exited last night’s game after taking a 106 mph comebacker to the head. Lugo rather incredibly quickly rose back to his feet, assuring distraught former Mets teammate Brandon Nimmo (who hit the ball in question) that he thought he was OK. Per the Royals, a CT scan was clean. Lugo will continue to be monitored, but for the time being, it seems he’s thankfully avoided any kind of significant injury.
Isbel, 29, has handled the vast majority of the Royals’ center field work this season. He’s long graded as a plus defender on the grass, though his grades in 2026 have dipped a bit. That’s not entirely surprising, given the full context of his season; Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star writes that Isbel has been playing through considerable pain in his left foot for quite some time. He finally reached a point where he couldn’t continue. Even with that ailing foot, Isbel drew a positive grade from Statcast’s Outs Above Average (4) and was only slightly below average in the estimation of Defensive Runs Saved (-2).
At the plate, Isbel has hit at his typical levels. He entered the season with a well below-average .235/.288/.365 batting line in his career (78 wRC+) and has turned in a .244/.298/.354 slash (80 wRC+) that closely mirrors his career marks.
With Isbel sidelined indefinitely, the Royals will piece together the center field mix via in-house options for the time being. Missouri native and Mizzou product Kameron Misner was recalled from Triple-A and is getting the start today. Lane Thomas has also logged some time in center this season and got the start in Isbel’s place last night. Utilityman Tyler Tolbert has four innings in center this season but logged 100 frames there last year. He probably won’t draw many starts in center but could slot in if he’s used as a pinch-runner (as was the case last night) or if the Royals make other defensive/lineup shuffles midgame during Isbel’s absence.
The veteran Thomas signed a one-year deal with Kansas City over the winter. He’s not hitting for any power whatsoever in 2026 but is sporting a career-best 15.8% walk rate in 152 plate appearances. He’s slashing .234/.362/.315 overall and, as is so often the case, has been a menace to left-handed opponents (.262/.395/.361). There’s a natural platoon to be formed between the righty-swinging Thomas and lefty-swinging Misner. Though Misner has batted just .203/.260/.325 in 231 MLB plate appearances with the Rays (and one with Kansas City last night), the former first-rounder has bludgeoned Triple-A pitching at a .276/.373/.547 pace in 252 plate appearances this year. He belted 13 homers and swiped 11 bags with the Storm Chasers prior to yesterday’s recall to the majors.
Red Sox CEO: No Consideration Of Moving On From Breslow
Last night’s loss to the Rays was the Red Sox’ fourth straight, dropping them to 27-39 — last in the American League East, second-worst in the American League as a whole, and fourth-worst in all of MLB. The Sox are one of the most disappointing teams in the game this year, if not the most, but that doesn’t seem to have given ownership any second thoughts about its baseball operations leadership. Just a couple days after Tim Healey of the Boston Globe reported that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow‘s job was secure, Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy removed any remaining shred of doubt by publicly confirming as much. Asked on WEEI’s Greg Hill show about Breslow’s status, Kennedy told the hosts that a change “is not even on the table” (as relayed by MassLive’s Christopher Smith).
Breslow, 46 in August, is in his third season as Boston’s chief baseball officer. The team never disclosed the precise length of his first contract as the team’s baseball operations head, nor has it been reported. There have been no indications that the 2026 season is the last on Breslow’s contract. Presumably, his deal runs through at least the 2027 season.
The Red Sox, of course, have already begun to show some signs of frustration. Manager Alex Cora and five members of his coaching staff were fired in late April after a 10-17 start. Triple-A manager Chad Tracy replaced him for the remainder of the season but is holding the title of “interim” manager. The Sox are 17-22 since the change — a nominal improvement but still well shy of expectations for a team that won 89 games last year and spent $130MM to sign Ranger Suarez this offseason while also acquiring Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Caleb Durbin and several others via trade.
Though the season is on the verge of spiraling past them, it seems the Sox aren’t bringing about any further sweeping changes in the organization — at least for now. They’ve reportedly been on the hunt for a right-handed bat on the trade market, though deals of any real magnitude are rare this time of year. Boston famously bucked that trend with last year’s mid-June blockbuster sending Rafael Devers to San Francisco, but it’s typically hard to find clubs willing to part with notable veteran talent at this juncture. That’s particularly true with a slightly later (Aug. 3) trade deadline this year.
The extent to which the Red Sox are able to climb out of this rut could well determine whether Breslow carries on following the season. Generally speaking, it’s common for teams to first make a change in the dugout and then, if the tide still doesn’t turn, look to the front office for further reshaping. For now, Kennedy’s comments signal that Breslow isn’t on the hot seat. That topic will probably be revisited in the offseason, but there are more than three months of games to influence his status in the meantime.
Tigers To Activate Tarik Skubal On Saturday; Casey Mize Likely To Return On Sunday
The Tigers’ rotation is getting a massive boost this weekend. Manager A.J. Hinch announced to the team’s beat this morning that two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal will return to start Saturday’s game versus the Guardians in Cleveland (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). Sunday could bring about another big return, as Hinch added that right-hander Casey Mize is likely to return Sunday, though he needs to complete one more bullpen session today before the team finalizes that decision.
That Skubal is set to return this quickly is remarkable. The Tigers announced in early May that their ace would require an arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow. That procedure took place not even five full weeks ago. Skubal has already made one rehab start, pitching five shutout frames with only two hits allowed and six strikeouts for Detroit’s High-A affiliate.
Skubal underwent an experimental new procedure — a “NanoNeedle” scope that figures to grow in popularity following Skubal’s incredibly swift return to a big league mound. (The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen detailed the manner in which the NanoNeedle differs from a traditional elbow scope back in mid-May, for those who are interested.) Blake Snell underwent the same procedure about a week and a half after Skubal and is on a similarly fast track; he started a throwing program last week, not even three weeks out from his procedure (via MLB.com’s Sonja Chen).
Prior to landing on the injured list, Skubal looked well on his way to a third straight Cy Young-caliber season. While he faces some steep competition this year — Yankees righty Cam Schlittler and White Sox righty Davis Martin have broken out with dominant performances — Skubal was sitting on a terrific 2.70 ERA with a strong 27.1% strikeout rate and a 3.6% walk rate that would be a career-best mark were he to sustain it. Metrics like FIP (2.11) and SIERA (2.88) support Skubal’s continued dominance.
While Skubal will draw the most headlines — understandably so — Mize’s return is also a major development. The former No. 1 overall pick had a career year in 2025 when he took the ball 28 times and turned in a 3.87 ERA with a career-best K-BB% (16.7) over 149 frames. He’s been even better this season, sprinting out of the gate with a 2.27 ERA in 47 2/3 innings over nine starts. Mize’s 26.5% strikeout rate and 12.8% swinging-strike rate are both career-highs by a wide margin. His 6.5% walk rate is an exact match for his career mark entering the season. Mize has largely moved away from his curveball and sinker to focus more heavily on a four-seamer/splitter/slider repertoire — and done so to great effect thus far.
If Mize indeed returns, he’d push rookie Troy Melton back to Monday, per Jason Beck of MLB.com. Melton has been far too good in his four starts with the big league club to consider removing from the rotation or sending to Triple-A Toledo. He’s pitched 25 2/3 innings with a 2.81 earned run average. That includes seven innings of one-run ball against the White Sox in Chicago and eight innings of two-run ball against the Rays in St. Petersburg. Melton’s 13.7% strikeout rate raises some skepticism about his ability to sustain this pace, but he’s fanned nearly 20% of his opponents over his past two starts — far closer to the 22% league average.
A six-man rotation for the Tigers looks like a logical step for the starting staff, Hinch noted. Skubal and Mize would join Melton, Framber Valdez, Jack Flaherty and Keider Montero in that scenario. The Tigers will face a decision when Justin Verlander returns from a hip injury later this month. Montero has pitched well in 12 starts. Flaherty has had a tough season but has improved over the past five weeks — and over his past three starts in particular. Valdez has a pedestrian 4.40 ERA overall, but a disproportionate amount of the damage against him has come in two meltdown starts earlier this season; he allowed 15 earned runs over eight innings between those two appearances but has a 2.97 ERA in his other 12 starts.
For an injury-ravaged Tigers club, tough decisions of that nature are good problems to have. Detroit’s season looked to be on the brink not long ago, but they’ve rattled off six wins in their past eight games. The Tigers are still a shocking 12 games under .500, but the lackluster competition in the American League leaves them only five and a half games back of a Wild Card spot. Detroit has a lot of work to do if there’s any hope of climbing back toward the top of the division, but the Tigers play three games in Cleveland this weekend and host the White Sox for three next week (with a series against a disappointing Astros club between those two); there’s a real opportunity for them to close some ground in the coming days, right as two key arms are ready to rejoin the fray.
MLB Mailbag: Devers, Nationals, DFA Carousels, Guardians, Red Sox
I'm pinch-hitting for MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes on this week's MLB Mailbag! In this edition, we'll get into Rafael Devers' contract and trade value (or lack thereof), the Nationals' unexpectedly strong performance and how it could shape their deadline, the revolving door for "41st men" on 40-man rosters (e.g. Atlanta's Carlos Carrasco), the Guardians' deadline needs, the Red Sox' search for a right-handed bat and more.
Onto the questions...
Peter asks...
With Rafael Devers hitting again (and his defense at first base very good) how would you rate his value on the open market taking into account his remaining contract? What level of return would you expect the Giants might get for him and what teams do you think would be most interested in him? Would the Giants have to pay down any of his remaining contract?
Devers is indeed hitting better after an awful start to the season. Following a disastrous .207/.248/.289 slash and 31% strikeout rate through the end of April (129 plate appearances), he's rebounded with a .257/.321/.500 line over his 165 most recent trips to the plate. It's an encouraging turnaround, but there are some red flags worth mentioning.
First and foremost, that 31% strikeout rate that dogged Devers through his dreadful early slump hasn't abated. Over this stretch of 165 plate appearances, he's fanned at a 30.9% clip -- effectively the exact same rate. The biggest differences have been a modest bump in power (six homers in this stretch) and a huge spike in Devers' batting average on balls in play. His BABIP in that slump was a roughly league-average .288. During this turnaround, he's at .344.
That doesn't all come down to luck. Devers' exit velocity has jumped from an average of 89.8 mph during that cold snap to a huge 93.4 mph in his hot streak. His hard-hit rate has soared from a solid 41.5% to an elite 55.6%. Devers is making better contact, so it only stands to reason that more of his balls in play should be landing for hits.
Be that as it may, however, Devers still isn't walking much. His contact rate on pitches within the strike zone, even during his recent surge, is 75% -- well shy of the league-average 85.9%. And while Devers has been good during this span, he hasn't been his peak self. By measure of wRC+, Devers has been about 27% better than average since early May. That's very good, but it's not close to his best output. Back in 2021-22, for instance, Devers crushed 65 homers in 297 games and did so with rate stats that placed him about 36% better than average: .287/.355/.530. His strikeout rate over those two years was 20.1%. His contact rate on balls in the zone was still below average but was five percentage points higher than during this recent revival.
All of that is to say, Devers has been performing like an above-average but flawed hitter since the beginning of May. That's a nice development after he looked lost to begin the season -- and after he dealt with a disk injury in his lower back last summer -- but does it restore any semblance of trade value? I don't believe so.
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Angels Select Logan Porter
4:19pm: The Angels have officially announced Porter’s selection. Rivero was placed on the 10-day IL with a left hamate fracture and will require surgery, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. Kochanowicz was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.
10:31am: The Angels are set to select the contract of catcher Logan Porter, reports Ari Alexander of 7News. He signed a minor league deal with them five days ago after choosing free agency over an outright assignment with the Giants. Porter hasn’t even suited up for a game with the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate yet, but he’ll jump right to the big leagues after backup catcher Sebastian Rivero exited last night’s game due to an apparent hand injury.
Porter, 30, is joining his third big league team. He has brief experience in the majors with both the Royals and Giants, for whom he’s totaled a combined 47 plate appearances. Porter is just a .184/.326/.289 hitter in that time, but he’s a .244/.359/.389 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons. He’s light on power but has walked at a gaudy 14.4% clip in more than 1200 Triple-A plate appearances.
Porter also gives the Angels a defensively sound backup to starting catcher Logan O’Hoppe. He’s thrown out a roughly average 22% of runners who’ve attempted to steal on him in the minors (33% dating back to last season) and drawn quality framing grades with slightly below-average marks for his blocking abilities, per Baseball Prospectus.
The Angels have already utilized four different catchers in 2026. Porter will be the fifth, joining the quartet of O’Hoppe, Rivero, Travis d’Arnaud and Omar Martinez. He has a full slate of minor league options remaining, so the Angels don’t necessarily need to designate him for assignment when d’Arnaud and/or Rivero get healthy. The Halos will need to open 26-man and 40-man roster spots for Porter, but that should be pretty straightforward. His selection to the majors seems to point to an IL trip for Rivero, and righty Jack Kochanowicz can be shifted to the 60-day IL after undergoing Tommy John surgery this week.
Braves Designate Carlos Carrasco For Assignment
The Braves have once again designated righty Carlos Carrasco for assignment. This time, his roster spot goes to right-hander James Karinchak, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also placed right-handed reliever Tyler Kinley on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation and recalled righty JR Ritchie from Gwinnett in his place.
Readers should be plenty familiar with the cycle at this point. Carrasco, 39, can’t be optioned and thus must be designated for assignment any time the Braves want to send him down to the minors. At this stage of his career, the former Cleveland ace is amenable to functioning as an effective 41st man on Atlanta’s 40-man roster. The team regularly selects his contract to the majors, designates him for assignment, passes him through waivers and re-signs him on a new minor league deal once he elects free agency. He’s then summoned the next time Atlanta’s bullpen needs some length.
The cycle will very likely repeat itself again several more times this season. Atlanta has now designated Carrasco for assignment five times dating back to last August. He’s re-signed a new minor league deal after each prior DFA and also signed a minor league contract with the Braves as a free agent over the winter. The setup clearly works for both parties.
Carrasco has pitched well overall with the Braves this year, though he’s been tagged for runs in each of his past two appearances. He’s still held opponents to a total of three runs on 10 hits and a walk with four strikeouts in nine big league innings. His work in Gwinnett has been even sharper. In 30 frames with the Stripers, he has the exact same 3.00 ERA but a much stronger 21% strikeout rate against a tidy 5.6% walk rate.
The 30-year-old Karinchak, a former Cleveland teammate of Carrasco, will be returning to the majors for the first time since 2023. Karinchak looked like a potential bullpen monster for the Guardians at one point, pitching to a 2.51 ERA with a preposterous 46.6% strikeout rate through his first 32 1/3 MLB frames from 2019-20. Injuries and poor command have since derailed him. He still posted a 3.24 ERA in 133 1/3 innings from 2021-23, but Karinchak did so while walking more than 14% of his opponents and with a lesser (albeit still excellent) 33.9% strikeout rate.
Karinchak spent nearly the entire 2024 season on the minor league injured list due to a shoulder issue, pitching only 6 2/3 innings that year. A fastball that averaged 97 mph during his MLB debut was sitting at 92.1 mph during that injury-ruined season. Cleveland outrighted him off the 40-man roster that offseason, and he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox. He pitched 29 1/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA for the South Siders’ Triple-A club in Charlotte, but Karinchak also walked nearly 17% of his opponents there and sat 92.7 mph on his heater. He was released in June and didn’t latch on with another club until the Braves signed him this past December.
Thus far in 2026, Karinchak has pitched 25 2/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA that matches his mark from Charlotte last season. He’s toned his walks down, relatively speaking, issuing a free pass to exactly 10% of his opponents. He’s punched out a gaudy 38% of the batters he’s faced. His fastball velocity still isn’t nearly back to its peak levels, but this year’s 93.8 mph average is up noticeably from his 2024-25 levels.
Karinchak still has a minor league option remaining, and if he can carve out a role in the Atlanta bullpen, he’d be controllable through the 2027 season via arbitration. That’ll depend on whether he can continue to show improved command/velocity and whether he can stave off further injuries.
Cardinals Option Victor Scott II
June 9th: The Cards have made it official, announcing that Church has been reinstated and Scott optioned.
June 8th: The Cardinals are optioning center fielder Victor Scott II to Triple-A Memphis today, as first reported by KMOV’s Tamar Sher. Fellow outfielder Nathan Church will return from the 10-day IL today and take Scott’s roster spot, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Church will presumably see the bulk of action in center field.
It’s the first time that Scott, 25, has been optioned since the 2024 season. He spent all of 2025 in the majors and has been a regular player in 2026 despite nonexistent offensive output. He’s hitting .194/.276/.258 (57 wRC+) through 184 turns at the plate thus far. Scott only has six extra-base hits (two homers, four doubles).
Scott has swiped nine bases but been caught four times; that’s already as many times as he was caught stealing in all of ’25, when he swiped a total of 34 bags. His 29.7 ft/sec sprint speed is still elite, sitting in the 98th percentile of big leaguers, but it’s down half a foot from last year’s 30.2 ft/sec, which tied him for tops in the game. Scott’s 8.7% walk rate is almost average, and his 23.9% strikeout rate isn’t egregious, but he has the sixth-worst hard-hit rate among the 235 players to tally at least 150 plate appearances this season.
Defensively, Scott still grades out quite well, though not to the same extent as in 2025. Last year, he was credited with 12 Defensive Runs Saved and 16 Outs Above Average in 1087 innings. This year, through 471 innings in center, OAA has credited Scott as a positive but not elite defender (3), while DRS has dinged him at -2.
If Scott stays in the minors for at least 20 days, this will burn the second of his three minor league option years. It’s unlikely to impact his potential free-agent and arbitration timelines, as he’s already less than three weeks from reaching two years of MLB service time. If Scott spends the rest of the season in Triple-A, he wouldn’t reach two years of service, thus giving St. Louis an extra season of club control, but it feels likely that he’ll be back at some point, whether because he hits his way onto the roster or because the Cardinals incur an injury in the big league outfield mix.
Church, also 25, has struggled at the plate in his own right, but not to the same extent. He’s taken 156 plate appearances and turned in a .247/.282/.390 slash (88 wRC+) with five homers, six doubles, a 3.8% walk rate and a 21.2% strikeout rate. He’s also making hard contact at lower-than-average levels, but not quite at the same bottom-of-the-scale levels as Scott. Church also has the more productive Triple-A track record; he slashed .335/.400/.521 in 242 plate appearances there last year. Scott’s only Triple-A work came back in 2024, when he hit .210/.294/.303 (58 wRC+) in 362 trips to the plate.
The rest of the Cardinals’ outfield mix seems largely set. Lars Nootbaar is back after missing the first couple months of the season and should see regular action in left, plus occasional time in center. Jordan Walker, in the midst of a full-fledged breakout, is entrenched in right field. (Nootbaar could play right field if the Cards give Walker a day off or a DH breather.) Nelson Velazquez, Jose Fermin and Bryan Torres can all mix in occasionally. Fermin and Torres have minimal opportunities in an infield with Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt, Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman getting regular work (though Gorman isn’t hitting enough to justify regular at-bats for the remainder of the season).
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good afternoon! I’ll get going at the top of the hour, but feel free to start sending in questions now.
Cards Fan
- Gorman a change of scenery candidate?
Steve Adams
- I don’t think they’ll get a ton for him, but at a certain point, I don’t know why they wouldn’t move on. He’s trending toward a non-tender, and he’s had a pretty substantial leash both in ’26 and more broadly over the past several seasons. Does feel like a change-of-scenery guy, whether this summer or in an early-November trade or just as a free agent with a new team after he’s non-tendered.
Dave
- Who says no: Josue De Paula straight-up for CJ Abrams?
Steve Adams
- One prospect — and De Paula is a good one! — isn’t going to pull two-plus years of Abrams.
Yankeespitching
- Do you think Jac Caglione would be worth keeping or dropping. I was hoping for a break out year but so far it hasn’t worked out
Steve Adams
- Always depends on league context, but if you’re in a standard 10- or 12-team mixed league, yeah, I don’t see a need to hang onto him. If it’s a deep mixed league or an AL-only format, might be another story
Guest
- If the Astros are 4+ GB at the deadline, what are the odds they trade Yordan Alvarez?
White Sox Promote Braden Montgomery
12:15pm: The White Sox have formally announced the selection of Montgomery’s contract. Veteran outfielder Austin Hays moves from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Chicago also recalled lefty Joe Rock from Triple-A Charlotte and optioned Nishida and righty David Sandlin to Charlotte in a sequence of additional moves.
11:17am: The White Sox are calling up top outfield prospect Braden Montgomery, as first reported by Matt Snyder of CBS Sports. Chicago will have to open space on the 26-man and 40-man roster to accommodate Montgomery, who currently ranks 33rd on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect rankings.
Selected No. 12 overall out of Texas A&M by the Red Sox in 2024, Montgomery landed with the White Sox as the co-headliner (alongside catcher Kyle Teel) of the blockbuster trade sending Garrett Crochet to Boston. The 23-year-old Montgomery opened the 2026 season in Double-A and has since been promoted to Triple-A, tormenting opposing pitchers at both levels. He’s appeared in 56 games this season, taken 258 plate appearances between those two levels, and turned in a stout .314/.422/.548 batting line (152 wRC+) with 10 homers, 13 doubles, three triples, five steals (albeit in 11 attempts), a huge 15.1% walk rate and a 24.8% strikeout rate.
Montgomery has been particularly productive at the dish as of late. After falling into a mini-slump that saw him go hitless for 16 plate appearances, he’s turned things around with a .474/.580/.711 batting line over his past 10 games. In that time, the switch-hitter has popped a pair of homers and three doubles while drawing 10 walks against seven strikeouts. The dip in strikeouts is notable, as the main knock on Montgomery for many scouts is a penchant for swinging and missing that leads to bearish grades on his hit tool; Baseball America pegged his hit tool at a 40 (on the 20-80 scale) heading into the season, while FanGraphs gave him a present-day 30 with a chance to get to a 40.
Even if Montgomery strikes out more than the Sox would prefer, he garners praise for elite bad speed, plus-plus raw power and a prodigious arm in right field. That latter element is to be expected for a former two-way star who ran his heater up to 96 mph as an amateur. Montgomery has focused solely on hitting and playing the outfield in pro ball, but the fact that he was a touted amateur pitcher as well only underscores his natural athleticism.
Montgomery is the latest promising young hitter to join an increasingly exciting White Sox core. The Sox have already called up Sam Antonacci and former first-rounder Jacob Gonzalez this season. They’re getting a full-fledged breakout from former top prospect Miguel Vargas. Former first-rounder Colson Montgomery has cemented himself as a potent source of power and claimed the long-term shortstop role. Chase Meidroth (also acquired alongside Montgomery and Teel) is light on power but has hit for average and gotten on base while staking a claim as the organization’s long-term second baseman. And, of course, the White Sox struck gold when they signed NPB slugger Munetaka Murakami to a two-year contract after the market failed to produce the type of long-term pact most envisioned for the 26-year-old. The aforementioned Teel has been out all season due to a knee injury but hit .273/.375/.411 in 78 games as a rookie last year.
For all that young potential, Chicago’s outfield is still pretty open. Antonacci has been a nice tablesetter in left field. Tristan Peters has hit well in center, but he’s a 26-year-old rookie whose production is buoyed by a .385 average on balls in play that he won’t sustain over a larger period. None of Derek Hill, Luisangel Acuna, Everson Pereira, Tanner Murray, Rikuu Nishida or veteran Andrew Benintendi has been a standout thus far; Pereira has hit reasonably well in 71 plate appearances but has a 30% strikeout rate and is out with a pectoral injury. Montgomery should have a path to regular at-bats in either center field or right field moving forward.
Based on the timing of Montgomery’s promotion, he’s not going to receive a full season of big league service unless he hits the ground running and finishes top-two in AL Rookie of the Year voting with a massive four-month finish to the season. Barring that unlikely event, the Sox will have six years of club control over him beyond the current season. He’s probably going to fall just a few days shy of Super Two eligibility, meaning he’ll be eligible for arbitration the standard three times rather than four, though that assumes he’s in the majors to stay. Whether that proves to be the case will hinge on how well he adjusts to big league opponents.