Padres Release Andrew Bellatti
The Padres released right-hander Andrew Bellatti, who’d been pitching with their Triple-A affiliate, per the team’s transaction log. The former Phillies righty signed a minor league deal with the Friars late during spring training.
Bellatti has pitched only 4 2/3 innings in El Paso, but they haven’t gone well. The 33-year-old surrendered six runs on 10 hits and five walks with five punchouts en route to a regrettable 11.57 earned run average. That follows up a tough 2024 season spent entirely at the Triple-A level, wherein Bellatti was tagged for a 5.48 ERA while walking more than 16% of his hitters with the Phillies’ top affiliate.
Back in 2022, Bellatti had an out-of-the-blue campaign in Rob Thomson’s bullpen. He’d previously pitched only 26 2/3 MLB frames, most of which came with the Rays in 2015, but after signing a minor league deal with the Phils, Bellatti rattled off 54 1/3 innings with a 3.31 ERA with a massive 33.9% strikeout rate. He was slowed by a triceps injury the following season and recorded just 24 2/3 innings with an inflated 5.11 ERA and diminished walk and strikeout rates.
Overall, Bellatti has a 3.83 ERA in 105 2/3 big league innings, with the vast majority of his production coming back in 2022. The righty averaged 94.4 mph on his four-seamer during that peak season but was sitting at just 91.7 mph in his brief run with the Padres’ top affiliate.
Mariners, Casey Lawrence Agree To Minor League Deal (Again)
Right-hander Casey Lawrence is back with the Mariners — again. The two sides have agreed to yet another minor league pact, per the Mariners’ transaction log at MLB.com. Lawrence is represented by Big League Management.
If and when the 37-year-old veteran makes his way back to the major league roster, it’ll be his fourth stint with Seattle in 2025 alone. It’s been a wild year for Lawrence, who re-signed with the Mariners as a minor league free agent over the winter. This is the third season in which he’s logged big league time with the M’s, though his prior stints haven’t involved such frequent rides on the DFA carousel.
Lawrence was claimed by the Blue Jays on the heels of his most recent Mariners DFA, also marking the third season in which he’s suited up for Toronto. The Jays designated him after one long relief outing (2 2/3 innings, three runs allowed). He elected free agency after passing through waivers and is now back in the Pacific Northwest.
Across his three stints with Seattle this season, Lawrence has pitched 10 innings and allowed four earned runs (3.60 ERA) on 14 hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Coupled with his lone appearance in Toronto, Lawrence has a 4.97 ERA on the season. He’s fanned just 8.3% of the hitters he’s faced but also has just a 1.7% walk rate. He’s also made a pair of starts with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate, totaling 10 1/3 innings and holding opponents to five runs on 13 hits with an 8-to-3 K/BB ratio (18.2 K%, 6.8 BB%).
Lawrence spent the entire 2024 season in the rotation for the Mariners’ Tacoma affiliate as well, so despite the frequent DFAs — four times already in a six-week-old season — there’s probably some stability with regard to his living situation. It may seem inconvenient to the player or even callous on the surface, but Lawrence seems comfortable with an arrangement that effectively renders him the 41st man on Seattle’s 40-man roster. Teams and players are typically up-front with one another in situations like this one; it’s not as though Lawrence is being blindsided by the frequent removal from the roster. The Mariners will likely continue to shuttle him on and off the 40-man roster when they need length in the bullpen or a spot start.
Orioles To Sign Naykel Cruz
The Orioles have agreed to a deal with Cuban left-hander Naykel Cruz, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. The contract is pending a physical. Cruz is expected to report to High-A or Double-A once the signing is official, Romero adds.
The 25-year-old Cruz held a showcase for big league teams back in November. He pitched in parts of four seasons in the Cuban National Series — Cuba’s top professional league — and was a member of Team Cuba in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (though he only pitched two-thirds of an inning in that tournament). The southpaw has also briefly appeared in the Mexican League, pitching in seven games back in the 2022 season.
During his four seasons in Cuba’s top league, Cruz posted a 4.18 ERA with shaky strikeout and walk rates of 19.1% and 15.4%, respectively. Prior to that offseason showcase, Romero wrote that Cruz had bumped his velocity from the 91-92 mph he averaged during his days pitching in the CNS to 94-95 mph.
Cruz’s age and previous experience in CNS make him eligible to sign as a professional rather than an amateur. That doesn’t mean he’s required to sign a major league deal, however. In all likelihood, he’s signing a minor league pact for a yet-unknown bonus.
By all accounts, Cruz isn’t an especially high-profile prospect, though that hardly means he can’t contribute at the big league level. Plenty of players who signed as international prospects and received middling bonuses have developed into major leaguers. Given his age, prior experience, the fact that he was eligible to sign as a professional and the fact that he could potentially go right to Double-A, Cruz is a bit more notable than many shot-in-the-dark international signings. It’s hardly likely that he pitches for the Orioles later this season, but it’s also not entirely out of the realm of possibility, especially given the state of Baltimore’s pitching staff at the moment.
Red Sox Notes: First Base, Devers, Yoshida
The Red Sox lost first baseman Triston Casas to a season-ending knee injury earlier this week and quickly selected Abraham Toro‘s contract to the big league roster. The switch-hitting Toro and righty-swinging Romy Gonzalez appear set to share time at the position for the time being, although the Casas injury immediately prompted speculation about a potential move to first base for Rafael Devers. Manager Alex Cora told the Red Sox beat last night that there’s been no discussion of a role change for the third baseman-turned-DH (link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic).
“We got these two guys (Gonzalez and Toro) here, Toro starting today,” Cora said prior to last night’s loss. “Romy has done an amazing job in the starts over there so we’ll keep going that way.”
Cora followed up today in an appearance on WEEI radio, repeating that Devers is a DH for the time being but taking a slightly softer stance on the possibility of an eventual position change (link via WEEI’s Tom Carroll).
“We asked him to do something in spring training that, as you guys know, he didn’t agree with in the beginning,” said Cora. “And then little by little, he has embraced it because he knows the quality of the player that we have at third base and where we’re at as a team. … I’m not saying we’ll never have that conversation [about moving to first base], but I think for now, where we’re at, I like Raffy as a DH.”
Within that WEEI appearance, Cora again praised the season that Gonzalez has put together thus far. There’s no denying that the 28-year-old has excelled in the early stages of the 2025 season. He’s hitting .327/.382/.449 in 55 trips to the plate, although that small-sample production is buoyed by a .421 average on balls in play. Gonzalez is averaging 94.1 mph off the bat and has seen 58% of his batted balls depart at 95 mph or more.
It’s a strong profile, but one that is preceded by minimal track record. Gonzalez is in his fifth major league season and entered 2025 as a .242/.271/.387 hitter. He’s always hit lefties well (.281/.329/.465), but right-handers have long been a problem. That hasn’t been the case this year, and Cora’s comments seem to suggest he’ll at least get some runway to prove he’s made some real gains.
Toro, also 28, has a similar track record to that of Gonzalez. He’s a career .220/.285/.352 hitter who’s now seeing action in his seventh MLB campaign. He’s bounced around the league more (Astros, Mariners, Brewers, A’s) and has a strong Triple-A track record but limited success in the majors. Cora noted that Toro “put [together] some good at-bats” in his Red Sox debut yesterday, when he went 1-for-4 with a single.
The combination of Gonzalez and Toro, whether in a traditional platoon or a more selective timeshare, doesn’t feel like a feasible long-term option, but it’s understandable to hear a team’s manager voice confidence in the options he presently has on the roster. That said, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow took a more open-minded stance to the team’s first base void, telling NESN’s Tom Caron prior to the game that the Sox “need to be willing to put all idea and options on the table” and “uncover every rock” to make the team as competitive as possible (hat tip to the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham).
The case for moving Devers to first base is one that we discussed on this morning’s MLBTR podcast episode. MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes also touched on it in today’s mailbag. That switch would open DH at-bats for the return of Masataka Yoshida, or it could help facilitate a big league promotion for Roman Anthony, who is widely ranked as the game’s No. 1 overall prospect. Anthony could join Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu in cycling through the outfield and DH spots. He’s hitting .294/.410/.495 with five homers as a 20-year-old in Triple-A. Dating back to last year, Anthony has slashed .321/.440/.508 in 298 Triple-A plate appearances — all before even turning 21.
The 31-year-old Yoshida, meanwhile, has been out all season while recovering from October surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder. Yoshida spoke with the Red Sox beat yesterday and said through an interpreter that hitting is “no problem” but that he’s still feeling discomfort when throwing (video link via NESN). He received a cortisone injection three days ago and will be shut down from throwing for at least another couple days while that takes effect. The Red Sox have no plans to activate Yoshida until he is able to play in the outfield, per Abraham.
Devers’ move from third base to DH was a major storyline in spring training and led to plenty of hand-wringing early in the season when he went through one of the worst stretches of his career at the plate. That panic looks silly in retrospect, as Devers struggled for all of one week and has hit .292/.404/.508 since the calendar flipped to April. His lack of experience at first base is an obvious consideration in any scenario, but the current tandem of Gonzalez and Toro have relatively limited experience there themselves: 319 innings for Gonzalez and 353 for Toro.
There’s no perfect solution. The Red Sox will likely be getting sub-par defense at first base whichever route they take. Playing Devers there could free up DH at-bats for Yoshida or open a clearer path to get Anthony to the majors. For the time being, they’re sticking with Devers at designated hitter and seeing what they have in Toro and Gonzalez.
Run production has been an issue over the past week as the Red Sox have dropped five of six games, and even looking at the past month (i.e. excluding Devers’ early slump) they’ve been a league-average offense on a rate basis and sit 15th in the majors in runs scored. If Boston’s rotation continues to struggle as it has over the past two weeks (24th in MLB with a 4.76 ERA), or if Gonzalez and Toro play closer to their career levels in the weeks ahead, one would imagine the Sox will more seriously consider changes to get more offensive firepower into the lineup.
William Contreras Playing Through Fractured Finger
Brewers catcher William Contreras has seen his power output decline this season, and MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports that he’s been playing through a fracture in the middle finger on his catching hand “for some time.” Contreras underwent x-rays last night that confirmed the presence of that fracture but did not reveal additional damage or injury. He’ll begin wearing a splint while catching to help mitigate some of the effects of the fracture but is expected to remain on the roster and continue catching.
Contreras, 27, is still getting on base at a hefty .358 clip, due in no small part to a massive 15.5% walk rate. He’s hitting .242/.348/.331 overall, however, which is a notable departure from the .283/.363/.472 output he produced from 2022-24. Contreras has just five extra-base hits this season — a pair of doubles and three homers — all of which came prior to April 14. He’s slugging .257 over his past 84 trips to the plate.
Even with Contreras scuffling a bit and minimal production from the left side of the infield, the Brewers remain a respectable offense. Milwaukee ranks tenth in the majors with 174 runs scored. Whether they can continue at that pace is a fair question to posit, however. Brewers hitters rank 18th in MLB with a combined .239 average, 14th with a .317 on-base percentage and just 25th with a .360 slugging percentage. By measure of wRC+ (91), their offense ranks 24th in the majors and has been nine percent worse than average.
While it seems there’s no immediate plan to sit Contreras down for any stretch of time, one would imagine that could change if his offense continues to lag. Eric Haase is Milwaukee’s backup and has hit .276/.314/.506 in a small sample of 93 plate appearances with the Brew Crew dating back to last season. That huge production has been propped up by a .400 average on balls in play and occurred despite a titanic 38.7% strikeout rate, however, making him a clear candidate for regression.
At the moment, the Brewers’ catchers in Triple-A Nashville include veteran Jorge Alfaro, former Yankees first-rounder Anthony Seigler and 2019 fourth-rounder Nick Kahle. Alfaro is hitting .213/.259/.417 in 28 games. Seigler, a catcher and second baseman, sports a .244/.416/.419 line in 113 plate appearances but is just getting back into catching after spending all of 2024 at second base in the Yankees’ system. (He signed with the Brewers as a minor league free agent in November.) Kahle was only activated for his season debut on April 22 and is hitless in his first 13 plate appearances.
Notably absent from that group is top catching prospect Jeferson Quero. The 22-year-old is widely considered to be among the sport’s top 100 prospects, but he missed nearly all of the 2024 season due to shoulder surgery and has yet to play in 2025 after suffering a hamstring injury late in spring training.
Rangers, Cory Abbott Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rangers and right-hander Cory Abbott have agreed to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. He’ll work as a starter with their Triple-A affiliate for the time being. The Dynamic Sports Group client had been pitching in the Mexican League to begin the 2025 season.
Abbott, 28, was a second-round pick by the Cubs in 2017 and has pitched in parts of three big league seasons, suiting up for both the Cubs and Nationals from 2021-23. He’s pitched 104 2/3 innings in the majors and struggled to a 6.02 earned run average due primarily to troubles with home run. Abbott’s 20.2% strikeout rate isn’t all that far south of this year’s 21.9% league average, but he’s surrendered an average of 2.41 homers per nine innings in the majors. Homers have been a problem for him in parts of four Triple-A campaigns as well, but he’s fanned a hearty 27.7% of his opponents at that level.
It’s only a sample of 15 innings with los Tecos de los Dos Laredos in 2025, but Abbott has been sharp in an exceptionally hitter-friendly environment. He’s held opponents to four runs on 13 hits and eight walks with 15 strikeouts. The resulting 2.40 ERA is less than half the current Mexican League average of 5.75.
Abbott is the second former big leaguer the Rangers have signed out of the Mexican League this week alone; Texas picked up righty Robert Dugger on a minor league deal yesterday after he got out to a decent start with los Guerreros de Oaxaca. Abbott and Dugger are two of just a handful of starters in Mexico to keep their ERAs south of 4.00 on the young LMB season.
The Rangers also recently added former Giants and Rockies southpaw Ty Blach on a minor league deal. They’ve been stockpiling experienced arms with Jon Gray, Cody Bradford and Kumar Rocker on the injured list at present. None of the three new arms they’ve signed in the past week will step right onto the MLB roster, but they’ll add some innings in Round Rock and could be summoned to the majors should the Rangers incur further rotation injuries or find themselves with a need for a long man in the bullpen.
Dodgers To Place Teoscar Hernandez On Injured List
3:36pm: Manager Dave Roberts tells the Dodgers beat that Hernandez is dealing with a Grade 1 adductor strain and that there’s no timetable for a return but Hernandez will be “inactive for awhile.”
3:29pm: The Dodgers announced Hernandez has been placed on the 10-day IL. Outman has indeed been recalled from Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.
3:04pm: The Dodgers will place outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on the 10-day injured list, reports Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. The team has yet to formally announce the move or a corresponding transaction, but as first noted by Jack Harris of the L.A. Times, James Outman traveled to meet the team in Miami.
Hernandez exited yesterday’s game with tightness in his left hamstring, the Dodgers announced last night. He went for an MRI to determine the severity of his ailment. The results of that imaging still aren’t clear, nor is a potential timetable for Hernandez’s return, but the team clearly saw enough damage to sit the 32-year-old slugger down for the next 10 days.
Though the 24-11 Dodgers currently hold the best record in baseball (by a margin of half a game over the second-place Padres), their outfield production has been more good than great on the whole. Hernandez has been the best of the bunch, slashing an excellent .315/.333/.600 with nine homers. Andy Pages has been strong as well, with a .277/.347/.491 output in regular playing time. The rest of L.A.’s outfield play has been suspect. Free agent acquisition Michael Conforto is out to a woeful .146/.285/.243 start. Neither Chris Taylor nor Tommy Edman has hit well during limited playing time in the outfield. Edman’s broader .252/.295/.523 slash is still quite solid overall, but he’s also on the 10-day injured list due to an ankle issue.
Edman might’ve been the top choice to fill in for Hernandez were he healthy, but the Dodgers will instead give more looks to Outman now — particularly against right-handed pitchers, given his notable career platoon splits. The 28-year-old Outman had a nice debut showing back in 2022 but has struggled mightily in the majors since that time, due in large part to a sky-high 33% strikeout rate in his career. He’s hitting .254/.322/.508 in Triple-A right now, but that’s coupled with a grim 36.3% strikeout rate in 146 plate appearances.
The Dodgers have also scarcely played Enrique Hernandez in the outfield this year, but he’s certainly no stranger to playing there and would make for a natural righty complement in a platoon setup. Taylor would be an on-paper fit as a fellow righty with outfield experience, but he hasn’t hit at all dating back to 2024 and has actually been even less effective against lefties than he has righties.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Dodgers Designate Yoendrys Gomez For Assignment
The Dodgers have designated right-hander Yoendrys Gomez for assignment, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty J.P. Feyereisen, who’s been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers claimed Feyereisen off waivers from the D-backs last week.
Los Angeles claimed Gomez off waivers from the Yankees late last month. The 25-year-old once ranked among New York’s top prospects but hasn’t gotten much of a look in the majors. A move to the National League West didn’t change that. Gomez appeared in three games for L.A., impressing in his first appearance (three scoreless frames, four strikeouts against the Pirates) before being trounced by the Marlins for seven runs in 1 1/3 innings across his next two outings.
In a total of 27 2/3 big league frames, Gomez now owns a 4.88 earned run average. He’s fanned 19.1% of his opponents against an ugly 13.7% walk rate. Both the Yankees and Dodgers had little recourse but to DFA Gomez when he struggled, as he’s out of minor league options and can’t simply be sent to Triple-A; he’d first need to clear waivers in order to be sent down.
Though the big league track record is minimal, it’s at least possible that Gomez will draw a look from another club. Granted, nearly every team in baseball passed on him the last time he was on waivers — the Dodgers were 28th in waiver priority at the time and still won the claim — but Gomez has a nice minor league track record. The 6’3″, 212-pound righty has near-identical ERAs of 3.67 and 3.64 in Triple-A and Double-A, respectively, and those have come in nearly identical samples of 83 1/3 innings and 81 2/3 innings.
Gomez missed most of the 2021-22 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Coupled with the canceled 2020 minor league season, that’s cut into his ability to build a more extensive track record in the minors. Still, the innings he’s thrown have generally been quality ones. Gomez punched out 27% of his Triple-A opponents last year — a nice number that was backed by a healthy 13.5% swinging-strike rate. Command was not and never has been a strong point — he walked 11.3% of opponents in 2024 and has a career 10.8% mark in the minors — but he’s managed to find success in spite of that flaw.
Gomez has worked primarily as a starting pitcher in the minors. A team in need of some rotation depth, perhaps one with some flexibility to install him as a long man in the bullpen, could feasibly take a look via a small trade or waiver claim. If the Dodgers manage to pass him through waivers unclaimed, he’d stick with the organization in Triple-A as a depth arm, as Gomez does not have enough service time or the prior outright assignment required to elect free agency after clearing waivers.
Diamondbacks, Michael Perez Agree To Minor League Deal
The D-backs have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent catcher Michael Perez, per their transaction log at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Reno.
Perez, 32, has played in parts of six big league seasons, splitting time with the Rays, Pirates and Mets from 2018-23 and accruing more than three years of service time along the way. He’s a career .179/.248/.306 hitter in 599 major league plate appearances but draws strong defensive ratings, particularly when it comes to his ability to block balls in the dirt and control the running game (28.7% caught-stealing rate).
Though he hasn’t appeared in the majors with Arizona, Perez is signing on for his second stint with the D-backs organization. He appeared in 24 games for Reno last year as well. The lefty-hitting backstop split the 2024 season between the Triple-A affiliates for the D-backs, Orioles and Mariners, batting a combined .259/.354/.453 in 246 plate appearances. He’s a lifetime .246/.336/.424 hitter in 272 Triple-A games.
The Diamondbacks haven’t gotten much production out of Gabriel Moreno and Jose Herrera behind the plate this year — their combined .215/.291/.273 line translates to a 61 wRC+ that ranks 27th in MLB — and they’ve been without prospect Adrian Del Castillo all season due to a shoulder injury. He’s on the minor league injured list. Glove-first veterans Rene Pinto and Aramis Garcia have both hit well in Reno, even when adjusting for the heightened run-scoring environment there, but Perez will give them some extra depth who can also handle first base.