Marlins Recall Dax Fulton For MLB Debut
1:45pm: The Marlins have now officially announced that they have recalled Fulton and optioned Kempner.
11:32am: The Marlins are set to recall left-hander Dax Fulton from Triple-A Jacksonville, Isaac Azout of Fish on First reports. Righty William Kempner, who made his own big league debut last night, will be optioned to Jacksonville in his place. Fulton has been a starter for the vast majority of his professional career but will make his debut in the Miami bullpen, Azout adds. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that left-hander Robby Snelling is still on track to make his big league debut Friday in place of recently DFA’ed veteran Chris Paddack.
Kempner tossed only eight pitches in last night’s debut, so it’s not a matter of him being unavailable. Perhaps the Marlins simply wanted another lefty in the ‘pen after Andrew Nardi tossed 22 pitches yesterday, or perhaps they preferred to add some more length after using five relievers Tuesday. Whatever the rationale, Fulton will head to Miami for his first call to the majors. He’s made five starts and two relief appearances this season in Jacksonville but been hit hard: 20 innings, 17 earned runs, 23 hits, 11 walks, three hit batters and 24 strikeouts.
It’s been a shaky start to his year, clearly, but Fulton is a former second-round pick and well-regarded prospect whose path to the majors has been set back by injuries. Most notably, he underwent an internal brace procedure on his left UCL in June 2023. (Fulton also had Tommy John surgery as an amateur.) That 2023 surgery wiped out his entire ’24 campaign. Fulton returned in 2025 with 103 2/3 innings, posting an unsightly 5.38 ERA with more encouraging underlying marks (3.55 FIP, 23.8% strikeout rate, 47.3% grounder rate).
Fulton is a towering 6’7″ southpaw who’s listed at 245 pounds. He’s sitting 93.6 mph on his heater and can ramp the pitch up to 96-97 at times. The big lefty’s other go-to offerings are a low-80s curveball and an upper-80s changeup, though he’ll occasionally sprinkle in a sinker.
Whether the move to a relief role has any permanence remains to be seen. The Marlins have a good bit of rotation depth even after Paddack’s DFA and offseason trades of Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers. The current staff includes Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Max Meyer and Janson Junk. Snelling, who sits 26th on Baseball America’s just-released update of their top-100 prospects, seems ticketed for a debut Friday.
Fellow lefty Thomas White, ranked even higher at No. 11 overall, will likely debut at some point this season. The Fish also have talented lefty Braxton Garrett in Triple-A — he started last night and is thus not a candidate to return to the big league rotation Friday — alongside swingmen Ryan Gusto and Bradley Blalock. Jacob Miller and Karson Milbrandt, the team’s second- and third-round picks in 2022, are both in their second stints at the Double-A level (with the latter throwing very well at present).
That stock of arms could make the bullpen Fulton’s clearest path to carving out a lasting spot on the big league roster, but he’ll likely need to get back to his pre-surgery form with another stint in Triple-A regardless. If he’s up to provide some length in the bullpen for the next couple days, he’ll be a candidate to be sent back down to Triple-A on Friday — assuming Snelling is indeed promoted for his debut that day.
Rockies Sign Erasmo Ramirez To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have signed veteran righty Erasmo Ramirez to a minor league contract, as announced by his now-former Mexican League club, los Algodoneros del Unión Laguna. He’ll presumably start his Rockies tenure with their Triple-A club in Albuquerque. Ramirez is represented by NPG Sports.
Ramirez opened the season in Mexico and was hit hard, surrendering 11 runs on 17 hits and a pair of walks with nine punchouts in a dozen innings. Poor small-sample results notwithstanding, the Rockies were clearly intrigued by Ramirez’s stuff. He’ll hope to pitch his way into what would be a 15th season with some big league experience.
The Nicaraguan-born Ramirez debuted with the Mariners back in 2012. He’s pitched for seven teams — Mariners, Rays, Nationals, Tigers, Twins, Mets, Red Sox — most recently suiting up for Minnesota late last season. Ramirez tossed 11 innings as a Twin and held opponents to three runs (2.45 ERA) on 10 hits and a pair of walks with five strikeouts.
Ramirez has never been a hard thrower, but a heater that averaged 92-94 mph earlier in his career sat 90.4 mph with Minnesota in 2025. In 860 career innings, he has a 4.34 earned run average with an 18% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 43.8% grounder rate. He’s worked as both a starter and reliever and stands as a possible swingman option for a Rockies staff that ranks 25th in the majors with a 4.59 ERA.
Nationals Sign Max Kranick
May 6: Kranick’s deal pays him $800K this season, reports Jessica Camerato of MLB.com. The 2027 option value is to be determined, in a sense. It’ll either be valued at $850K or $50K north of whatever the new league minimum is in 2027 — whichever of the two is higher. With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring, it’s of course possible that the $780K league minimum will increase further next year under a new agreement.
May 5: Washington officially announced the signing of Kranick to a one-year contract with a club option for 2027. He has been placed on the 15-day injured list as he continues working back from the elbow procedure. The team did not disclose salary terms.
May 1: The Nationals and right-hander Max Kranick have agreed to terms on a deal, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. The former Pirates and Mets righty underwent flexor tendon surgery last July and was non-tendered by the Mets in November. The Covenant Sports Group client’s contract is still pending a physical.
Kranick, 28, has pitched in parts of three seasons but never been able to carve out any staying power, thanks largely to injuries. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2022 and missed the vast majority of the 2023 season as a result. The Mets claimed him off waivers in the 2023-24 offseason but didn’t call him to the majors in ’24 — despite solid results in the minors.
In 2025, the Mets gave Kranick a real look. He got out to a nice start and was sitting on a 3.65 ERA through 37 frames at the time of his flexor injury. Kranick’s 16.9% strikeout rate was well south of the 22.3% league average, but his 3.4% walk rate was outstanding. Those trends have been fairly typical for Kranick. He’s never missed many bats but has generally run a better-than-average walk rate (granted, not quite to his 2025 extent) when healthy.
Washington’s pitching staff has been one of the worst in the game this year. The Nats’ 5.11 team earned run average sits 29th in the majors. That’s due largely to struggles in the rotation (Miles Mikolas and Zack Littell, in particular), but Washington’s collective 4.90 ERA from the bullpen ranks 23rd in the game as well.
Given those poor results, it’s hardly a surprise to see the Nats bring in some outside arms. Kranick isn’t going to be ready to jump right into the mix, however. He threw for teams back in January and was said at the time to be targeting a second-half return from the injured list. Once the deal is finalized, he’ll presumably need to work through a throwing progression and then go through a lengthy minor league rehab stint.
Kranick has 3.011 years of big league service time, so if he makes it back to the majors with the Nats and pitches well, he can be controlled for another three seasons beyond the current campaign. He’s out of minor league options, so once he’s added to the active big league roster, Washington won’t be able to send him to the minors unless he clears outright waivers.
Joe Ryan Hoping To Avoid Injured List; No Structural Damage In Elbow
The Twins received good news on star right-hander Joe Ryan after he exited his most recent start in the first inning due to elbow pain. An MRI taken revealed no structural damage, the team told its beat (link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Ryan is planning to throw a bullpen today and may not even require a trip to the injured list.
Alarm bells sounded during Ryan’s most recent start, when he lasted only nine pitches before departing with a trainer. The right-hander himself explained that he felt some discomfort that he hasn’t experienced in the past on multiple pitches. Since it was in his elbow, he took the cautious approach of signaling for a trainer. The Twins, understandably, did not take any chances.
Time will tell if Ryan is completely out of the woods. He’s already played catch. Today’s bullpen session will be informative. However, even if he requires a brief trip to the 15-day IL, that’s a far better outcome than the one for which most Twins fans (and presumably Twins brass) were bracing.
Ryan, 29, has been one of the steadier pitchers in the American League since making his debut back in 2021, after the Twins acquired him from the Rays in exchange for Nelson Cruz. He’s made 123 appearances — all but one of them starts — and posted a 3.79 ERA with a strong 27.5% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.7% walk rate. He’s a fly-ball pitcher who lacks premium velocity, which has always made him a bit homer-prone, but Ryan’s ability to avoid walks and miss bats in the zone has helped him limit the damage nonetheless.
The Twins control Ryan through the 2027 season. He’s earning $6.2MM this year and is owed one more raise in arbitration. (This year’s deal has a mutual option on it, but that’ll very likely be declined by one side, and the two parties will reconvene to negotiate a new price for his final arb season.)
Minnesota entered the season widely expected to be one of the least-competitive teams in the league. They’ve outperformed expectations, to an extent, thanks to big strides from younger players like Austin Martin, Brooks Lee and especially Taj Bradley, while veterans Trevor Larnach and Ryan Jeffers have had resurgent performances. Byron Buxton has been terrific, homering 11 times in 33 games.
Those positive developments notwithstanding, the Twins’ decision not to invest anything meaningful in the bullpen after tearing down the relief corps and trading away their five best relievers last summer has left them with a sub-.500 record. Minnesota relievers rank 28th in the majors in ERA (5.26), 29th in strikeout rate (18.3%) and 21st in walk rate (10.9%). Only three teams (Mets, Red Sox, Angels) have a lower average fastball from their relievers.
The Twins play in baseball’s worst division, so their 16-20 record leaves them only 1.5 games out of first place, trailing a Tigers club that just lost ace Tarik Skubal to a monthslong absence. Perhaps that’ll be enough to keep all five AL Central teams in relative contention into the summer, but Ryan still stands as an obvious potential trade chip in light of last summer’s fire sale and some ownership turmoil that has left the team with a payroll about $50MM shy of its 2023 peak. Getting a clean bill of health on his right elbow both gives the Twins a better chance at making an improbable contention run and preserves most of the trade value for a veteran arm who’ll be their top deadline chip if they sell for a second straight summer.
Marlins Notes: Alcantara, Rotation, Ramirez
Sandy Alcantara‘s name is all but perpetually ingrained on the rumor mill. The Marlins are always in a state of needing to keep an open mind to trade offers regarding their stars, and he’s currently one of two members of the roster earning more than $4MM. (Closer Pete Fairbanks is earning $13MM on a one-year deal.)
Alcantara is earning $17MM in the final season of his contract, though the team holds a $21MM club option (or $2MM buyout) on the 30-year-old for the 2027 season. After a shaky 2025 campaign — his first season back from Tommy John surgery — Alcantara looks a bit more like his old self. His 3.04 ERA is quite strong, but his rate stats are less encouraging.
Alcantara’s 16.1% strikeout rate is about six points shy of average. His 7.8% walk rate is better than average but still up a ways from his 5.6% peak. Ditto his 47.2% grounder rate — it’s about five points higher than par but about six points shy of his previous top levels. On the plus side, Alcantara’s 97.3 mph average four-seamer remains strong, he’s getting good results on a new 90.1 mph cutter, and his overall 11.2% swinging-strike rate is right in line with the league average, thereby suggesting his strikeout rate could climb up in the weeks ahead.
It’s still been a strong start overall, and other clubs would surely love to get their hands on Alcantara in hopes of restoring some whiffs and adding a former Cy Young winner to their playoff rotations. However, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic cautions that Alcantara isn’t a lock to be traded. Beyond being a leader in the clubhouse, he’s a personal favorite of owner Bruce Sherman.
It’s not as though the Marlins, who opened the season with a comically low payroll in the $73-74MM range, feel financial pressure to trade Alcantara. If anything, the opposite might hold true. The Major League Baseball Players Association has filed grievances against the Marlins and a few other bottom-of-the-barrel payroll clubs in recent years, arguing that said teams aren’t sufficiently spending the money they receive from larger clubs via MLB’s revenue-sharing system.
In all likelihood, Alcantara will again command plenty of headlines this summer as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches. Miami is currently in second place in the NL East, but that’s a nominal feat in a generally disappointing division. The Fish are 8.5 games behind the Braves for first place. They’re technically only four games out in the Wild Card chase, but at 16-19 overall with a -28 run differential, the outlook isn’t especially rosy.
Rosenthal suggests that the Marlins could instead listen on righties Janson Junk and Max Meyer this summer, but Junk is a journeyman with a similarly low strikeout rate (17.4%) and a swinging-strike rate (8.4%) that sits considerably shy of league average. It’s doubtful another team’s going to part with much to acquire him, although given that he was a minor league free agent pickup in the 2024-25 offseason, any return would be considered found money. Meyer would make a far more compelling trade target (37 innings, 2.68 ERA/3.60 SIERA, 26 K%, 8.4 BB%), but the Marlins control the former No. 3 overall pick for three more years beyond the current season. If he’s pitching like this in July/August, the Marlins should have an even higher ask for him than they would Alcantara.
Miami probably hoped that free-agent pickup Chris Paddack would pitch well enough to make himself a deadline candidate as well, but that didn’t happen. The Fish designated him for assignment this morning, cutting bait on a $4MM contract and opening a spot in the rotation in the process. Reliever William Kempner is up from Triple-A Jacksonville to give the bullpen a fresh arm, but the Marlins will need a starting pitcher this Friday.
Braxton Garrett and top prospect Robby Snelling have been mentioned as candidates, but Fish On First reports that Garrett is still slated to make his scheduled start for Jacksonville tonight. If Garrett indeed takes the mound, he won’t be an option to start Friday. That’d be Snelling’s natural turn in the rotation. He’s been starting once every seven days in Triple-A, and his last start came on Friday, May 1.
Snelling, 22, is a former No. 39 overall pick who came to Miami from the Padres as part of the Tanner Scott trade. His stock was down a bit at the time of the swap, but he’s rebounded nicely and now ranks among the sport’s 100 best prospects. So far in six Triple-A starts, he’s posted a 1.86 ERA, a mammoth 40% strikeout rate and a concerning 13.6% walk rate. He has kept 57% of batted balls against him on the ground. He looks to have little left to prove in Triple-A after also posting a 1.27 ERA there in 11 starts last year (2.51 ERA overall in 25 starts between Double-A and Triple-A). He’s not on the 40-man roster, but the Fish have an open spot after Paddack’s DFA.
While the Marlins’ ability to develop young pitching always makes their rotation a point of focus, their catching situation has been a long-running point of focus for the opposite reasons. Miami has struggled to find a solution behind the plate since trading J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies nearly a decade ago. They’ve cycled through Jorge Alfaro, Jacob Stallings, Nick Fortes with cameos from veteran backups like Sandy Leon, Chad Wallach and Bryan Holaday.
There’s more hope on the Marlins’ catcher horizon than at any point in recent memory. Liam Hicks is enjoying a breakout showing at the plate, and Miami just called up top prospect Joe Mack for his major league debut. If Mack hits the ground running, Miami could shift from that revolving-door setup to suddenly having a pair of solid catchers on the roster — a luxury they haven’t enjoyed at any point in recent history.
Mack’s promotion coincided with a demotion for former top prospect Agustin Ramirez, but despite Ramirez’s immense defensive struggles behind the dish, the Marlins aren’t giving up on him as a catcher. Manager Clayton McCullough told the Marlins beat this week that his message to Ramirez was simple (link via MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola): “You’re going to go down to Triple-A, and you’re going to continue to catch. You’re not the first young player that has come up and had bouts of struggle and had to get optioned.”
Ramirez caught only 605 innings last year but was still dinged for a remarkable -14 Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast pegged him as the game’s least-effective catcher in terms of both throwing out would-be base thieves and even more so at blocking balls in the dirt. His minus-28 “blocks above average” was nearly double the second-worst player on the list (a 35-year-old Salvador Perez). Things haven’t improved in 2026, and Ramirez’s bat wilted as well; he hit just .230/.318/.345 in 129 plate appearances.
Ramirez was always a bat-first catcher, and the Marlins don’t have clear long-term options at first base or designated hitter. If he can get his swing back on track, there could yet be a path to seeing semi-regular time between first base, designated hitter (where he’d presumably share times with Hicks) and perhaps some occasional starts behind the plate. It’ll be Mack and Hicks getting the major league opportunities right now, but Mack is just getting his feet wet and Hicks has already cooled a bit after a blistering start to the season.
Brewers Release Jacob Waguespack
The Brewers have released right-hander Jacob Waguespack, who’s been pitching with their Triple-A affiliate in Nashville, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. He’s free to explore opportunities with other clubs now.
Waguespack, 32, has pitched in parts of three big league seasons with the Blue Jays and Rays. He’s totaled only 105 2/3 innings in the majors and has a 5.11 ERA, 18.9% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate to show for his efforts.
Lack of big league track record notwithstanding, Waguespack’s 2026 work in Nashville has been quite strong. The well-traveled righty has tossed 16 innings and held opponents to a 2.25 ERA with a huge 33.8% strikeout rate and an even gaudier 17.4% swinging-strike rate. His 16.2% walk rate could obviously stand to improve. Waguespack is sitting 92.1 mph on his four-seamer and coupling the pitch with a mid-80s cutter and a low-80s changeup.
Waguespack last pitched in the majors with the Rays in 2024. He split the 2025 season between the Triple-A affiliates of the Rays and Phillies, combining for a 2.45 ERA in 33 innings. Overall, he’s pitched in parts of six seasons in Triple-A and has a 4.13 ERA in 285 2/3 innings there. Beyond his work at the top minor league level, Waguespack has pitched a pair of seasons for Japan’s Orix Buffaloes. He was excellent there in 2022 (2.97 ERA, 26.2 K%, 9.4 BB%, 72 2/3 innings) before struggling in 2023 (5.77 ERA, 33.3%, 12.9 BB%, 43 2/3 innings).
It’s common this time of year for veterans on minor league deals to reenter the market, whether via an opt out or simply being granted their release with no clear path to a spot in the current organization’s big league roster. They’ll sometimes simply return to the setting where they’ve already been playing, but if a team with a more dire need for bullpen help shows interest — even on a another minor league deal — that might prove to be a better arrangement for the journeyman Waguespack as he looks to push his way back into the majors.
Marlins Designate Chris Paddack For Assignment
1:08pm: The Marlins have now officially announced the Paddack and Kempner moves.
8:22am: The Marlins are designating veteran righty Chris Paddack for assignment, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The team has yet to formally announce the move or a corresponding transaction, but Christina DeNicola of MLB.com reports that reliever William Kempner will be recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville. It’s Kempner’s first big league promotion. He’ll be making his MLB debut when he gets into a game.
It’s a hook on the 30-year-old Paddack, who signed a one-year, $4MM deal to return to the organization that originally drafted him (but traded him to the Padres in a 2016 swap for reliever Fernando Rodney). The hope had been that Paddack could provide some stable innings following offseason trades of Ryan Weathers (to the Yankees) and Edward Cabrera (to the Cubs). He looked great this spring (two runs, 13 innings pitched) but was shelled in seven regular season appearances with Miami (six of them starts).
Paddack only completed five frames once in his return to the Marlins organization: a quality start against his former Tigers teammates in Detroit (six innings, two runs). He allowed at least two runs in fewer than five innings each other time he took the mount, including a trio of appearances that saw him tagged for five, seven and eight runs apiece. His time with the Fish will draw to a close with a 7.63 ERA, an 18.5% strikeout rate and a 6.8% walk rate in 30 2/3 innings.
A former top prospect, Paddack debuted with a 3.33 ERA in 140 2/3 innings for the 2019 Padres. He’d have been a Rookie of the Year finalist, if not winner, in most seasons, but he happened to be up against Pete Alonso‘s 53-homer debut, Michael Soroka‘s 174 2/3 innings of 2.68 ERA ball, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bryan Reynolds; excellent as Paddack’s debut was, he didn’t even receive a down-ballot vote.
Injuries have held Paddack back in the years since. He missed time with a UCL sprain in 2021 and then underwent his second career Tommy John surgery — his first came as a prospect — with the Twins in 2022. His 2024 season was cut short by a forearm strain.
In 471 2/3 innings since his terrific debut campaign, Paddack has posted a 5.23 ERA. He regularly shows strong command but has never missed bats at the same level he did as a rookie. He’s also been far too homer-prone, serving up an average of 1.55 round-trippers per nine frames from 2020-26.
It’s fair to wonder how many more rotation opportunities Paddack will get. He struggled out of the rotation more often than not in Minnesota, and the Tigers dropped him to the bullpen after just seven starts last summer following a trade to acquire him. The Marlins, obviously, are moving on in quick fashion.
Perhaps another club with a pile of rotation injuries will plug Paddack into its starting five when he’s inevitably released, but other clubs will surely be interested in what he might look like as a reliever. When Paddack returned from his second Tommy John procedure with the Twins late in the 2023 season, he pitched 8 2/3 innings between the regular season and postseason, allowing three runs with a 14-to-1 K/BB ratio. He looked particularly dominant in the postseason, and his typically 93 mph four-seamer was averaging 95.5 mph. He was hit hard out of the Detroit ‘pen last year, but they were using him as a long man, and not the short-relief role in which he excelled during that brief, post-surgery run with the Twins.
For the time being, the Marlins will have five days to trade Paddack or release him. (They could also place him on outright waivers, but he’d surely clear due to his salary and struggles, and Paddack has enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining his remaining guaranteed salary.) It’s possible they’ll find a taker who’s willing to pay a nominal portion of that guarantee, but the most common outcome in these scenarios is a simple release. The Marlins will remain on the hook for that $4MM salary. A new team would owe Paddack just the pro-rated league minimum for any time spent on the major league roster.
As for the 24-year-old Kempner, he came to the Marlins in a Jan. 2025 swap that sent international bonus pool space back to the Giants. The 2022 third-round pick had a big season in the minors last year between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, combining for a 2.26 ERA with a 33.6% strikeout rate in 67 2/3 frames of relief. Command is a clear flaw, as Kempner walked 14.1% of his opponents along the way.
Kempner was selected to the 40-man roster back in November, thus shielding him from December’s Rule 5 Draft. He’s out to a tough start in ’26, with a 6.46 ERA in his first 15 1/3 frames at Triple-A. However, he’s fanned a preposterous 47.9% of opponents and allowed only a 63.8% contact rate. Kempner sits 95.5 mph with his heater and pairs it with a low-80s slider. He has a seldom-used cutter for a third offering but is primarily a two-pitch righty.
Kempner gives Miami a fresh arm for the next few days. Paddack’s spot in the rotation would be up this weekend. De Nicola lists Braxton Garrett and top prospect Robby Snelling as options to step into the rotation. Both pitchers have sub-2.00 ERAs with strong strikeout rates (Snelling in particular) but poor walk rates through their first handful of starts in Jacksonville.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good afternoon! I’ll get underway at the top of the hour, but feel free to start sending in questions ahead of time.
- Let’s get going
White Sox
- Since a 1-5 start, Sox are 16-13. Do you think they’ll finish within 3 games of .500 or better?
Steve Adams
- No. I just don’t think the pitching staff can support that level of winning. None of Burke, Martin, Kay or Fedde are average big league starters. Noah Schultz is super fun, and he very well could be, but he’s far from a sure thing yet and I expect some growing pains for him with the command issues.
John
- It’s too late to trade Mayo and Cowser imo. Do they have any value? Kjerstad as well. This team is so frustrating
MLB Issues Three-Game Suspension To Chris Devenski
Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that Pirates righty Chris Devenski has been given a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for what the league believes to have been intentionally throwing at Reds infielder Sal Stewart in Saturday’s game. That will go into effect tonight, unless Devenski files an appeal. He’d remain eligible to pitch while the appeal process plays out. Pittsburgh skipper Don Kelly also received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine. He’s expected to serve his suspension tonight.
The incident Saturday occurred in a game the Pirates led 15-to-6 (video link). Stewart stepped into the batter’s box and called time just as Devenski was coming set. He stepped out briefly, and upon digging back in was greeted with a 92 mph waist-high sinker that tailed inside and nearly hit Stewart. Although he managed to jump out of the way, Stewart was clearly perturbed and barked at Devenski, who walked several steps toward home plate. The umpiring crew convened and ultimately ejected Devenski, prompting an angry visit from Kelly.
“Going hard in to start an at-bat,” Devenski said after the game when asked about the ejection (video link). “I know the guy likes to dive over [the plate]. That’s about it. Just trying to execute my pitch there, and I think he took it the wrong way. It is what it is, but I’m not going to back down from anything, either.”
Devenski plainly stated that the pitch wasn’t intentionally thrown at Stewart. “[I’ve] been around the game a long time … If I was going to do anything like that…” Devenski trailed off with a light chuckle, seemingly implying that the location might’ve been different had there been true intent behind the pitch. “Not in that situation. Just trying to get outs,” he added.
The Pirates only selected Devenski to the major league roster last Friday. He’d been pitching in Triple-A Indianapolis on a minor league contract and pitching quite well, allowing just one run with a 15-to-2 K/BB ratio in 10 2/3 innings. He’s pitched 2 2/3 frames with the big league club and allowed a pair of runs on five hits and no walks with three strikeouts.
Time will tell whether Devenski appeals and whether the suspension holds up. If he opts not to appeal, the Pirates will play a man down for the next three games. On the plus side, the ‘pen is very fresh after Braxton Ashcraft worked 7 2/3 brilliant innings Sunday and the team had an off day yesterday.
Tigers To Sign Paul DeJong
9:15am: DeJong would earn a prorated $1MM base salary in the majors, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports.
8:38am: The Tigers and veteran infielder Paul DeJong have agreed to a minor league contract, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The C.L. Rocks client recently opted out of a minor league deal with the Yankees.
DeJong, 32, is a veteran of nine big league seasons. The slick-fielding, righty-swinging shortstop can handle any infield position at an average or better level. At the plate, he’s a strikeout-prone, low-OBP hitter with above-average power. DeJong has taken exactly 3500 plate appearances in the majors and slashed .229/.294/.416 with 146 home runs, fanning at a 27.9% clip against a below-average 7.1% walk rate.
Though he only took 83 plate appearances with the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton, DeJong popped six home runs in that short time. He also drew walks at a huge 19% clip. However, he hit only .203, leading to an oddball slash line of .203/.361/.516 during his relatively short stint in the Yankees organization.
DeJong has played in each of the past nine big league seasons. Last year’s 208 plate appearances with the Nationals were the fewest he’s logged in a 162-game season, though his playing time was hindered by a frightening injury early in the season, wherein DeJong took an errant fastball to the face. He suffered facial fractures and lacerations, ultimately spending about two months on the shelf. DeJong hit .228/.269/.373 with only six homers last year, but a year prior he ripped 24 long balls in semi-regular work for the White Sox and Royals while slashing .227/.276/.427.
The Tigers aren’t immediately adding DeJong to the big league roster, though it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see him get a look before long. Javier Báez, Zach McKinstry and Trey Sweeney are all on the injured list (the latter on the 60-day IL). Rookie Kevin McGonigle has seized an everyday role while splitting time between third base and shortstop. Gleyber Torres is locked in at second base. Colt Keith is playing third base frequently — particularly against right-handed pitching.
That doesn’t leave much room for regular playing time, but Detroit’s bench currently features journeyman Zack Short and rookie Hao-Yu Lee. Short is hitless through his first three plate appearances, which isn’t a concern for any batter in and of itself, but he’s a lifetime .171/.269/.295 hitter in 597 big league plate appearances (including a prior stint in Detroit). It’s not reasonable to expect him to provide even DeJong’s modest levels of offense at the plate. Lee, meanwhile, has struggled in a part-time role. If the Tigers want to get the 23-year-old regular at-bats to build on last year’s .243/.342/.406 line from Triple-A (14 homers, 22 steals, 106 wRC+), they could option him out and plug DeJong into the bench mix.