Rangers, Kumar Rocker Agree To Terms
The Rangers and No. 3 overall draft pick Kumar Rocker have agreed to terms on a $5.2MM bonus, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The right-hander’s bonus clocks in well south of the pick’s $7,587,600 slot value, which should afford the Rangers flexibility further down their board. Rocker is represented by the Boras Corporation.
Rocker was the No. 10 overall pick by the Mets a year ago and was reportedly set to ink a $6MM bonus before medical concerns scuttled that deal. He’d eventually go on to have an arthroscopic procedure on his right shoulder last August. Rather than returning to Vanderbilt for his senior season, Rocker instead opted to pitch for the Tri-City Valley Cats of the independent Frontier League (an official partner league of MLB). Health hasn’t looked to be an issue at all for Rocker this time year; he’s pitched 20 innings for the Valley Cats and turned in a 1.35 ERA with a dominant 32-to-4 K/BB ratio while reportedly running his heater back up to 99 mph.
The selection by the Rangers improbably reunites Vanderbilt’s 2021 co-aces, as Texas took right-hander Jack Leiter with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft just last season. Leiter and Rocker were widely viewed as two of the top arms in last year’s draft — evidenced by their top-ten selections — and will now give the Rangers a pair of high-ceiling arms upon which to build. (Leiter certainly seems pleased with the Rangers’ selection, celebrating the pick with a pair of tweets last night.)
Rocker, 22, starred alongside Leiter for the entirety of his three years at Vanderbilt, pitching to a 2.89 ERA with a 33.2% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate in 236 1/3 innings for the Commodores in a tough SEC setting. The 6’5″, 245-pound righty has an upper-90s heater, and scouting reports from Baseball America, The Athletic, ESPN, MLB.com and FanGraphs credit him with a slider that draws 60 to 70 grades on the 20-80 scale. Rocker has also worked with a curveball and changeup, both drawing at least average ratings in most reports.
While Rocker was one of the most recognizable names in this year’s draft, his selection at No. 3 overall nonetheless registered as a draft-night surprise. Most rankings had him as a late first-rounder or even in the second round, considering last summer’s shoulder surgery and some oft-cited inconsistency in his stuff at Vanderbilt. The Rangers were clearly heartened by Rocker’s strong showing in the Frontier League, and they’ll also now have the option to use the savings on their No. 3 selection to scoop up some lingering, hard-to-sign talents who remain on the board.
Despite picking at No. 3, Texas entered the draft with just the 14th-largest bonus pool — a reflection of the fact that they surrendered their second- and third-round picks (and the associated bonus pool allotments) to sign free agents Corey Seager and Marcus Semien this past winter. Because of those forfeitures, Rocker remains the only selection Texas has made thus far. The Rangers’ next pick will come in Round 4, and there are still a few highly regarded high school options on the board, headlined by Clemson-committed righty Brock Porter, who’s regarded as a first-round talent but was not selected on Day 1 of the draft.
KBO’s Lotte Giants Waive DJ Peters
The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’re waiving former Dodgers and Rangers outfielder DJ Peters (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). Yoo adds that the Giants are expected to announce a new foreign-player acquisition soon.
Peters, 26, was the Dodgers’ fourth-round draft pick back in 2016 and had been in his first season in the KBO after agreeing to a one-year, $600K deal with the Giants this past offseason. He made his big league debut with the Dodgers in 2021 before being picked up by the Rangers in an early-August waiver claim and seeing fairly regular action for them down the stretch. Between the two teams, Peters batted .197/.242/.422 with 13 homers, nine doubles and a triple in 240 plate appearances — showing good power but also considerable strikeout-to-walk concerns (34.2% strikeout rate, 5.0% walk rate).
While Peters has improved on both his strikeout and walk rates in the KBO (21.8% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate), his overall .228/.299/.402 batting line through 354 plate appearances looks fairly similar to last year’s showing in the big leagues — plenty of pop but with glaring OBP concerns. Peters has been credited for huge power and a concerning hit tool dating back to his prospect days, and that’s largely how his career has played out through his first taste of both MLB action and KBO play.
That huge raw power — FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited him with 70-grade power on the 20-80 scale as recently as the 2020-21 offseason — above-average speed and strong throwing arm ought to keep getting Peters opportunities, though following a release in the KBO he’ll likely need to look to a minor league deal if he returns to North American ball. Still, it’s a tantalizing package of raw tools that a team could stash in the upper minors as depth with the hope of a potential breakout.
Phillies Reinstate Connor Brogdon, JoJo Romero; Will Toffey Outrighted
The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve reinstated righty Connor Brogdon from the Covid-related injured list and lefty JoJo Romero from the 60-day injured list. That necessitated a pair of 40-man moves. Infielder Will Toffey outright to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after clearing waivers, while righty Hans Crouse was recalled from Lehigh Valley and immediately placed on the Major League 60-day injured list. Lefty Cristopher Sanchez was optioned to Lehigh Valley to create additional space on the active roster.
Brogdon, 27, has been on the Covid list since late June but been one of the team’s better relievers when on the field. Through 17 2/3 innings this season, he’s notched a tidy 2.04 ERA with a sizable 28.8% strikeout rate against a much better-than-average 6.8% walk rate. Since making his debut with the Phils back in 2020, he’s totaled 86 1/3 frames with a 3.22 ERA, an average fastball of 95.9 mph and above-average strikeout and walk rates.
Romero, meanwhile, has yet to pitch in the Majors this season due to an elbow injury. The 25-year-old hasn’t had much MLB success to this point (7.32 ERA in 2020-21), but he only has 19 2/3 innings under his belt in the big leagues. Like Brogdon, Romero averages better than 95 mph with his heater. He just wrapped up a minor league rehab assignment that saw him post a 1.54 ERA and 15-to-2 K/BB ratio through 11 2/3 innings across four minor league levels, topping out with 3 2/3 scoreless frames in Triple-A.
Losing his spot on the 40-man roster is the 27-year-old Toffey, who didn’t appear in a game before being passed through waivers and sent back down. The journeyman infielder would’ve been making his MLB debut had he gotten into a game. A 2017 fourth-round pick by the A’s, Toffey is already in his fourth organization and has batted .266/.385/.438 in 192 plate appearances while playing primarily third base so far in Triple-A this season.
As for Crouse, he’s been on the minor league injured list since April due to tendinitis in his right biceps. Today’s move is quite beneficial for him, as he’ll now continue rehabbing that injury while being paid at the prorated Major League minimum and acquire Major League service time along the way. As Matt Gelb of The Athletic rightly points out, the Phillies have also done this with lefty Damon Jones and right-hander James McArthur. Most clubs shy away from going this route, but the Phils have opted to give service time and big league pay to a trio of pitchers rather than subtract elsewhere on the roster as the need for space arises.
Dodgers To Sign Hansel Robles
The Dodgers have agreed to a deal with right-hander Hansel Robles, reports Mike Rodriguez of Univision (Twitter link). It’s a minor league contract, tweets Juan Toribio of MLB.com. Robles was released by the Red Sox earlier this week.
Robles, 32 next month, has long been a tantalizing late-inning arm who’s been prone to inconsistent performance despite possessing impressive raw stuff. The right-hander averaged 96.2 mph on his heater with the Red Sox this season, which ranks in the top 15 percent of MLB hurlers, and has fanned more than a quarter of his opponents in 427 1/3 innings scattered across parts of eight big league seasons. However, Robles logged a career-low 18.9% strikeout rate this year against a career-high 12.6% walk rate, and the resulting 5.84 ERA through 24 2/3 innings prompted the Sox to eventually move on.
Walks have always been an issue for Robles (career 10.2%), but at his best he’s shown the ability to miss bats in bunches, thanks to that power fastball and a pair of secondary offerings in his changeup and slider. The changeup has long rated as the better of the two pitches, per FanGraphs’ run values, and that’s all the more true in recent seasons. Opponents slugged .594 against Robles’ slider this season, ripping a pair of doubles and three home runs off the pitch.
The Dodgers’ bullpen isn’t at full strength right now, so it’s only natural that they’d be intrigued by a veteran power arm who has, at times, looked like a very capable late-inning reliever. Blake Treinen has been shelved for the past three months due to shoulder troubles, while Daniel Hudson — who’d been one of the team’s best setup options — suffered an unfortunate ACL tear when fielding a grounder last month. Flamethrowing sinker specialist Brusdar Graterol hit the injured list just yesterday due to a shoulder issue, and the team has yet to announce the results of today’s followup imaging. Right-hander Tommy Kahnle has been out since May due to a bone bruise in his right elbow.
Robles is far from the first veteran pickup whom the Dodgers have opted to stockpile in the minors. They’ve also added righties Pedro Baez and Dellin Betances, although Betances has struggled in Triple-A, while Baez is only just building back up with the Dodgers’ Rookie-level club after a shutdown period. He’s thrown three scoreless innings but is presumably not an option in the very near term.
Robles seems likely to join Betances in Oklahoma City, and if he can get on track in a hurry, there could be a bullpen opportunity before long — particularly if Graterol is to miss an extended period of time. The Dodgers will, of course, be active in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, so it’s certainly possible — if not likely — that they’ll add some more established help to an injury-depleted relief corps in the next 18 days.
Tigers Designate Drew Carlton For Assignment
The Tigers announced Friday that right-hander Jose Cisnero has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and that fellow righty Drew Carlton has been designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster.
Carlton, 26, was Detroit’s 32nd-round pick back in 2017 and made his big league debut with them last season. He’s tossed a total of 12 1/3 innings in the Majors from 2021-22, logging a strong 2.92 ERA but a less impressive 8-to-4 K/BB ratio. Far more concerning, however, are Carlton’s struggles in Triple-A Toledo this season. The Florida State product has been hammered for a 6.91 ERA with the MudHens, yielding 33 hits — five of them home runs — and six walks in 27 1/3 innings.
Prior to this season, Carlton had a strong showing in his first run through Triple-A, working to a 2.92 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate and a 4.8% walk rate in 52 1/3 frames. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher whose fastball has averaged 90.6 mph in his limited big league time. Carlton can be optioned this year and for two more beyond the current campaign. The Tigers will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
Cisnero, meanwhile, will rejoin the Tigers’ bullpen and look to build on a strong 2019-21, when he logged a 3.69 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate in 126 2/3 frames. Cisnero has averaged 96.6 mph on his fastball over that stretch and gone from an indie-ball reclamation project who’d been out of affiliated ball for five years to a valuable member of Detroit’s late-inning relief corps. He’s already 33 years old and will be a free agent after the 2023 season, so if he impresses in his first few outings after activation, it’s at least plausible that he could join several of his bullpen-mates as names of interest on the summer trade market. If not, he’ll give the Tigers a veteran arm to plug into the bullpen for the season’s second half and for the 2023 campaign.
Rangers, Martin Perez Have Mutual Interest In Extension
Martin Perez emphatically told reporters late last month that he hoped to stay with the Rangers long-term (link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News), and general manager Chris Young told Grant and others yesterday that the team is indeed open to the possibility of signing the veteran lefty to an extension (Twitter link).
Perez, who returned for a second stint with the Rangers on a one-year, $4MM deal over the winter, appears to be in the midst of the breakout season so many thought possible during his minor league days, when he was regarded as one of the top 30 prospects in all of baseball. It’s coming well later than anyone expected, at 31 years of age, but Perez has pitched to a brilliant 2.68 ERA with a career-high 20.7% strikeout rate, a career-low 6.6% walk rate and a 51.9% ground-ball rate that represents his highest mark since 2016.
Now an 11-year Major League veteran, Perez is throwing fewer four-seam fastballs than at any point in his career (6.6%) and has ramped up the usage of his sinker (37%) and changeup (27.7%) in its place. That changeup usage rate is a career-high, and his sinker usage is at its highest point since 2018. He’s also tamped down the use of the cutter he added with the Twins in 2019 but is still using it frequently as a third offering. His curveball, like his four-seamer, only makes a handful of appearances per start (5.1%). Perez has experimented with many pitch mixes throughout his career, but this is the most aggressively he’s ever leaned on the sinker/cutter/changeup trio, and the results are impressive.
The extent to which the Rangers are willing to spend to keep Perez beyond the current season isn’t yet known, but Perez made his feelings crystal clear in that late June interview, telling the Texas beat: “I want to be here and stay here, 100 percent. No — make it 300 percent.”
As things currently stand, righties Jon Gray and Dane Dunning are the only locks for the rotation beyond the current season. Texas is hopeful that touted prospects Jack Leiter and Cole Winn will emerge as high-end options sooner than later, but both have struggled considerably in the minors this season (Leiter in Double-A, Winn in Triple-A). Even if that pair were to right the ship and break through to the big leagues sometime in 2023, there’d still be room for a solid veteran of Perez’s caliber — and that’s obviously a best-case scenario that’s far from certain, given the volatility of pitching prospects.
Whether it’s a Perez extension or a trade that brings some controllable talent to Globe Life Field, Young expressed yesterday that the Rangers may not wait until the offseason to help solidify the 2023 rotation (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Levi Weaver). “I think that as we are building this and evaluating where we currently sit in the standings, and where we want to be this time next year, finding pieces both for the short term and potential fits beyond 2022 is how we’re approaching it,” Young said of the Rangers’ approach to the trade deadline.
The Rangers are currently five games below .500 at 41-46, which takes them completely out of the running in the American League West, where they trail the Astros by a massive 16.5-game deficit. They’re only four and a half back in the race for the American League’s third Wild Card spot, however, and Texas has played considerably better since a terrible start to the season. Following a 2-9 start to the season, they’ve gone 39-37 with a +25 run differential in that span.
Royals Add Nick Pratto, Seven Others To Major League Roster
The Royals announced Thursday that they’ve recalled top first base prospect Nick Pratto from Triple-A Omaha as one of eight players joining the Major League roster. Also coming to the Majors are catcher Sebastian Rivero, infielder Maikel Garcia and lefty Angel Zerpa, who’ve been recalled from Double-A Arkansas. Additionally, the Royals selected the contracts of infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton, catcher Freddy Fermin, outfielder Brewer Hicklen and infielder Michael Massey from Omaha.
The deluge of additions comes in conjunction with the previously announced slate of ten current Royals heading to the restricted list in advance of the team’s road series against the Blue Jays, where travel restrictions prevent unvaccinated athletes from entering Canada. Andrew Benintendi, Dylan Coleman, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, Kyle Isbel, Brad Keller, MJ Melendez, Whit Merrifield, Brady Singer and Michael A. Taylor are all now formally on the restricted list.
As MLB.com’s Anne Rogers tweets, the roster spots of starting pitchers placed on the restricted list (i.e. Singer, Keller) cannot be filled until four days after they last pitched, per MLB rules, which explains the discrepancy between eight players being added versus the ten who went on the restricted list.
The Royals indicated in today’s announcement that they expect to add “up to two more players” to the big league roster over the course of the series. They’ll make another addition tomorrow and another on Sunday. Any players whose contracts were selected to the 40-man roster for this series can be returned to Triple-A without first needing to clear waivers, due to their status as Covid-19-related replacements.
Pratto’s promotion is the most notable of the bunch. The 14th overall pick in the 2017 draft, the California high school product slowly progressed up the minor league ladder. He had an awful 2019 showing in High-A, and the cancelation of the following minor league season dealt his prospect stock a hit heading into 2021. The lefty hitter rebounded in a huge way last year, blasting 36 home runs in a season split between the minors top two levels. That came with some alarming strikeout numbers, but Pratto’s combination of power and huge walk totals was enough to put him firmly in top prospect consideration. He entered the season as Baseball America’s #43 overall farmhand.
Assigned to Omaha to open this year, Pratto has essentially picked up where he left off. He’s hit 17 more longballs and drawn walks at a massive 15.1% clip, but he’s fanned in over 30% of his trips to the plate. The end result — a .240/.374/.484 line through 337 plate appearances — is still excellent. The Royals nevertheless brought up fellow top prospect Vinnie Pasquantino ahead of Pratto, seemingly preferring he get a long leash to iron out the strikeout concerns in the upper minors. It’s very possible he’ll head back to Omaha after the Jays’ series, but Kansas City fans will at least get their first glimpse at a player they hope eventually develops into a middle-of-the-order bat.
It’ll almost certainly be a brief stint for the group of players temporarily added to the 40-man roster. Hicklen was called up briefly as a COVID replacement earlier in the season. Fermin, Massey and Eaton all have opportunities to make their big league debuts in the coming days. Fermin, a former international signee out of Venezuela, is hitting .242/.357/.422 with Omaha this season.
Massey, a fourth-round pick out of Illinois in 2019, was recently named the #8 prospect in the Kansas City system by Baseball America. He owns a .348/.408/.630 line with six homers in 24 games since being bumped up to Omaha last month, and he’ll almost certainly land a permanent 40-man roster spot by next offseason (when Kansas City would need to add him to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft). Eaton is a former 21st-round pick out of VMI. BA recently slotted him 29th in the farm system in recognition of his .329/.388/.591 showing with the Storm Chasers.
Giants Place Jake McGee On Release Waivers, Claim Aaron Fletcher
The Giants announced Thursday that left-hander Jake McGee, whom they designated for assignment over the weekend, has been placed on unconditional release waivers. San Francisco also claimed lefty Aaron Fletcher off waivers from the Pirates and optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento. Lefty Jose Alvarez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
McGee, 35, is in the second season of a two-year, $5MM contract that pays him $2.5MM and contains a $4.5MM club option (with a $500K buyout). He’s still owed the balance of that salary and the full weight of the buyout. It’s quite rare for players with any salary of note to be claimed off outright waivers or release waivers during the season, making it likely that he’ll clear and become a free agent. At that point, any team could sign McGee and owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the Majors. The Giants would remain on the hook for the remainder of his salary.
The contract looked brilliant last season, when McGee turned in 59 2/3 innings of 2.72 ERA ball. The lefty led the Giants with 31 saves, struck out 24.3% of his opponents against a tiny 4.2% walk rate, and served as a key member of a bullpen that propelled San Francisco to an MLB-best 107 wins.
Things haven’t gone nearly as smoothly in 2022, however. Though his velocity has remained mostly the same, McGee’s strikeout rate has plummeted to 11.5% as his walk rate has jumped to 6.3%. Beyond the freefall in his strikeout rate, McGee has been unable to strand runners this season, with his 49.7% left-on-base rate checking in miles below the 74.4% career rate he carried into the season. The end result is a disastrous 7.17 ERA through his first 21 1/3 innings.
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle spoke to McGee in the wake of the move. The southpaw called it a “letdown” to be cut loose, given how much he’s enjoyed his time there, but he took the move in stride and was understanding of the team’s decision. Once he clears waivers, he’ll be able to sign with any team he wishes, and there are quite likely several clubs who’d be in the market for an effectively free look at a reliever with McGee’s track record.
Fletcher, meanwhile, will step into McGee’s place as a lefty relief option for the club. The 26-year-old split his time between Pittsburgh and their top affiliate in Indianapolis, making nine appearances with the Bucs and 14 in Triple-A. Fletcher allowed nine runs in 11 2/3 innings with the big league club, striking out six while walking four. He allowed just six runs (three earned) through 18 2/3 frames in Indianapolis, however, apparently catching the Giants’ attention in the process.
While Fletcher has yet to have success in brief big league stints with the Mariners and Pirates, he owns a 2.56 ERA in parts of four minor league campaigns. He’s typically posted gaudy ground-ball numbers throughout his professional tenure, including a 55.2% clip in Triple-A this season. Fletcher is in his second minor league option year, so he can bounce on and off the active roster for the foreseeable future.
As for Alvarez, he’ll be out for an extended period. The veteran southpaw just landed on the IL on July 5 with elbow inflammation, and he’ll now be ineligible to return until early September. Signed to a one-year guarantee heading into 2021, Alvarez posted a sparkling 2.37 ERA through 64 2/3 innings. The club exercised a $1.5MM option on his services for this year, but he posted a 5.28 ERA in 21 outings. He’ll now miss at least the bulk of the second half of the season, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll be healthy enough to take the mound again before hitting free agency next winter.
Rays Shut Shane Baz Down For Four Weeks Due To Elbow Sprain
The Rays announced Thursday that right-hander Shane Baz has been placed on the 15-day injured list after being diagnosed with a sprained right elbow. Baz felt discomfort while playing catch this week. He was evaluated by Dr. Keith Meister, received an injection, and will be shut down from throwing for at least four weeks. Righty Luke Bard is up from Triple-A Durham in his place.
It’s the second unfortunate bit of pitching news the Rays have gotten in the past 24 hours, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that lefty Josh Fleming could be out as long as six weeks due to an oblique strain. It’s a Grade 1 strain, which is the least-severe, but it Topkin notes that it was bad enough that doctors nearly termed it a Grade 2. Fleming won’t throw for the next two to three weeks and will need to build back up after that point.
It’s a brutal day of news for an already injury-ravaged Rays roster. Baz missed the first two months of the season following an arthroscopic procedure on his right elbow back in Spring Training. The righty, who was recently ranked as the game’s No. 2 overall prospect on Baseball America’s latest Top 100 list, returned from that injury and made five starts with a 2.92 ERA before being shelled for seven runs in a July 10 start in Cincinnati.
In addition to Baz and Fleming, the Rays are without Tyler Glasnow (2021 Tommy John surgery), Yonny Chirinos (2021 elbow fracture), Brendan McKay (2021 thoracic outlet surgery), Luis Patino (strained oblique) and Jeffrey Springs (leg injury). That septet would make up a potentially strong big league rotation on its own, were they healthy.
With those seven sidelined, however, Tampa Bay will lean heavily on ace and American League Cy Young favorite Shane McClanahan, veteran righty Corey Kluber and up-and-coming right-hander Drew Rasmussen for the foreseeable future. Lefty Ryan Yarbrough will likely be recalled from Durham this weekend to help cover some innings, and the Rays have already recalled right-hander Tommy Romero, who could also step into the big league rotation.
The Rays, in addition to that litany of rotation injuries, are also without catcher Mike Zunino, second baseman Brandon Lowe, shortstop Wander Franco, outfielders Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot, and five relievers (Nick Anderson, J.P. Feyereisen, Andrew Kittredge, Pete Fairbanks, JT Chargois). It’s a mammoth spate of injuries, with several of the team’s best players sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Even with the miserable luck on the health front this year, however, Tampa Bay is eight games above .500 and squarely in possession of the top Wild Card spot in the American League. There’s little to no hope that they’ll run down the Yankees, who boast a massive 14-game lead over the second-place Rays, but Tampa Bay’s current standing makes them a candidate to tap into the trade market for some reinforcements, be they on the pitching front or at any number of suddenly thin spots in the lineup.
As for Baz, the hope will be that a four-week shutdown provides sufficient healing. That said, a sprain — by definition — involves some degree of stretching or tearing in an elbow ligament, which obviously brings about concern of a more grim long-term outlook. Since we’re already midway through July, there’s little harm in Baz taking a rest-and-rehab approach for the time being. Even in a worst-case scenario that saw him require Tommy John surgery, he’d likely be out for the entire 2023 season at this point. The Rays, to be clear, have not indicated that such an outcome is on the table, but elbow sprains are often an unfortunate portent for surgery of some degree.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Thursday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.