Twins Release Derek Fisher
The Twins released outfielder Derek Fisher from their Triple-A affiliate over the weekend, per the transactions log at MiLB.com. The former Astros, Jays and Brewers outfielder inked a minor league deal with Minnesota over the winter.
Once regarded as one of the game’s top outfield prospects, Fisher has managed just a .195/.285/.378 batting line through 466 plate appearances at the MLB level. Strikeouts have been a major problem for the now-28-year-old former No. 37 overall draft pick, as he’s punched out at a 35.4% clip in the big leagues.
Despite those Major League struggles, Fisher never seemed to have much trouble handling Triple-A opponents — at least until last season. He slashed .205/.271/.308 in 85 plate appearances with the Brewers’ top affiliate in 2021, and his .158/.259/.305 batting line through 108 trips to the plate for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul marked an even bigger step back. He got out to a decent start with the Saints, but Fisher collected just four hits over his final 45 at-bats prior to his release, missing two weeks with a shoulder issue along the way.
Fisher is still a 28-year-old .272/.361/.486 hitter in parts of six minor league seasons overall, so another club might take a look on a minor league deal, even his recent work doesn’t inspire much confidence.
Diamondbacks, Dallas Keuchel Agree To Minor League Deal
TODAY: Keuchel’s deal actually contains three opt-out dates, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The three dates are June 25, July 3, and July 11.
JUNE 6: The Diamondbacks have agreed to terms on a minor league contract with free agent lefty Dallas Keuchel, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll head to Triple-A for the time being but has an eventual opt-out date worked into the deal if he’s not added to the MLB roster by that time. Keuchel is represented by the Boras Corporation.
It’s a no-risk deal for the D-backs, who’ll owe only the prorated league minimum to Keuchel for any time spent in the Majors. The remaining balance of his $18MM salary will still be paid by the White Sox, who released him late last month. The Sox are also still on the hook for the $1.5MM buyout on Keuchel’s 2023 option.
Keuchel is headed to the minors for now, but the new agreement reconnects him with D-backs pitching coach Brent Strom, who was Keuchel’s pitching coach during his peak years with the Astros. At least for now, the two won’t be working side-by-side on a daily basis with Strom on the big league staff, but the connection quite likely played a role in the mutual interest between player and team.
The 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner, Keuchel was a force atop the Houston rotation from 2014-18, pitching to a 3.28 ERA with a 20.2% strikeout rate, a strong 6.4% walk rate and a sky-high 60% ground-ball rate over the life of 950 1/3 innings. That included his standout 2015 campaign, wherein Keuchel paced the American League in wins (20), shutouts (two) and innings pitched (232) — all while pitching to a career-best 2.48 ERA. He hasn’t replicated that success since, but that was one of three sub-3.00 ERAs that Keuchel posted in a four-year span.
Despite the impressive resume with Houston, Keuchel’s first trip through the free-agent process didn’t pan out as hoped. Saddled with the burden of draft-pick compensation after rejecting a qualifying offer from the Astros, Keuchel wound up waiting until after the 2019 draft to sign a prorated one-year deal with the Braves. (In waiting that long, he shed the draft-pick compensation provision.)
It was a surprising scene, likely due to a combination of multiple factors. The draft compensation undoubtedly played a role, and Keuchel surely hit the market with lofty multi-year goals that many teams found unreasonable. He’d also had multiple IL stints since that Cy Young year and reached the market on the heels of a 2018 season that saw him post his lowest strikeout and ground-ball rates since his 2012 rookie season.
Keuchel still reeled in a prorated $20MM salary on that deal (about $13MM), and he pitched well down the stretch with Atlanta. In 112 2/3 frames that year, he notched a 3.75 ERA with a revitalized 60.1% grounder rate. It was enough for the White Sox to guarantee Keuchel $55.5MM on a three-year deal as they emerged from a lengthy rebuilding effort.
The first season of that deal proved to be an overwhelming success, as Keuchel turned in a career-best 1.99 ERA over 11 starts (63 1/3 innings) during the Covid-shortened 2020 season. Keuchel got out to a strong start in Year Two of the deal as well, logging a 3.78 ERA through his first 14 starts of the season, but he fell into a disastrous slump shortly thereafter and has yet to really recover.
Keuchel has made 24 starts since June 20 of last year, allowing runs in 23 of them. During that time, he’s pitched to a 7.02 ERA with a bottom-of-the-barrel 12.4% strikeout rate against an elevated 10.2% walk rate. He’s still inducing grounders at a better-than-average 52.2% clip, but that’s a good ways off from his peak levels. It also bears mention that Keuchel has averaged just 87.8 mph on his heater during that span — nearly three miles per hour slower than the 90.4 mph he averaged during that Cy Young-winning season.
Arizona’s top four starters this season have been anywhere from solid to excellent, as each of Zac Gallen (2.40 ERA), Madison Bumgarner (3.31), Merrill Kelly (3.66) and Zach Davies (4.18) have made at least 10 starts and totaled at least 54 innings. The fifth spot has been more of a challenge to fill. Luke Weaver moved to the bullpen earlier in the year and hit the injured list not long after. Humberto Castellanos (nine starts), Tyler Gilbert (tw0) and Caleb Smith (one — which was only one inning) have made the remainder of the team’s starts and generally fared poorly. Castellanos recently hit the injured list with an elbow strain.
Keuchel will give the D-backs some depth to slot in behind that group. He’ll join fellow big league veteran Dan Straily, who has struggled on a minor league deal of his own following a big showing in South Korea, as a non-roster player down in Reno. The Snakes also have the aforementioned Gilbert, righty Luis Frias and former top prospect Corbin Martin on the 40-man roster as options down in Triple-A.
Orioles Claim Austin Voth, Designate Cody Sedlock For Assignment
June 10: The Orioles announced that Sedlock has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. He will remain in the organization but without occupying a roster spot.
June 7: The Orioles announced Tuesday that they’ve claimed righty Austin Voth off waivers from the Nationals and designated fellow right-hander Cody Sedlock for assignment in a corresponding roster move.
Voth, 30 later this month, was long one of the more promising arms in the Nationals’ system but has yet to find sustained success in the Majors either as a reliever or as a starter. He looked to have turned a corner back in 2019, when he posted a 3.30 ERA in 43 2/3 innings with a highly effective, high-spin curveball helping him to post strong strikeout and walk rates. But Voth’s entire arsenal took a step back during the shortened 2020 season, resulting in a 6.34 ERA over the life of 11 starts.
That proved to be Voth’s longest rotation audition in the Majors, as he was moved to the bullpen the following season but struggled through similarly poor results. He’s out of options, so the Nats carried him on the Opening Day roster in hopes of Voth at last righting the ship, but he was clobbered for 21 runs through 18 2/3 frames before the Nationals finally cut bait and designated him for assignment.
Voth still has excellent spin rate on his fastball and elite spin on his curveball, so the O’s are surely hoping that a change of scenery and some new voices can help him translate that into effective innings. He’s been plagued by a .455 batting average on balls in play this season, which is bound to regress to some extent, but Voth is also among the game’s most homer-prone pitchers and has been since that ill-fated 2020 season. A move to Camden Yards and, more broadly, the mostly hitter-friendly parks throughout the AL East, isn’t going to help in that regard — but perhaps the Orioles have a new game plan to help Voth keep the ball in the yard.
As for the 26-year-old Sedlock, he was the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect at Baseball America back in 2017 and their No. 7 prospect a year later. Viewed at the time as a potential mid-rotation arm or better, Sedlock has taken several steps back, primarily due to injuries. A forearm injury, shoulder injury and thoracic outlet surgery have combined to derail the former first-rounder’s career to this point.
Sedlock came to the O’s with a four-pitch mix and an ideal starter’s build (6’4″, 220 pounds), but he’s now posted an ERA north of 5.00 in three of his five professional seasons and has never reached 100 innings in a single season. As Keith Law of The Athletic points out (via Twitter), Sedlock’s injury-plagued career is a cautionary tale for the college pitchers who are regularly overworked; the right-hander tossed 132 pitches over a 10 2/3-inning start in his junior year at Illinois, Law notes, before going on to toss 113, 106, 115 and 120 pitches on short rest over his next several appearances.
The Orioles will have a week to trade Sedlock or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. Given his pedigree, it’s certainly possible another club will view him as a change-of-scenery candidate, but Sedlock averaged 91 mph on his fastball in a brief and unsuccessful MLB debut this year (five runs in three innings) — and he has a long list of arm injuries on his resume before even turning 27.
Felix Pena Signs With KBO’s Hanwha Eagles
June 10: The Hanwha Eagles announced agreement with Pena on a deal that will pay him $500K for the remainder of the season (h/t to Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap). He’ll take the roster spot of former Pirates and Blue Jays righty Nick Kingham, who was released last week due to an elbow injury.
June 8: Right-hander Felix Pena is exercising an opt-out in his minor league deal with the Mets in order to sign with a team in the Korea Baseball Organization, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (Twitter link). It’s not clear yet which club Pena will sign with.
Pena, 32, signed with the Mets over the winter on the heels of an outstanding showing in the Dominican Winter League (1.91 ERA, 27-to-7 K/BB ratio in 33 innings). He’s appeared in eight games with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse thus far — six starts and a pair of relief appearances — working to a 4.06 ERA with a 20.2% strikeout rate and very strong walk and ground-ball rates (7.0% and 53.3%, respectively).
A solid swingman with the Halos from 2018-20, Pena turned in a combined 215 2/3 innings of 4.34 ERA ball with a 23.6% strikeout rate, a 7.7% walk rate and a 43.4% grounder rate during that three-year run. He’s made 24 starts at the MLB level in addition to another 80 relief outings, though it’s likely he’ll work out of a rotation in the KBO.
Pena suffered an ACL tear with the 2019 Angels, rebounded with a solid 2020 effort and then posted disastrous results both in the Majors and in Triple-A during the 2021 season. A hamstring strain shelved him for the first six weeks last season, and he was clobbered for seven runs in just 1 2/3 frames upon returning. The Halos passed him through waivers and retained his rights, but he surrendered 61 innings in 68 1/3 Triple-A frames over the remainder of the year in Salt Lake.
That ugly sequence took him off the MLB radar, but Pena’s strong showing in winter ball and solid work in Triple-A look to have earned him a six-figure salary overseas. If he shows well enough in the KBO, he could potentially put himself back on the MLB map, as we’ve seen with increasing frequency in recent years.
Giants Option Joey Bart To Triple-A, Acquire Austin Wynns From Phillies
12:30pm: Wynns is indeed being selected to the 40-man roster, MLBTR has learned.
11:40am: The Giants announced Wednesday that they’ve optioned catcher Joey Bart to Triple-A Sacramento. They’ve also acquired catcher Austin Wynns from the Phillies organization in exchange for lefty Michael Plassmeyer and cash, according to announcements from both teams.
Wynns wasn’t on the Phillies’ 40-man roster, and the Giants have yet to indicate that he’ll be selected to their own 40-man. Curt Casali is now the only catcher on San Francisco’s big league roster, so they’ll either need to make a move to formally select Wynns’ contract or else call up another catcher from their minor league system. Michael Papierski is the only other catcher on the Giants’ 40-man roster.
The decision to option Bart comes on the heels of some prolonged offensive struggles for the former No. 2 overall draft pick. The now-25-year-old Bart had a fast start to the season, going 6-for-18 with a pair of homers and four walks through his first six games, but he’s fallen into a dreadful slump. Over his past 30 games (24 of them starts), Bart is hitting just .111/.256/.194 with a staggering 45.3% strikeout rate.
Given the magnitude of those struggles, it’s not a huge surprise to see Bart sent down. The Giants will hope that a return trip to Sacramento can prove to be the catalyst for a turnaround. Bart has long ranked not only as one of the Giants’ best prospects but as one of the very best prospects in all of baseball, and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has been quick to voice confidence in Bart’s long-term outlook. Zaidi tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link) that the Giants “still think Joey is an everyday catcher” but felt it prudent to give him “a little bit of a reset” following such a difficult stretch at the plate.
Bart entered the season with 112 days of Major League service time, meaning he needed another 60 days on the active roster or big league injured list to reach one full year of service and remain on his same arbitration (post-2024) and free agency (post-2027). He’s already accrued 62 days, so even if he were to stick in the minors for the remainder of the season, he’s still logged enough time to cross into that one-plus service bracket.
As for the 31-year-old Wynns, he’ll give the Giants an experienced backup option. Wynns, the Orioles’ 10th-round pick back in 2013, spent parts of three seasons in the big leagues with the O’s, batting a combined .216/.255/.326 in 331 plate appearances. He’s thrown out 32% of attempted base thieves in his big league career, and while his pitch-framing marks are below average, he’s been solid in terms of blocking balls in the dirt, per Baseball Prospectus.
Wynns inked a minor league contract with the Phillies over the winter and opened the season with their Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley. Despite his lackluster big league numbers and a pedestrian Triple-A track record, he’s been one of the best hitters in the Triple-A International League so far, hitting at a ridiculous .365/.504/.500 clip. Wynns has hit three homers, five doubles and drawn a walk in just under 21% of his 134 plate appearances thus far. It’s not a huge sample of playing time, but it’s hard not to be impressed by any player reaching base at greater than a 50% clip in a span of 33 games.
Wynns obviously can’t be expected to sustain that pace, but there’s little else he can do to earn himself a big league promotion. That probably wasn’t going to happen in Philadelphia, where J.T. Realmuto is entrenched as the main catcher, but Wynns has a more clear path to playing time with the Giants, even if Casali is likely to function as the starter moving forward.
In exchange for Wynns, the Phillies will pick up the 25-year-old Plassmeyer — a 2018 fourth-rounder (Mariners) who went to the Rays as part of the Mike Zunino trade and has since gone to the Giants in return for righty Matt Wisler. Plassmeyer opened the 2022 season with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate and has been hit hard, logging a 7.38 ERA in through 46 1/3 innings. He’s been extremely homer-prone this year in that hitter-friendly setting (2.91 HR/9) and has quite uncharacteristically walked 11.3% of his opponents.
Prior to the 2022 season, Plassmeyer looked the part of an upper-minors strike thrower who could be on the cusp of a look in the big leagues. Kevin Goldstein and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs listed him near the back of their Top 39 prospects in the Giants’ system this winter, noting that the 6’2″ southpaw has an average changeup and breaking ball to go along with outstanding command. The lack of a true plus offering and a pedestrian 89-91 mph fastball give Plassmeyer a back-of-the-rotation outlook, but if the Phils can get his once-plus command back on track, he could be a depth option in the near future.
Padres Sign Kyle Martin To Minor League Deal
The Padres have signed first baseman Kyle Martin to a minor league contract, as first announced by Martin’s now-former team, los Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League (Twitter link). Martin, a client of True Gravity Sports, will head to their Triple-A affiliate in El Paso.
A fourth-round pick of the Phillies back in 2015, Martin was cut loose by the Phils following the 2018 season and spent the 2019-21 seasons with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent American Association. He’s since gone on a tear in Mexico, first hitting .261/.387/.572 with 17 home runs in winter ball before now posting a gaudy .364/.480/.884 batting line during the regular season. The left-handed-hitting 29-year-old has belted 18 home runs and nine doubles in just 152 plate appearances with los Guerreros, all while walking at a 17.1% clip against a 21.7% strikeout rate. The Mexican League is an extremely hitter-friendly setting, but Martin nevertheless leads the league in homers, slugging percentage and OPS.
Martin has played first base exclusively in Mexico, but he does have limited corner outfield experience, mostly coming with the Phillies’ Double-A affiliate back in 2018. Baseball America listed Martin 30th among Phillies prospects in 2016, touting his plus raw power as his most appealing tool. He hit .226/.303/.401 in parts of four seasons in the Phillies organization but didn’t advance beyond the Double-A level.
Lack of upper-minors experience notwithstanding, Martin has crushed Mexican League pitching and found similar success during his three years with Winnipeg (.284/.370/.561, 61 homers in 1032 plate appearances). It’s an intriguing power profile for the Padres to add the upper levels of their system, and one would imagine that if Martin is able to continue at anywhere near this pace in his return to affiliated ball, he’ll put himself on the radar for a potential Major League debut with San Diego.
First baseman Eric Hosmer has turned in some of his best work since signing with the Padres so far in 2022 (.289/.349/.406), but his bat has been fading after a blistering first month of the season. Luke Voit, meanwhile, hasn’t produced as hoped as the primary designated hitter to this point (.227/.325/.371). Wil Myers has struggled mightily as the team’s primary right fielder and recently landed on the injured list, and the Padres haven’t received much production from bench bats like Matt Beaty (also on the injured list) and Jose Azocar (though Azocar has at least been roughly league-average in 77 plate appearances). Former Rangers prospect Nomar Mazara is now getting a look in right field after a big start in Triple-A. There’s enough uncertainty in the Padres’ first base/corner outfield/designated hitter mix that it’s not a surprise to see them take a no-risk look at the top slugger in Mexico.
Twins Designate Juan Minaya For Assignment
The Twins designated right-hander Juan Minaya for assignment following last night’s game against the Yankees, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. They’ll bring up a fresh arm for the bullpen today.
Minaya, 31, has spent the 2021-22 seasons with Minnesota. This marks his second DFA with the Twins, who also non-tendered him over the winter but ultimately re-signed him to a minor league deal. He accepted an outright assignment with the Twins a year ago to the date after clearing waivers, and the Twins will have a week to either trade him or attempt to pass him through waivers once more. As was the case last year, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Minaya returned from his first DFA and outright in 2021 to solidify a spot in the Minnesota bullpen over the final few months. In 40 innings last year, the right-hander pitched to an excellent 2.48 ERA with an above-average 25.7% strikeout rate and a very strong 53% ground-ball rate. Those numbers were somewhat offset by an ugly 12% walk rate, but Minaya looked the part of a solid enough middle reliever.
The Twins still moved on via non-tender, or at least it seemed that way at the time. However, despite last year’s strong showing, Minaya didn’t find a big league offer following the lockout and returned to the Twins on another minor league pact. The Twins selected him to the big league roster late last month despite a rocky showing in Triple-A St. Paul (6.06 ERA, 16 strikeouts, eight walks in 16 1/3 innings), and those struggles have continued in the big leagues. He’s yielded six runs on six hits and five walks with seven strikeouts through 6 1/3 frames — and done so while averaging 94 mph on a fastball that sat at 95.3 mph in 2021.
Minaya is out of minor league options, so any team interested in picking him up would need to carry him on its big league roster. In parts of six MLB seasons (four with the White Sox and two with the Twins), he’s totaled 174 2/3 innings and pitched to a 3.76 ERA with a 25.1% strikeout rate, an 11.9% walk rate and a 39.1% ground-ball rate.
Outrighted: Menez, Hall, Blanco
We’ll track some recent DFAs who’ve cleared waivers here (and update with any others throughout the day)…
Latest updates
- Royals outfielder Dairon Blanco cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Triple-A Omaha. It’s the first career outright for the 29-year-old, so he doesn’t have the right to refuse the assignment. Blanco appeared in five games with the big league club after being selected to the majors last month, when Kansas City lost starting center fielder Michael A. Taylor to the COVID-19 injured list. Taylor returned last Friday and the Royals designated Blanco for assignment. He’ll return to the Storm Chasers, with whom he has a .263/.381/.442 line through 31 games this year, and try to play his way back to the majors.
Earlier news
- Lefty Conner Menez went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Iowa, according to the Cubs. The 27-year-old southpaw pitched just one inning upon being called to the Majors last month but has a solid track record in parts of three seasons with the Giants. A former 14th-round pick, Menez sports a 3.95 ERA and 24.9% strikeout rate in the big leagues, though he’s also walked nearly 11% of his opponents and has been quite homer-prone (1.66 HR/9). In parts of four Triple-A seasons, he carries a 4.96 ERA and has walked 12% of his opponents, both of which surely contributed to him clearing waivers. Menez has yet to allow a homer in 17 1/3 Triple-A frames this year, however, while pitching to a 2.08 ERA with a 28.3% strikeout rate. If he continues producing anywhere near that level, he could find himself with another big league opportunity in Chicago.
- Brewers catcher Alex Hall cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to the team’s Class-A Advanced affiliate, as indicated on their transactions log at MLB.com. The 22-year-old Hall signed out of Australia as an amateur back in 2017 and has spent the bulk of his Brewers tenure in the lower levels of the team’s system. Hall was selected to the big leagues in emergency fashion when catcher Omar Narvaez was scratched from the Brewers’ lineup following a positive Covid-19 test. Backup Victor Caratini got the start that day, but the Brewers didn’t have time to summon Alex Jackson or another catcher from their Triple-A club in Nashville. The proximity of their High-A club — located in Appleton, Wisc. — wound up getting Hall his first few days of big league service time. He’ll head back to that level, where he has a .275/.333/.451 slash in 15 games, and continue working toward a more permanent addition to the 40-man roster.
Rays Option Ryan Yarbrough To Triple-A
The Rays announced Tuesday that lefty Ryan Yarbrough has been optioned to Triple-A Durham. Right-hander Luke Bard is up from Durham in his place.
This is the first optional assignment to the minors for Yarbrough in three years, as the 30-year-old southpaw had entrenched himself on the Tampa Bay pitching staff with generally solid performances. Last year’s 5.11 ERA was unsightly, but Yarbrough still soaked up a team-leading 155 innings on the heels of the shortened 2020 season — at a time when all 30 teams were extra cautious with pitcher workloads. Despite the career-worst ERA, Yarbrough was tendered a contract in anticipation of a return to his 2018-20 form, when the southpaw notched a 3.94 ERA with a 20.3% strikeout rate and very strong 5.8% walk rate over 344 2/3 innings.
That, however, hasn’t come to pass. Quite to the contrary, in fact, as Yarbrough will lug a career-worst 5.65 ERA to Durham for the time being. Yarbrough’s most recent outing against the White Sox was one of the worst of his career, as he was tattooed for six runs on eight hits and two walks with no strikeouts in just 1 2/3 innings.
Right-hander Shane Baz is nearing a return to the big league rotation, where the team already has Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Corey Kluber and spontaneous Rays breakout du jour Jeffrey Springs all pitching quite well. Yarbrough could be out of a rotation spot at that point anyhow, and since he just started on Sunday, the Rays will take this time to get a fresh arm into the bullpen in the form of Bard.
Yarbrough has more than four years of Major League service time but does not have the five years needed to refuse an optional assignment. He’ll work with the Rays’ staff in hopes of engineering a rebound, although it’s worth pointing out that his downturn over the past two seasons coincides with a drop to a career-low 86.7 mph average on his fastball.
Tampa Bay controls Yarbrough through the 2024 season, but given this year’s struggles and now this demotion to the minors, he’ll be a clear non-tender candidate at season’s end if he can’t get back on track. With Baz on the mend and Luis Patino, Yonny Chirinos, Brendan McKay and (ideally) Tyler Glasnow eventually to follow, the Rays may feel Yarbrough is best deployed as a reliever. It’s also feasible, given their annual payroll limitations, that they’ll look to move Yarbrough and shed some of his salary as the trade deadline draws nearer. That’ll depend on the health of the rest of the staff, of course, but the Rays — as is the case every year — aren’t exactly hurting for pitching depth.
Braves Acquire Jacob Webb From Diamondbacks
Right-hander Jacob Webb is back with the Braves, who announced on Tuesday that they’ve reacquired Webb from the D-backs in exchange for cash. Arizona had designated Webb for assignment over the weekend. The Braves placed righty Collin McHugh on the injured list in a corresponding move. An injury designation was not announced, nor was a corresponding 40-man roster move. That suggests that McHugh has been placed on the Covid-related injured list.
Atlanta designated Webb for assignment during the first week of the season, and the D-backs, who had the No. 1 waiver priority at the time, quickly scooped him up. Webb hasn’t appeared in the big leagues yet this season and has spent most of the minor league season on the injured list, though he returned to the mound late last month. He’s been jumped for six runs in 5 1/3 innings so far on the season, but the 28-year-old righty has fanned seven of 26 opponents (26.9%) and recently turned in consecutive scoreless outings (one inning apiece).
Webb has spent parts of three seasons in the Majors with the Braves, pitching to a pristine 2.47 ERA in 76 2/3 frames overall. His 21.9% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate are both worse than the league average, though, and fielding-independent metrics suggest that number is due to regress. Be that as it may, Webb is an optionable 28-year-old who averages 94.5 mph on his heater and has a knack for inducing weak contact (career 88.1 mph exit velocity and 31.8% hard-hit rate). It’s not hard to see why the D-backs were interested once he hit waivers, nor is it difficult to see why Atlanta would work out a deal to bring him back once a bullpen need arose.
The Braves haven’t announced whether McHugh tested positive or is on the Covid list for other reasons, though David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets that McHugh indeed tested positive. MLB’s 2022 health regulations stipulate a 10-day absence, though a pair of negative PCR tests and approval from a trio of medical professionals (team doctor, league-appointed doctor, MLBPA-appointed doctor) can override that 10-day requirement.
In 23 2/3 innings with the Braves, McHugh has notched a solid 3.42 ERA with a strong 26.3% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.3% walk rate. He signed a two-year, $10MM contract with the Braves over the winter, and Atlanta holds a third-year option over McHugh as well.