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Twins Option Simeon Woods Richardson, Likely To Promote Zebby Matthews

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1:08pm: The Twins are planning to recall Matthews for what’ll be his first major league look this season, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He’ll likely get the ball for Sunday’s series finale. Nightengale adds an ominous note that Festa’s last start was skipped over due to arm fatigue, although the promising righty is slated to start Saturday’s Triple-A game.

10:21am: The Twins optioned righty Simeon Woods Richardson to Triple-A St. Paul following yesterday’s tough start, per the team. Left-handed reliever Kody Funderburk, who’d been with the team as the 27th man in Minnesota’s doubleheader versus the Orioles, will stay in the big league roster in his place.

Woods Richardson has been a constant in the Twins’ rotation dating back to last April. He’s been solid on the whole, working to a 4.36 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate across 171 1/3 innings, but his recent work has been lackluster. Woods Richardson has lasted fewer than five innings in four of his past five starts. He pitched into the sixth inning and held the Angels to one run back on April 26, but that’s the only time in the past month he’s completed five frames.

The three most recent starts for Woods Richardson have been particularly problematic. Beyond their abbreviated nature, he’s been tagged for a combined 10 runs and seen his command suffer considerably. Since the calendar flipped to May, Woods Richardson has pitched 13 1/3 innings and allowed 10 runs (6.75 ERA) on 15 hits (four homers) and eight walks. He’s walked 13.6% of his opponents against an ugly 15.3% strikeout rate and served up four of his eight home runs during that span.

A team optioning its fifth starter isn’t always headline news, but Woods Richardson’s demotion is a bit more notable given both a relatively lengthy run in starting five and the presence of two high-end young starters with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate: right-handers David Festa and Zebby Matthews. Both ranked among the game’s top-100 prospects prior to their respective MLB debuts last year. Matthews is still prospect-eligible and sits at the No. 46 spot on Baseball America’s recently updated top-100 list.

Festa, 25, was hit hard in his first two big league starts last year but settled in with a 3.81 ERA, 30% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate in his final 11 major league turns down the stretch. He started three games for the Twins earlier in 2025, pitching 13 innings with a pristine 1.38 ERA. Over his past 14 MLB starts, the 6’6″, 185-pound righty — nicknamed the “Slim Reaper” — carries a 3.34 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. Since being sent back to Triple-A last month, he’s tossed 11 2/3 innings and held opponents to three runs (2.31 ERA) on six hits and no walks with 14 punchouts.

Not to be outdone, the 24-year-old Matthews has started seven games in Triple-A this year and logged a sparkling 1.93 earned run average. The 6’5″, 225-pound righty has set down 28.1% of his opponents on strikes and walked a sharp 6.7% of his opponents. Matthews’ 2024 debut was the inverse of Festa’s first MLB look; he was terrific through three starts before being trounced for nine runs by the Blue Jays on Aug. 31. In his final six starts, he pitched just 22 2/3 innings and was tagged for 23 runs.

Both Festa and Matthews have the makings of potential long-term rotation pieces for the Twins. That’s not to say Woods Richardson won’t get another chance. He’s still only 24 himself and won’t turn 25 until September. This is also Woods Richardson’s final option year, so the Twins will need to find a role for him heading into the 2026 season. Righty Chris Paddack is a free agent at season’s end, and injuries can arise at any time to create further opportunities, of course.

For the time being, the Twins have Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Paddack starting games. Festa, Matthews and Woods Richardson are all on the 40-man roster and in the mix for the last rotation job, though it seems Woods Richardson is shifting to the back of the line for the short term, at the very least.

The Twins will start Paddack today (2.51 ERA, 20.2 K%, 7.8 BB% over his past six starts) and then go to Ryan (2.74 ERA) and Lopez (2.77 ERA) against the Brewers on Friday and Saturday, respectively. They’ll need to bring up another starter for Sunday’s series finale in Milwaukee, as Ober would only be on three days’ rest. They could also push Ryan and Lopez back a day, as Matthews is slated to start tomorrow and Festa would also be on full rest if summoned for Friday’s game.

Tony Kemp Announces Retirement

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Veteran infielder/outfielder Tony Kemp has announced his retirement via social media (X link, Instagram link).

“After 12 years of professional baseball and nine seasons in the big leagues, I’ve decided to hang up the spikes,” Kemp wrote. In a lengthy farewell, he went on to thank his parents, his wife, his brother, Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin, all of the organizations for which he suited up in the majors (Astros, Cubs, A’s, Orioles) and all of the training staffs who incredibly helped him avoid spending even one day of his career on the injured list. The 5’6″ Kemp also offered a heartfelt message for “undersized” ballplayers everywhere:

“To the undersized ballplayer: I see you, I hear you, and I understand you. With all of the metrics and data in the game of baseball today, there is still one measurement they can’t compute: your heart. Continue to play the game the right way and respect it. The game will reward you, I promise. Leave no doubt and give everything you have like someone is watching you play baseball for the first time. I’m rooting for you all.”

Kemp, 33, was the Astros’ fifth-round pick out of Vanderbilt back in 2013. He was in the big leagues three years later, appearing in 59 games and hitting .217/.296/.325 in a small sample of 136 plate appearances. Kemp received a fleeting cup of coffee with the 2017 Astros (39 plate appearances) but landed his first real look in the majors in 2018. He totaled 97 games and 295 plate appearances for Houston that year and delivered a nice .263/.351/.392 batting line (110 wRC+) with a strong 10.8% walk rate against a tiny 14.9% strikeout rate.

The following season, Kemp turned in a decent performance through 66 games with Houston before being flipped to the Cubs in a deadline deal that brought catcher Martin Maldonado to the Astros. He struggled in a short 44-game tenure with the Cubs, who traded him to the A’s in an offseason deal netting them first baseman Alfonso Rivas III.

It proved to be a terrific move by the Athletics. Kemp delivered the best work of his career in green and gold, spending four seasons with the A’s and playing quite well for the first three. From 2020-22, he posted a .252/.341/.361 slash (105 wRC+) with savvy baserunning and quality defense at both second base and in left field. Kemp never hit for much power, but during that three-year peak with the A’s he drew walks at a 10.5% clip and flashed continually plus bat-to-ball skills, fanning in only 12.5% of his plate appearances.

The 2023 season was a tough one, as Kemp hit just .209/.303/.304 in 417 turns at the plate. Oakland cut him loose that offseason. Kemp went on to sign minor league deals with the Reds, Orioles and Twins. He briefly appeared in the majors with Baltimore last season, getting into five games but going hitless in 10 plate appearances.

Kemp spent a dozen years in pro ball, saw MLB time in nine seasons with four teams, and will retire with a .237/.324/.351 batting line in 739 MLB games and 2247 plate appearances. He picked up more than six years of big league service and, per Baseball-Reference, secured more than $8.5MM in career earnings (in addition to his $250K signing bonus out of the draft). Kemp was a popular teammate and a fan favorite based on his self-described “grinder mentality” on the diamond. Congrats to Tony on a successful career, and best wishes in whatever steps lie ahead.

Dodgers Notes: Rushing, Sasaki, Snell, Glasnow

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The Dodgers have gotten top catching prospect Dalton Rushing looks at first base and in the corner outfield to expand his defensive portfolio, but Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports that at least for the time being, Rushing will serve only as a catcher in the majors. The 24-year-old is set to make his MLB debut tonight when catching a bullpen game, and the plan is for him to catch twice a week while also participating in daily game-planning meetings, catching bullpen sessions and serving as a true understudy to veteran backstop Will Smith.

Rushing, the No. 40 overall draft pick in 2022, has torched Triple-A pitching dating back to 2024. He’s tallied 301 plate appearances there and turned in a .289/.409/.512 batting line, taking walks in more than 15% of his plate appearances along the way. Perhaps down the road, Rushing could see time at other positions if his bat again forces the team’s hand, but manager Dave Roberts likened today’s promotion to that of Smith several years ago.

“We did it with Will before his rookie year (when we) brought him up in September to get assimilated with how we do things on the game-planning stuff,” said the skipper. “In one sense, to not take at-bats every day, you could see some downside. But I think that having (him) here in this environment, around our pitchers, around our coaches … I think just net sum was more positive.”

Rushing will likely get the nod behind the dish tonight in a bullpen game that would have gone to right-hander Roki Sasaki were it not for a trip to the 15-day injured list due to a shoulder impingement. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez writes that Sasaki’s shoulder discomfort began earlier this month. The right-hander himself described the issue as not necessarily painful, but limited mobility in his shoulder. Even in the absence of strict pain, sub-optimal range of motion in the shoulder is an obvious detriment to any pitcher’s ability on the mound.

The onset of the discomfort appears particularly evident when looking at Sasaki’s game log. He averaged 96.4 mph on his heater through his first six starts of the season but sat at 94.8 mph in each of his two most recent turns. His splitter had a similar drop, going from 85.2 mph on average to 84 mph. Even prior to his recent velo dip, Sasaki wasn’t throwing as hard as he did in Japan. Still, the results in those two most recent outings weren’t pretty — eight runs on 11 hits and four walks with only four strikeouts in nine innings pitched — and the Dodgers will now give that ailing shoulder a break.

A firm timetable for Sasaki’s absence isn’t yet established. Gonzalez notes that at least for now, Sasaki isn’t expected to receive any kind of injection to treat the shoulder. He’ll be down for a to-be-determined period, but the Dodgers will be back to a five-man rotation in short order, with Clayton Kershaw’s return set for this weekend.

Also on the mend are top starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. Jack Harris of the L.A. Times reports that Snell was throwing in the outfield yesterday and is again moving forward with his throwing program after it was pushed back last week. Gonzalez adds that Glasnow, too, has been cleared to resume throwing. Both former All-Stars will need to progress through several milestones and then head out on a minor league rehab assignment, so a return for either isn’t exactly just around the corner — but it’s nevertheless encouraging to hear that both are trending in the right direction.

Jordan Luplow Signs With Atlantic League’s High Point Rockers

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Outfielder Jordan Luplow has signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League, the team announced this week. The 31-year-old made his debut yesterday.

Luplow has played for six big league teams across parts of seven MLB seasons. He’s carved out a role as a thorn in the side of left-handed pitching, consistently drawing walks and hitting for power against southpaws. His .227 average against lefties isn’t much, but Luplow has walked in nearly 14% of his career plate appearances when holding the platoon advantage and has slugged .495 in those matchups.

The resulting .268 ISO (slugging minus batting average) ranks 13th among the 226 players who tallied at least 500 plate appearances versus lefties during Luplow’s active years in MLB (2017-23), just behind prominent sluggers like Paul Goldschmidt, Austin Riley and Rhys Hoskins. Overall, Luplow is a .212/.314/.423 hitter in 1060 major league plate appearances. He’s picked up five years of MLB service thanks in large part to his ability to consistently hit for power against lefties.

The 2024 season was the first since 2016 in which Luplow didn’t appear in a major league game. He tallied at least 27 games and 87 plate appearances each year from ’17 to ’23. The 2014 fourth-rounder opened the 2024 season with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate and looked like a prime candidate to join the Phils’ big league club at some point. He hit .255/.343/.450 with 10 homers and a dozen steals in 62 games, but Luplow suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last June, ending his season.

Now that he’s healthy, Luplow will look to shake off any residual rust in the Atlantic League. Based on his track record as a quality role player, big league scouts will surely be keeping an eye on his progress there — particularly those from teams that have struggled against left-handed pitching in 2025. As of this writing, the ten teams with the worst output against left-handed pitching so far in 2025 (by measure of wRC+) are the Guardians, Brewers, Pirates, Rays, Braves, White Sox, Royals, Rockies, Orioles and Angels.

Not all of those teams will be clear fits. Atlanta has a crowded outfield, for instance, and will soon welcome Ronald Acuna Jr. back now that he’s begun a rehab stint. The White Sox and Rockies have younger, controllable players to whom they’d prefer to allocate playing time. But outfield-needy teams who’ve struggled against lefties, such as Kansas City and Cleveland, could make sensible landing spots. Of course, on a minor league deal, most clubs could justify taking a no-risk look at a veteran with Luplow’s track record — so long as he looks to be back in form following that knee injury.

Rangers Place Corey Seager On Injured List

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The Rangers announced Tuesday that they’ve placed shortstop Corey Seager on the 10-day injured list. The move is retroactive to May 11. Seager is again dealing with a right hamstring strain — the same injury that sent him to the IL from April 23 to May 3. Catcher Kyle Higashioka has been reinstated from the 10-day IL in a corresponding move. He’d missed the previous 12 days with an intercostal strain.

It’s surely a frustrating situation for Seager and the Rangers. As mentioned, he only just returned from the IL barely a week ago, but it seems he wasn’t 100% healthy. He only played once in the past week and the club has now decided to put him back on the shelf.

Since the move is retroactive, he could potentially return in just over a week. Regardless, the Rangers will be without one of their better bats for a while. The club’s offense has scuffled enough this year to force various changes, including a coaching staff shake-up. Seager has not been a part of the problem when in the lineup. He has a .300/.346/.520 line and 143 wRC+ for the year. He’s one of just three players on the team with at least 100 plate appearances and a wRC+ above 113, with Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith being the others.

Despite that, the club has managed to stay afloat in the American League playoff race, currently sporting a 21-21 record. They will now have to try to keep things rolling without one of their best players.

The last time Seager was on the IL, Smith took over as the regular shortstop, though Smith is himself banged up. He missed Monday’s game due to back soreness and is out again today, with Ezequiel Durán covering short for those two games. Sam Haggerty might be the next line of defense at the position while Smith is out.

Assuming Smith feels better in a day or two, he would jump back in there. As mentioned, he is one of the Rangers having a great year at the plate, currently sporting a .316/.395/.474 line and 149 wRC+. Durán, on the other hand, is hitting .130/.160/.174.

Higashioka’s reinstatement will give the Rangers three catchers. When Higashioka’s injury popped up a few weeks ago, Tucker Barnhart was selected to the roster to serve as Jonah Heim’s backup. Heim is catching tonight with Higashioka in the designated hitter spot. Joc Pederson is often the DH but he doesn’t start against lefties, so perhaps Higashioka will take the small side of a platoon with him at times. The Rangers are facing southpaw Kyle Freeland and the Rockies tonight.

Teams are sometimes reluctant to use a catcher in the DH spot, as an injury to the player behind the plate would then force them to move the DH to the catcher position. Moving a DH into any defensive spot means a team forfeits its DH and puts the pitcher into the lineup. Having a third catcher on hand gives the club a chance to avoid that scenario.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

Jake Bloss To Undergo UCL Surgery

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Blue Jays pitching prospect Jake Bloss will undergo UCL surgery. The club announced the news to reporters, including Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. He’ll be out for the rest of this year and part of 2026 as well.

Though Bloss’ experience in the majors thus far is quite limited, his loss is nonetheless a notable blow to Toronto’s depth. The 23-year-old was one of three players — arguably the top player — the Jays received in last summer’s trade sending Yusei Kikuchi to Houston. Bloss, a 2023 third-rounder, made his MLB debut with the ’Stros last year and was roughed up for nine runs on 16 hits and three walks in 11 2/3 frames. That said, he turned in a terrific 3.18 ERA with a solid 23.3% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate in 93 1/3 innings between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A last year.

With that showing in the upper minors and a taste of big league action already under his belt, Bloss felt on the cusp of breaking through with a real MLB opportunity. The Jays opened the season with Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer and Bowden Francis in the rotation, leaving him without a real spot, but Bloss stood as one of the top depth options in the event of injury.

Had Bloss performed well, he might well have been the very first man up. However, the right-hander was tagged for eight runs in eight spring innings and hasn’t looked right since the calendar flipped to the regular season. Bloss served up eight runs (albeit only three of them earned) in four innings during this year’s Triple-A debut. He followed that with another 10 earned runs in 7 1/3 innings across his next two starts. Fast forward three more starts — the most recent featuring another four earned runs in just 3 1/3 innings — and Bloss is more than halfway to last year’s total of 33 earned runs despite having pitched only about one quarter as many innings.

Today’s announcement lends a likely explanation for the struggles Bloss has endured so far. He now becomes the latest Jays prospect of note to undergo a notable surgery, joining Ricky Tiedemann (Tommy John surgery last year), T.J. Brock (Tommy John surgery in January) and Adam Macko (meniscus surgery in February) in that regard. Toronto is also still waiting on Alek Manoah’s return from last year’s UCL procedure.

Bloss won’t turn 24 until June. He’s in the second of three minor league option years. There’s plenty of time for him to return as a meaningful contributor to the Jays over the long haul. In the short term, however, his struggles and the injury that ostensibly caused them further thin out a depth chart that’s already dotted with notable injuries.

The Blue Jays recently signed Spencer Turnbull and Jose Ureña to major league deals. Ureña has already made a pair of starts. Turnbull will need to build up. Toronto also picked up Connor Overton on a minor league deal and could search for further depth along those lines. They’ve also given lefty Easton Lucas a quartet of starts, two of which were terrific and two of which were disastrous, with the end result being a 7.41 ERA.

Since Bloss was on optional assignment, he isn’t currently accruing major league pay or service time. The Jays could potentially call him up and place him on the major league 60-day injured list. Doing so would allow them to open a 40-man roster spot but would also mean Bloss starts to earn that big league pay and service. Bloss came into this year with 39 days of service time, putting him 133 short of the one-year mark. There are still 138 days left in the season. Even if the Jays want to open a 40-man spot by calling up Bloss, they probably won’t do so in the next week.

Jason Foley Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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Tigers right-hander Jason Foley underwent season-ending surgery. Manager A.J. Hinch announced the news to reporters, including Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic.

It’s been an odd season for Foley, who led the 2024 Tigers with 28 saves. Detroit surprisingly optioned him to Triple-A Toledo after a rough spring training. He took the demotion in stride and carved up Triple-A opposition, firing 6 2/3 shutout innings with a 41% strikeout rate in five appearances. He looked as though he was on the cusp of a return to the majors, but Foley was diagnosed with a shoulder strain in the middle of last month and hasn’t pitched since. Now, he won’t throw again until the 2026 season.

Unfortunately for Foley, he won’t accrue big league service time right now since he’s on the minor league injured list. He could pick up some big league time if the Tigers call him to the majors and place him on the 60-day IL whenever they next need a roster spot. Enough time has passed in 2025 that Foley won’t be able to move from three years of service to four years. The Tigers surely weren’t intending for their original demotion of Foley to buy them another season of club control, but it’s effectively done just that — so long as they tender him a contract anyhow.

Foley and the Tigers agreed to a $3.15MM salary this past offseason, avoiding a trip through the arbitration process. Typically, when a player who’s agreed to an arbitration salary subsequently misses the entire season, he and the team agree to the same salary for the following year. That could well be the case here.

Even with Foley out for the year, there’s good reason for the Tigers to tender him this winter. He was sharp in Triple-A prior to the injury and just last year posted 60 innings of 3.15 ERA ball. Dating back to 2022, Foley has given the Tigers 189 1/3 innings with a 3.18 ERA, an 18.4% strikeout rate, a 5.9% walk rate and a 54% ground-ball rate. He’s saved 35 games and picked up another 40 holds along the way.

Astros To Promote Colton Gordon

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The Astros will recall left-hander Colton Gordon from Triple-A Sugar Land to start tomorrow’s game, reports Chron.com’s Leah Vann. Gordon, who’ll be making his MLB debut, will step into the rotation spot of the injured Hayden Wesneski. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so Houston will only need to make a corresponding 26-man roster move to bring him to the majors.

Gordon, 26, has gotten out to a terrific start in 2025. He’s taken the mound eight times and logged 42 1/3 innings of 2.55 ERA ball, fanning 25.3% of his opponents against a 4.7% walk rate. Both those marks are better than average — considerably so, in the case of that walk rate — as is his 43.5% ground-ball rate.

The Astros’ 2021 eighth-rounder out of the University of Central Florida, Gordon entered the 2025 season ranked 20th among Astros prospects at Baseball America and 14th at MLB.com. He doesn’t throw hard, sitting just 91.1 mph on his four-seamer, but the 6’4″ southpaw benefits from above-average command and a deep, six-pitch arsenal that helps keep hitters off balance. In addition to that four-seamer, Gordon also throws a sinker, slider, changeup, curveball and cutter.

With Wesneski (elbow inflammation) joining Spencer Arrighetti (broken thumb), J.P. France (2024 shoulder surgery), Cristian Javier (2024 Tommy John surgery) and Luis Garcia (2023 Tommy John surgery, and multiple setbacks) on the injured list, Houston’s pitching depth is being put to the test. Gordon and righties AJ Blubaugh and Miguel Ullola are the top internal options in Triple-A, while righties Ryan Gusto and Shawn Dubin are both on the big league roster and capable of starting. Dubin, however, just made his season debut after a lengthy IL stint due to shoulder inflammation and is not stretched out. He’s pitched only in one-inning stints so far and appears set for a second straight year working primarily out of the bullpen, so perhaps his days as a rotation option are behind him.

The ’Stros boast a formidable one-two rotation punch in Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez, but the rest of the group is on shakier standing. Lance McCullers Jr. just returned from an injury absence of more than two years, so it’s tough to know what to expect from him. Ronel Blanco was a godsend for the 2024 Astros but never seemed likely to replicate last year’s 2.80 ERA, which was propped up by a tiny .220 average on balls in play and bloated 83.6% strand rate. He’s worked to a 4.04 ERA in 2025, which is more in line with last year’s 4.17 SIERA and 4.15 FIP. To Blanco’s credit, he turned in one of the best starts by any pitcher in MLB this season last time out, blanking the Reds over eight innings of two-hit ball with 11 strikeouts, but he entered that start with a 4.98 ERA, a 21.9% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate.

Given the injuries up and down the staff, Gordon ought to get several chances to prove himself in 2025. He was only selected to the 40-man roster this past November, so he’s in the first of three minor league option years. He can be controlled through at least the 2031 season.

Kyle McCann, Art Warren Sign With Mexican League Teams

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Former A’s catcher Kyle McCann signed with los Piratas de Campeche in the Mexican League over the weekend, the team announced. He’s not the only former big leaguer headed to Mexico this week. MLBTR has learned that former Reds and Mariners reliever Art Warren is signing with los Tecos de los Dos Laredos. McCann is represented by the Ballengee Group. Warren is a client of Gaeta Sports Management.

McCann, 27, made his big league debut last year and got into 54 games with Oakland. He posted a .236/.318/.371 slash in 157 plate appearances, smacking five homers and six doubles along the way. The former fourth-rounder drew walks at a strong 10.2% clip but was also set down on strikes in an ugly 37.6% of his plate appearances. The year prior, McCann posted a .270/.351/.474 line in Triple-A Las Vegas, but in that ultra-hitter-friendly setting, that seemingly strong slash line actually checked in 11% worse than league average by measure of wRC+ (89).

Defensively, McCann had some issues. His 19% caught-stealing rate was worse than the 21.9% league average, and he posted well below-average framing marks in his 324 innings behind the plate. Statcast credited him with average numbers in terms of blocking balls in the dirt. McCann didn’t play any first base in the majors, but he’s played more than 800 minor league innings there and Baseball America called him an average defender at the position back in their 2021 scouting report.

Warren, 32, posted strong numbers in his first two big league looks with the 2019 Mariners and 2021 Reds. In 26 1/3 innings between those two teams, he notched a sparkling 1.03 earned run average with a massive 37.9% strikeout rate against a 9.7% walk rate. He looked set for a nice run in the Reds’ bullpen after that 2021 showing, but his 2022 follow-up was wrecked by injury.

Warren logged 36 innings for the ’22 Reds but was rocked for a 6.50 ERA. His four-seam fastball, which had averaged 95.2 mph in 2021, saw a sharp drop to a 93.5 mph average. The right-hander’s eye-popping 19.2% swinging-strike rate plummeted to 12.1%, resulting in a deflated 24.2% strikeout rate. His command also eroded, evidenced by a 13.3% walk rate.

The Reds placed Warren on the injured list with a flexor strain that July. He returned six weeks later, struggled for about a month, and was optioned to Triple-A Louisville. That option was quickly rescinded when elbow damage was discovered, and Warren was instead placed on the major league injured list. Two weeks later, the team announced that Warren had undergone a UCL procedure that would wipe out the rest of his 2022 campaign and his entire 2023 season.

Warren was non-tendered and eventually signed a minor league deal with the Yankees once he was healthy. He struggled immensely with their Triple-A squad last year in his return from surgery. In 26 2/3 frames, he served up 26 runs (8.78 ERA) on 36 hits and 22 walks. Eight of those hits were long balls. Warren still punched out 29 batters in his 26 2/3 innings of work, but with the barrage of walks, that only came out to a 21.2% strikeout rate (against a 16% walk rate). His average fastball in Triple-A sat at the same 93.5 mph average he showed in 2022 before undergoing his UCL repair.

The hope for both McCann and Warren is surely to parlay solid play in Mexico into a return to affiliated ball on a minor league deal. McCann has actually already suited up for three games — two at catcher, one as a DH — and gone 3-for-11 with a pair of doubles but also seven strikeouts. Warren’s new club, los Tecos, has been picked over by MLB teams in recent weeks. They’ve seen Cory Abbott (Rangers), Beau Burrows (Pirates), Nick Margevicius (Tigers), Sean Poppen (Angels) and Andrew Vasquez (Angels) all sign minor league deals with affiliated clubs.

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