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NL West Notes: Duffy, Arroyo, Padres, Chatwood, Peralta, Vogelsong

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The Giants announced after last night’s game that third baseman Matt Duffy is headed to the disabled list with a strained Achilles tendon in his left foot. As MLB.com’s Chris Haft writes, Duffy is headed for a second opinion on the injury right now, though the initial expectations don’t appear to forecast a lengthy absence for the 25-year-old. Duffy cautioned that he wants to avoid returning from the injury too soon and aggravating his Achilles, as it could lead to a more prolonged absence. Ramiro Pena and Conor Gillaspie figure to platoon at third base in his absence, writes Haft, with outfielder Mac Williamson a likely candidate to come up and tack Duffy’s roster spot in the interim. Asked whether top prospect Christian Arroyo, who can play either shortstop or third base, would be an option to replace Duffy, general manager Bobby Evans indicated that the organization feels that Arroyo requires more development time in the minor leagues.

More from the NL West…

  • Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune spoke to scouts from both leagues to get their thoughts on a number of the Padres’ trade candidates, including Fernando Rodney, Jon Jay, Derek Norris, Matt Kemp, Melvin Upton Jr., Drew Pomeranz, Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte (injured right-handers Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner are notably absent). One scout noted how difficult it will be to convince a team to take on Kemp’s contract in his “arthritic condition,” and a second scout called both Kemp and Upton “dead weight” despite the latter’s reasonably solid offensive numbers the past two seasons. Regarding Myers and Pomeranz, Lin received a pair of replies saying it’d be prudent to hang onto the pair of controllable pieces, while another pair called out each player’s limited track record in questioning their overall value. As one scout put it, a “lot of people are lukewarm about [Myers] across the game” at this time.
  • Rockies right-hander Tyler Chatwood is among the most successful two-time Tommy John patients in history, writes Nick Groke of the Denver Post. Chatwood is currently the only two-time TJ patient that is currently making regular starts at the Major League level, and he’s pitched to a 3.15 ERA in 85 2/3 innings for the Rockies thus far in 2016. Chatwood credits his success to a dedication to studying other elite pitchers and adopting a mix of pitches that he feels could be less stressful on his arm upon returning from his second surgery. Groke calls Chatwood the ace of the Rox’ staff, though I’d respectfully disagree and give that label to up-and-coming Jon Gray; while Gray’s ERA pales in comparison, his strikeout, walk and swinging-strike rates all point to improvement on the horizon. Regardless of one’s preference between the two, though, Gray and Chatwood represent a nice pair of arms for the Rockies to deploy in their rotation moving forward.
  • D-backs outfielder David Peralta, who landed on the disabled list with a back strain yesterday, is getting an MRI today according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). Neither Peralta nor the team believes the injury to be too serious in nature, so the test would appear to be fairly precautionary in nature.
  • Pirates righty Ryan Vogelsong, who spent the 2011-15 seasons with the Giants, told reporters yesterday (including Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle) that he would have loved to return to San Francisco but understood why the team elected not to pursue him this winter. “I kind of knew they were probably going after some front-line guys for the rotation to make it better and give them more innings and take a load of the bullpen,” Vogelsong explained. “It was never my intention to make it seem like I didn’t want to go back there. I would have loved to go back. It was a matter of a team progressing.” Vogelsong is currently recovering from a truly frightening eye injury suffered when he was hit in the face by a fastball. As he explained to Schulman, he feels fortunate that he’s able to see out of his left eye and is currently seeing with 20-20 vision and making throws of up to 90 feet.

Knocking Down The Door: Asuaje, Hoffman, Mejia, Norris, Reed

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The latest installment of “Knocking Down the Door” includes three players who were part of high-profile trades within the last 11 months, a pitcher trying to become the next in a long line of great homegrown Giants to reach the majors, and MiLB.com’s 2015 Offensive Player of the Year.

Carlos Asuaje, 2B, San Diego Padres (Triple-A El Paso): Manuel Margot and Javier Guerra were the key pieces in the offseason trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to the Red Sox. Some experts, however, considered Asuaje as an underrated prospect who could make an impact in the Majors in 2016.

With second baseman Cory Spangenberg not expected back anytime soon—he’s been on the disabled list since April with a strained quad and his recovery has been slow—the Padres’ best opportunity to find out if the 24-year-old Asuaje is capable of becoming a big league regular could be now.

The left-handed batter, who has played primarily at second base this season, has 15 hits in his last 41 at-bats to boost his batting average to .329. His 26-to-33 walk-to-strikeout ratio should also be intriguing for a Padres offense that is third in the Majors in strikeouts and 26th in walks.

Padres Depth Chart

Jeff Hoffman, SP, Colorado Rockies (Triple-A Albuquerque): This may not be the year that the Colorado Rockies will contend for a playoff spot. But they’re a team on the rise with Jon Gray starting to pitch like a top-of-the-rotation starter, third baseman Nolan Arenado looking like a perennial MVP candidate and rookie shortstop Trevor Story on pace for 40 homers.

The farm system also has several young pitching prospects who are moving up the ladder quickly. None is closer, or probably as good, as Hoffman, a former first-round draft pick who was the centerpiece of last season’s Troy Tulowitzki trade with the Blue Jays.

In yesterday’s start, the 23-year-old right-hander showed why he is so highly regarded, allowing two earned runs over seven innings while striking out 11 without issuing a walk. It was the sixth time he’s completed seven innings this season, which is quite a feat in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

Rockies Depth Chart

Adalberto Mejia, SP, San Francisco Giants (Triple-A Sacramento): In a span of five seasons from 2005-09, the Giants’ farm system produced three frontline starting pitchers—Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner—who went on to help the team win three World Championships.

None have arrived since. Adalberto Mejia was making a case, reaching Double-A as a 20-year-old in 2014. But a less-than-stellar season (4.67 ERA) followed by a 50-game PED suspension knocked the left-hander off the prospect radar.

Since returning last June, however, Mejia has been better than ever with only 86 hits and 34 walks allowed while striking out 96 batters in 116 1/3 Double-A innings. He was rewarded with a promotion to Triple-A last week and responded by pitching four-hit ball over seven shutout innings in his debut.

With Cain on the disabled list for a second time this season after re-aggravating a hamstring injury and journeyman Albert Suarez currently filling in, Mejia is putting himself in a position to be next in line.

Giants Depth Chart

Daniel Norris, SP, Detroit Tigers (Triple-A Toledo): With an opening in the big league rotation after Matt Boyd was sent to the minors yesterday, Norris’ path to the Majors just became a lot clearer. But his seven shutout innings on Friday likely played just as big a factor as Boyd’s back-to-back poor outings.

While it was expected that the 23-year-old lefty would be in the Majors from the onset of the 2016 season, Norris was placed on the disabled list due to a back injury. Upon activation in late April, he was sent to Triple-A where he struggled over his first two starts. Since, he’s found his groove with a 2.77 ERA over his last seven starts (42.1 IP, 40 H, 14 BB, 44 K.) His next should come in the Majors sometime this week.

Tigers Depth Chart

A.J. Reed, 1B, Houston Astros (Triple-A Fresno): A second-round draft pick in 2014, Reed has passed every test with flying colors up until now, putting up big numbers at five different levels over a two-year period. His recent hot streak with Triple-A Fresno (11-for-32, HR, 5 2B) now has him on the doorstep to the big leagues.

At the moment, the only player seemingly standing between the 23-year-old Reed and a starting job with the Astros is Marwin Gonzalez, a valuable super-utility man who is out of place as the team’s starting first baseman. Despite a 16-8 run to put them two games under .500, the Astros still have a ways to go to get back into the playoff race. Inserting the left-handed-hitting Reed into the middle of the order could help.

Astros Depth Chart

“Knocking Down the Door” is a weekly feature that identifies minor leaguers who are making a case for a big league promotion.  

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/19/16

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Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the page…

  • The Rockies acquired lefty Pat McCoy from the Blue Jays, according to the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate (Twitter link).  McCoy has pitched in four different organizations during a pro career that began in 2007, and his Major League experience consists of 14 relief innings with Detroit in 2014.  McCoy has a 4.43 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and 2.63 K/BB rate over 491 2/3 career minor league frames, with 288 of his 312 games coming as a reliever.
  • The Pirates selected the contract of catcher Jacob Stallings from Triple-A and added him to both their Major League and 40-man rosters.  Jason Rogers was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.  Stallings will give the Bucs some depth behind the plate with Francisco Cervelli on the DL and Chris Stewart also battling an ankle injury.  A seventh-round pick in the 2012, Stallings has a .675 OPS over 1266 career minor league PA and wasn’t listed on Baseball America’s ranking of the Pirates’ top 30 prospects.
  • The Mariners have sent right-hander Steve Johnson outright to Triple-A Tacoma, the team announced. Johnson has been outrighted in the past, so he’ll have the option of declining in favor of free agency. The Mariners designated him for assignment Friday after he totaled a 4.32 ERA and 11 walks over 16 2/3 innings.
  • The Rays have outrighted lefty Dana Eveland to Triple-A Durham, according to the club. Eveland, like Johnson, has been outrighted previously. The 32-year-old has racked up 16 2/3 frames of 7.56 ERA ball at the major league level this season.
  • Minor league Red Sox reliever Anthony Varvaro has retired, per a club announcement. Varvaro, 31, concluded his career by recording a 2.83 ERA, 9.73 K/9 and 4.08 BB/9 in 28 2/3 innings for Triple-A Pawtucket this year. Prior to tossing 11 frames at the major league level for the Red Sox in 2015, he was a member of the Braves, with whom he had a pair of standout seasons from 2013-14. Varvaro combined for 128 innings of 2.74 ERA pitching in that span, also posting a 6.54 K/9, 2.67 BB/9 and 48.2 percent ground-ball rate.  Over the course of 183 2/3 innings in the majors with the Mariners, Braves and Red Sox, Varvaro logged a 3.23 ERA, 7.35 K/9 and 3.43 BB/9.
  • The White Sox have signed first baseman K.J. Woods, whom the Marlins released, and outfielder Slade Heathcott to minor league deals, reports Matt Eddy of Baseball America (Twitter link). The Marlins used a fourth-round pick in 2013 on Woods, who hit .239/.326/.386 in 872 minor league plate appearances with their organization. Heathcott, the more notable player of the two, was the Yankees’ first-rounder (29th overall) in 2009. BA ranked him as baseball’s 63rd-best prospect entering the 2013 season, but injuries and disappointing production led the Yankees to release him last month. Heathcott did perform well during his first taste of major league action last year, though, collecting 10 hits – including two home runs and a pair of doubles – in 30 PAs.

Rockies Place Tyler Chatwood On 15-Day DL

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The Rockies have placed right-hander Tyler Chatwood on the 15-day disabled list with a mid-back strain, the team announced.  Eddie Butler is slated to replace Chatwood in Colorado’s rotation, while righty Scott Oberg was called up from Triple-A to add some bullpen depth in a corresponding move to the DL placement.

[Related: Updated Colorado Rockies Depth Chart]

Chatwood suffered back spasms during his start yesterday and was forced to leave the game in the second inning.  Rockies manager Walt Weiss told reporters (including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding) that he hopes Chatwood will only miss the minimum 15 days, though he noted that “with a pitcher you’ve got to build them back up a little bit.”  Some particular care could be necessary with Chatwood, who missed all of 2015 recovering from his second career Tommy John surgery.

Thus far, Chatwood’s return has gone very well.  The righty has posted a 3.15 ERA over 82 2/3 innings this season, emerging as the ace of Colorado’s rotation.  Advanced metrics (3.90 FIP, 4.20 xFIP, 4.42 SIERA) haven’t been as impressed with Chatwood, no doubt due to his good fortune with BABIP (.271) and strand rate (75.1%), as well as his inability to miss bats.  Chatwood has just a 5.57 K/9 and 1.83 K/BB rate, though he makes up for that lack of strikeouts with a whopping 58.7% grounder rate.  That’s an important skill to have when half your starts are at Coors Field, though Chatwood has the expectedly drastic home/away splits: a 5.10 ERA in seven home starts and just a 1.25 ERA in seven road outings.

Losing Chatwood for any length of time is a big blow for the Rockies, who have long struggled to find any consistent pitching help.  If he misses any significant time beyond the 15-day DL stint, it could also impact Colorado’s trade deadline plans.  The Rox fell to 32-36 after today’s loss to the Marlins, though they’re still only 4.5 games out of the last NL wild card spot.  Given the rough overall state of their rotation, it’s likely the Rockies were going to focus on starting pitching anyway if they became deadline buyers.  If Chatwood’s absence causes them to fall too far out of the race, however, the Rockies could instead look to sell.

Heyman’s Latest: Teheran, Ventura, CarGo, Lucroy, Myers, Turner

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Writing at todaysknuckleball.com, Jon Heyman breaks down the woes of the Dodgers and Angels. Both teams face difficult decisions over the summer. The Dodgers, at least, still seem positioned to contend and could play an interesting role on the trade market.

Here are more notes from the column:

  • Amidst the considerable amount of Julio Teheran chatter, one Braves source tells Heyman, “I don’t see the Braves trading Teheran.” That’s a less-definitive statement than the one Heyman received regarding Freddie Freeman, as a source told him the first baseman is “totally off limits,” which lines up with GM John Coppolella’s offseason comments. Heyman adds that the Braves have “tried to dangle” Erick Aybar in trade talks, but he has no value at this point and could simply end up being released, creating an opportunity for one of Atlanta’s top-tier shortstop prospects (Dansby Swanson and Ozhaino Albies).
  • Robin Ventura is on the hot seat with the White Sox, Heyman writes (adding more detail here). A team source tells him that there’s a feeling that “patience has been shown” and a change could benefit the team. Bench coach Rick Renteria, who formerly managed the Cubs, could succeed Ventura. Not that it’s particularly surprising, but Heyman adds that former skipper Ozzie Guillen wouldn’t be a candidate to return to his old post.
  • The Rockies haven’t yet started receiving calls asking about Carlos Gonzalez, but they’re expected to listen to offers despite hovering around .500 to this point of the season. GM Jeff Bridich tells Heyman that his current focus is on winning and adds that prized righty Jeff Hoffman, who headlined the prospects acquired in last July’s Troy Tulowitzki blockbuster, is “closer than he is far away.”
  • While Jonathan Lucroy is perhaps the most-cited trade candidate in baseball, GM David Stearns tells Heyman that an extension can’t be entirely ruled out. Heyman notes that if the Brewers are able to move Ryan Braun, they could look to reallocate some of those funds to locking up Lucroy, who is more open to an extension now that the Brewers are performing better than most pundits expected. There could, of course, be some level of gamesmanship there, as it would make sense for any team official to downplay a prime trade target’s availability.
  • The Padres are “open” to trading Wil Myers in the right scenario, says Heyman, but it still seems unlikely that’ll come to fruition. San Diego has received hits on Jon Jay and Derek Norris, though, and presumably the organization is more willing to part with those players.
  • There was talk of the Tigers pursuing Chris Davis over the winter, and Heyman says that was indeed the case. The club was considering an offer in the $180MM range for the slugger, per the report. Owner Mike Ilitch also pushed for Yoenis Cespedes over Justin Upton, but the club elected to grab the younger player. That choice is certainly up for debate after their respective starts.
  • The Phillies are obvious sellers, but most of their marketable assets reside on the pitching side of the equation. But the club sees infielder Andres Blanco as a plausible piece, with Freddy Galvis also potentially on the block. Blanco isn’t quite repeating his surprising 2015 season, but is hitting at around the league average rate and could be a useful utility piece.
  • With continued uncertainty surrounding Felix Hernandez, the Mariners are likely to explore the rotation market this summer. The club has received a nice boost from James Paxton of late, but many of its starters have long-term injury questions so it isn’t surprising to hear that the club is readying for an addition in that area.
  • Heyman also floats the idea that the Nationals could dangle top position player prospect Trea Turner in trade talks this summer. He wonders whether he could be the chip that lands a top-end reliever, citing Yankees hurler Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. From my perspective, that would be rather surprising: Turner has shown himself ready for a full crack at the big leagues and is widely considered one of the game’s twenty best prospects. Even if the Nats don’t make him the starter in 2016, he’s a critical part of the team’s middle infield depth right now and an important future piece.
  • Veteran outfielder Shane Victorino has rejected several opportunities to join teams on minor-league deals, says Heyman. Victorino is holding out for a shot to join a big league roster.

Rockies Sign Multiple Top Draft Picks

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TODAY: Tyler, too, has agreed to terms with Colorado, Callis tweets. He’ll receive the slot value at 38th overall ($1,701,600). MLB.com rated him the 25th-best prospect available, noting that he shows a tall ceiling when he’s on. Tyler has a big fastball with movement and a promising change to go with it, but needs to work on his breaker and clean up his command and mechanics to remain as a starter.

YESTERDAY: The Rockies have agreed to terms with second-round draft pick Ben Bowden, a Vanderbilt lefty, according to reports from MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo (links to Twitter). Bowden lands a $1.6MM bonus, which is $177,100 over the slot value for the 45th pick.

Likewise, the team has agreed to terms with third-rounder Garrett Hampson, a shortstop from Long Beach State, and high school infielder Colton Welker, who was taken in the fourth round. The latter ended up taking down a bigger payday, receiving $850K (well over is $541,800 slot value) while Hampson got $750K (just shy of the $776,700 allocation).

That results in a net $468,600 overage, but Colorado already reportedly saved $458,700 against the pool value of fourth overall choice Riley Pint. In the aggregate, then, GM Jeff Bridich still seems to have some wiggle room as he moves through the team’s harder-to-sign selections. The top unsigned pick is competitive balance selection Robert Tyler, a college righty.

Bowden rated as high as the 75th-available prospect, per Baseball America. In rating him 77th, ESPN.com labelled him a likely reliever as a pro but noted there’s a chance he could work out as a back-of-the-rotation starter. Hampson was rated 156th by Baseball America, which praised his speed and defense while calling him a high-floor player. Welker, too, only received a nod from BA; the University of Miami commit rated 168th.

 

Injury Notes: Parra, Hill, Simmons, Billingsley

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The Rockies have placed outfielder Gerardo Parra on the 15-day disabled list due to a high ankle sprain, reports MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (via Twitter). Parra will be in a walking boot for the next week, but there’s no word beyond that on the length of time the first-year Rox outfielder will miss. Parra, 29, is hitting .263 and showing solid pop (.160 ISO), but he’s drawn just four walks this season (one intentional), which has resulted in a 274 OBP — the ninth-lowest in baseball among qualified hitters. A corresponding move for Parra’s absence hasn’t been announced, but the Rockies have Brandon Barnes, Rafael Ynoa and Raimel Tapia as minor league outfield options on the 40-man roster.

A few more injury situations worth monitoring…

  • Athletics lefty Rich Hill is still about a week away from throwing off a mound, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. With his last outing having come on May 29, it seems likely that Hill will need to make at least one minor league rehab start, which could push his return back into late June or early July depending on the exact timing of his ability to throw off a mound.
  • MLB.com’s Mark Bowman writes that Braves right-hander Shae Simmons, who is recovering from 2015 Tommy John surgery, still doesn’t have a target date to return to the Atlanta bullpen after a pair of setbacks in his rehab. Simmons has had two bouts of shoulder discomfort, and while an MRI has revealed that the shoulder is structurally sound, he’s been diagnosed with tendinitis in his right lat muscle. The 25-year-old Simmons last pitched for the Braves in 2014 when he logged a 2.91 ERA with a 23-to-11 K/BB ratio in 21 2/3 innings.
  • Right-hander Chad Billingsley acknowledged yesterday in an interview with Bruce Hefflinger of the Crescent-News that his elbow injuries may have brought his career to an end. Per Billingsley, doctors told him at the end of the season to rest his arm for seven months, but that time frame has passed and he’s still unable to throw a ball at more than 50 to 60 percent. The concern with ramping up his intensity would be that it could lead to a torn flexor tendon. “If a tendon tore it would be total reconstruction surgery,” Billingsley explained. “If that happens you start flirting with everyday life. But I’ve not totally given up. Most likely it’s career ending. The doctors don’t know anybody that has come back from it. If I do come back, it will most likely be out of the bullpen in some kind of short relief.” Billingsley pitched 37 innings for the Phillies last season but had his season cut short by a flexor strain. He also had Tommy John surgery in 2013 and a second elbow operation in 2014.

Rockies Designate Jose Reyes For Assignment

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The Rockies announced today that shortstop Jose Reyes has been reinstated from the restricted list and designated for assignment. Reyes, 33, has been on a minor league rehab assignment after completing a 52-game suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy but will not get the chance to suit back up for the Rockies, who acquired him in last summer’s Troy Tulowitzki blockbuster as a means of offsetting some of Tulo’s salary for the Blue Jays.

Reyes was arrested in Hawaii on Halloween last year and had charges of domestic abuse filed against him by his wife, though he ultimately plead not guilty, and the charges were dropped shortly before a criminal trial was to occur on Opening Day. Nevertheless, commissioner Rob Manfred saw enough evidence to punish Reyes with a suspension that ran through the end of May and cost him two months of his salary, or roughly $7.09MM.

In Reyes’ absence, the Rockies saw Trevor Story emerge as a unequivocally superior option at shortstop. The power production of Story, who is batting .265/.318/.553 with 17 homers, paired with Reyes’ on-field struggles and off-field baggage, created what would appear to be an easy decision for the Rockies. Colorado had reportedly had some trade talks regarding Reyes, and GM Jeff Bridich in late May wouldn’t dismiss the possibility of moving him, all of which pointed to the possibility that Reyes had played his last game as a member of the Rockies, which is now indeed the case.

The Rockies will have 10 days to trade or release Reyes, though I can’t imagine why they’d waste any time in putting him on release waivers, as they’ve had ample opportunity to work out a trade to this point but had no success. While Colorado saved the aforementioned $7.09MM of Reyes’ $22MM salary due to the suspension, they’ll still pay him $14.9MM this season overall. There’s about $13.1MM of that sum remaining through season’s end, and the Rox will owe him $22MM next season as well in addition to a buyout of $4MM on his 2018 club option.

Other clubs around the league will have the opportunity to sign Reyes for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum once he does clear release waivers — clearly, no team will claim him and that exorbitant salary — though doing so will obviously come with myriad public relations concerns as well as questions about his ability to perform on the field. Despite the offense-inducing nature of Coors Field, Reyes posted just a .259/.291/.368 in 208 plate appearances with Colorado following last year’s trade, and he’s no longer defensively capable of playing even an average shortstop.

NL West Injury Notes: Parra, Maeda, Cain, Ross

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Rockies outfielder Gerardo Parra was removed from tonight’s game on a medical cart after suffering an apparent leg injury, as MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports. The injury occurred in a scary collision with shortstop Trevor Story, who wasn’t hurt. Parra’s outlook appears to be better than feared, as manager Walt Weiss told reporters that the preliminary diagnosis was a sprained ankle. (Via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post; Twitter link.) His reaction to the impact suggested a more serious injury, but hopefully nothing more is revealed over the coming days.

Here’s the latest from other injury situations in the NL West:

  • The Dodgers got fairly promising preliminary news on righty Kenta Maeda, who exited his outing tonight after being struck by a sharply-hit ball in his right leg. The club announced that X-rays were negative, though certainly Maeda will need additional evaluation after he needed help to make it off of the field. Los Angeles will hope that it’s not a significant problem, as Maeda has been the club’s most productive starter outside of ace Clayton Kershaw.
  • Giants righty Matt Cain is headed back to the DL with a re-aggravation of his hamstring strain, as Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area was among those to tweet. San Francisco will recall Chris Stratton for the time being, but the move raises yet more questions about the back of the rotation. Cain is still just 31, but it’s far from clear whether he’ll be a reliable member of the Giants’ staff this year or beyond. In 118 innings over the past two seasons, he has managed only a 5.57 ERA as he has dealt with a growing list of injury troubles.
  • Padres righty Tyson Ross may be ready to throw off of a mound this weekend, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. It’s still unclear whether he’ll be able to ramp up in time to make himself into a real deadline chip for the Pads. Regardless, it’s certainly promising to hear that Ross is still progressing.

Rockies To Sign Fourth Overall Pick Riley Pint

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The Rockies have agreed to sign right-hander Riley Pint, whom they selected with the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network and FanRag Sports (Twitter link). The prep right-hander out of Kansas City will receive a $4.8MM signing bonus, which is $458,700 less than the No. 4 slot’s value of $5,258,700 (as reported earlier this year by MLB.com’s Jim Callis).

Pint, 18, rated as the No. 2 prospect in this year’s draft in the estimation of Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com, and Baseball America rated him as the No. 2 prospect as well. ESPN’s Keith Law was a bit less optimistic, rating him 12th. Callis and Mayo note that he’s the highest prep arm to come out of Kansas state since 1983 due in large part to a fastball that sits 93-97 mph and reached as high as 102 mph this spring. BA calls Pint a “much better version of the same template” as former No. 2 overall pick Tyler Kolek, who went second to the Marlins in 2014 due largely to his own triple-digit heater. BA writes that Pint regularly hits 100 mph with sink and can flash a pair of above-average breaking pitches. Law notes that Pint will sometimes show a sharp curveball but doesn’t do so consistently, though the same is true of an above-average changeup, so there’s clearly the potential for a wide array of above-average offerings in the power-armed teenager’s future. Each report, however, mentions some concerns surrounding Pint’s delivery as well as his ability to consistently throw strikes, creating a fair amount of risk around him as well (as one would expect with any high school pitcher).

The Rockies went exceptionally heavy on college players in the 2016 draft, as Pint is one of just nine high school players the team selected out of 41 picks. Some of the savings they received on Pint could be applied to fourth-round pick Colton Welker, a prep third baseman out of Florida whom Callis and Mayo noted may require an over-slot deal due to a strong commitment to the University of Miami. Colorado entered the draft with a pool of $11,453,100 and will have $6,353,400 of that sum remaining upon the formalization of Pint’s agreement.

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