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Royals Add Nick Pratto, Seven Others To Major League Roster

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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

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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.

Rangers To Select Elier Hernandez

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The Rangers are set to select the contract of outfielder Elier Hernandez from Triple-A Round Rock, as first reported by Hector Gomez of Z101 Sports (Twitter link). The 27-year-old will be making his Major League debut when he gets into a game for the first time.

Signed by the Royals for a $3.05MM bonus back in 2011, a then-16-year-old Hernandez was considered at the time to be one of the top prospects on that summer’s international class of amateur free agents — if not the top prospect. At the time of his signing, that $3.05MM bonus was the largest any team had ever given to an international amateur outfielder, but through parts of eight seasons in the Kansas City organization, Hernandez never developed as hoped.

Baseball America ranked Hernandez among the Royals’ top 30 prospects each season from 2012-18, topping out at No. 11 in 2014. It took Hernandez seven years to reach the Triple-A level, and the offensive numbers he posted along the way were generally below average. He continued to struggle with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate in Omaha through the 2019 season, posting a combined OPS south of .700 in 152 games there over the course of two campaigns.

Hernandez, now in his second season with the Rangers organization, looks to finally be tapping into that dormant potential. Though his 2021 numbers between Double-A and Triple-A were a continuation of his pedestrian production in the Royals’ system, he’s broken out with a .295/.364/.546 slash through 234 plate appearances with Round Rock in 2022. He’s connected on 11 homers and doubles alike, adding in four triples, nine stolen bases (in 11 tries) and some of the best walk and strikeout rates of his career (8.7% and 19.5%, respectively).

As  Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News points out, the Rangers are set to face multiple left-handed starters in this weekend’s series against the Mariners, so Hernandez will give them a right-handed stick to play matchups. Texas already has an open spot on the 40-man roster after moving Mitch Garver to the 60-day injured list earlier in the week, and it seems Hernandez will be the yet-unannounced corresponding move accompanying that shift. As such, they’ll only need to make a corresponding 26-man roster move to accommodate Hernandez’s ascent to the Majors.

That said, Grant adds that righty reliever Jonathan Hernandez, who’s been out all season while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, is expected to be activated at some point this weekend, so the Rangers will likely need to make an additional 40-man transaction in the coming days.

Angels Trade Tyler Wade To Yankees

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11:10am: The teams announced that Wade has been traded from the Angels to the Yankees in exchange for a PTBNL or cash.

10:10am: The Yankees are set to reacquire utilityman Tyler Wade from the Angels, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). The Yankees are sending a player to be named later back to the Angels, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Wade will head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the time being.

Wade, whom the Yankees traded to the Angels in the offseason, was designated for assignment by the Halos earlier this month and assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake after going unclaimed on outright waivers. As such, he’s not currently on the 40-man roster.

The 27-year-old Wade was New York’s fourth-round pick back in 2013 and spent nine years in the organization prior to being traded to Anaheim. That deal, like this one, was for a PTBNL or cash. No player was ever announced as going back to the Yankees, so it seems the two sides settled on a cash return instead.

Wade appeared in 67 games with the Angels in 2022, playing every position other than catcher, first base or pitcher and generally providing solid defense (particularly in the middle infield). He tallied what’s already a career-high 163 plate appearances with the big league club but managed only a tepid .218/.272/.272 batting line in that time. Wade’s 20.2% strikeout rate was the lowest of his career, but his 6.1% walk rate was also down nearly five percentage points from his 2019-21 levels. Wade also posted bottom-of-the-scale marks in average exit velocity (83.9 mph) and hard-hit rate (just 16%).

Of course, offense has never been Wade’s calling card. He spent as much time with the Yankees as he did from 2017-21 (264 games 491 plate appearances) due to his versatility with the glove and his above-average speed. Both were on display with the Halos, evidenced by his eight stolen bases (albeit in 13 tries) and the aforementioned appearances at six different defensive positions.

It’s a depth move for the Yankees, bringing back a player they know well who can provide them some insurance at various positions around the diamond. Wade is a career .286/.353/.414 hitter in 1132 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

Tigers Sign Nick Vincent To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers signed veteran righty Nick Vincent to a minor league deal late last week and assigned him to Triple-A Toledo. The move flew a bit under our radar, as the organization never formally announced it, but Vincent has already made a pair of scoreless appearances in his new environs.

Vincent, who turned 36 just two days ago, is a veteran of ten Major League seasons. The PSI Sports Management client opened the 2022 season with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, pitching to a lackluster 5.12 ERA but turning in a brilliant 27-to-4 K/BB ratio over his 19 1/3 innings there. Atlanta released him last month.

Perhaps due to the fact that he’s a soft-tossing righty who’s never averaged even 91 mph on his heater, Vincent has been a rather unheralded reliever throughout his career — at least relative to his overall success. The right-hander has been rocksteady throughout his big league tenure, posting a career 3.30 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate through 411 2/3 frames dating back to his 2012 debut with the Padres. Vincent has posted a sub-4.00 ERA in eight of his ten seasons in the Majors, and the only two exceptions were consecutive 4.43 ERA campaigns in 2019-20. He’s never been a full-time closer, but Vincent does have seven big league saves in addition to 97 career holds.

The Tigers have disappointed in general this season but have one of the most effective bullpens in Major League Baseball. However, with the trade deadline under three weeks away and several relievers coming up on free agency either at this season’s end or after the 2023 campaign, that group figures to generate plenty of trade interest over the next 19 days. Detroit could use any newly created vacancies to take a look at some additional young arms, but Vincent will give them a veteran option to help stabilize things if there is indeed something of a bullpen exodus in advance of this season’s Aug. 2 trade deadline.

Andrew Knapp Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners announced that catcher Andrew Knapp has elected minor league free agency after passing through outright waivers unclaimed. Seattle designated him for assignment over the weekend.

Knapp’s stay with the Mariners proved quite brief. Seattle added the switch-hitting backstop on a non-roster deal in late May. He spent a bit more than a month with Triple-A Tacoma, hitting .198/.250/.432 with four home runs through 88 plate appearances. The Mariners added him to the major league team during the final week of June upon losing Luis Torrens to the injured list, but they let Knapp go once Torrens returned to health.

The 2022 season has been a bit of a roller-coaster for Knapp, who has appeared with three different organizations. He signed a minor league deal with the Reds during the offseason and spent Spring Training with Cincinnati. Knapp triggered an opt-out clause after failing to make the team out of Spring Training, and he quickly landed a big league deal with the Pirates thereafter. He appeared in 11 games with Pittsburgh before the Bucs DFA him, and he only suited up twice at the MLB level for the Mariners.

Before this year, Knapp had spent his entire career with the Phillies. The former second-round pick appeared in five seasons with Philadelphia, generally in a backup capacity. He hit .214/.314/.322 over that stretch, but he owns a more tenable .252/.322/.389 line through four years in Triple-A. Knapp has never been an impact offensive player in the upper levels, but he shouldn’t have much trouble finding a minor league spot again with teams always on the lookout for experienced catching depth.

Phillies Return Nick Duron, Bubby Rossman To Minors

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The Phillies announced tonight they’ve returned relievers Nick Duron and Bubby Rossman to the minor leagues. Duron heads to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, while Rossman goes back to Double-A Reading. Both players had their contracts selected as designated COVID-19 substitutes for the Phils’ set in Toronto, so neither will occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.

Philadelphia also returned catcher Rafael Marchán and optioned infielder Will Toffey to Triple-A. Those players will remain on the 40-man — Marchán because he’d been added to the roster well before his latest callup, Toffey because he wasn’t designated as a substitute player upon being selected to the big leagues today.

Duron and Rossman each soaked up a mop-up inning during tonight’s 8-2 loss to the Jays. The former worked around a pair of hits to record a scoreless frame. Rossman served up a two-run homer to Teoscar Hernández. It was a purposefully brief promotion for both as the Phils navigated the loss of four players for the series because of travel restrictions. Both righties got the opportunity to make their major league debuts, and they’ll head back to the minors hoping to earn a more lasting look at some point down the line.

The moves clear roster space for the reinstatement of the four players on the restricted list. Each of Kyle Gibson, Aaron Nola, Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto will be permitted to rejoin the club for their weekend series in Miami.

Michael Feliz Elects Free Agency

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Reliever Michael Feliz has passed through outright waivers unclaimed and elected minor league free agency, tweets Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Boston designated him for assignment last weekend.

Feliz is no stranger to the waiver wire, having bounced between four different organizations over the past two seasons. The right-hander had spent the 2018-20 campaigns with the Pirates, racking up high strikeout totals but typically showing erratic control. He shuttled around the league last year, suiting up with the Reds, Red Sox and A’s after being let go by the Bucs in May. Last offseason, Feliz returned to Boston on a minor league pact.

The 29-year-old has spent much of the season with Triple-A Worcester. He worked to a 3.28 ERA across 24 2/3 innings with the WooSox, striking out a solid 27.7% of batters faced while walking a league average 8.9% of opponents. That generally solid work earned Feliz a big league call last week, but his stay on the roster proved brief. He made just one appearance, soaking up 3 1/3 frames of mop-up work in a loss to the Yankees, before being taken off the roster.

Now that he’s back on the open market, the hard-throwing Feliz should be able to find another minor league opportunity elsewhere. He’s appeared in each of the past eight big league seasons, combining for a 5.28 ERA through 250 career innings. Feliz has fanned nearly 30% of opponents at the major league level, and some clubs will surely look into him as a non-roster bullpen option based on that track record of inducing whiffs.

Angels Designate Monte Harrison For Assignment, Recall Jo Adell

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The Angels announced that they have recalled outfielder Jo Adell. To make room for him on the active roster, outfielder Monte Harrison has been designated for assignment.

Harrison, 26, was signed by the Angels to a minor league deal in April. He hit .213/.305/.368 for a wRC+ of just 67, but did steal 2o bases in 50 games. He was selected to the big league club about three weeks ago but has been used sparingly, getting into just nine games and stepping up to the plate just 14 times.

Once considered one of the top prospects in the sport, Harrison was part of the return the Marlins received in the Christian Yelich trade. Unfortunately, a propensity for strikeouts has prevented him from truly becoming a useful player thus far. He struck out in 35% of his plate appearances in Triple-A this year and then 57.1% in that limited MLB showing.

Since he’s out of options, the only way for the Angels to get him off the roster was to designate him for assignment. The Angels will have a week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him. Should he clear waivers, he would have the ability to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

As for Adell, this is the latest step in what has become a pattern for him wherein he mashes in the minors but struggles in the majors, before getting sent down and starting the process over again. He got his first call-up in 2020 but hit just .161/.212/.266 for a wRC+ of 27. Optioned to Triple-A to start the 2021 campaign, he hit .289/.342/.592 for a 122 wRC+. He got recalled in August but produced a tepid line of .246/.295/.408 in the majors, wRC+ of 90. Here in 2022, he made the Opening Day roster but hit .215/.227/.400 through the beginning of May and got optioned. Outside of a six-day stretch in June, he’s been in Triple-A since then, hitting .239/.333/.587 for a wRC+ of 116.

The recall of Adell seems to at least be partially motivated by the fact that Mike Trout is dealing with back spasms. Before tonight’s game, he told reporters, including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, that he has been experiencing discomfort for over a week and that it got worse last night. He is out of tonight’s lineup, though he says he doesn’t expect to go on the IL and should be fine to participate in next week’s All-Star game.

Royals To Place Andrew Benintendi, Nine Others On Restricted List

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The Royals are traveling to Toronto tomorrow to begin a series against the Blue Jays but will be without a significant portion of their regular roster. The team announced to reporters, including Alec Lewis of The Athletic, that ten players will be placed on the restricted list. Since unvaccinated travelers are not allowed to cross the Canada-U.S. border, it’s become common for teams to place a handful of players on the restricted list before playing in Toronto. However, the quantity and quality of the Royals players included is noteworthy. The full list of names: Andrew Benintendi, Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, MJ Melendez, Brady Singer, Brad Keller, Kyle Isbel, Michael A. Taylor and Dylan Coleman.

Benintendi is one of the top trade chips this year, as he’s an impending free agent having a good season for a noncompetitive team. He landed the #2 slot on MLBTR’s recent list of top trade candidates, trailing only Willson Contreras. Benintendi is walking in 10.2% of his plate appearances while striking out just 14% of the time and hitting .317/.386/.401 on the year. That amounts to a wRC+ of 127, or 27% above league average. With the Royals currently 35-53, a record worse than all American League teams except for the A’s, they stand out as obvious deadline sellers.

Two weeks ago, it was reported that the Blue Jays were among the teams interested in acquiring Benintendi, which was a fairly logical match. Benintendi bats from the left side, whereas the Blue Jays have a right-handed heavy lineup. They acquired outfielder Raimel Tapia from the Rockies in an offseason trade as a way to try to balance things out. Unfortunately, he’s hit just .263/.289/.375 for an 84 wRC+ this year. Swapping Benintendi into Tapia’s role as part of an outfield/DH mix with George Springer, Teoscar Hernández and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would have been a straightforward upgrade. However, this news would seem to more or less eliminate the chances of such a deal coming together since Benintendi would only be available to the Blue Jays for road games.

In the short term, the Royals will have to find replacements for these players in order get through the upcoming four-game series against the Blue Jays, which starts tomorrow. The corresponding moves are not known at this time.

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