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Notable September Callups

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We’ll track the flurry of notable callups as roster expand on September 1.

Latest Moves

  • The Mets promoted left-hander Daniel Zamora and right-hander Tyler Bashlor from Triple-A, and also selected the contract of second baseman Sam Haggerty.  (The club posted a fun video on its Twitter account of the players receiving the news.)  A 24th-round pick for Cleveland in the 2015 draft, Haggerty came to the Mets last winter part of the trade that sent Kevin Plawecki to the Indians.  Haggerty began the year at low-A ball and worked his way up to the Show after posting a .907 OPS over 49 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

Earlier Updates

  • The Diamondbacks announced a slew of callups today. Most notably, the club has selected the contract of outfielder Abraham Almonte and recalled right-hander Jon Duplantier. Almonte, 30, has logged time as a reserve each of the past six seasons, to the tune of a career .237/.294/.367 slash (79 wRC+). Duplantier, one of the club’s top pitching prospects, has battled injury issues in recent years but offers a high-upside bullpen piece for the stretch run.
  • The Rays’ September additions include a number of notable players, with Nate Lowe headlining a group of five call-ups. He’ll be joined by Peter Fairbanks and Daniel Robertson, among others.
  • The Braves announced they’ve recalled utilityman Johan Camargo. Camargo was optioned after the club signed Adeiny Hechavarría to replace the injured Dansby Swanson at shortstop. Swanson’s back now, and Hechavarría is still on hand, so it’ll be a tough climb for Camargo, who’s mired in a dreadful season. He’s only a year removed from a productive age-24 campaign, though.
  • The Padres will select the contract of right-handed reliever David Bednar, reports Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter). The 24 year-old gets a little lost among the Padres’ loaded system, but he boasts a pair of plus offerings in his fastball and curveball, opine Kiley McDaniel and Eric Lognenhagen of Fangraphs. Despite a less-than-stellar reputation for his command, Bednar has dazzled in the Texas League this season, pitching to a 2.95 ERA with elite strikeout (35.8%) and walk (7.5%) numbers.
  • The Indians announced today they have selected the contracts of Ryan Flaherty and James Hoyt. They’ve also recalled Eric Haase. Flaherty’s solid Triple-A work this year has earned him his seventh consecutive big league season, where he’ll serve as infield depth for the club down José Ramírez. Hoyt logged 72.2 innings with the Astros from 2016-2018 and offers right-handed bullpen depth, while Haase, 26, is a power-hitting catcher with contact issues.
  • The Yankees announced they have selected left-hander Tyler Lyons. The veteran reliever just signed a minor-league contract with the organization a few weeks ago and adds depth to a loaded bullpen. Right-hander David Hale was transferred to the 60-day injured list to clear 40-man space. The Bombers also recalled right-handers Ryan Dull and Chance Adams and outfielder Clint Frazier.
  • The Cardinals have selected catcher Joe Hudson, per a team announcement. The 28 year-old got into eight games last year with the Angels. He’s had a tough season offensively with Triple-A Memphis, slashing .223/.293/.411. Outfielder Lane Thomas was transferred to the 60-day injured list with a season-ending wrist injury. Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweets that veteran backstop Matt Wieters is day-to-day with a calf strain, so the club elected to bring Hudson and Andrew Knizner aboard to bolster their catching depth.
  • The Brewers announced they have selected the contract of first baseman Tyler Austin. A former Yankee, Twin and Giant, Austin has a strong minor-league track record and brings some right-handed power, but has mustered only a .220/.288/.451 line in 556 career MLB plate appearances thanks to untenable strikeout rates.
  • Top Astros prospect Kyle Tucker isn’t up yet, but he will be shortly, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Houston’s additional reinforcements will be announced tomorrow, Rome adds. The 22 year-old corner outfielder has again laid waste to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and has nothing left to prove at the minor-league level, but opportunities have been few and far between in the Astros’ loaded lineup.
  • Just-acquired first baseman Ryan McBroom will be selected to the Royals’ active roster shortly, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. As Flanagan notes, the 27 year-old was likely to be added to the 40-man this offseason to protect him from the Rule V draft regardless, so there’s little harm in giving him his first taste of MLB action in the meantime. The former 15th-rounder has put up strong offensive numbers throughout his minor-league career, culminating in a .315/.402/.574 line in the Triple-A International League this season.

Latest On Rays’ Infield

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The Rays are set to welcome back a pair of infielders in the coming days. Rays manager Kevin Cash told Juan Toribio of MLB.com that third baseman Matt Duffy is poised to come off the injured list in next week’s series against Boston, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Not far behind, it seems, is utilityman Daniel Robertson, who will kick off a minor-league rehab assignment in the High-A Florida State League tomorrow, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

This will mark Duffy’s season debut, as he’s been sidelined by a hamstring strain from the outset. The 28-year-old was Tampa’s preferred option at the hot corner in 2018. Despite hitting only four home runs and slugging .366, Duffy was worth a solid-average 2.4 fWAR on the strength of a high-contact approach and plus metrics at the hot corner (at least in the eyes of UZR). Over four MLB seasons, Duffy sports a career .285/.337/.385 slash (102 wRC+) with above-average defense at third base.

Robertson, who has been out since June 22 with right knee inflammation, was even better than Duffy in 2018, although his offensive output has cratered this season. As a part-time player last year, the former A’s prospect slashed .262/.382/.415 while logging time at all three infield positions. His batted ball metrics never quite backed up that level of production, but the Rays likely still anticipated at least average output at the plate from the 25 year-old moving forward.

Instead, his power has cratered, partially because his already-high ground ball rate has jumped six points from last season. The result: a .202/.311/.281 slash, translating to a 68 wRC+. Nevertheless, there’s room for some optimism about a return to form. Robertson’s elite plate discipline seems to be intact, he’s actually making more contact than last season despite a curious uptick in strikeouts, and his average exit velocity, per Statcast, hasn’t changed.

Things are a little less fortunate for AL Rookie of the Year candidate Brandon Lowe. Topkin tweets that Lowe’s bruised right shin, sustained when he fouled a ball off his leg, continues to impede his lateral quickness on fielding drills, meaning “it will still be awhile before he’s back,” as Topkin puts it. This is the second time in a week we’ve heard frustration with the 25-year-old’s recovery process. The Rays, who have lost five straight and now sit two games back in the AL Wild Card race, could certainly use Lowe in the lineup, as the second baseman sports a strong .276/.339/.523 slash.

In the interim, Lowe’s injury likely means more playing time for Duffy, who seems to have been squeezed out at third base by the club’s offseason acquisition of Yandy Diaz, and hot-hitting rookie Michael Brousseau. Joey Wendle has continued to log action at the keystone in Lowe’s absence, as well, but he’s come nowhere close to repeating his solid 2018 production and could see his playing time dwindle as the club’s infield mix gets increasingly crowded.

Rays Activate Ji-Man Choi, Option Ian Gibaut

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The Tampa Bay Rays activated first baseman Ji-Man Choi ahead of today’s action, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Ian Gibaut has been optioned back to Durham. 

Choi missed the minimum ten games for a sprained left ankle. He is a key cog in the middle of the Rays lineup. With little margin for error in a top-heavy American League, the Rays could stand to get a little more production from him after a .266/.351/.423 first half. 

For now, manager Kevin Cash will rotate Choi with Nate Lowe, tweets Topkin. Lowe would most naturally be used as a roster replacement for Choi, but Cash is also prepared to use Lowe at third base, where he’s spent time in the minors. For now, they simply don’t want to take Lowe out of the lineup as the 24-year-old has hit .291/.355/.509 with 3 home runs in 15 games. That kind of production out of the first base spot would go a long way in helping the Rays secure a spot in this year’s playoffs. 

With the Rays, however, everything is fluid, and one day’s cleanup hitter could be back in Triple-A the next. Yandy Diaz also figures to play a prominent role in the corner infield rotation as the regular starter at third now that he’s discovered a power stroke (.278/.351/.477 on the year). Two other third base options remain on the shelf: Matt Duffy and Daniel Robertson are close enough to returning that each of them could be on rehab assignments by next week, per Topkin (Twitter links). 

Gibaut has a fairly high ceiling as a bullpen piece, but his first taste of the majors was short: one appearance, two innings, two earned runs, two walks, two strikeouts, one hit. 

Tyler Glasnow Suffers Setback; Daniel Robertson Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow has suffered a setback in his recovery from a forearm injury, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report (Twitter links here). Meanwhile, infielder Daniel Robertson has undergone arthroscopic knee surgery to remove a loose body. Glasnow’s dealing with flexor inflammation, which will lead to a three-week shutdown, and Robertson will miss four to six weeks in the wake of his procedure.

The Rays have already been without Glasnow since May 11, at which point he was only expected to miss four to six weeks. The club then moved Glasnow to the 60-day injured list May 26, though the goal was he’d return sometime in July. That hope’s now out the window for Tampa Bay, and that’s highly unfortunate news for the AL playoff contender.

The Rays are 45-33 and 2 1/2 games up on the AL’s top wild-card spot thanks in part to Glasnow, a 2018 trade acquisition from the Pirates who was amid a breakout year before his IL stint. The towering 25-year-old has posted a stellar 1.86 ERA/2.27 FIP with 10.24 K/9, 1.68 BB/9 and a 51.8 percent groundball rate in 48 1/3 innings in 2019.

If the Rays make the playoffs this season, a healthy Glasnow team could team with Blake Snell and Charlie Morton to lead a devastating rotation. However, it’s now unclear whether Glasnow will even return in the next couple months. His status could affect the Rays’ plans leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, as the team is currently devoid of traditional starters after Snell, Morton and Yonny Chirinos – the latter of whom has stepped up to effectively eat innings of late.

The surgery for Robertson continues a disappointing season for the 25-year-old. Robertson was somewhat quietly one of the Rays’ most productive players in 2018, when he slashed .262/.382/.415 (127 wRC+) with nine home runs and 2.4 fWAR in 340 plate appearances. But Robertson has followed those numbers up this year with a meager line of .202/.311/.281 (69 wRC+), two HRs and minus-0.3 fWAR in 206 PA. Luckily for the Rays, they’ve seen second baseman Brandon Lowe, shortstop Willy Adames and third baseman Yandy Diaz pick up the slack as Robertson has slumped.

Along with the news on Glasnow and Robertson, Topkin tweets the Rays will go without reliever Diego Castillo for approximately two weeks. Castillo went to the IL on Sunday with a shoulder impingement.

Rays Select Mike Brosseau

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The Rays have selected INF Mike Brosseau from Triple-A Durham among a flurry of roster moves, the team announced. INF/OF Daniel Robertson was placed on the 10-Day IL with a left knee sprain, and durable reliever Austin Pruitt was sent down to make room for lefty Adam Kolarek. Catcher Anthony Bemboom was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for Brosseau.

Though the 25-year-old Brosseau didn’t crack the club’s top 54 prospects per FanGraphs, the 5’10 righty has done little but mash in his four years on the Rays farm thus far. In 283 plate appearances for Durham this season, Brosseau’d slashed .313/.406/.579 with an outstanding 11.7% BB/17.7%K plate-discipline profile.

He’ll look to work his way into the weak-side infield platoon mix for Tampa, as each of Brandon Lowe, Joey Wendle, Willy Adames, Christian Arroyo and Ji-Man Choi have been manhandled by lefties so far this season.

Rays Notes: Faria, Robertson, Glasnow

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The Rays have recalled right-hander Jake Faria from Triple-A Durham while demoting infielder Daniel Robertson, the team announced. 

Faria makes his second appearance with the club this season, the first resulting in a scoreless two-inning outing against the Red Sox on April 20th. He has otherwise notched better-than-usual strikeout rates in Triple-A this season (11.6 K/9) along with a 4-1 record and 5.41 ERA across 15 games (6 starts).

Faria gave the Rays 86 2/3 strong innings of 3.43 ERA baseball across 14 starts in 2017, but an abdominal strain cost him some time and limited him to just three appearances apiece in August and September. He started ten games with a less rousing 5.48 ERA to start 2018, but a left oblique strain landed him on the 60-day injured list. He has since fallen down the pecking order amidst a loaded Rays pitching contingent, but he’ll have an opportunity here to serve as one of manager Kevin Cash’s many long men out of the pen.

For Robertson, the demotion is a disappointing turn for the one-time Oakland farmhand. After accruing 2.4 fWAR and a well-above-average 127 wRC+ in 2018, Robertson slumped in 2019 while concentrating more of his defensive time at third base. Robertson’s .205/.310/.284 is a far cry from his 2018 output. His approach has remained relatively stable (10.8 BB%, 24.6 K%), but his power has all but evaporated (.080 ISO). While power hardly figures to be a prominent part of his game, a sub-.300 slugging percentage makes him borderline unplayable for the Rays in a tightly-contested AL East.

In recovery news, Tyler Glasnow’s comeback trail kicks off today as the Rays plan to have him throwing off a mound to a catcher closer than the traditional 60 feet 6 inches, tweets MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. Glasnow could throw a bullpen session as early as Wednesday, but nothing has changed as of yet regarding his recovery timetable. Given his placement on the 60-day injured list, Glasnow’s earliest date of reinstatement is July 12th.

Daniel Robertson To Undergo Thumb Surgery, Likely Done For Season

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Rays infielder Daniel Robertson, who went on the disabled list on Saturday with a sprained left thumb, will require surgery and is likely to miss the rest of the season, Bill Chastain of MLB.com reports.

Like the Rays themselves, owners of a respectable 56-55 record, Robertson has been a pleasant surprise in 2018. After struggling through a 254-plate appearance debut in 2017, when he hit .206/.308/.326, the 24-year-old Robertson has slashed .262/.382/.415 in 340 PAs this season.

Robertson hasn’t offered a ton of power (nine home runs, .152 ISO), though he’s tied for 21st in on-base percentage among hitters with at least 300 PAs and has registered appealing walk and strikeout rates (12.0 and 22.6 percent, respectively). Thanks largely to his on-base ability, which has been buoyed by 13 hit by pitches, Robertson has been 28 percent better than the league-average offensive player in 2018, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric.

If Robertson’s season is indeed over, it’ll end with 2.6 fWAR and 2.8 rWAR, which would’ve made for impressive production even over a full campaign. But injuries have helped hold back Robertson, who previously missed time in June on account of a strained left hamstring and has played in just 87 games. Robertson showed off plenty of defensive versatility in that span, amassing anywhere from 19 to 39 appearances at third base, second base (his primary position) and shortstop.

Rays Promote Brandon Lowe

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The Rays have officially promoted infielder Brandon Lowe to the major league roster, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was first to report. Daniel Robertson has been placed on the DL to accommodate.

The 24-year-old Lowe is a homegrown product, having been selected by the Rays in the third round of 2015’s amateur draft. He’s dominated at every level of the minors since joining the organization, most recently posting a commanding .304/.380/.613 batting line at Triple-A with 14 homers in just 205 plate appearances. And while his 22.9% strikeout rate at that level is a bit high, it’s far from the levels of some of the power threats in today’s game. Overall, his performance was good for a 177 wRC+.

Baseball America ranked Lowe as the 16th-best prospect in a deep Rays farm system prior to the 2018 season, touting his above-average bat speed and penchant for being aggressive on pitches in the strike zone. At the midpoint of the season, MLB Pipeline has Lowe all the way up to ninth in the Tampa Bay organization. The publication raved about his hitting ability and “consistent pop to the gaps” with sneaky raw power and loads of patience. His ceiling will be limited by the likelihood that he becomes a solid yet unspectacular defender at second base.

AL East Notes: Adames, Araujo, Drury

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Top prospect Willy Adames is back with the Rays, who announced today that they’ve placed Daniel Robertson on the 10-day disabled list due to a strained left hamstring and recalled the 22-year-old Adames in his place. It’ll be the second stint in the Majors this season for Adames, who is considered Tampa Bay’s best position-player prospect and is generally regarded among the game’s top 30 or so all-around farmhands. He went 2-for-12 in a brief debut stint with the Rays last month but is hitting a much more palatable .286/.356/.424 in Triple-A despite his relative youth. Adames isn’t teeming with power, but he should stick at shortstop and has the potential to be an above-average bat there. Certainly, that’s the hope for the Rays, who only control Adeiny Hechavarria through season’s end. Hechavarria recently checked in on the first edition of MLBTR’s Top 50 trade candidates, and if he’s moved, then a path to everyday at-bats would be open for Adames.

More from the division…

  • The Orioles’ attempt to bring right-hander Pedro Araujo along at the Majors could be on its last legs, writes Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Araujo broke camp with the club as a Rule 5 player, but he quickly proved unready for high-leverage spots and has since struggled to even keep the O’s in the game when the team is trailing. Araujo is being asked to make the jump from Class-A Advanced to the Majors, and the results haven’t been pretty; after surrendering four runs in an inning yesterday, he’s sitting on a 7.71 ERA with a 29-to-18 K/BB ratio, two hit batters and a wild pitch through 28 innings of relief. The Orioles, Encina notes, need to open a spot on the active roster for the return of Zach Britton, and cutting bait on the Araujo experiment could be one such way of facilitating the longtime closer’s return.
  • Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post spoke to infielder Brandon Drury about the Yankees’ decision to option him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at the conclusion of his rehab assignment. Unsurprisingly, Drury expressed some disappointment and frustration at being sent down. “I wasn’t happy about it,” said the 25-year-old. “…It’s not easy. But this is going to make me better. Just gotta keep doing what I can do right now, be back up soon.” Drury is doing plenty to display both his abilities and his health in Scranton, slashing .324/.457/.461 through 127 plate appearances there. Unfortunately for him, Miguel Andujar has heated back up at the plate and is even beginning to draw a few more walks. Since Drury was activated from the DL and optioned, Andujar has batted .361/.413/.722 with five homers, drawing six walks against nine strikeouts in 80 plate appearances along the way.

AL Notes: Athletics, Astros, Rays

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With Athletics executive vice president Billy Beane in his 20th year atop the team’s baseball department, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle takes an interesting look at his legacy. Beane’s best known as the subject of the 2003 book “Moneyball,” which has made the executive an iconic figure in business circles, Slusser writes. The author, Michael Lewis, told Slusser that Beane “made it cool to bring science into player evaluation, and because of that, every businessperson in America wants to meet him.” Lewis’ book followed the 2002 A’s, who won 103 games and were part of a run that included four straight playoff berths and eight consecutive seasons of at least 87 victories for the franchise. The low-payroll A’s haven’t been nearly that successful in recent years (they’ll finish well below .500 for the third season in a row in 2017), in part because of the trade that sent third baseman Josh Donaldson to Toronto in 2014. Beane offered an unenthusiastic review of the move to Slusser, saying: “In hindsight, that was certainly questionable — and I’m being kind to myself. There were a number of reasons why, and Josh was a good player who became a great player — but when you make as many transactions as we do, some are going to be good and some are not going to be good.”

While the Donaldson deal will likely go down as a misfire, Beane’s entire body of work has clearly earned him the respect of his peers across big league front offices, as Slusser details in a piece that’s worthy of a full read.

More from the American League:

  • The Astros announced a series of front office changes on Friday, as Brian McTaggart of MLB.com details in full. The mutual parting between the team and assistant director of player personnel Quinton McCracken was among those moves. McCracken, who had been in the Astros’ front office since 2012 and even drew interest from Boston when it was looking for a GM in 2015, talked about his exit with Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. “(With) the recent reconfiguration of the front office staff, we mutually agreed it was best for me to pursue other opportunities in the baseball community,” McCracken said. “It was a mutual agreement. My contract was due at the end of this cycle, and we decided that it just wasn’t a proper fit moving forward.” McCracken’s departure comes on the heels of the Astros firing eight scouts earlier this month.
  • Signing infielder Danny Espinosa and optioning Daniel Robertson to the minors is the latest example of the Rays balancing the present and the future, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times observes. While Espinosa struggled mightily this season in stints with the Angels and Mariners, both of whom released him, the 23-year-old Robertson wasn’t exactly indispensable to the Rays’ lineup during his first 223 major league plate appearances (.211/.302/.340). But if the former top 100 prospect does develop into a quality big leaguer, Tampa Bay could end up controlling him for another year thanks in part to the Espinosa signing, Topkin points out. If Robertson stays in the minors for at least 20 days, he won’t accrue a year of service time this season, putting him on pace to become a free agent entering 2024 instead of 2023.

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