Orioles Notes: Akin, Kittredge, O’Neill, Kremer, Holliday
Injuries have (again) been a major storyline of the Orioles’ season, but the team announced today that left-hander Keegan Akin has been activated from the 15-day injured list. Akin’s return comes a day after Andrew Kittredge and Tyler O’Neill were both activated Friday from the 15-day IL and seven-day concussion IL, respectively. Right-hander Cameron Foster was optioned to Triple-A for Akin, while outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez and right-hander Jose Espada were optioned to Triple-A yesterday for Kittredge and O’Neill.
Both Akin (groin strain) and Kittredge (shoulder inflammation) had spent the entire season on the IL, and Kittredge made his season debut yesterday, tossing a 1-2-3 inning out of the bullpen in the Orioles’ 10-3 win over the Red Sox. Initially signed to a one-year, $9MM contract in the 2024-25 offseason, Kittredge was dealt to the Cubs at last summer’s trade deadline, but Chicago then swapped Kittredge back to Baltimore in early November, and the O’s exercised a $9MM club option on the reliever’s services for 2026.
Kittredge and Akin are expected to be high-leverage arms in Baltimore’s pen, and Akin is the team’s top left-handed relief option. With both Akin and Dietrich Enns out of action, Grant Wolfram had been the Orioles’ only southpaw reliever for the last several days.
O’Neill was sidelined after hitting .241/.353/.345 over his first 34 plate appearances, and since he didn’t play yesterday, April 8 remains the outfielder’s last game. The always-uncertain nature of concussion symptoms led to an absence of over two weeks, yet hopefully O’Neill has now put the issue entirely behind him.
Even with three players now back in action, Baltimore’s injured list remains 10 players deep. Dean Kremer was the latest player sidelined, as the right-hander was placed on the 15-day IL on Thursday (retroactive to April 20) due to a right quad strain. Right-hander Brandon Young was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Young started Friday’s game in Kremer’s place, getting the win while allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings of work.
Young will probably get an extended run as Baltimore’s fifth starter since Kremer will miss “several weeks,” as O’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters. Elias said Kremer’s injury surfaced during his between-starts prep work, and that “our plan is to try to keep his arm in as good of shape as possible because it’s not bothering him too much to throw right now, but we’ve got to let that thing heal and get his lower body condition back.”
The injury is another setback in what has already been an unusual season for Kremer, who began the season in Triple-A simply because the Orioles had five preferred options in their starting rotation. Zach Eflin‘s Tommy John surgery created an avenue for Kremer’s return, and the righty posted a 4.09 ERA over two starts and 11 innings before his quad strain surfaced.
With Kremer out and Eflin gone for the entire season, Cade Povich is now the Orioles’ top depth arm if another injury should strike the rotation. Albert Suarez and Tyler Wells are both ex-starters turned into multi-inning relievers, and conceivably either pitcher could be stretched out again for at least a piggyback type of role if even more starting help was needed beyond Povich.
Elias provided some updates to Kubatko and company on several other O’s players, including the news that Enns (foot infection) also seems to be nearing a return from the 15-day IL. Heston Kjerstad (hamstring strain) has yet to play this season, but is participating in full baseball activities and could be close to a minor league rehab assignment.
Concerns were raised earlier this week when Jackson Holliday underwent a fresh set of tests on his injured right hand, but Elias said the MRI, CT scan, and x-rays all came back clean. Holliday underwent hamate bone surgery on February 12 and was expected to start playing within the usual four to eight weeks, but his rehab work has now been paused twice due to continued soreness in the right hand.
Holliday discussed his latest setback with reporters yesterday, saying that a foul tip in Tuesday’s rehab game left him feeling “like I broke my hand again. Obviously, kind of concerning taking a swing and having that kind of pain, but I guess it’s not normal, but obviously nothing structurally wrong, and I guess whenever a tendon rolls over a nerve it can kind of cause that.”
The plan is to keep Holliday shut down for another week before restarting the rehab process. The clean tests at least provided some evidence that Holliday’s continued hand problems aren’t anything overtly serious, and Elias described the situation as “all within the possible normal spectrum of outcomes with the hamate injury….We’ve seen these come really quick for some players, and others take a long time to feel like themselves. So we want to let him get through this on an individual basis, and we’re giving him as much time as he needs, but we’re eager to have him back and welcome back with open arms once he’s ready.”
2026-27 Club Options: AL East
A couple weeks ago, MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald highlighted the players who could choose to return to the free agent market via opt-out clauses. We’ll now take a division by division look at those whose contracts contain club, mutual or vesting options. That kicks off tonight with the AL East.
Although it’s early in the season, a lot of these provisions are fairly easy to predict. The mutual options are almost certain to be declined by either the player or team (usually the latter). They’re accounting measures, essentially an unofficial deferral within the term of the contract itself. The player agrees to push back a percentage of the guaranteed money to the end of the deal in the form of an option buyout — which is paid after the end of the World Series rather than evenly distributed during the regular season as salary.
Baltimore Orioles
- RHP Zach Eflin: $25MM mutual option ($2MM buyout)
Eflin’s return to the Orioles was dashed by yet another injury: an elbow ligament that required Tommy John surgery. The O’s probably weren’t signing up for a $25MM salary even if he’d stayed healthy this year, but this is as obvious a buyout as these decisions get.
- LHP Dietrich Enns: $3.5MM club option ($125K buyout)
Enns pitched well for the O’s down the stretch after a deadline trade from Detroit. The 34-year-old southpaw worked to a 3.14 ERA while striking out 28% of batters faced across 28 2/3 innings. Although he’s nowhere close to six years of MLB service time, his contract contained a 2026 club option that presumably had a clause ensuring he’d become a free agent if the team declined. That’s fairly common for players like Enns who had spent the preceding couple seasons pitching in Asia.
The O’s restructured Enns’ contract to pay him a $2.5MM salary and guarantee a $125K buyout on a $3.5MM team option for the ’27 season. He has walked five batters over 4 1/3 innings to begin this season. Enns landed on the injured list a couple weeks ago with a foot infection. He began a rehab assignment in Triple-A on Saturday. This one is too early to judge.
- 1B Ryan Mountcastle: $7.5MM club option
Mountcastle agreed to tack on a $7.5MM option to avoid going to an arbitration hearing last offseason. Speculatively, that’s probably due to the CBA provision which doesn’t fully guarantee salaries determined at an arbitration hearing until Opening Day. Had Mountcastle not settled, the O’s might’ve released him for termination pay during Spring Training after making a splash on Pete Alonso earlier in the winter.
Although the O’s were surely happy to get the extra year of club control, it probably won’t be of much benefit. Mountcastle broke a bone in his left foot last week and will miss at least two months. It’s his second straight year with a significant injury. He lost a couple months to a hamstring strain in 2025. Mountcastle was already an odd roster fit who’d make more sense as a trade chip. Maybe he’ll return in the second half and hit well enough that the O’s feel the option price is too good to pass up, but it’s likelier this is getting declined.
Boston Red Sox
- LHP Aroldis Chapman: $13MM mutual option ($300K buyout); vests at $13MM at 40 innings pitched
Chapman’s option vests if he reaches 40 innings pitched this season and passes an end of year physical. He has surpassed 40 frames in three straight seasons. He’s at 7 2/3 innings thus far. It’d take at least one injured list stint — probably an absence of 6-8 weeks — for him to fall short of 40 innings.
In any case, the Sox would be happy to have him back at that price if he’s healthy. Chapman was probably the best reliever in MLB last season, firing 61 1/3 innings of 1.17 ERA ball with a 37% strikeout rate. The punchouts are down early this year in an exceedingly tiny sample, yet he has only allowed one run and is 4-4 in save opportunities. He remains at the top of his game at age 38.
- RHP Sonny Gray: $30MM mutual option ($10MM buyout)
Gray restructured his contract as a condition of the offseason trade that sent him from St. Louis to Boston. The deal initially came with a $35MM salary for this year and a $5MM option buyout. Gray agreed to move $4MM of salary back to the buyout while picking up an extra $1MM as a condition for waiving his no-trade clause. He’ll be a free agent.
- RHP Garrett Whitlock: $8.25MM club option ($1MM buyout)
Whitlock’s contract comes with an $8.25MM team option that includes $4MM in unspecified escalators. There’s also a $10.5MM club option for the ’28 season. Whitlock has been one of the best setup arms in MLB throughout his career. He rebounded from an injury-plagued ’24 season to fire 72 frames of 2.25 ERA ball with a 31% strikeout rate last year.
The righty’s command has been a little wobbly this year and his sinker velocity is down a couple ticks. Still, he’s only allowed two earned runs while striking out 11 through his first nine innings. No other Boston reliever is getting higher-leverage assignments on average. This is one of the likelier options to be exercised.
New York Yankees
- None.
Tampa Bay Rays
- 1B Yandy Díaz: $10MM club option; converts to $13MM option which automatically vests at 500 plate appearances
Tampa Bay preemptively locked in Díaz’s $12MM club option for the 2026 season during Spring Training ’25. In exchange, the first baseman gave the team a $10MM option for ’27 that would vest at $13MM as long as he stayed healthy enough to reach 500 plate appearances. Díaz is a little over 20% of the way there. Even if he suffers an injury that takes the vesting provision off the table, he’s been such a good hitter that Tampa Bay would probably be happy to exercise the $10MM option.
- RHP Nick Martinez: $20MM mutual option ($4MM buyout)
The mutual option in the Martinez contract was purely one of the aforementioned accounting mechanisms. The Rays aren’t paying him a $20MM salary even if he pitches to their expectations. He’ll be bought out.
- CF Cedric Mullins: $10MM mutual option ($500K buyout)
The same is very likely true for Mullins. A $10MM option price is rich for Tampa Bay unless the former All-Star outfielder has a resurgent season — in which case, he’d decline his end and look for a multi-year deal. The early returns aren’t encouraging, as Mullins is hitting .156 with two homers through his first 21 games. Over the past calendar year, he’s a .194/.257/.336 hitter.
- RHP Drew Rasmussen: $8MM club option ($500K buyout); option could escalate up to $20MM depending upon Rasmussen’s health and innings total
Before the 2025 season, the Rays signed Rasmussen to a two-year deal that bought out his final arbitration years. It included a complex club option for 2027 that was heavily dependent on his health. The option comes with an $8MM base value but includes up to $12MM in escalators based on starts and time spent on the injured list.
Rasmussen had only once topped 80 MLB innings at the time of his extension. He has undergone multiple elbow procedures and broke into the league as a reliever because of durability concerns. Rasmussen has stayed healthy over the past year-plus. He pitched a career-high 150 innings en route to a top 10 Cy Young placement in 2025. He’s out to a similarly excellent start to the ’26 campaign, allowing just four earned runs through his first 19 2/3 innings.
The option value will begin to climb before long. It’ll jump to $8.5MM once he reaches eight starts and includes additional escalators for every fourth start up through 28 appearances. If he makes 28+ starts, it’d jump to a minimum of $14MM. That’s just the beginning, as the number climbs if he avoids a long-term injured list stint. It’d get up to $20MM if he goes the entire season without an arm injury.
At $8MM, Rasmussen is an unmitigated bargain even for a low-payroll Rays club. The escalators will probably climb quickly enough that he’ll be a trade candidate. That could happen midseason if the team isn’t in the playoff hunt or early next offseason if they hold him at the deadline. If Rasmussen repeats last year’s production, he’s not going to be in any danger of being bought out — as closer Pete Fairbanks was when escalators pushed his option value from $7MM to $11MM.
Note: The Rays hold a $3.1MM club option on INF Taylor Walls. He’d remain eligible for arbitration if the team declines.
Toronto Blue Jays
- CF Myles Straw: $8MM club option ($1.75MM buyout); Guardians paying Toronto $1.75MM at season’s end as part of 2025 trade
The Blue Jays acquired Straw in a salary dump trade with the Guardians over the 2024-25 offseason. Toronto agreed to cover $11MM of the remaining two years and $14.75MM on Straw’s underwater contract. (He’d gone unclaimed on waivers that same offseason and was no longer on Cleveland’s 40-man roster.) In exchange, the Guards sent the Jays international bonus pool space. Toronto could then increase their offer to Roki Sasaki by an extra $2MM in a late, ultimately unsuccessful effort to sway the star NPB pitcher away from signing with the Dodgers.
Sasaki’s decision to join L.A. made this initially look like a complete bust for Toronto. To his credit, Straw has salvaged the move. He made the team in 2025 and did a nice job in a fourth outfield role, hitting .262/.313/.367 while playing his typically excellent outfield defense. He’s out to a good start this season as well and provides a high-floor depth option if Daulton Varsho misses any time.
Will that be enough to convince the Jays to keep Straw around? They certainly didn’t anticipate exercising an $8MM option at the time of the trade. That’s made clear enough by the teams’ agreement for the Guardians to send Toronto a $1.75MM payment — which matches the buyout value — at the end of the ’26 season. Cleveland is sending the money either way, though, so it’d amount to a $6.25MM call if the Jays want to bring Straw back.
That’s a little rich for a fourth outfielder, which is what Straw has been for the last few seasons. Varsho is an impending free agent and the Jays don’t have anyone waiting in the wings from the farm system. Straw’s play and the possibility of Varsho walking has made this a tougher call than even the Jays’ front office would have anticipated.
AL East Notes: Sandoval, Lukes, Orioles
Patrick Sandoval was in Boston today to undergo some testing after felt some left biceps soreness in the aftermath of his last minor league rehab outing. Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t have any info on the outcome of those tests when speaking with MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other reporters earlier today, and it wasn’t yet known if Sandoval would even be formally pulled off his 30-day minor league rehab assignment. Sandoval has made two starts during the assignment as he continues to work his way back from an internal brace surgery in July 2024.
Kutter Crawford also hasn’t pitched since 2024 (due to wrist and knee injuries that cost him the entirety of the 2025 campaign), and the right-hander’s own rehab assignment has also been put on pause due to a new health concern. Crawford underwent an MRI today after he felt some elbow soreness following his first rehab outing, so both Crawford and Sandoval are currently in limbo as they await their next steps.
The Sox have avoided any injury setbacks within their starting five, though these setbacks for Sandoval and Crawford create more questions about the team’s rotation depth. Johan Oviedo is on the 60-day injured list due to a flexor strain, and recent call-up Tyler Uberstine is on the Triple-A injured list due to shoulder soreness. Top prospect Payton Tolle made his MLB debut last season and is Boston’s first option for a call-up if a need develops in the rotation.
Here’s more from around the AL East…
- Nathan Lukes has been battling vertigo symptoms for the last month, and visited a specialist in Phoenix on Friday to help combat the issue, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi writes. Lukes felt greatly improved following the session, and he responded by going 7-for-11 over the Blue Jays‘ three-game series with the Diamondbacks. It was a much-needed breakout series for the outfielder, who had just two hits and an ugly .182 OPS in his first 34 plate appearances. The Jays have been dealing with a lot of injuries and slumping hitters over the first few weeks, so getting Lukes right both physically and at the plate would be a big help in getting Toronto’s season on track.
- The Orioles are another struggling team with a crowded injured list, but the O’s should be getting some reinforcements back this week. Left-hander Dietrich Enns (foot infection) started a minor league rehab assignment yesterday, and fellow southpaw Keegan Akin (groin strain) has two rehab outings under his belt. The Baltimore Sun’s Jacob Calvin Meyer wrote that Adley Rutschman (ankle inflammation) and Tyler O’Neill (concussion symptoms) were both running the bases prior to today’s game, in the latest step in their recovery processes. It isn’t yet known if either might need a brief rehab assignment before returning to the O’s, and Rutschman isn’t eligible to be activated from the 10-day IL until Tuesday at the earliest.
Orioles Lose Dietrich Enns To Foot Infection, Recall Brandon Young
The Orioles placed left-hander Dietrich Enns on the injured list with an infected left foot, per a team announcement. The issue required IV antibiotics at a Pittsburgh hospital, manager Craig Albernaz told reporters, including Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner. “It’s crazy,” Albernaz said. “I’m not sure what happened. But his foot is pretty gnarly.”
Right-hander Brandon Young was recalled to take Enns’ spot on the roster. He’ll draw the start tonight against the White Sox. Baltimore needed another starter after Zach Eflin went to the IL with an elbow injury. Cade Povich was also recalled recently. He was a candidate to draw the start on Monday, but ended up tossing 5 2/3 innings in relief of Chris Bassitt yesterday.
Enns returned stateside last season after three seasons pitching in Asia. He stumbled to a 5.60 ERA in seven appearances with the Tigers. Detroit shipped him to Baltimore for cash at the trade deadline. Enns emerged as a meaningful part of the Orioles’ bullpen over the final two months of the season. The veteran tossed 28 2/3 innings with a 3.14 ERA and a 27.6% strikeout rate. He also earned a pair of saves.
The Orioles had a $3MM club option on Enns for 2026. Instead of exercising the option, the team worked out a new one-year contract with the lefty. He’s making $2.5MM this season. The reworked deal includes a $3.5MM club option for 2027, with a $125K buyout.
Young made his debut in 2025. He posted an ERA above 6.00 across a dozen starts, though his xFIP (4.52) and SIERA (4.67) suggested he deserved better results. Young, Povich, and Albert Suarez will have a chance to secure the No. 5 spot in the rotation with Eflin potentially facing an extended absence. The righty is getting a second opinion on his injured elbow from orthopedic surgeon Keith Meister.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Orioles, Dietrich Enns Agree To New Deal
7:15pm: Per Kostka, this deal is worth a guaranteed $2.625MM. That breaks down as a $2.5MM salary in 2025 with a $125K buyout on a 2027 club option worth $3.5MM.
3:58pm: The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve agreed to a one-year contract with left-hander Dietrich Enns for the 2026 season. It contains a club option for the 2027 campaign as well. Baltimore previously held a $3MM club option over Enns, a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council. This new contract overrides that deal, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner.
Enns, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers after a three-year run pitching in Asia (two years in NPB, one in the KBO). Enns pitched well enough in the Tigers’ Triple-A rotation to get a call to the big leagues in Detroit — his first MLB work since 2021 and just the third season in which he’s logged at least some MLB time. He struggled in 17 2/3 innings for manager A.J. Hinch’s club and was flipped to the Orioles for cash just prior to the July 31 trade deadline.
The change of scenery paid dividends. Enns thrived with the O’s, turning in 28 2/3 innings of 3.14 ERA ball (17 relief appearances, one start). He fanned 27.6% of his opponents in Baltimore and only issued walks at an 8.9% clip. Enns showed plenty of bat-missing ability with both teams, logging matching 13.5% swinging-strike rates in his two stops and topping a 34% opponents’ chase rate with each club.
Enns is out of minor league options, making him likely to break camp with the club next year. It’s at least possible that the O’s could try to pass him through waivers and stash him in Triple-A as a depth option, knowing he wouldn’t elect free agency and forfeit the guaranteed money on his contract. They’ve made similar depth-driven signings in the past under the current front office regime. Given how well Enns pitched for them down the stretch, however, there’s a good chance he’d be claimed, so today’s deal simply seems like a means of locking in some cost certainty and establishing another year of club control at a fixed rate.
Tigers Trade Dietrich Enns To Orioles
The Orioles and Tigers apparently made a last minute trade before the deadline. Detroit dealt left-hander Dietrich Enns to Baltimore for cash. He’d been designated for assignment just this afternoon when the Tigers acquired Codi Heuer from Texas.
Enns, 34, could get a look in the Baltimore rotation. The O’s traded Charlie Morton and placed Zach Eflin on the injured list. They’re more or less playing out the string and need pitchers who can take innings behind Trevor Rogers and Tomoyuki Sugano. Enns has struggled in a limited big league look, giving up 12 runs in 17 2/3 frames spanning seven appearances. He has posted excellent numbers over 14 Triple-A starts, working to a 2.89 ERA with a near-27% strikeout rate against a tidy 5.6% walk percentage.
Prior to this season, Enns’ major league experience consisted of brief stints with the 2017 Twins and ’21 Rays. He has also pitched in Japan and Korea, turning in a 4.19 ERA over 30 starts in the KBO last season. The O’s will give him an opportunity to see if they can get similar mid-30s production from Enns as they did with Albert Suarez a year ago.
Tigers Acquire Codi Heuer From Rangers
The Rangers announced they’ve traded reliever Codi Heuer to Detroit for cash. This opens a 40-man roster spot for Texas, who will likely acquire some kind of relief help in the coming hours. Detroit designated lefty Dietrich Enns for assignment and optioned Heuer to Triple-A Toledo.
Heuer signed an offseason minor league deal with Texas. The Rangers called him up on June 1 but optioned him back to Triple-A a couple days later. He made one appearance, working an inning and a third while giving up a home run. That was the 6’5″ righty’s first major league action in four years. Heuer has had a nice season in the upper minors, working to a 3.43 ERA with a 31% strikeout rate over 35 appearances.
Texas probably viewed the 29-year-old Heuer as a DFA candidate if they’re able to make a more notable bullpen move today. Rather than wait until finalizing an acquisition, they preemptively cleared a spot while picking up a bit of cash. Detroit jumps the waiver order to get a pitcher with options who is having a good Triple-A season. Heuer sits around 96 MPH with his fastball and has a mid-80s slider. He has a history of elbow injuries, including 2022 Tommy John surgery and a ’23 fracture that required another operation.
Enns was called up last month. The 34-year-old southpaw has logged 17 2/3 innings with a 5.60 ERA across seven outings. He has posted excellent numbers with Toledo, turning in a 2.89 ERA with a 26.7% strikeout rate over 14 starts. He’ll likely end up on waivers in the next few days.
Tigers Designate Matt Gage For Assignment
The Tigers have designated left-handed reliever Matt Gage for assignment, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. His spot on the roster goes to lefty Dietrich Enns, whose contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Toledo (a move that was first reported earlier in the week).
Gage, 32, signed a minor league deal over the winter and was selected to the big league roster a couple weeks ago. He’s tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings out of A.J. Hinch’s bullpen, albeit with a sub-par 3-to-2 K/BB ratio (12% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate). It’s the third season in which Gage has seen major league time. Despite having enjoyed success in small samples during all three seasons — Gage has a career 1.42 ERA — he’s only gotten 25 1/3 innings in the big leagues.
Detroit is Gage’s third major league team in three seasons. He’s also suited up for the Blue Jays and Astros. The lefty has fanned 22.5% of his opponents against a 10.8% walk rate. He’s never been an especially hard thrower, but this year’s 91.9 mph average fastball is down noticeably from the 94 mph he averaged with the Astros in 2023. Be that as it may, Gage pitched well with the Tigers and was excellent in Triple-A Toledo prior to his promotion as well: 32 1/3 innings, 1.67 ERA, 22.8% strikeout rate, 3.3% walk rate. That’s Gage’s seventh season logging time in Triple-A. He has a career 4.64 earned run average at the top minor league level. He’s logged a 4.64 ERA in 316 1/3 innings there and recorded a 20.9% strikeout rate with an 8.1% walk rate.
Gage is out of minor league options, so the Tigers didn’t have the ability to simply send him to the minors without first exposing him to waivers. Now that he’s been designated for assignment, he can be traded or placed on waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so we’ll know within the next week what Gage’s next step is. Because Gage has been outrighted in the past, he’ll have the option to elect free agency and explore opportunities with other teams if he passes through waivers unclaimed once again.
Tigers To Select Dietrich Enns For Thursday’s Game
The Tigers are going to select left-hander Dietrich Enns to the roster to start Thursday’s game, as first reported by @juiceyballl. The southpaw will have to be added to the 40-man and active rosters beforehand.
Enns, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason. He has since made 14 Triple-A starts, logging 62 1/3 innings with 2.89 earned runs allowed per nine. He has struck out 26.7% of batters faced while limiting walks to a 5.6% clip and getting grounders on 41.5% of balls in play.
That strong performance will get Enns back to the majors, which has been a long and winding road. He previously made two appearances with the 2017 Twins and then another nine with the 2021 Rays. That stint with Tampa was pretty decent, as he had a 2.82 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate in 22 1/3 innings.
Despite those solid numbers, he may not have felt great about his job security going into 2022, as he was out of options. He decided to head overseas and signed with the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He had a strong performance that year, tossing 122 1/3 innings with a 2.94 ERA. He stuck with the Lions for 2022 but his results backed up, posting a 5.17 ERA over 12 starts. He then headed to Korea for the 2024 season, signing with the LG Twins. He made 30 starts for that club last year with a 4.19 ERA.
In the past month-plus, the Tigers have lost Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe to the injured list, blowing two holes in their rotation. Olson has been battling finger inflammation while Jobe required Tommy John surgery. In recent weeks, they have had a rotation core of Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and Sawyer Gipson-Long, with Keider Montero also pitching in a sort of bulk role.
Montero was optioned to the minors recently, so Enns will step in for him. It’s unclear if Enns will get to make more than one start, however, as Olson is going to be back soon. Per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, he’s making another rehab start tomorrow and the club hopes he can return after that. Perhaps that means this will just be a spot start for Enns, though Gipson-Long also has options and could be bumped for Olson’s return instead. As mentioned, Enns is out of options. If the Tigers plan to bump him off the roster after his outing, he’ll effectively need to be designated for assignment.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Tigers, Dietrich Enns Agree To Minor League Contract
The Tigers agreed to a minor league contract with left-hander Dietrich Enns. The 33-year-old southpaw announced the news on social media last week.
Enns is trying to work his way back to the majors for the first time since 2021. He tossed 22 1/3 innings across nine relief appearances for Tampa Bay that season. Enns turned in a 2.82 earned run average in that limited sample. That caught the attention of the Seibu Lions in Japan. Seibu finalized a deal to purchase his contract. Enns spent two seasons there, combining for a 3.62 ERA through 176 1/3 innings at the NPB level.
The Central Michigan product changed countries but stayed in Asia for the ’24 season. Enns signed with the Korea Baseball Organization’s LG Twins. He started 30 times and logged 167 1/3 frames of 4.19 ERA ball. Enns struck out 22% of opponents against a 7% walk rate. After the season, the Twins brought in Yonny Chirinos and re-signed Elieser Hernández to serve as their foreign-born pitchers for 2025.
Enns figures to open the season with Triple-A Toledo. He can start or work in long relief on a Detroit staff that’ll place a premium on flexibility. A.J. Hinch used plenty of openers and bulk relievers behind Tarik Skubal this past season. That’ll presumably continue in the final two rotation spots after Skubal, Reese Olson and Alex Cobb.