Rangers Re-Sign Jarred Kelenic, Joe Ross To Minor League Deals
The Rangers brought back right-hander Joe Ross and outfielder Jarred Kelenic on minor league contracts, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction tracker. Both players elected free agency after being outrighted off the roster yesterday. Chris Paddack, who also elected free agency yesterday, remains unsigned.
Kelenic and Ross were in-season minor league signees who earned brief stints on the MLB roster. Kelenic signed at the beginning of June and was selected to the big leagues three weeks later. He went 1-8 with a couple walks over seven games. The former top prospect appeared in 19 games with the White Sox earlier in the season and is hitting .213/.304/.295 on the year. Kelenic holds a .211/.283/.372 slash line in more than 1500 career big league plate appearances.
Texas lost Wyatt Langford to the injured list over the weekend. They’re working with an all left-handed hitting starting outfield of Alejandro Osuna, Evan Carter and Brandon Nimmo. Kelenic also hits from the left side, part of the reason Texas swapped in righty-swinging rookie Cam Cauley as a fourth outfield option.
Ross made five appearances, tossing eight innings of five-run ball. The 33-year-old righty broke camp with the Diamondbacks and made three early-season appearances in Arizona as well. Ross had a couple solid seasons out of the Nationals rotation when he was in his early 20s. He battled injuries and has bounced around as a long reliever in the back half of his career. Ross has a 3.78 ERA across 33 1/3 Triple-A innings this season.
Jarred Kelenic, Joe Ross, Chris Paddack Elect Free Agency
Outfielder Jarred Kelenic and right-handers Joe Ross and Chris Paddack all cleared waivers following their recent DFAs with the Rangers, per a club announcement. All three opted to reject an outright assignment to Triple-A Round Rock in favor of free agency.
Kelenic, of course, was once one of the very top prospects in the industry. He was the sixth overall pick by the Mets in 2018 and was in the mix at points to go even higher. After debuting in the minors and being traded to the Mariners as part of the Edwin Díaz deal, he was lauded as one of the ten best prospects in all of MLB. He and Julio Rodríguez were touted as a potential foundational outfield pairing for the Mariners.
While Rodriguez has indeed gone on to stardom, Kelenic never found his footing. Outside of a decent 2023 season in Seattle, he’s never produced much offense in the majors. The Mariners effectively sold him to the Braves in the 2023-24 offseason, using Kelenic’s former prospect status as a mechanism to shed most of the unwanted money still remaining on their deals to Marco Gonzales and Evan White. It wound up working out fairly well for the M’s, as Kelenic failed to catch on in Atlanta as well.
Kelenic, 27 later this month, has played for both the White Sox and Rangers this season. He didn’t hit well in a small sample with either club. He tallied only 10 plate appearances as a Ranger and notched a single in eight official at-bats. All told, he’s batting .213/.304/.295 this season and is a lifetime .211/.283/.372 hitter in 1557 plate appearances across parts of six major league seasons.
Ross, 33, pitched eight innings across five relief outings with the Rangers. He allowed four runs on nine hits and a pair of walks with five strikeouts. Ross has now pitched in parts of nine major league seasons. He reached eight years of major league service time earlier this season. He was an intriguing young starter for the Nationals early in his career, but much like older brother Tyson Ross, injuries have had a substantially negative impact on his career.
Ross posted a 3.52 ERA through his first 35 big league appearances (32 starts) back in 2015-16. He totaled 181 2/3 frames in that time and looked the part of a quality big league arm, blending average or better strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates. He’s since had a pair of Tommy John surgeries and a procedure to remove bone spurs from his elbow. Understandably, his results have waned. Ross bounced back in a nice season with the ’24 Brewers, tossing 74 innings with a 3.77 ERA and rate stats that were only slightly worse than league average. He was hit hard in a partial season with the ’25 Phillies though, yielding a 5.12 ERA with a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate. This year he’s allowed a dozen runs in 11 2/3 innings between the D-backs and Rangers.
Overall, the 6’4″ right-hander has pitched 580 innings in the majors. His 4.38 ERA in that time is plenty serviceable but is skewed by his early results, before injuries began to pile up. Since that promising start in 2015-16, Ross has only pitched 398 1/3 MLB frames with a 4.77 ERA. Clubs looking for some veteran depth in the rotation or a possible swing option in the bullpen could take a look, but both Ross and Kelenic seem ticketed for minor league deals, wherever they land next.
Paddack, 30, was effectively only on the Texas roster for a spot start. Technically, Tyler Alexander started the game, but only went one inning as an opener. Paddack then came in and covered four frames, allowing two earned runs. He was then designated for assignment after just one day on the roster.
Now that he is again a free agent, he could appeal to teams due to his experience and affordability. He signed a $4MM deal with the Marlins coming into this year. Miami released him fairly early in the campaign. They are still on the hook for the remainder of that salary. Other clubs can sign Paddack and only pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Marlins pay.
The Reds signed up for that arrangement for a while but they, too, moved on from Paddack after a few weeks. That allowed the Rangers to scoop him up and give their rotation a breather in the wake of an injured list placement for Jack Leiter.
Paddack had an amazing rookie season back in 2019, posting a 3.33 earned run average in 140 2/3 innings. He hasn’t been nearly as effective since then, however. Dating back to the start of 2020, he has thrown 498 innings with a 5.26 ERA. His 5.3% walk rate is a strong number but he has only punched out 19.3% of batters faced. That strikeout rate has been even lower lately, as he was at just 16.7% last year and is sitting on a 15% clip so far in 2026. Despite the tepid numbers, various teams around the league have been hit hard by injuries and might need a live arm.
Rangers Designate Jarred Kelenic, Joe Ross For Assignment
The Rangers announced that outfielder Jarred Kelenic and right-hander Joe Ross have been designated for assignment. Those moves open active roster spots for righty Chris Paddack and infielder/outfielder Cameron Cauley. It was reported earlier that the Rangers would be signing Paddack and selecting Cauley. The 40-man roster count stays at 39.
Kelenic, 26, was selected to the roster ten days ago. He has appeared in seven games since then, making ten plate appearances. He struck out in five of those, walked twice and notched one hit, a single.
That’s not much of a sample to draw conclusions from, but the Rangers have decided to shake up their outfield mix regardless, perhaps due to factors beyond Kelenic’s control. Wyatt Langford hit the injured list yesterday, with Evan Carter reinstated from the IL as the corresponding move. Carter will be the regular center fielder but he’s a lefty hitter who needs a platoon partner. Alejandro Osuna and Brandon Nimmo, the other Texas outfielders, are also lefties.
Kelenic is also a lefty hitter with traditional splits, so he’s a poor fit to platoon with Carter and generally not a great fit as a fourth outfielder behind three lefties. Cauley is right-handed and makes much more sense in that role. Since Kelenic is out of options, he can’t be easily sent to the minors, so he has been bumped off the 40-man entirely.
He’ll now head into DFA limbo again, a place he has been before. A former sixth overall pick and one of the top prospects in the league, he has not been able to find major league success. He has 1,557 big league plate appearances under his belt with multiple clubs. He has a .211/.283/.372 line and 84 wRC+ in those.
He exhausted his final option year with Atlanta last season. He was outrighted off the roster at the end of that campaign and elected free agency. That led to a minor league deal with the White Sox. He got a brief run on that club’s roster but was eventually bumped off, which led to him signing with the Rangers.
Despite the lack of big league success, he’ll land somewhere else, though that may be another minor league deal after clearing waivers again. Players have the right to reject outright assignments if they have a previous outright or at least three years of service time and Kelenic qualifies on both counts. The pedigree is strong and he has continued to hit minor league pitching. He has a .254/.377/.522 line and 120 wRC+ in Triple-A this year.
Ross, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in May after he was released by the Diamondbacks. He was added to the big league roster a little over two weeks ago. He made five appearances for the Rangers, logging eight innings. He allowed four earned runs, leading to a decent 4.50 earned run average in that small sample. However, he only struck out five of the 35 batters he faced, 14.3% pace.
Though he was once a viable starting pitcher, Ross has been more of a depth swingman in recent years. He missed most of 2022 and 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. Since then, he has thrown 136 2/3 innings for four different teams with a 4.74 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.
He will also head into DFA limbo and will likely be on waivers in the coming days. As a veteran with years and years of service time, he has the right to reject outright assignments in favor of free agency.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Rangers Option Josh Smith, Select Jarred Kelenic
The Rangers announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Jarred Kelenic. Infielder Josh Smith has been optioned to Triple-A Round Rock as the corresponding active roster move. Infielder/outfielder Michael Helman has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.
Smith is optioned to the minors for the first time since 2022. He was a light-hitting utility player for the World Series-winning club in 2023. He secured a larger role in the past two years. Over 2024 and 2025, he slashed .254/.336/.380 for a wRC+ of 107 while playing every position on the diamond outside of the battery.
In the most recent offseason, the Rangers shipped second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Brandon Nimmo. That created an opening for Smith to seize the second base job but that hasn’t happened. He made 108 plate appearances through the first week of May with a .217/.324/.239 line.
A glute strain then sent him to the injured list. While he was out, he dealt with some wrist soreness and then was hospitalized by viral meningitis. He finally returned a few days ago and he has hit .222/.222/.333 in his past three games, giving him a .218/.316/.248 line for the year.
The Rangers will try to get him back on track at the Triple-A level. While he was on the IL, they mostly used a combination of Nicky Lopez and Justin Foscue to cover the spot. Ezequiel Durán was also in the mix but he’s now covering shortstop while Corey Seager is on the IL.
Lopez is a strong defender but has a .246/.310/.312 batting line in his career. He has a better .313/.353/.396 line with the Rangers this year but in a tiny sample of 52 plate appearances, buoyed by a .368 batting average on balls in play. Foscue has good numbers on the year but he’s a limited player as he made some defensive miscues and has done all of his damage against lefties. Cody Freeman could also get some time at the keystone. If Seager gets healthy, he could bump Durán back to second base.
The Rangers could look to upgrade the position, or their general infield depth, ahead of the deadline. Their 35-39 record isn’t terribly inspiring but the weak American League field means that they are only 1.5 games back of a playoff spot at the moment.
Kelenic, 26, jumps into the outfield group. The Rangers signed him to a minor league deal earlier this month after he was bumped off the White Sox’ roster. He reported to Triple-A Round Rock and put up a huge .340/.431/.620 line in 13 games for the Express.
Minor league success is nothing new for Kelenic. He was once a top prospect, after being selected sixth overall in 2018 and then crushing his way through the minors. But he has now taken 1,547 big league plate appearances with Seattle, Atlanta and Chicago, producing a .211/.283/.374 in those. The Rangers will be the latest club to try to coax a big league breakout from him.
It’s unclear how much playing time he will get. Texas has Nimmo, Wyatt Langford and Alejandro Osuna in the lineup tonight. Joc Pederson is in the designated hitter spot most nights. He does need a platoon partner but he and Kelenic are both lefties. Osuna is hitting just .240/.352/.260 on the year so perhaps there’s a path for Kelenic to nab some playing time from him.
As for Helman, he was hit on the hand by a pitch last week, as seen in this clip from Baseball Savant. He was quickly diagnosed with multiple fractures, per Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. He was placed on the 10-day IL the next day. His exact timeline is unclear but this transaction indicates the Rangers expect him to be out until at least the middle of August.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Rangers Sign Jarred Kelenic To Minor League Deal
The Rangers announced that they have signed outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league deal. The client of THE·TEAM will report to Triple-A Round Rock. Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News was among those who passed the news along.
Kelenic, 26, just elected free agency a couple of days ago after being outrighted by the White Sox. He began the year on a minor league deal with that club and posted some encouraging Triple-A numbers. That got him a shot in the majors that he wasn’t able to take advantage of. He struck out in 33.9% of his plate appearances with the Sox and slashed .226/.305/.321 for a wRC+ of 79.
That came in a very small sample of 59 plate appearances but continued a career-long trend for Kelenic. A former sixth overall pick and ballyhooed prospect, he has often put up big numbers on the farm. That has led to many big league chances that he hasn’t capitalized on. He has 1,547 major league plate appearances to this point in his career with a 30.7% strikeout rate. His .211/.283/.374 line translates to an 84 wRC+, indicating he’s been 16% worse than league average on the whole.
That performance has led to him exhausting his option years, which has pushed him into fringe roster territory. He was outrighted by Atlanta at the end of last season and had to settle for a minor league deal with the White Sox. The other 29 clubs just passed on the chance to grab him from the waiver wire and he has been left to sign a minor league deal yet again.
For the Rangers, there’s little harm in adding some extra outfield depth without using a roster spot. They currently have Evan Carter, Brandon Nimmo and Alejandro Osuna taking up most of the outfield playing time, with Michael Helman and Sam Haggerty also in the mix. Carter has missed the past two games after getting hit on the foot by a pitch. Nimmo has battled hamstring and ankle injuries this year.
If they need to reach into their depth, Kelenic could get the call, though guys like Jonah Bride and Nick Pratto are also in the system as non-roster depth. Down the line, they may get pushed down the depth chart, as Wyatt Langford began a rehab assignment this weekend. He has been on the injured list for a little over a month due to a flexor strain. That was initially expected to require a minimal IL stint but has lingered longer than hoped. It’s unclear how long the Rangers want to have him rehabbing but such assignments for position players have a 20-day maximum.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Jarred Kelenic Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Kelenic cleared waivers and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment, according to Brooke Fletcher of the Chicago Sports Network.
MAY 25: The White Sox announced that outfielder Jarred Kelenic has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for them to select infielder/outfielder Rikuu Nishida, a move that was reported yesterday.
Kelenic, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He began the season at Triple-A and put up some encouraging numbers. In 26 games, he slashed .202/.346/.464. That batting average is obviously not pleasant but was held back by an unfortunate .224 batting average on balls in play. The on-base percentage was buoyed by a huge 18.3% walk rate. His six home runs in 104 plate appearances boosted the slugging percentage. The batting line translated to a subpar 97 wRC+ but would have been above average with a bit more batted ball luck.
The White Sox decided to give him another shot in the big leagues, which didn’t work out. He got into 19 games and stepped to the plate 59 times. His 10.2% walk rate was strong but he also struck out at a huge 33.9% clip. Though his .344 BABIP was actually a help in this sample, he nonetheless put up a .226/.305/.321 line and 81 wRC+.
These are fairly small data sets but they do roughly mirror Kelenic’s larger career arc. A former sixth overall pick and top prospect, he has often put up huge numbers in the minors without finding success in the majors. Including this year’s stint with the Sox, he now has 1,547 big league plate appearances. He has been punched out in 30.7% of those and has a .211/.283/.374 line, which leads to an 84 wRC+. He has stolen some bases but hasn’t received strong grades for his glovework.
The overall performance has pushed him into fringe roster status. As mentioned, he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into this season. He has exhausted his option years, so the Sox had to bump him off the 40-man since they no longer want him on the active roster.
Kelenic is now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox could take five days to explore trade interest. The most likely outcome is Kelenic ending up on waivers and clearing. He just cleared waivers in October of last year and he hasn’t done much to raise his stock since then. Players with a previous career outright or three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. Kelenic qualifies on both counts and can head to the open market if he clears waivers in the next week.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
White Sox Select Jarred Kelenic
The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Jarred Kelenic from Triple-A Charlotte. Fellow outfielder Everson Pereira has been diagnosed with a pectoral strain and placed on the 10-day injured list. The Sox already had a 40-man vacancy, which Kelenic fills, so no additional moves are necessary.
A former top-10 pick in the draft and top-10 prospect in all of baseball, Kelenic has yet to find his footing in the majors. He’s been traded from the Mets to the Mariners (as a prospect) and then, after a lackluster run in Seattle, to the Braves in what effectively amounted to Atlanta paying close to $30MM (between bad contracts being eaten and the associated luxury taxes) in order to purchase Kelenic.
Now 26 years old, Kelenic has played in parts of five big league seasons between Seattle and Atlanta. He’s a career .211/.282/.376 hitter — about 16% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. The lefty-swinging outfielder has popped 49 homers and swiped 31 bags in 1488 career plate appearances, but he’s also gone down on strikes in just shy of 31% of his trips to the batter’s box.
The White Sox brought Kelenic in on a minor league deal this offseason after the Braves cut their losses and moved on. He’s hitting just .202 in Charlotte but has reached base at a .346 clip and has slugged .464. Kelenic started the season hitless in 21 plate appearances but has righted the ship since. Over his past 65 turns at the plate he’s hitting .262/.422/.600 with six homers and four doubles. He’s still fanned in a quarter of his plate appearances even during that hot streak, but he’s also drawn walks at a huge 21% clip.
Kelenic is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to stick on the roster or else be designated for assignment. With Pereira joining infield/outfield utilitymen Brooks Baldwin and Tanner Murray on the injured list, Chicago’s outfield collection right now includes Andrew Benintendi, Luisangel Acuña, Austin Hays, Tristan Peters, Sam Antonacci and Kelenic. It’s anything but a settled and established group, so Kelenic could well have an opportunity to carve out some playing time if he hits the ground running.
The 25-year-old Pereira is a former top prospect himself. He was out to a decent start this season, hitting .250/.310/.453 with three homers in 71 trips to the plate. Like Kelenic, he comes with major swing-and-miss concerns. He’d fanned in 29.6% of those 71 plate appearances and posted a well below-average 66.2% contact rate. The Sox picked him up in a minor offseason trade sending relievers Steven Wilson and Yoendrys Gomez to the Rays.
White Sox, Jarred Kelenic Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox are signing outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Kelenic’s deal includes a non-roster invitation to big league Spring Training in February.
Kelenic, 26, was drafted sixth-overall by the Mets back in 2018 and exploded to become a top-five prospect in the entire sport early in his pro career. Kelenic’s prospect status saw him shipped to the Mariners as part of the deal that brought Edwin Diaz to Queens, and at the time the deal was viewed as a coup for Seattle thanks to Kelenic’s star power. Unfortunately, the outfielder is now five years into his MLB career and has yet to put it all together at the major league level.
After hitting at a well below average level in 147 games across the 2021 and ’22 seasons, Kelenic finally seemed to be steadying himself in 2023. That year, he slashed a respectable .253/.327/.419 with a 110 wRC+ in 105 games. He swatted 11 homers with 25 doubles and swiped 13 bags in 18 attempts. While that combination of decent power and speed with a respectable 9.9% walk rate was encouraging, Kelenic was held back in a big way by strikeouts. His 31.7% strikeout rate would’ve been the fourth-highest in the majors that year if he had enough plate appearances to qualify, just ahead of Teoscar Hernandez and Eugenio Suarez for the team lead. That led the Mariners to try and retool their lineup with a larger focus on contact during the 2023-24 offseason, and part of that effort was a deal that shipped Kelenic to Atlanta that winter.
Joining the Braves offered Kelenic an opportunity for a fresh start, but he didn’t make much of an impact even in spite of receiving the lion’s share of playing time in left field. With Atlanta, Kelenic reached a career high in games played (131) and plate appearances (449) but managed a wRC+ of just 87 as his walk rate and BABIP both declined significantly while his strikeout rate remained at a much too high 29.6%. A .286 on-base percentage is hard to justify for a regular no matter how much power they provide, but Kelenic’s 15 homers and 35 total extra-base hits in 2024 certainly wasn’t going to cut it.
That led Atlanta to pivot away from using Kelenic in a starting role this past year, instead signing players like Jurickson Profar and Alex Verdugo to try and fill the hole in left field. A PED suspension for Profar and deep struggles from Verdugo were enough to get Kelenic another shot in the majors, but he struggled with that opportunity and hit just .167/.231/.300 in 24 games with a 47 wRC+ and a 35.7% strikeout rate. Those numbers were essentially unplayable at the major league level and left Kelenic to spend most of his time in the minors last year. Unfortunately, he also struggled for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett. For the Stripers, Kelenic hit just .213/.286/.309 in 95 games. While Kelenic’s strikeout and on-base woes persisted last year, his power completely evaporated.
All of those struggles led the Braves to designate Kelenic for assignment earlier this year, and he elected minor league free agency back in October. The outfielder is more of a project than a surefire piece at this point in his career, but given that he’s still just 26 years old, it’s understandable for the rebuilding White Sox to take a gamble on a talent once so well-regarded. If Kelenic shows he has more in the tank, he’d likely compete for a job in right field with Brooks Baldwin as Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi cover center field and left field respectively. A trade of Robert or even Benintendi can’t be ruled out given Chicago’s status as one of the league’s few rebuilding clubs, and a deal sending either of those two out of town would create a more substantial opportunity for Kelenic to get work in on the grass in the majors.
Jarred Kelenic, Three Others Elect Free Agency
October 2nd: Kelenic, Díaz, Dunning and Williams have officially elected free agency, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic.
October 1st: The Braves have begun offseason roster housekeeping. Atlanta announced they’ve outrighted five players — outfielder Jarred Kelenic, right-handers Alexis Díaz and Dane Dunning, catcher Sandy León, and utility player Luke Williams — off the 40-man roster. They’ll all be minor league free agents in the next couple weeks.
Atlanta had 11 players finish the season on the 60-day injured list. They’ll all need to be activated or placed on waivers within five days of the end of the World Series. This clears five spots, and three more will open when Raisel Iglesias, Marcell Ozuna and Charlie Morton reach free agency. Ha-Seong Kim will need to decide on his $16MM player option. They’ll need to drop at least two more players (three if Kim doesn’t opt out) within the next few weeks.
These were all relatively easy cuts, though it marks an unceremonious end to Kelenic’s disappointing time in Atlanta. The Braves took a lot of dead money off Seattle’s books to acquire the former top prospect during the 2023-24 offseason. He hit .231/.286/.393 with a near-30% strikeout rate across 449 plate appearances in 2024.
Atlanta signed Jurickson Profar to replace him as the starting left fielder. With Ronald Acuña Jr. rehabbing ACL surgery and Profar getting suspended for a failed PED test, Kelenic had another shot early in the season. He batted .167 and played his way off the MLB roster by the third week of April. Kelenic’s only MLB appearance after that was as a pinch runner on July 30.
Things were equally bleak in Triple-A. The 25-year-old hit .213/.286/.309 with only four homers while striking out at a 27.6% clip with Gwinnett. Kelenic has never found sustained MLB success but had reliably hit Triple-A pitching until this year. As a former sixth overall pick, he’ll get minor league offers, but it’d be a surprise if he commands a major league contract.
The Braves grabbed Díaz off waivers from the Dodgers in early September. They had roster space to burn and wanted a look at a former All-Star closer who had recorded 28 saves with Cincinnati just last season. Díaz had an uphill path to a 2026 bullpen spot and certainly didn’t do much to convince the Braves to keep him around. He walked five batters and gave up five runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings. Díaz had a nightmare season between three teams, giving up 17 runs over 17 2/3 big league frames. He also struggled to a 5.61 ERA across 25 2/3 Triple-A innings.
Díaz made $4.5MM this year in his first trip through arbitration. He would’ve made something close to or matching that if he were tendered a contract. That’s an easy pass for the team coming off the season he had. Díaz has never had strong command, and his velocity and strikeouts have dipped since his excellent first two MLB campaigns. The 29-year-old could also be in minor league deal territory.
The Braves acquired Dunning from the Rangers in July. It was a salary dump for Texas and one of a number of buy-low fliers that Atlanta took as members of their pitching staff kept dropping to injuries. Dunning was an up-and-down reliever for the Braves and gave up 12 earned runs in 10 innings. León, a longtime third or fourth catcher, finished the season on the MLB roster after Sean Murphy underwent hip surgery. He appeared in five games and went 1-12. Williams got into 45 contests as the last man off the bench and designated position player pitcher in blowouts. He hit .129 and owns a career .212/.270/.280 slash over 349 plate appearances.
Braves Place Austin Riley On Injured List
The Braves have placed third baseman Austin Riley on the 10-day injured list due to an abdominal strain, per a team announcement. Atlanta also optioned outfielder Jarred Kelenic to Triple-A Gwinnett. In place of Riley and Kelenic, infielders Nacho Alvarez Jr. and Jonathan Ornelas were recalled from Gwinnett.
Riley, 28, missed about two weeks with an abdominal strain last month as well. He was only reinstated from the injured list on July 25. It’ll go down as a fleeting return — and one in which Riley didn’t really look right. He belted two homers between his IL stints, granted, but those were two of just four hits in a total of 39 plate appearances. Riley hit .108/.154/.297 and punched out 15 times (38.5%) before returning to the injured list.
It’s been a down year overall for Riley. His .260/.309/.428 batting line (104 wRC+) is solid enough but is also his least-productive run since a midseason debut in 2019 and the shortened 2020 season. Riley’s walk and strikeout rates are both the worst of his career in a full 162-game season (6% and 28.6%, respectively), and this year’s .168 ISO (slugging minus batting average) is his worst in any season at the major league level.
The team didn’t provide a timetable for Riley’s potential return. It’s common in situations like this, where a player heads back to the IL for the same injury after a brief return, for the second stint to be longer and a bit more cautious. Each injury is a situation unto itself, however. Manager Brian Snitker will presumably have more information the next time he meets with the media.
Kelenic, 26, only appeared in one game during this stint with the Braves and didn’t log a plate appearance. He was used as a pinch-runner. Atlanta optioned the struggling former top prospect to Gwinnett in mid-April after he opened the season with a bleak .167/.231/.300 batting line in his first 65 plate appearances. Things haven’t gone much better in Triple-A, where he’s taken 308 plate appearances and delivered just a .218/.289/.321 slash with a 27.3% strikeout rate. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for a second time this winter and, at this point, stands as a clear non-tender candidate.
Alvarez has spent most of the season nursing a wrist injury. He’s struggled in 32 big league plate appearances but been an on-base machine in a small sample of 84 trips to the plate in Gwinnett (.242/.405/.333). He’s still looking to break through with a full-time role in Atlanta after ranking among the system’s more promising minor leaguers for several years now.
Ornelas will be making his Braves debut the first time he takes the field. Atlanta picked him up in a cash swap with the Rangers back in May after Texas had designated the 25-year-old for assignment. He’s a righty-swinging infielder with experience at second, third and shortstop. Ornelas has batted only .184/.245/.224 in a tiny sample of 54 MLB plate appearances across three seasons with the Rangers. He’s a good runner with a solid glove who’s light on power. In 319 turns at the plate between the Triple-A clubs for Texas and Atlanta this season, he’s turned in a tepid .202/.320/.300 batting line.