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Kaleb Ort

Yankees Claim Kaleb Ort

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed right-hander Kaleb Ort off waivers from the Astros. The move was reported by Yankees Never Win prior to the official announcement. Houston recently designated Ort for assignment when they signed Tatsuya Imai. The Yanks had multiple 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Ort, 34 in February, has pitched for the Red Sox and Astros over the past five seasons. He has shown some intriguing stuff but without fully harnessing it for good results. He averages in the upper 90s with his four-seamer while also throwing a cutter, slider and changeup.

Through the end of the 2023 season, he had thrown 51 2/3 innings for the Red Sox with a 6.27 earned run average. Boston put him on waivers in October of 2023 and he bounced around the league that winter, going to the Mariners, Marlins, Phillies and Orioles via waivers or cash deals. Baltimore kept him on optional assignment early in 2024, exhausting Ort’s final option year in the process. They put him in waivers in May of that year, which is when the Astros grabbed him.

He had his best run of major league success with the Astros. After that claim, he gave Houston 22 innings with a 2.55 ERA, 28% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate. That impressed the Astros enough that Ort held a roster spot through 2025 despite being out of options, but he couldn’t keep the results at that level. He tossed 46 innings last year with a 4.89 ERA. His 25.3% strikeout rate was still good but he gave out free passes at a 13.9% clip. He spent most of September on the injured list due to right elbow inflammation.

For the Yankees, there’s no real harm in a waiver claim for now. As mentioned, they had multiple open roster spots. Ort still doesn’t have enough service time to have qualified for arbitration. They can bring him into camp to compete for a bullpen spot.

It’s also possible they put him back on waivers later, after they make more moves and fill out the roster. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, they could keep him in a non-roster capacity. Ort doesn’t have a previous career outright and is shy of three years of service time, meaning he doesn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

Astros Designate Kaleb Ort For Assignment

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The Astros announced they’ve designated reliever Kaleb Ort for assignment. That opened the 40-man roster spot to finalize their three-year free agent deal with Tatsuya Imai.

Ort landed in Houston on a waiver claim from Baltimore early in the 2024 season. He turned in a 2.55 earned run average across 22 games the rest of the way. Ort made a career-high 49 appearances last year but was unable to maintain the numbers he showed in a smaller sample. He allowed 4.89 earned runs per nine across 46 innings.

The righty missed bats at an above-average clip and struck out more than a quarter of opposing hitters. That came alongside a near-14% walk rate, however, well above the 4.3% mark he’d posted in his MLB work a year earlier. Ort also allowed a higher than average home run rate for a third consecutive season. While manager Joe Espada preferred to use him in the middle innings, he was pressed into a few higher-leverage spots when Josh Hader and Bennett Sousa were lost to injury in August. That pushed Bryan Abreu into the closing role and left Ort as one of their more established right-handed setup arms.

It unfortunately didn’t take long before Ort joined his bullpen mates on the injured list. He went down with elbow inflammation at the beginning of September. That knocked him out for the rest of the season. There’s no indication he won’t be ready for Spring Training, but he was already on the roster bubble. Ort is out of minor league options and approaching his 34th birthday.

Houston has Hader, Abreu, Sousa, Steven Okert and Bryan King in the season-opening bullpen, assuming health. Enyel De Los Santos and Nate Pearson are out of options and near-locks to break camp. Pearson signed a $1.35MM free agent deal, while De Los Santos is guaranteed a $1.6MM salary after avoiding arbitration. There wouldn’t have been much flexibility for in-season maneuvering if they also carried Ort. He’ll be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days. Ort has less than three years of MLB service and no prior outright assignments, so the Astros could keep him around as a non-roster invitee if he gets through waivers unclaimed.

Astros Place Yordan Alvarez On Injured List

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The Astros have placed outfielder/designated hitter Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day injured list with a left ankle sprain, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic, retroactive to September 16th. That open an active roster spot for infielder Isaac Paredes. It was reported earlier that Paredes would be reinstated from the 60-day IL. To open a 40-man spot for Paredes, reliever Kaleb Ort has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Earlier this week, Alvarez slipped on home plate while coming around to score a run against the Rangers, as seen in this video from MLB.com. After the game, manager Joe Espada said Alvarez would be going for an MRI and Alvarez was seen in a walking boot and on crutches. The next day, Espada described the injury as “pretty significant” and that Alvarez would be “out for a while.”

The Astros didn’t initially place Alvarez on the IL as they waited to evaluate his progress, but now have decided to do so. IL placements can be backdated by three days, so Alvarez can be reinstated in a week.

It’s unclear if the injury will actually allow that to be a real possibility, however, making it a situation to watch going forward. Alvarez has been one of the best hitters alive in recent years. He slumped earlier this year but it was later revealed he had an undiagnosed finger fracture. He spent some time on the IL healing up and seemed to be back to his old self once he returned. He slashed .369/.462/.569 in 78 plate appearances between that previous IL stint and this new one.

Losing that kind of bat is obviously less than ideal for the Astros, especially when they are still playing meaningful games. They are tied with the Mariners for the West division lead and the two clubs begin an incredibly important series against each other tonight. If the Astros lose that series and fall back of the M’s, they would still be in possession of a Wild Card spot, but that would put them at risk of missing the playoffs completely. The Guardians are the top team outside the postseason spots right now and they are only 2.5 games back of Houston.

Even if the Astros hang on and make it to October, they will be hamstrung unless Alvarez can make it back. In the event he can return to the club for the final days of the regular season or in the postseason, it could create a bit of a lineup clog. Paredes is coming back after a lengthy injury absence of his own due to a hamstring strain. He has been taking batting practice lately but hasn’t played any rehab games. He’s serving as the designated hitter tonight but it’s unclear if the Astros have any intention of having him play the field in the coming weeks.

Getting Alvarez back to a state of semi-health where he can hit would be great, though it’s less than perfect if both he and Paredes are in that bucket. That would mean one of them would have to sit or be forced into the field each day. Jose Altuve is also ideally suited for a DH role these days since his glovework isn’t great anywhere, but he’ll have to be out there in the field somewhere if Paredes or Alvarez are in the DH spot going forward.

As for Ort, this transfer definitively ends his season. He landed on the 15-day IL in early September due to right elbow inflammation. It was reported shortly thereafter that he wasn’t likely to return during the regular season. This transfer also wipes out any chance of him appearing in the postseason, even if the Astros make a deep run. He finishes the year with a 4.89 earned run average in 46 innings. He can be retained for four more years after this one but is out of options and may be on the roster bubble this winter, given his mediocre results this year and uncertain health status.

Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images

Astros’ Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort Unlikely To Return In Regular Season

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Astros relievers Bennett Sousa and Kaleb Ort aren’t likely to make it back to the big league roster before the end of the regular season, general manager Dana Brown revealed in a radio appearance on SportsTalk 790 AM this weekend (via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). A return during the postseason is possible for both pitchers. Sousa has been out since Aug. 20 due to a mild flexor/pronator strain. Ort landed on the 15-day IL this past Friday due to elbow inflammation.

Sousa, 30, emerged from relative obscurity with a breakout performance in 2025. The ’Stros claimed him off waivers in Sept. 2023 and were already his fifth organization of the calendar year at that point. He pitched 6 1/3 shutout frames down the stretch, showing enough to hold a 40-man roster spot. Sousa didn’t pitch in the majors or minors in 2024, however, as he required surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome in early April.

Returning just over one year later, Sousa’s first appearance in the majors this season came on April 9. He opened the year with eight scoreless innings before finally yielding his first run, and he hasn’t really looked back. In 50 2/3 frames, Sousa has shown virtually no ill effect from the surgery. If anything, he’s better than ever.

Sousa has worked a career-high number of innings and is sitting on a sharp 2.84 ERA that’s supported by metrics like FIP (2.73) and SIERA (2.95). He’s set down a hearty 29.6% of his opponents on strikes, issued walks to just 7.5% of the batters he’s faced, and has allowed only 0.71 homers per nine innings pitched. Left-handers have posted a terrible .145/.191/.242 batting line against him, and while righties have been better than that — it’d be hard to be much worse — they’re still sporting a rather tepid .235/.300/.378 slash against him. Sousa was virtually untouchable through early July (1.83 ERA), but he struggled to a 4.96 mark with vastly worse command in 16 1/3 innings before hitting the IL last month.

Ort hasn’t been as effective, but his 4.89 ERA is arguably a bit misleading. He’s had two complete nightmare outings this season — one in which he was tagged for five runs in one-third of an inning and another one (his last before hitting the IL) where he surrendered four runs in two-thirds of an inning. Any pitcher will look better when you toss out his worst couple outings of the season, but Ort has a 3.20 ERA through 45 innings in his other 47 appearances.

Command has been one of two glaring flaws for Ort, evidenced both by his 13.9% walk rate and his 1.57 HR/9 mark. The other is his susceptibility to left-handed hitters. When facing fellow righties, he’s yielded only a .188/.311/.317 batting line. Left-handers have bludgeoned him at a .254/.342/.524 clip.

Ort hasn’t been a key piece of the Astros’ high-leverage corps. He’s typically worked in middle relief. Sousa has tallied seven holds and four saves, and his role had begun to increase after Josh Hader was lost for the remainder of the regular season in mid-August. Hader, Sousa and Ort all hope to be able to return in October, but their absence complicates Houston’s path to postseason ball.

The Astros are still very, very strong postseason favorites, but they’re hardly locks to win the division. Houston sits 2.5 games up on Seattle at the moment, and the two teams still have a three-game series against each other on the schedule. It’d take a considerable collapse to drop out of the playoff field entirely, but it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility (even if it’s a long shot).

A full contingent of relievers, obviously, would improve the Astros’ chances of hanging onto the division lead, but they’re instead trying to piece together the bulk of the relief corps. Bryan Abreu, Bryan King and Steven Okert have been strong basically all season, but the rest of the bullpen is filled out by veteran newcomers (Enyel De Los Santos, Craig Kimbrel), rookies (AJ Blubaugh, Jayden Murray, Logan VanWey) and struggling righty Lance McCullers Jr. (6.97 ERA in 50 1/3 innings). Both De Los Santos (0.69 ERA in 13 innings) and Kimbrel (6 2/3 scoreless) have been quite effective, though the latter has walked seven of the 27 batters he’s faced (25.9%).

Houston will keep trying to get by with that patchwork bullpen. Assuming they do make the postseason, it’d be a big boost if even one of those more seasoned arms — Hader or Sousa, in particular — could make it back to Joe Espada’s bullpen, but there’s no guarantee any of the three are back in the fold this year.

Astros Notes: Meyers, Ort, Dezenzo

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After close to two months on the injured list, Jake Meyers might make his return to the Astros lineup as early as today.  Meyers played six games during a minor league rehab assignment and then rejoined the big league team for a workout on Friday, though manager Joe Espada (speaking with the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters) didn’t give any hint about when exactly Meyers might be activated from the 10-day IL.

Meyers’ excellent glove earned him at least part-time duty as Houston’s center fielder during his five MLB seasons, and he moved into more of an everyday role in 2024.  Continuing that regular job this year, Meyers responded with his best sustained stretch of hitting, as he batted .308/.369/.405 with three homers and 14 steals (in 19 attempts) over his first 322 plate appearances of 2025.  However, this impressive start was interrupted by a right calf strain that has kept Meyers on the IL since early July.

If Meyers is able to keep up that hot hitting along with his customary defense, he’ll suddenly be a tremendous all-around addition for an Astros club fighting to stay in first place in the AL West.  Houston has remained in first place despite dealing with a ton of injuries, and even with Meyers on the verge of returning, the IL carousel continued yesterday when Kaleb Ort was placed on the 15-day injured list.  (Colton Gordon was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Gordon started yesterday’s game with the Rangers.)

Ort is dealing with right elbow inflammation, and according to Espada, Ort was feeling sore in the aftermath of his most recent outing — a rough two-thirds of an inning against the Yankees that saw Ort charged with four runs.  There isn’t yet any word on the seriousness of Ort’s injury, yet given both the calendar and the caution teams usually deploy with elbow injuries, it is possible Ort’s season might be in jeopardy even if his scans come back clean.

Now in his fifth MLB season, Ort had a bit of a breakout in 2024, posting a 2.55 ERA over 24 2/3 innings in his first year in Houston.  Things haven’t gone as smoothly this year, as Ort missed the first month due to an oblique strain, and has a 4.89 ERA and an inflated 13.9% walk rate over 46 relief innings.  Ort did seem to be getting on track with a 1.80 ERA in the 15 innings pitched prior to Thursday’s meltdown against the Yankees.

If there’s still hope that Ort can make it back before the season is over, Zach Dezenzo’s outlook looks much more uncertain.  The Astros announced yesterday that Dezenzo was pulled off his rehab assignment after suffering a right elbow sprain.  As Espada told Kawahara and company, Dezenzo hurt his elbow making a throw on Tuesday during a game with Triple-A Sugar Land.

Dezenzo’s last game with the Astros came on May 31, as he suffered a capsule sprain his left hand that sent him to the 10-day and eventually the 60-day version of the injured list.  The elbow issue surfaced just as Dezenzo seemed to be approaching a return to the majors, as the outfielder was playing in his fifth rehab game.

It’s a tough break for what may end up as a lost season for the 25-year-old.  Dezenzo made his Major League debut in 2024, and he has a .244/.305/.369 slash line over 174 career PA at the big league level.  This brief time in the Show saw Dezenzo utilized primarily at first base and in both corner outfield slots, with a few fill-in appearances as a third baseman last year.

Astros Activate Kaleb Ort, Place Forrest Whitley On 15-Day IL

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The Astros activated right-hander Kaleb Ort from the 15-day injured list today, and placed righty Forrest Whitley on the 15-day IL (retroactive to April 24) in the corresponding move.  Ort didn’t see any action in today’s 7-3 win over the Royals, so the reliever is still waiting to make his season debut after beginning the year on the IL due to an oblique strain.

Whitley also began the season on the IL due to a bone bruise on his left knee, but after making just one appearance, Whitley now finds himself back on the shelf with a left knee sprain.  Manager Joe Espada told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters that Whitley’s two injuries are likely linked, and the reliever will undergo more testing on Monday to determine the extent of the issue.  The decision was made to place Whitley on the IL when he reported more knee soreness after a game of catch on Saturday, Espada said.

It represents yet another setback for Whitley, as the former top prospect has dealt with multiple injuries and a 50-game PED suspension during his long minor league career.  Chosen 17th overall in the 2016 draft, Whitley finally made it to the Show last year, throwing 3 1/3 scoreless (despite five hits and three walks) innings over three appearances for the 2024 Astros.  His big league ERA has remained spotless through his fourth career game, as he tossed two more scoreless frames in mop-up duty during Houston’s 7-0 win over the Blue Jays on April 21.

Whitley’s multiple injuries have already altered his career path from starting to relief pitching, and he had very strong results working in a full-time bullpen role with Triple-A Round Rock in 2024.  There is still plenty of opportunity for the 27-year-old Whitley to carve out a niche for himself in the majors, if he can only stay healthy.

Speaking of late bloomers, Ort had a 6.27 ERA in 51 2/3 career MLB innings (all with the Red Sox) before he broke out with Houston last year in his age-32 season.  After being claimed off waivers from the Orioles last May, Ort posted a 2.55 ERA, 28% strikeout rate, and 4.3% walk rate across 24 2/3 innings out of the Astros’ pen.  While Ort benefited from some favorable batted-ball luck, his metrics were still intriguing enough to indicate that he can be a helpful bullpen piece for Espada’s team.

Astros Designate Cooper Hummel For Assignment

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The Astros have designated catcher/infielder/outfielder Cooper Hummel for assignment and placed righty J.P. France on the 60-day injured list as he recovers from last summer’s shoulder surgery. That pair of moves opens two additional spots on a 40-man roster that already had two vacancies. The four openings will go to righty Rafael Montero, lefty Steven Okert, second baseman Brendan Rodgers and top prospect Cam Smith, all of whom have been selected to the 40-man roster and are on the Opening Day club.

Houston also placed outfielders Pedro Leon and Taylor Trammell on the 10-day injured list due to a knee strain and calf strain, respectively. Right-handers Shawn Dubin, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Kaleb Ort and Forrest Whitley have all been placed on the 15-day IL.

The Astros had telegraphed all these moves. They’d already announced that Montero, Okert, Smith and Rodgers were making the team. Houston had previously informed Hummel that he would not break camp. Since he’s out of options, that made a DFA or waiver placement inevitable. France, who’ll be out into at least July rehabbing last year’s shoulder procedure, was an obvious 60-day IL candidate to open the final roster spot.

Houston claimed Hummel off waivers from the Giants last spring. They outrighted him off the 40-man roster a couple weeks later but reselected his contract in June when they released José Abreu. He spent most of the season in Triple-A, exhausting his final option season in the process. Hummel went 0-8 with a pair of strikeouts in his big league work. He had a solid year in Triple-A, hitting .277/.419/.454 with a massive 17.9% walk rate through 442 plate appearances.

The Astros will have five days to trade Hummel or place him on waivers. He’s not viewed as a regular behind the plate, but he can catch on occasion while playing first base or the corner outfield. His patient plate approach has translated to a .285/.419/.480 career slash in Triple-A. He owns just a .159/.255/.275 line with a 31.9% strikeout rate over 82 major league games.

Trammell, Whitley, Ort and Dubin are all out of options themselves. Their Spring Training injuries delay the Astros’ need to make a decision on any of them, as they’ll begin the year on the major league IL. Ort has the best chance of holding a roster spot once he returns after pitching to a 2.55 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate last season.

Astros Release Ben Gamel, Jalen Beeks

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The Astros announced this afternoon that they have released outfielder Ben Gamel and left-hander Jalen Beeks. Additionally, the club announced that infielder Luis Guillorme and right-hander Miguel Castro will not make the club’s Opening Day roster, though they’ll remain with the club through the end of big league Spring Training. The Athletic’s Chandler Rome adds that right-handers Forrest Whitley and Kaleb Ort will begin the season on the injured list. Gamel was on the 40-man roster, so today’s slate of moves drops the club’s 40-man total to 39.

Gamel, 33 in May, played 20 games for the Astros down the stretch last year and re-signed with the club on a one-year big league contract that guaranteed him a $200K signing bonus with a $1MM salary if he broke camp with the club. That will not come to pass, though he’ll head back into free agency having pocketed the signing bonus for his trouble as he searches for a job with a new club. The journeyman is a veteran of nine MLB seasons who has struggles to find a consistent home over the years, but has accumulated more than 700 games in the majors since he debuted with the Yankees back in 2016.

In that time, Gamel has generally been an average to slightly below average hitter at the big league level while mostly playing the outfield corners despite occasional cameos in center field and at first base. His career .252/.334/.382 slash line is good for a wRC+ of 96 that hardly jumps off the page, but makes him a solid enough option in a bench or platoon role for clubs that lack depth in the outfield corners. That’s a situation the Astros found themselves in after trading Kyle Tucker to the Cubs earlier this winter, though they’ve since rectified the issue somewhat by shifting longtime second baseman Jose Altuve into left field. That left Gamel seemingly ticketed for a timeshare with Chas McCormick in right field alongside Altuve in left and Jake Meyers in center, but now Gamel has been pushed off the roster entirely.

Gamel’s departure could make room for non-roster invitee and top prospect Cam Smith, the Cubs’ first-round pick in the 2024 draft who was shipped to Houston alongside Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski in the Tucker deal, to break camp as the club’s starting right fielder. That would push McCormick into a bench role following a brutal 2024 season where he posted a 66 wRC+ in 94 games, though it would register as something of a surprise given that Smith has just five games of experience at even the Double-A level and McCormick was a three-win player as recently as 2023. If the club instead gives the right field job to Chas McCormick, Cooper Hummel appears to be the most likely candidate to round out the club’s outfield mix. As for Gamel himself, his 108 wRC+ against right-handed pitching since the start of the 2021 season and a solid .384 on-base percentage in 99 trips to the plate between the Mets and Astros last year seems solid enough to earn him a look elsewhere, though perhaps only a minor league deal at this stage of the winter.

Beeks, meanwhile, is a 31-year-old lefty who has struggled to a 5.05 ERA with the Rays, Rockies, and Pirates the past two years despite a decent 3.93 FIP. Despite those lackluster numbers, his 3.92 ERA and 3.12 FIP in 26 games for Pittsburgh down the stretch in conjunction with his decent 3.70 ERA and 3.83 FIP with the Rays from 2019 to 2022 offer some reason for optimism that Beeks could provide solid production for a bullpen in need of help from the left side. He’ll re-enter free agency with less than a week left until Opening Day having posted a 2.25 ERA in four innings of work for the Astros during camp in hopes of finding a new job. Lefty Steven Okert and righty Rafael Montero are both non-roster veterans in camp who appear ticketed for the Opening Day roster at this point, though Blake Weiman and Logan VanWey are among the other non-roster players still in the mix.

Joining Beeks in failing to make the team is veteran right-hander Miguel Castro, although the 30-year-old veteran of 10 MLB seasons will remain in Houston’s organization for at least the time being. The same can be said for utility man Luis Guillorme, who won’t make the club’s roster after a 2024 season where he slashed just .205/.301/.273 in 77 games with Atlanta, Anaheim, and Arizona last year. That bench spot that otherwise may have gone to Guillorme instead figures to be occupied by Brendan Rodgers after he was non-tendered by the Rockies back in November and signed a minor league deal with the Astros last month.

Meanwhile, the club’s bullpen takes a bit of a hit as both Whitley and Ort will open the season on the shelf. A former top starting pitching prospect, Whitley toiled through injuries and ineffectiveness in the minors for years before making his big league debut as a reliever last year with 3 scoreless outings. Ort, meanwhile, struggled in parts of three seasons with Boston before delivering a strong 2.55 ERA despite a 5.23 FIP in 24 2/3 innings for the Astros last year. Both players figure to have a role with the Astros this year when healthy enough to take the mound.

Astros Notes: Dubin, Leon, Ort, Trammell

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The Astros are dealing with a handful of injuries to depth players in camp. Manager Joe Espada told reporters this morning that reliever Shawn Dubin is battling shoulder inflammation. Meanwhile, young outfielder Pedro León sustained a strained MCL in his left knee (relayed by Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).

While there’s no suggestion of surgery for either player, it seems they’ll each be in for notable absences. Both injuries figure to force them to begin the season on the injured list. Houston also took hits to their bullpen and outfield depth late last week. Chandler Rome of The Athletic wrote on Friday that righty reliever Kaleb Ort was battling a left oblique issue. Meanwhile, outfielder Taylor Trammell suffered what appears to be a significant right calf strain (per the MLB.com injury tracker).

In isolation, none of those injuries represents a huge blow. León has appeared in seven major league games. He’s likely to start the season with Triple-A Sugar Land once he’s healthy. The former highly-regarded prospect hit 24 homers and stole 29 bases in the minors last season. That came with an elevated 27% strikeout rate. As he enters his age-27 season, he’s unlikely to take a big step forward with his plate discipline. Baseball America ranked him the #18 prospect in a weak Houston farm system. BA writes that León projects as a depth outfielder whose power and speed are undercut by the swing-and-miss issues and fringe outfield defense.

This is a big camp for each of Dubin, Ort and Trammell. All three have exhausted their minor league options. They need to stick on the major league roster (or injured list) or be exposed to waivers. Dubin tossed 45 1/3 frames in a multi-inning relief role last year. He pitched to a 4.17 ERA with solid strikeout (23.7%) and ground-ball (46.5%) rates, but he walked almost 13% of batters faced. The Astros used him mostly in low-leverage relief.

Ort, 33, was a waiver claim from Baltimore last May. He pitched well in 22 big league appearances, working to a 2.55 ERA behind a 28% strikeout rate across 24 2/3 frames. Ort had entered the season with a career earned run average north of 6.00, but he probably showed enough in his relatively small sample with Houston to stick in middle relief. He’s a power arm who can miss bats but had inconsistent control in the minors.

Houston acquired Trammell in a minor league trade with the Yankees at the start of the offseason. The Astros added him to their 40-man roster to keep him from qualifying for minor league free agency. A former top prospect, Trammell has only hit .167/.270/.363 over 126 major league games. He had an impressive .256/.381/.488 line in Triple-A with the Yankees last year. As with León, that came with an alarming number of strikeouts (a 26.8% rate). Houston spent most of the offseason looking for lefty-hitting outfield help after the Kyle Tucker trade. Their only move was to bring back Ben Gamel on a non-guaranteed contract. Trammell and Gamel might battle for one roster spot, espeically with Jose Altuve seeing time in left field.

Astros Designate Jacob Amaya For Assignment

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The Astros announced a set of roster moves this afternoon, including the news that infielder Jacob Amaya has been designated for assignment.  This opens up a 40-man roster spot for Hector Neris, who signed with Houston two days ago.  Right-handers Seth Martinez and Shawn Dubin were optioned to Triple-A to create 26-man roster space for Neris and righty Kaleb Ort, who was reinstated from the paternity list.

Amaya came to the Astros in a trade from the Marlins back in April, and the 25-year-old’s time on Houston’s active roster has thus far consisted of just a single game — an appearance as a defensive substitute in the Astros’ 10-3 loss to the Yankees on May 7.  At the Triple-A level this season, Amaya has a .221/.308/.330 slash line over 302 total plate appearances with the Astros’ and Marlins’ top affiliates.

This represents a step backwards from the more respectable numbers Amaya has posted in past stints in Triple-A (with the Marlins last season and with the Dodgers in 2022).  Amaya has always been considered more of a glove-first player dating back to his time in the Los Angeles farm system, and while his defense alone might be good enough to get him some consideration for a big league roster, he’ll need to deliver more at the plate to earn anything more than sporadic call-ups or playing time.

Finding a niche in Houston is particularly tricky for Amaya considering how Jose Altuve and Jeremy Pena have the middle infield positions on lockdown, and superutilityman Mauricio Dubon bounces around at several positions.  This is the first time Amaya has been designated for assignment, and so if he clears waivers and is outrighted to Triple-A, he doesn’t have a prior outright or the MLB service time necessary to reject that assignment in favor of free agency.

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