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Quick Hits: deGrom, Mets, Robert, Mondesi, Cron

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Jacob deGrom is scheduled to start Sunday’s game against the Diamondbacks, as the Mets ace reported no ill effects after a bullpen session.  DeGrom was scratched from his last start on Tuesday due to inflammation in his right lat, but “as we did the due diligence and work on it, it wasn’t something that anyone thought was a major issue,” Mets GM Zack Scott told The New York Daily News’ Deesha Thosar and other reporters.

In other Mets injury news, Scott said that Seth Lugo and Noah Syndergaard will begin rehab outings “in a week or so,” with Lugo (bone spur removal surgery) expected to make his 2021 debut by the end of May, and Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery) still ticketed for sometime in June.  The news isn’t as good for infielder Luis Guillorme, as Thosar tweeted yesterday that Guillorme is still feeling discomfort in his injured right oblique when he takes swings.  Guillorme is eligible to be activated from the injured list on Sunday, but he might not return for another week.

More from around baseball…

  • Luis Robert is facing a long absence from the White Sox lineup, but the outfielder will apparently avoid surgery on his Grade 3 hip flexor strain, the team revealed in its pregame notes package (hat tip to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin).  That likely counts as a small bit of good news for Robert, though it probably won’t materially change the possibility that his season could already be over.  The Sox have already announced that Robert will need 12-to-16 weeks just to resume baseball activities.
  • Adalberto Mondesi has yet to play this season due to a right oblique strain, though Royals manager Mike Matheny provided reporters (including MLB.com’s Bill Ladson) with another positive update on the shortstop’s condition.  The switch-hitting Mondesi cannot yet hit from the left side of the plate, though he can take batting practice and swing normally as a right-handed hitter.  Mondesi will soon be working out at the Royals’ Spring Training facility, and it isn’t yet known when he might embark on a rehab assignment.
  • Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron has missed the team’s last two games due to lower back tightness, and manager Bud Black told The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders and other reporters that it isn’t yet clear if Cron will require an IL placement.  “We’re hoping it resolves itself the next day or two, to avoid the injured list…I think tomorrow and Monday are really big days when we evaluate C.J.,” Black said.  Signed to a minor league deal during the offseason, Cron has been a huge contributor for the Rockies, hitting .290/.394/.495 with five homers over his first 109 PA in a Colorado uniform.

Royals Sign Alcides Escobar

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The Royals turned back the clock Tuesday, announcing that they’ve agreed to terms with veteran shortstop Alcides Escobar on a minor league deal. Escobar, the Royals’ everyday shortstop for their 2014-15 World Series teams, will head to Triple-A Omaha to begin the season.

Now 34 years old, Escobar was one of the key pieces Kansas City received in the 2010 trade that sent Zack Greinke to Milwaukee. Coming over alongside Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress, Escobar quickly established himself as a foundational piece for the Royals. He was never a huge contributor at the plate, but at his best he hit for a respectable average while racking up 30-plus steals per year and flashing Gold Glove-caliber leather.

Escobar has appeared in parts of eight seasons with the Royals in the past, batting a combined .259/.292/.344 in just over 5000 plate appearances. He spent the 2020 season with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, hitting .273/.312/.329 through 104 games.

Escobar is on hand as a depth piece right now, but with Adalberto Mondesi still sidelined and being no stranger to prolonged stints on the injured list, it makes sense to bring in some veteran depth. The Royals have already gotten a notable portion of the 2014-15 band back together, as they currently have Wade Davis, Greg Holland and Jarrod Dyson on the MLB roster alongside franchise cornerstones Salvador Perez and Danny Duffy.

Nicky Lopez has been handling shortstop work in Mondesi’s absence and has performed well in the early stages of the season, but he has a limited track record at the plat. If his bat steps back or if the Royals incur further injuries in the middle infield, it’s possible that Escobar will be brought back into the fold and given another reunion tour in front of the Kansas City faithful.

Health Notes: Ohtani, Mondesi, Graterol, Mikolas, D-backs,

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Right-hander Shohei Ohtani was supposed to take the mound for the Angels in their game against the Rays on Monday, but the team scratched him in favor of lefty Jose Quintana because of elbow soreness. Ohtani swas hit by pitch on Sunday, and manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times) that he’s now “too sore to throw.” However, there’s still a chance he’ll start sometime during this four-game set versus Tampa Bay. Even if that doesn’t happen, Ohtani feels well enough to hit, so the DH will continue making an offensive impact. Ohtani has only made three starts and pitched 13 2/3 innings this season, but he has overcome control problems (13 walks) to log a 3.29 ERA with 23 strikeouts and a 62.5 percent groundball percentage. He has complemented his pitching performance with a power-packed .270/.318/.620 line, eight homers and six stolen bases over 107 plate appearances as a hitter.

  • Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi will start doing pregame work with the team this week and could begin a rehab assignment next week, per general manager Dayton Moore (via Anne Rogers of MLB.com). The Royals have gone all season without Mondesi, the reigning stolen base champion who strained his right oblique during the spring. Despite Mondesi’s absence, the Royals entered Monday with a surprising 16-10 record – the best mark in the majors. Nicky Lopez has filled in capably for Mondesi during KC’s fast start.
  • Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol will undergo an MRI on his ailing right forearm Tuesday, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The team placed Graterol on the IL last Thursday with forearm tightness – a rather ominous-sounding injury for someone who underwent Tommy John surgery in the past – and the 22-year-old hasn’t resumed throwing since then, according to Castillo. The Dodgers lost another of their promising young hurlers, righty starter Dustin May, to the dreaded TJ diagnosis on Monday.
  • Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas will make a rehab start with Triple-A Memphis this week, and he’ll “likely” go four innings, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat writes. Mikolas hasn’t pitched in the majors this year because of shoulder problems, after he sat out all of last season on account of flexor tendon surgery. His most recent MLB outing occurred Oct. 11, 2019.
  • The Diamondbacks have reinstated first baseman Christian Walker and outfielder Tim Locastro from the IL, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. The club optioned outfielder Nick Heath and infielder Andrew Young in corresponding moves. The Diamondbacks have been without Walker since April 12 because of a right oblique strain, while Locastro suffered a dislocated finger April 17. Walker had a rough go early on with a .179/.250/.282 line and one homer in 44 trips to the plate. Locastro, meantime, took 58 PA last month and batted .269/.345/.327 with an HR and three steals.

Royals Promote Daniel Lynch

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MAY 3: Lynch’s promotion is official, Rogers tweets. To make room for him, the Royals optioned righty Jake Newberry and moved lefty Daniel Tillo (elbow surgery) to the 60-day injured list.

MAY 2, 7:58PM: Jakob Junis will be moved from the rotation to the bullpen to make room for Lynch, GM Dayton Moore told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters.  Junis has a solid 3.47 ERA/3.35 SIERA and 28.7% strikeout rate over 23 1/3 innings this season, but Moore feels Junis can help strength a relief corps thinned by injuries.

6:00PM: The Royals announced that top pitching prospect Daniel Lynch will be called up on Monday.  Lynch will make his MLB debut as the starting pitcher in tomorrow’s game against the Indians.  K.C. has a full 40-man roster, so at least one corresponding move will have to be made to create room for Lynch on both the 40-man and the 26-man active roster.

The 34th overall pick of the 2018 draft, the left-handed Lynch has emerged as one of the more intriguing minor league arms in all of baseball, let alone in Kansas City’s farm system.  Lynch is a consensus pick as a top-100 prospect, albeit within a fairly large range of projections — Keith Law (17th), MLB Pipeline (24th), Baseball America (25th) all have Lynch very high on their boards, while Fangraphs (61st) and Baseball Prospectus (70th) aren’t quite as optimistic.

Fangraphs’ scouting report still pegs Lynch as “a very safe mid-rotation sort” based on his fastball alone, which has increased in velocity during his short pro career.  Lynch has hit the 99mph-threshold and regularly throws his fastball in the 95-97mph range.  His slider is another plus pitch, and his changeup is also turning into a plus offering.  “He’ll have to keep working on repeating his delivery to boost his command and control, but this is elite stuff from the left side,” Law writes.

The 24-year-old Lynch has a 2.74 ERA and 26.2% strikeout rate over 147 2/3 innings in the minors, but he’ll be making the jump to the Show without any Double-A or Triple-A experience.  He was originally set to begin the 2021 season at Triple-A, but clearly the Royals are impressed by what they’ve seen from Lynch at Spring Training and at their alternate training site.

Should Lynch remain with the Royals for the rest of the season, enough time has passed on the calendar that the team will control his rights for an extra seventh year, so Lynch would be controlled through the 2027 season.  However, it remains to be seen if Lynch is just getting a cup of coffee in the big leagues, perhaps as a fill-in for Brady Singer.  During Friday’s game, Singer’s start was cut short after two innings after he took a hard comebacker off his left heel to conclude the second frame.  X-rays were negative on Singer’s heel and he was expected to make his next scheduled start, though the Royals might be either considering a 10-day IL stint just to be cautious, or perhaps Singer could just be held back a day or two.

Injury Notes: Mondesi, Gonsolin, Strasburg, Solis

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The Royals have stormed out of the gate with a 16-9 start to take an early lead in the AL Central. That’s in spite of the absence of shortstop Adalberto Mondesi, who was placed on the injured list just before the regular season kicked off due to a right oblique strain. There’s still no timetable for the 25-year-old’s return to game action, but he made a notable step in his rehab process this week. Mondesi recently participated in a batting practice session, per manager Mike Matheny (via Anne Rogers of MLB.com). Royals’ shortstops (primarily Nicky Lopez) have hit .254/.325/.338 in Mondesi’s absence, which is tied for twelfth in park-adjusted offense (90 wRC+) at the position.

Some more injury situations around the league:

  • Dodgers righty Tony Gonsolin has also yet to make his regular season debut- in his case, on account of inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Gonsolin has progressed to working off a mound, though, throwing a 20-pitch bullpen session earlier this week (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). The 26-year-old has emerged as another potential quality rotation option for Los Angeles, working to a 2.60 ERA/4.11 SIERA across his first 20 MLB appearances (14 starts) between 2019-20. Even before the injury, though, Gonsolin was slated to start this season in the bullpen on account of the Dodgers’ incredible rotation depth.
  • Stephen Strasburg threw approximately 30 pitches in a bullpen session this morning, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com was among those to note. It’s the right-hander’s first mound work since he was placed on the injured list two weeks ago with inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Washington still hasn’t offered a ton of clarity as to when Strasburg is expected to return to game action. The former World Series MVP has been limited to two unproductive starts so far this year.
  • Astros right-handed pitching prospect Jairo Solis will be out approximately three months after undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow, per Jake Kaplan of the Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a disappointing development for a young hurler who missed the entire 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Entering the year, FanGraphs’ Kevin Goldstein called Solis a potential future top 100 prospect, but this latest development will wipe out at least a good chunk of his 2021 minor-league season. Solis, ranked 16th among Astro farmhands by Baseball America, was added to the 40-man roster last offseason.

Royals Recall Kris Bubic, Place Kyle Zimmer On Injured List

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Before this afternoon’s game with the Twins, the Royals announced they’ve recalled left-hander Kris Bubic and righty Jake Newberry from the alternate training site. Reliever Kyle Zimmer has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left trapezius muscle strain (via Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star), while first baseman Ryan McBroom was optioned to the alternate training site.

At one point, Bubic looked like a good bet to open the year in the Royals’ rotation. A former supplemental round pick, he made his MLB debut last year and held his own across ten starts. Bubic worked to a 4.32 ERA/4.69 SIERA with serviceable strikeout (22.1%), walk (9.9%) and groundball (46.6%) rates. Baseball America named him the Royals’ #5 prospect over the winter on the heels of that showing.

The Royals signed Mike Minor to a two-year deal over the offseason, though. That addition and a rough Spring Training were enough to bump Bubic from the season-opening rotation. While he’s now in line to see his first major league action of the year, it seems he’ll be on hand as a bullpen option for the time being. Kansas City has gotten strong performances from each of Danny Duffy, Brady Singer and Jakob Junis so far. Minor and Brad Keller haven’t been good but will obviously get a longer leash to figure things out based on their respective track records. That doesn’t leave any room for Bubic if the Royals are planning to stick with a five-man starting staff.

While Bubic and Newberry join the relief corps, Zimmer will be knocked out of action for the time being. The former top prospect has been fine in the early going, allowing five runs in 13.1 innings with 12 strikeouts and five walks. The team didn’t provide a timetable for his potential return. McBroom was optioned out after taking just seven plate appearances over five games.

Royals Sign Mike Shawaryn To Minor League Deal

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The Royals have signed right-hander Mike Shawaryn to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A once their season begins next week.

Shawaryn, 26, ranked among the top prospects in the Red Sox’ system from 2017-19 but was hit hard when he finally cracked the big leagues in ’19. Through 20 1/3 frames, he was tagged for 22 runs on the strength of 26 hits (five homers), 13 walks and five hit batsmen. Shawaryn did strike out 29 of the 103 batters he faced (28.2 percent), but the control problems and susceptibility to home runs were an obvious concern.

Shawaryn didn’t pitch in the big leagues last season, but he spent most of the year as part of the Red Sox’ 60-man player pool at their alternate training site. Boston designated Shawaryn for assignment in late August, however, and removed him from the player pool after outrighting him. He was cut loose by the Sox over the weekend, per his transaction log at MLB.com.

Prior to that rough big league debut, Shawaryn had a mostly solid track record in the minors. He’d pitched to a mid-3.00s ERA at Class-A, Class-A Advanced and Double-A, and while he was hit harder in Triple-A, the results were still respectable, particularly given the offensive explosion at that level in ’19. All in all, he has a 3.79 ERA, a 24.5 percent strikeout rate and an 8.7 percent walk rate in 389 1/3 minor league innings. In their 2019 scouting report, Baseball America called Shawaryn a “physical strike-thrower” who could become a “solid medium-leverage reliever” or a back-of-the-rotation starter depending on the development of his changeup.

Brad Brach Elects Free Agency

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Veteran reliever Brad Brach has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency, Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star reports. The Royals designated Brach for assignment on Saturday.

Brach had a short stay on the Royals’ roster, as the team designated him just one day after selecting his contract. The 35-year-old right-hander joined the Royals on a minor league contract over the winter, which came after the Mets designated him.

Brach has seen major league action with five teams since he debuted with the Padres in 2011, and he has enjoyed a solid career. Through 522 2/3 innings, Brach has registered a 3.39 ERA/3.78 SIERA with a 25.1 percent strikeout rate and an 11.1 percent walk rate. Unfortunately, though, Brach’s production has gone downhill dating back to 2019. Between the Cubs and Mets over the previous two seasons, he tossed 66 2/3 frames of 5.66 ERA ball (with a more palatable 4.91 SIERA) and logged a 24.7 percent strikeout rate against a 15.0 percent walk rate. While Brach has normally averaged around 94 mph on his fastball, that number dipped to a personal-worst 90.4 last year.

Royals Reinstate Greg Holland From IL, Designate Brad Brach

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The Royals have reinstated reliever Greg Holland from the injured list, the team announced.  To create roster space, right-hander Brad Brach has been designated for assignment.

It ended up being just a one-day stay for Holland on the COVID-related injury list, so the veteran righty will make a quick return to his role as Kansas City’s closer.  It hasn’t been a good start to the season for Holland, who has issued seven walks (against only six strikeouts) and allowed three homers over seven innings of work, resulting in a 6.43 ERA.  While it’s still early in the season, Holland’s job could certainly be in jeopardy if his struggles continue.  The Royals have gotten excellent results from such bullpen arms as Kyle Zimmer, Scott Barlow, Jake Brentz, and Josh Staumont thus far, and it’s possible one of those less-experienced hurlers could supplant Holland in the closer’s position, or the Royals could adopt a more situational approach to the ninth inning.

Brach’s minor league contract was selected yesterday in a response to Holland’s IL placement, and Brach didn’t get any action during last night’s 6-2 Royals victory over the Tigers.  The 35-year-old now heads into DFA limbo after that cup of coffee in the 2021 season, though it seems a decent bet that Brach will clear waivers and remain in the K.C. organization.  A very solid reliever for the Padres, Orioles, and Braves from 2012-18, Brach has been much less productive over the last two seasons, posting a 5.54 ERA over 66 2/3 innings since the start of the 2019 campaign.

Royals Place Greg Holland On IL, Select Brad Brach

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The Royals have placed right-hander Greg Holland on the injured list and selected the contract of righty Brad Brach, per a team announcement. The club didn’t provide a reason for Holland’s IL placement.

Holland was largely a great reliever with the Royals from 2010-15, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in the last of those seasons and missed the team’s World Series run. The procedure kept Holland out for all of 2016, and he then endured an up-and-down few years divided among the Rockies, Cardinals and Diamondbacks.

Holland returned to Kansas City last year on a minor league deal, which proved to be a steal for the Royals. He reclaimed his old job as the team’s closer, went 6-for-6 in save opportunities and pitched to a 1.91 ERA with a 27.7 percent strikeout rate against a 6.3 percent walk rate over 28 1/3 innings.

Holland’s bounce-back 2020 performance earned him a guaranteed contract this past winter, when he re-signed with the Royals on a one-year, $2.75MM pact. Unfortunately for Holland and KC, he hasn’t been nearly as successful this year. Thanks to a couple of poor outings – including his most recent appearance on Tuesday – the 35-year-old has recorded a 6.43 ERA with three home runs allowed and more walks (seven) than strikeouts (six) in seven frames.

Brach, also 35, joined the Royals on a minors pact shortly after the Mets cut him loose in February. While the well-traveled Brach has enjoyed a quality career (3.39 ERA through 522 2/3 innings), his production and velocity have tailed off of late. Brach amassed a combined 66 2/3 innings with the Cubs and Mets over the previous two seasons and posted a 5.54 ERA with a below-average 9.7 K-BB percentage (24.7 K, 15.0 BB). Worsening matters, Brach’s average fastball velo fell from the 94 mph range to a career-low 90.4 last season.

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