AL Central Notes: Witt, Polanco, Peralta, Tigers
Bobby Witt Jr. has been one of the stars of Spring Training, as the highly-touted prospect has wowed teammates and observers at the Royals‘ camp. As a result, Dayton Moore is “very much open-minded of him being on this team as we break this camp,” the Kansas City general manager told Fantasy Alarm’s Jim Bowden in an interview Tuesday. (MLB.com’s Anne Rogers has a partial transcript.)
“I’m not going to make an advanced decision now, but we’re just going to let the player tell us” with his work, Moore said. “Right now, we don’t have to pick our roster. But the fact that Bobby Witt is still in camp and [manager Mike Matheny] continues to play him, and the most important thing is we all know he’s earned the respect — a young talented player with a lot of hype around him who’s earned the respect of his teammates.”
Since being selected second overall in the 2019 draft, Witt has appeared in only 37 professional games, all with the Royals’ rookie league affiliate in 2019 (.262/.317/.354 in 180 PA). Even after impressing at the Royals’ alternate training site last summer and continuing that performance into the spring, Witt would still be making a big jump in going from rookie ball to the majors at age 20. While the Opening Day lineup might be a bit of a reach, there is certainly an increasing chance that Witt could make his MLB debut before the 2021 season is out.
More from the AL Central…
- Jorge Polanco was removed from Tuesday’s game due to left adductor tightness, but Twins manager Rocco Baldelli thinks Polanco should be removed after “maybe a few days.” Baldelli told MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park and other reporters that Polanco was initially hurt after an awkward landing on the baseball while trying to field a grounder, and the decision was made to take Polanco out two innings later when he reported some tightness while running out a ground ball. With Andrelton Simmons taking over as Minnesota’s shortstop, Polanco is expected to move from his old shortstop position and get the bulk of playing time at second base.
- Wily Peralta signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in February but hasn’t yet arrived at camp due to visa issues. Unsurprisingly, manager A.J. Hinch told The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters that the delay will cost Peralta a shot at making the Tigers’ Opening Day roster. Since being released by the Royals in July 2019, Peralta hasn’t pitched anywhere apart from an eight-game stint in the Dominican Winter League, so his attempt at reviving his career will now move to Detroit’s minor league camp when he eventually gets to the United States.
- In other AL Central news from earlier today, both the White Sox (link) and Indians (link) have interest in extending some of their top players.
Royals Roster Moves
The Royals announced a number of roster moves today. Daniel Tillo and Angel Zerpa were both optioned to the minor leagues, while a third southpaw, Eric Skoglund, was reassigned to minor league camp. Both Tillo and Zerpa are on the Royals’ 40-man roster.
Though both Tillo and Zerpa are on the 40-man, neither seemed particularly likely to make the roster out of camp. The 24-year-old Tillo made it as high as Double-A in 2019, throwing 23 1/3 innings for Northwest Arkansas with a 3.47 ERA/3.62 FIP. He has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, notes the Athletic’s Alec Lewis (via Twitter). Fangraphs has Tillo as the Royals’ 38th-ranked prospect. Zerpa, meanwhile, is a 21-year-old southpaw out of Venezuela who has yet to play above rookie ball.
Skoglund will be more familiar to Royals’ fans. The 28-year-old made a total of 27 appearances (22 starts) for the Royals from 2017 to 2019. Over those three seasons, he pitched to a 6.61 ERA/5.50 FIP across 109 innings with a 39.3 percent groundball rate, subpar 13.8 percent strikeout rate, and so-so 8.2 percent walk rate. Skoglund was served an 80-game PED suspension in January of 2019. He returned late that season to spend a little time in the rotation, but without much success. He was designated for assignment last season and brought to camp as a non-roster invitee.
Central Notes: Rizzo, Mondesi, Reds, Cardinals
Cubs cornerstone Anthony Rizzo is scheduled to become a free agent next offseason, but the three-time All-Star first baseman said Friday he’s “optimistic” about reaching an extension with the club, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com tweets. Rizzo suggested he’d like to get it done by Opening Day, which doesn’t leave much time for the two sides to hammer out a deal. But there’s plenty of goodwill between the Cubs and Rizzo, who helped them to their first World Series title in 108 years in 2016 and has been a gem for the franchise on and off the field. Unfortunately for Rizzo, he seems to be vying for an extension at an inopportune time, as the 31-year-old recorded an uncharacteristically mediocre line of .222/.342/.414 with 11 home runs in 243 trips to the plate in 2020.
- The Royals and shortstop Adalberto Mondesi have recently discussed an extension, Robert Murray of FanSided reports, but it doesn’t seem as if an agreement is imminent. A source told Murray there’s “a lot to work through” in order for a deal to come together for Mondesi, who is only in the first of three arbitration-controlled years. The 25-year-old will earn $2.525MM this season after slashing .256/.294/.416 with six home runs and a major league-leading 24 stolen bases over 233 plate appearances in 2020.
- With right-hander Miles Mikolas out for the beginning of the regular season, fellow righty John Gant is in line to open 2021 as the Cardinals’ No. 5 starter, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Daniel Ponce de Leon, Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo are still competing for the role, but Gant is the favorite to join Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Kwang Hyun Kim and Carlos Martinez in their rotation, per Goold. Gant, 28, hasn’t started a game since 2018, though he has put up useful numbers from both the St. Louis rotation and bullpen.
- After the Reds added infielder Jonathan India and left-hander Brandon Finnegan to their major league spring roster on Friday, manager David Bell told Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and other reporters that “they’re officially” in the running to make the team. India, the fifth overall pick in the 2018 draft, reached the Double-A level in 2019 and batted .270/.414/.378 with three homers, four steals and almost as many unintentional walks (22) as strikeouts (26). Finnegan, once a top 100 prospect, appeared with the Reds in each season from 2015-18, but shoulder problems had a negative effect on him during that stretch. He put up a 7.40 ERA with 15 unintentional walks and 14 strikeouts over 20 2/3 frames in his most recent MLB season.
Royals Sign Jarrod Dyson
MARCH 5: The Royals have announced the signing, Alec Lewis of The Athletic tweets. The contract includes $250K in performance bonuses.
MARCH 2: The Royals have reached an agreement with free-agent outfielder Jarrod Dyson, Robert Murray of FanSided reports. It’s a $1.5MM pact for the ACES client, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The deal is pending a physical.
Dyson is going back to his first organization, which used a 50th-round pick on him in 2006. He managed to overcome the odds and reach the majors in 2010, and has since appeared in the bigs in 11 straight seasons. During his initial run with the Royals, Dyson turned in a few productive campaigns – including during their AL-winning 2014 effort and their World Series title season in 2015 – owing to a combination of excellent defense and base running. He played a fairly regular role with the Royals from 2012-16 and stole at least 25 bases in each of those years.
Heading into the 2017 season, the Royals traded Dyson to the Mariners for right-hander Nate Karns. Dyson, now 36, has also played for the Diamondbacks, Pirates and White Sox since the Royals parted with him. While Dyson has never been a huge threat with the bat, his production has plummeted over the past few seasons. Dating back to 2017, he has slashed an ugly .226/.305/.309 in 1,145 plate appearances, and his 2020 output – .180/.231/.180 in 66 PA – looks especially poor. However, Dyson did steal 80 bases and continue to offer high-grade defense (33 DRS, 22 UZR) during that four-year period.
Dyson, who has extensive experience at all three outfield positions, looks to be in line to back up Andrew Benintendi, Michael A. Taylor and Whit Merrifield in his return to Kansas City. Like Dyson, both Benintendi and Taylor have joined the Royals since last season ended.
Quick Hits: Godley, Phillies, Mondesi, Angels
Free-agent right-hander Zack Godley threw for roughly a dozen clubs last week, Steve Adams of MLBTR reports. Godley battled a flexor issue last year, but he’s now healthy. While Godley was an effective starter with the Diamondbacks from 2017-18, his numbers fell off severely over the past two seasons with the D-backs, Blue Jays and Red Sox. He tossed a combined 120 2/3 innings during that span and logged a woeful 6.49 ERA/5.20 SIERA with similarly subpar strikeout and walk percentages of 17.8 and 10.2, respectively.
Other notes from around the league:
- There are five legitimate in-house candidates to serve as the Phillies’ starting center fielder, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Along with Scott Kingery, Adam Haseley and Roman Quinn, both Odubel Herrera and Mickey Moniak have thrown their hats in the ring. Herrera was a productive starter at the position for the Phillies from 2015-17, even earning a five-year, $30.5MM extension in the last of those seasons, but his numbers tanked from 2018-19 and he sat for most of the latter campaign because of a domestic violence suspension. The Phillies outrighted him before last season, meaning he’s not on their 40-man roster. Moniak, who made a brief major league debut in 2020, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, but he hasn’t matched the hype since then. He owns a .692 OPS across 1,671 plate appearances in the minors, though the 22-year-old has put himself on the radar early in spring training. Moniak went yard twice against the Yankees on Thursday.
- A foot injury has slowed Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi this spring, but he’s “moving in the right direction” in his recovery, per manager Mike Matheny (via Josh Vernier of 610 Sports Radio). It’s not clear when Mondesi will make his Cactus League debut, though. The 25-year-old batted a below-average .256/.294/.416 with six home runs in 233 plate appearances last season, but he played in 59 of 60 games, easily led the majors in stolen bases (24) and earned good grades at shortstop (plus-2 DRS, plus-0.8 UZR). [UPDATE: Mondesi is in the Royals’ lineup for this afternoon’s spring training matchup with the Dodgers, notes Anne Rogers of MLB.com].
- It would make sense for the Angels to open extension talks with David Fletcher, writes Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. To this point, there’s been no discussions between the two sides about a potential long-term deal, Ardaya notes, but there’s little question the 26-year-old has established himself as an important piece of the organization. Fletcher’s on-base skills have helped compensate for his lack of power, with a career .292/.346/.386 line translating to league average offensive production (100 wRC+). Combined with high-end defensive metrics between second and third base, that’s been enough for Fletcher to accrue around seven or eight wins above replacement over his first 283 MLB games. Ardaya examines the framework of a hypothetical Fletcher extension in a piece that might be of interest to Angel fans.
Royals, Hunter Dozier Agree To Four-Year Extension
TODAY: The Royals have officially announced Dozier’s extension. The Athletic’s Alec Lewis (Twitter links) has the financial breakdown — Dozier will get a $1MM signing bonus, $2.25MM this season, $4.5MM in 2022, $7.25MM in 2023, $9MM in 2024, and there is a $1MM buyout on the $10MM club option for 2025. There are multiple escalators involved, including $1MM bonuses for various awards.
FEB. 28, 9:51AM: Dozier and the Royals are in agreement on a four-year, $25MM guarantee with a $10MM option for 2025, per Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). If Dozier reaches all available escalators and bonuses, it could max out at $49MM, Passan reports.
9:35AM: While the deal isn’t yet complete, there’s “optimism” it’ll get over the finish line, per Alec Lewis and Andy McCullough of the Athletic (via Twitter). If finalized, the guarantee is expected to land in the $25MM range, report Lewis and McCullough. The 2025 option would be worth $10MM, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link).
8:59AM: The Royals are finalizing a four-year contract extension with Hunter Dozier, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). The proposed deal would also contain a club option for 2025, per Murray. Dozier is a client of The L. Warner Companies, Inc.
As a player with three-plus years of MLB service, the 29-year-old wasn’t set to reach free agency until after the 2023 season. Rather than proceed year-by-year through arbitration, the parties are locking in some cost certainty over the next three seasons while lengthening their relationship by at least one year. The deal will buy out Dozier’s first year of would-be free agency, while the club option adds a second additional season of team control.
Despite being selected eighth overall out of Stephen F. Austin University in 2013, Dozier had something of a slow ascent through the minors. He made his MLB debut as a September call-up in 2016, but it wasn’t until the middle of the 2018 season that he had established himself as a big league regular.
Dozier struggled down the stretch as a rookie but seemed to break out as a middle-of-the-order bat in his sophomore season. The right-handed hitter popped 26 home runs and hit .279/.348/.522 across 586 plate appearances in 2019. Dozier’s batted ball metrics reinforced that power output. His 91.1 MPH average exit velocity placed him in the 83rd percentile league-wide; Dozier’s hard contact and barrel rates were similarly impressive. A higher than average 25.3% strikeout rate and .339 BABIP hinted at some potential regression in future seasons, but Dozier’s power and decent plate discipline positioned him as an above-average offensive performer nonetheless.
The shortened 2020 season, however, proved a difficult one for Dozier. That was the case for plenty of players, but Dozier was one of the players most directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. He tested positive for the coronavirus last July and was forced to start the season on the injured list. Upon his return, he lacked the same power he’d shown the season before. Whether because of his bout with COVID-19 or merely due to the season’s small sample size (he tallied just 186 plate appearances), the Royals clearly feel Dozier’s .228/.344/.392 line was anomalous.
Regaining his footing at the plate is critical for Dozier, who’s rather limited defensively. He broke in as a third baseman, but defensive metrics panned his work at the hot corner from 2018-19. After signing Maikel Franco last offseason, Kansas City mostly limited Dozier to first base and the corner outfield in 2020. Franco is back in free agency, possibly bumping Dozier back to third this year (and perhaps beyond). At his age, it’s doubtful he transforms into an above-average defender at the position.
Last November, Dozier agreed to a $2.72MM deal to avoid arbitration. It remains to be seen if this extension changes that figure. At the moment, the Royals have around $90MM on the books for the upcoming season, right in line with last year’s payroll. Besides Dozier, only Whit Merrifield and recent free agent signees Carlos Santana and Mike Minor have guaranteed money on the books beyond 2021. That should leave plenty of long-term payroll space for the Royals, who will see Salvador Pérez and Jorge Soler reach free agency (barring extensions of their own) next offseason.
Quick Hits: Pujols, Blue Jays, Kennedy, Santana
There was a brief flurry of speculation about Albert Pujols‘ future earlier this week when Deirdre Pujols, the Angels veteran’s wife, created an Instagram post that seemed to hint that the future Hall-of-Famer would call it a career after the 2021 season. Deirdre clarified her online statement soon after posting, and her husband also addressed the matter in speaking with media (including The Associated Press) today at Spring Training.
“This thing just got blown out of proportion,” Pujols said. “My mind is not even there. My mind is on staying focused, healthy, and hopefully trying to help this ballclub win this year, and that’s it. If I feel at the end of the year that that’s it, I’ll announce it [and] go home. But I’m not even there yet.”
Pujols is entering the final season of his ten-year, $240MM deal with the Angels, and 2021 will be the slugger’s 21st MLB campaign. After four years of subpar offensive production, it would certainly seem like the 41-year-old is nearing the end of the line, though it seems we won’t know for certain until the season is through.
More from around baseball…
- George Springer will surely play every day in the Blue Jays‘ outfield, so his addition means the team’s other starting outfielders from 2020 will see their playing time either reduced or somewhat altered. Both Randal Grichuk and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith) that they wondered if they’d be traded, yet as Spring Training continues, that duo and Teoscar Hernandez are all still on the roster. It remains to be seen exactly how the Jays will arrange their lineup to get everyone at-bats, though Gurriel could find an opening with a return to part-time infield duty, as manager Charlie Montoyo is having Gurriel work out as a first baseman and third baseman. The Jays already have Cavan Biggio lined up for the bulk of the action at the hot corner, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also hopeful of getting some third base time while sharing first base/DH duty with Rowdy Tellez. Getting at least one other position under his belt can only help Gurriel, however, especially after his defensive struggles as an infielder earlier in his career.
- Ian Kennedy debated signing with two other teams before settling on the Rangers’ minor league offer, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter). The Royals, Kennedy’s former team, were one of the two other suitors, though Kennedy seems to have a clearer path to regular bullpen work in Texas. A starter for all but two of his first 291 MLB games from 2007-18, Kennedy enjoyed a stellar season as the Royals’ closer in 2019, but he is out to re-establish himself after a difficult 2020. Kennedy posted a 9.00 ERA over 14 innings before a left calf strain brought a premature end to his season.
- Danny Santana is also coming off an injury-plagued season, as the super-utilityman amassed just 63 plate appearances over 15 games with the Rangers. After undergoing elbow surgery in September, Santana is now set to hold a showcase for scouts on Thursday, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) reports, and Santana has also been holding private workouts for teams. The 30-year-old has played all over the diamond over his seven years with the Twins, Braves, and Rangers, and was a revelation for Texas in 2019 — he hit .283/.324/.534 with 28 home runs, with by far his best wRC+ (111) since a 132 wRC+ over 430 PA as a rookie with Minnesota back in 2014.
Royals, Hunter Dozier In “Serious” Extension Negotiations
The Royals and third baseman Hunter Dozier “are in serious talks” about a multi-year contract extension, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (Twitter link). Specific terms aren’t known, though Dozier has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining before reaching free agent status following the 2023 season. Dozier is already set to earn $2.72MM in 2021 after reaching an arb-avoiding deal with K.C. back in December.
Selected eighth overall in the 2013 draft, Dozier enjoyed a breakout season in 2019, hitting .279/.348/.522 with 26 homers and a league-best 10 triples over 586 plate appearances. That was followed up by a less-impressive 2020 (.228/.344/.392 over 186 PA) but with some obvious extenuating circumstances — not just the 2020 campaign’s smaller sample size, but Dozier also missed over two weeks at the start of the season due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Dozier’s hard-contact numbers dropped off considerably from 2019 to 2020, though his walk rate also significantly improved.
It sets the stage for what could be an interesting set of extension talks, considering that 2020 wasn’t exactly a great platform year. Dozier turned 29 last August, so he might have more incentive to lock in some long-term security now rather than bet on hitting a big payday on the open market entering his age-32 season. It’s worth noting that L. Warner Companies Inc. (Dozier’s agency) also represents another prominent Royal in Whit Merrifield, who signed an extension with Kansas City just over two years ago, though Merrifield and Dozier aren’t really comps — Merrifield is 31 months older and was still entering his final pre-arb season when he inked his long-term deal.
There aren’t a ton of great recent comps for Dozier overall, in looking at recent extensions of players who had between three and four years of MLB service time. The odd nature of the 2020 season adds another layer of difficulty in trying to predict what a Dozier extension could look like, since those past players didn’t have such an outlier of a year factoring into the situation. The list of players who have signed an extension since the pandemic began consists only of unique mega-deals (i.e. Mookie Betts and Fernando Tatis Jr.), players who signed contracts only covering arbitration-eligible years, or Yuli Gurriel‘s one-year extension with the Astros at the end of September.
Extensions have been a key plank of Dayton Moore’s team-building strategy since he became Kansas City’s GM in 2006. After an offseason that saw the Royals make some notable moves in acquiring Andrew Benintendi and signing Carlos Santana and Mike Minor to two-year free agent deals, it’s clear that Moore and his front office are preparing to be competitive after four straight losing seasons. It’s safe to assume that the Royals will explore long-term deals with multiple young building-block players as Spring Training rolls on, with such names as Adalberto Mondesi and Brad Keller standing out as possible extension candidates. Kansas City could also look into locking up younger players who are even earlier in their careers (like Brady Singer or Kris Bubic), and veterans like Jorge Soler and franchise stalwart Salvador Perez are each just a year away from free agency.
Kelvin Herrera Announces Retirement
Two-time All-Star and 2015 World Series champion Kelvin Herrera announced today, via Twitter, that he is retiring after spending parts of 10 seasons in the Major Leagues.
“I want to thank everyone who has been a part of my career, starting with the Kansas City Royals organization who believed in this kid from Tenares, Dominican Republic and gave him a chance to do something meaningful with his life,” Herrera wrote in his announcement. “From ownership, to the Front Office, the staff, my teammates and last but not least, the fans, I owe you guys everything.”
Herrera goes on to thank both the Nationals and White Sox organizations for welcoming him as well. For the time being, Herrera says he plans to focus on his family and the next chapter of his life.
It’ll no doubt surprise some readers to see that Herrera is still just 31 years old. He’s been around the Majors for a decade due to the Royals calling on him for his Major League debut at just 21 years of age.
Herrera pitched in just two games late in that 2011 season, but the right-hander was an immediate success in 2012 — his first full season at the MLB level. In 84 1/3 innings, he worked to a pristine 2.35 ERA with 19 holds, three saves and a heater that averaged a blistering 98.5 mph. In a normal year, that overwhelming success would’ve no doubt garnered Rookie of the Year consideration, but 2012 happened to also be the rookie season for Mike Trout, Yoenis Cespedes and Yu Darvish, who commanded nearly every top-three vote on the ballot that year.
Even without any Rookie of the Year love, Herrera had established himself as a dominant late-inning arm in short order, and that’s the exact role he’d over the next half decade as a steady presence at the back of some elite Kansas City bullpens. From 2012-16, Herrera pitched 354 1/3 regular-season innings with the Royals and notched a collective 2.57 ERA with 106 holds and 17 saves.
The bullpen was in many ways the backbone of the Royals’ back-to-back World Series runs in 2014-15, and Herrera joined teammates Wade Davis, Greg Holland and (in 2015) Ryan Madson in forming a juggernaut late-inning group that gave opposing lineups absolute fits. Each of Herrera, Davis and Holland posted ERAs south of 1.50 and appeared in at least 65 games during the 2014 season. Herrera was as untouchable during the postseason as he was in the regular season, combining for 28 2/3 innings of 1.26 ERA ball in his playoff career.
With the Royals out of contention during Herrera’s final year of club control in 2018, they made the decision to trade him to the Nationals for a package of young players including Kelvin Gutierrez, Blake Perkins and Yohanse Morel. Herrera was injured for part of his time with the Nats, going down with a Lisfranc tear in his foot, but he gave them 18 1/3 innings of 4.34 ERA ball before reaching free agency and signing a two-year pact with the White Sox. Things didn’t pan out in Chicago, as Herrera was tagged for 39 runs in just 53 2/3 innings across his two seasons there.
Herrera’s peak was brief but absolutely dominant, and he’ll go down in Royals lore as an absolutely vital member of a bullpen that fueled a baseball renaissance in Kansas City and brought home the club’s first title in three decades. He’ll hang up the spikes with a career 3.21 ERA, 119 holds, 61 saves and 510 strikeouts in 513 2/3 innings of regular-season work — plus the aforementioned sterling postseason track record. Best wishes to Herrera and his family in whatever the future holds.
Central Notes: Bryant, Cruz, Alberto, White Sox
Despite myriad trade rumors that have centered on him over the past several months, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant told reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) that he’s still open to a contract extension with the team. “I’ve always said I’ve been open and willing to hear what (the Cubs) say and take it with open arms and consider everything that’s thrown my way,” Bryant said. “I think I’ve communicated that to them.” Bryant is scheduled to become a free agent next winter, but in the meantime, he’ll make $19.5MM this season. It doesn’t seem any team has jumped at the chance of taking on that type of money for Bryant – even though he’s a former MVP who has typically held his own, he had a difficult 2020 campaign. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer suggested earlier this month that he expects Bryant to open 2021 with the club.
- It may have taken longer than expected for the Twins to re-sign designated hitter Nelson Cruz, whom they inked to a one-year, $13MM guarantee earlier this month. The Twins believed they’d keep Cruz throughout the process, though, as president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told MLB Network Radio on Thursday that “we passed on some other players” who could have prevented them from bringing back Cruz. The identities of those players aren’t known, but the Twins would have been hard-pressed to upgrade at DH over Cruz, who slashed an incredible .308/.394/.626 with 57 home runs in 735 plate appearances with the team from 2019-20.
- The Royals’ Hanser Alberto only received a minor league deal during the winter, though it sounds as if he has a good chance to earn a spot on their season-opening roster. Manager Mike Matheny called the addition of Alberto a “sneaky good signing” earlier this week, Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star writes. Alberto spent the previous two seasons with the Orioles before joining the Royals. Alberto didn’t hit for much power or draw many walks in Baltimore, but he did see quite a bit of time at two infield positions (second and third) and make life difficult on left-handed pitchers, against whom he slashed .394/.411/.532 in 280 trips to the plate.
- The White Sox have hired Todd Steverson as a special assistant to executive vice president Ken Williams, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets. Steverson spent 2014-19 as the team’s hitting coach – a role he held with the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate last season. He’ll focus on scouting in his new job with the White Sox, per Fegan.