Twins Place Max Kepler On 10-Day IL
The Twins announced they’ve placed outfielder Max Kepler on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain. In his place, Trevor Larnach has been recalled.
It doesn’t sound like an overly serious issue for Kepler, and manager Rocco Baldelli seemed to indicate there’d be a good chance he’d be activated after the minimum number of days expired.
“It was w/ a cramp. He got an MRI & MRI seems OK. But he’s still pretty tight, & we don’t think he’s going to be able to play for a handful of days. If you can’t play for a handful of days … we’re going to IL him & get someone in here who can go,” Baldelli told reporters, including Dan Hayes of the Athletic.
Kepler’s posted a .212/.298/444 line this season with six home runs while manning right field. Larnach’s return is effectively a straight swap on the roster. He’s hit three home runs and posted a .221/.331/.356 line across 124 plate appearances this year, and should slot in as the team’s everyday right fielder with Kepler out.
AL Notes: Altuve, Rodon, Twins
Astros second baseman and franchise face Jose Altuve is set to begin a rehab assignment this evening with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sugar Land. Altuve has been on the injured list all season after undergoing surgery on his right thumb after suffering an injury during the World Baseball Classic this spring. Though Altuve was initially expected to miss at least the first two months of the season, his rehab process gone quite well, allowing him to begin a rehab assignment somewhat ahead of schedule.
That’s great news for the Astros, who have scuffled to a 19-18 record in the early going this season, behind both the Rangers and Angels in the AL West. While Mauricio Dubon has filled in adequately at second base during Altuve’s absence, his .287/.306/.357 slash line in 134 plate appearances this season pales in comparison to the .300/.387/.533 line Altuve put up last season en route to the third top-5 finish in AL MVP award voting of his career. Houston is certainly hoping their 33-year-old superstar can jog a lineup whose .672 OPS as a team ranks bottom three in the majors.
More from around the American League…
- Carlos Rodon has yet to throw a regular season pitch for the Yankees this season after signing a six-year, $162MM deal with the club this past offseason, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post provides some clarity on the lefty’s timetable for return. Heyman notes that with Rodon resuming throwing today after the cortisone injection he received earlier in the week, the 30-year-old figures to be six weeks away from his Yankees debut, should everything go according to plan. The sooner Rodon is able to return to the Yankees, the better, as the club has fallen to fifth place in the AL East with a 21-18 record to open the season. Rodon, who has posted a 2.67 ERA in 310 2/3 innings since the beginning of the 2021 season, would surely bolster a Yankees club that has been forced to rely on Clarke Schmidt, Jhony Brito, and Domingo German to fill out the club’s rotation behind Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes.
- Twins reliever Ronny Henriquez has been reinstated from the 15-day IL and optioned to Triple-A, per the club’s communication director Dustin Morse. Henriquez, 23 next month, pitched to a 2.31 ERA in 11 2/3 innings of work with the Twins as a rookie last season, striking out just 18% of batters faced, though he generated an impressive 52.8% groundball rate. That being said, Henriquez struggled during his rehab assignment this season, with a 4.76 ERA in 5 2/3 innings during that time. Henriquez will look to get right in the minors on a more permanent basis going forward while acting as bullpen depth for the Twins alongside Josh Winder.
Tyler Mahle To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Twins right-hander Tyler Mahle will undergo Tommy John surgery, manager Rocco Baldelli announced to reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). Mahle, who’s scheduled to become a free agent at season’s end, will miss the remainder of the 2023 campaign and the early portion of the 2024 season as well.
It’s a brutal blow for a Twins team that traded three prospects to acquire the final year-plus of Mahle’s arbitration eligibility at last summer’s trade deadline. The 28-year-old Mahle has pitched well for the Twins when healthy, notching a 3.64 ERA in nine starts, but shoulder troubles limited him to just four appearances post-trade last year and he’s now done for the season in 2023 after just five starts. Given his impending free agency, it could spell the end of Mahle’s time with the team entirely — hardly what the front office had in mind when sending Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Steven Hajjar to Cincinnati in that swap.
There’s still the possibility that the Twins could try to work out some type extension that’d keep Mahle in Minnesota beyond the current season. They’ve previously shown a willingness to work out that type of deal with pitchers rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Michael Pineda‘s original two-year, $20MM free-agent deal with the Twins was signed knowing he’d miss the bulk of that first year recovering from a Tommy John operation. Minnesota also extended right-hander Chris Paddack — another trade acquisition who wound up requiring Tommy John — on a three-year deal earlier this year. Paddack won’t return until this summer.
Regardless of where things go with Mahle’s contract status, his injury leaves an unquestionable hole in the Twins’ rotation. Minnesota is deeper in starting pitching this season than at any point in recent memory, but Mahle will now join Kenta Maeda on the injured list. Right-handers Bailey Ober and Louie Varland began the season with Triple-A St. Paul and might well have been guaranteed rotation spots with many other clubs, given their 2022 success. They’ll both likely be locked into the Twins’ starting staff now, following a strong trio of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray.
Further injuries to the group could truly begin to test the Twins’ depth. Prospects Simeon Woods Richardson and Brent Headrick have had tough starts in St. Paul — though Headrick excelled in a brief big league look — and former top prospect Jordan Balazovic is just now moving back into a starting role after his 2022 season was ruined by a knee injury. Prospects Josh Winder and Cole Sands were rotation options last year in Minnesota, but both have been primarily working out of the bullpen in 2023.
As it stands, the Twins’ starting five still looks like a strong group. Ober has been brilliant in 2023 (0.98 ERA and 18 1/3 innings through three starts) and now boasts a career 3.51 ERA in 166 2/3 MLB frames. Varland has a 4.32 ERA through three turns and, paired with last year’s handful of starts in his debut season, carries a 4.01 ERA in 42 2/3 big league innings. The previously mentioned Paddack isn’t yet ready to join the group, but he’s nearing the one-year anniversary of his own Tommy John operation. He could be ready for a return mid-summer, and the team is also hopeful that Maeda can avoid a prolonged stint on the injured list — though they’ve not yet placed a hard timetable on his return.
AL Notes: Moncada, Lewis, Glasnow
The White Sox could welcome third baseman Yoan Moncada back tomorrow, manager Pedro Grifol tells reporters, including James Fegan of The Athletic. It doesn’t seem to be confirmed yet but Moncada, who has been rehabbing with Triple-A Charlotte, won’t be playing with them tonight.
Moncada was off to a great start this year, hitting .308/.325/.564 through nine games before landing on the injured list with back tightness. It was later revealed that the pain was caused by a protruding disc that was touching a nerve. It seems he’s moved passed the issue, if the minor league numbers are any indication. He’s hit a comical .571/.667/1.071 through five rehab games for Charlotte. Getting Moncada back without missing a beat would be a tremendous boost for the Sox, who have also seen Moncada’s replacement Jake Burger hit the injured list recently.
2022 was a disappointing season for Moncada, who dealt with various injuries and hit just .212/.273/.353 in 104 games. But a healthy Moncada can be a gamechanger, as he showed with a .263/.375/.412 performance in 2021. With a 13-26 record, they’ll need a boost like that to help them get back into contention.
Some other notes from around the American League Central…
- Twins infielder Royce Lewis began a rehab assignment today with Double-A Wichita. As Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic writes, Lewis is expected to play both shortstop and third base during his rehab stint as he looks to recover from last year’s torn ACL. A shortstop for the majority of his career thus far, Lewis started spending a bit of time in the outfield last year in deference to Carlos Correa. Now that Correa is locked in as the shortstop in Minnesota for the foreseeable future, he probably has a better path to playing time at third, where the club just optioned José Miranda yesterday. The first overall pick in the 2017 draft, Lewis has long been considered one of the top prospects in baseball but has been frequently held back by injuries. He posted an excellent .300/.317/.550 batting line in his first 12 major league games last year before tearing the ACL in his right knee, the second year in a row he was felled by tearing that ligament.
- Rays’ fans were dealt a minor scare yesterday when Tyler Glasnow left his rehab outing after one inning because of some side soreness. The club maintained the removal was precautionary, and it doesn’t seem there’s any cause for concern. Manager Kevin Cash told reporters before tonight’s win over the Yankees that Glasgow’s tests came back clear and he’s expected to resume his rehab stint next Tuesday (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). The big righty is ticketed for one following rehab start as he works back from an oblique strain that sent him to the IL to open the season. He should be back in the MLB rotation thereafter if all goes as planned. The Rays have had no issues without Glasnow, sprinting to a 30-9 start to open the year.
Twins Option Jose Miranda To Triple-A
9:50am: The Twins announced that Farmer has been reinstated from the injured list, with Miranda indeed being optioned to St. Paul.
9:37am: Infielder Kyle Farmer is set to return to the Twins after missing roughly a month following a fastball to the jaw that required dental surgery, and La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports (via Twitter) that the Twins will open a spot on the roster by optioning third baseman Jose Miranda to Triple-A St. Paul.
Miranda, 24, was regarded as one of the sport’s top infield prospects prior to making his big league debut in 2022. He struggled immensely in the early portion of last year’s debut campaign but after a brief demotion to Triple-A, returned with a stout .286/.346/.451 batting line, 14 home runs and 20 doubles over his final 413 plate appearances. That looked to cement Miranda in the Twins’ long-term lineup — so much so that the club felt comfortable trading Gio Urshela this offseason as a means of clearing regular playing time for Miranda at the hot corner.
The 2023 season, however, has been a grind for Miranda. He’s taken 142 turns at the plate and thus far produced only a .220/.275/.318 batting line. His 16.2% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate are actually improvements over last year’s respective marks of 18% and 5.8%, but Miranda’s quality of contact has taken a dive. He’s seen his exit velocity and hard-hit rate both take a step back, and his ground-ball rate has spiked from 42.1% to 48.6%, which isn’t ideal for a player with below-average speed. He’s also popping up at a slightly higher clip in 2023 and making contact on pitches within the strike zone at an 85.8% rate — down from last year’s mark of 88.2%.
Aside from the spike in ground-balls, most of the dips in Miranda’s profile at the plate are relatively minor. But, taken in totality, it appears that a large number of small steps back have combined to suppress his production at the plate in the early stages of the season. The Twins, in all likelihood, will view this as an opportunity to give Miranda a mental reset over in St. Paul, with an eye toward getting him back on the big league roster sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, Farmer seems like the most obvious candidate to take up the mantle at third base, though utilitymen Willi Castro and Donovan Solano could also mix in at the position. The 32-year-old Farmer just went 4-for-13 with a homer and two doubles in a brief rehab assignment in St. Paul and is no stranger to the left side of the infield. He was the Reds’ primary shortstop in 2022 but also spent 299 innings at third base, drawing generally positive defensive marks at both positions while batting .255/.316/.386 in 583 plate appearances.
Farmer was off to a slow start in his first season with the Twins, batting .226/.286/.355 before that ill-placed fastball interrupted his season. However, in three prior seasons with Cincinnati, he turned in a .259/.316/.395 slash in just shy of 1200 plate appearances while doing plenty of damage against left-handed pitching — a glaring weakness so far for the 2023 version of the Twins (in part due to Farmer’s absence). The Twins have posted an awful .203/.280/.369 batting line against left-handed pitching this year, so if Farmer is able to play up to his typical standard (.286/.343/.487 versus lefties), he’ll provide a notable boost in that regard.
If Miranda isn’t able to right the ship in Triple-A, the Twins should soon have options beyond Farmer. Former No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis is nearing a minor league rehab assignment and, as a shortstop who’s been displaced by Carlos Correa, would make a natural option. He’s on the mend from his second right ACL tear in as many years, so even in the absence of Correa, it was up for debate whether that pair of injuries would allow him to handle shortstop at a high level moving forward.
The 23-year-old Lewis will surely need a rehab stint of some length after a year off the field, but he batted .300/.317/.550 through his first 12 big league games last year. Behind him, the Twins have 2022 first-round pick Brooks Lee rapidly climbing the big league ladder; he’s out to a .290/.350/.458 start in Double-A Wichita.
Grayson Greiner Announces Retirement
Catcher Grayson Greiner announced his retirement from professional baseball today, posting a message on Twitter. He then extends profound thanks to his family, friends, agents, teammates, coaches, team staff and fans. “While I’ve given almost my entire life to playing this game, I’m extremely excited for the next chapter of my life,” he says. “I’ll miss you, baseball.”
Greiner’s professional career began when he was selected by the Tigers in the third round of the 2014 draft out of the University of South Carolina, getting a signing bonus of $529.4K at that time. Unusually tall for a catcher at 6’6″, he was nonetheless considered a strong defender in his time as a prospect. He was also considered to have decent pop in his bat but wasn’t expected to be an especially strong bat-to-ball hitter or baserunner. Baseball America had him in the 20-25 range in their lists of top Tiger farmhands on three separate occasions, projecting him to be a solid backup catcher unless his bat surpassed expectations.
He was able to reach the big leagues in 2018, the first of five straight seasons where he made an appearance. He never really carved out a regular role, however, with his 58 games and 224 plate appearances in 2019 being career highs. Over those five years, he got a bit under a full season of work, getting into 139 games and taking 485 trips to the plate. He hit nine home runs but struck out in 32.2% of his plate appearances, producing a batting line of .201/.275/.307.
His time as a Tiger went through 2021, but he was outrighted off their roster after that season. He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks, getting into a couple of games as a COVID substitute but otherwise staying in the minors that year. Returning to free agency in the most recent offseason, he signed a minor league deal with the Twins but didn’t make the club out of camp. He was released and signed another minor league deal, this time with the Rockies. He got into 20 games for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes this year but hit just .186/.269/.286 before deciding it was time to hang up his spikes.
Greiner wasn’t a star, though by making it to the majors he realized a dream that many have but few can turn into reality. He got into 139 big league games, collecting 87 hits, nine homers, 42 runs scored and 46 batted in. MLBTR congratulates him on his career and wishes him the best of luck in whatever’s over the horizon.
Twins Select Dereck Rodríguez, Recall Alex Kirilloff
The Twins announced a series of roster moves today, selecting right-hander Dereck Rodríguez and recalling infielder/outfielder Alex Kirilloff from Triple-A St. Paul. In corresponding moves, outfielder Trevor Larnach was optioned to Triple-A while left-hander Caleb Thielbar has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right oblique strain. To open a 40-man spot for Rodríguez, righty Tyler Mahle was transferred to the 60-day IL.
Rodríguez, 31 next month, arrived in the big leagues as a starter in 2018, posting a 2.81 ERA in 118 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, his ERA jumped to 5.64 the next year and he’s largely been in a depth/swingman role since then. He made just two appearances in the big leagues in 2020 and none in 2021. Last year, he was with the Twins on a minor league deal and was twice selected to the big league club, once in April and once in September. In each case, he made one multi-inning relief stint and was promptly designated for assignment.
He and the organization seem to have have a good relationship, as he re-signed on another minor league deal this past winter even after all of that roster shuffling. He has a 4.66 ERA in 19 1/3 Triple-A innings this year and will give the club a fresh arm. They used five relievers yesterday, not including Thielbar, in their 12-inning game against the White Sox.
As for Kirilloff, he’s a former first round draft pick and was one of the top prospects in baseball not too long ago. Persistent wrist problems have frequently put him out of action and also diminished his production, but he seems to be on a tear right now. He began the year on the injured list and was optioned after returning to health, but is hitting .300/.426/.580 through 14 minor league games. He’ll get a chance to see if he can bring any of that up to the majors, hopefully staying healthy in the process.
As for Mahle, it was reported on the weekend that he would be shut down for four weeks due to a posterior impingement and a flexor pronator strain in his throwing arm. Even if he’s healthy after that shutdown period, he would then have to ramp back up to a full starter’s workload. It would have been difficult for him to return within 60 days but this move now makes that officially off the table.
Twins Option Alex Kirilloff To Triple-A After Injured List Activation
The Twins activated Alex Kirilloff from the 10-day injured list, but he won’t be joining the big league roster for his 2023 debut. Instead, Minnesota has optioned Kirilloff to Triple-A, where he will continue to play after already spending over a week in St. Paul as part of a minor league rehab assignment.
There was speculation last weekend that the Twins might take this route with Kirilloff, as the club’s hand was somewhat forced by the fact that Kirilloff was nearing the end of this allotted 20-day rehab period. Kiriloff has played in 11 games (seven at Triple-A, four in A-ball) during his rehab assignment, and at least performance-wise, he appears to be in good form — the outfielder/first baseman is hitting .316/.447/.658 over 47 total appearances. However, it was already known that Kirilloff didn’t have anything left to prove in the minors, given the strong numbers he has posted throughout his minor league career and his past status as one of baseball’s top prospects.
Kirilloff made his MLB debut in 2021, but his first two Major League seasons have come to an early end due to wrist surgeries. Kirilloff’s most recent procedure took place last August, and was described by The Athletic’s Dan Hayes as a “drastic” and “complex” surgery meant to fully correct the lingering wrist issues. As a result, the Twins took things slowly with Kirilloff in the offseason and throughout Spring Training as he recovered, and Kirilloff ended up not playing in any spring games.
With this in mind, the Twins likely want to see Kirilloff get at least a little closer to a Spring Training-esque workload before he makes his return to the majors. After a string of injuries earlier in the season, Minnesota is also now getting pretty close to full roster strength on the position player side, so there might be more benefit to Kirilloff getting regular at-bats in St. Paul rather than playing in a part-time basis with the Twins.
Twins’ Tyler Mahle To Be Shut Down For Four Weeks
Twins right-hander Tyler Mahle underwent an MRI today to determine the nature of an elbow impingement, and the results aren’t promising. Manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Dan Hayes of The Athletic) that Mahle will be shut down for the next four weeks due to both a posterior impingement and a flexor pronator strain.
Assuming Mahle emerges from that shutdown period in good condition, it will still likely take a couple of weeks for him to rehab and rebuild his strength back up to regular levels, so the Twins might be without one of their rotation stalwarts until late June. Kenta Maeda also went to the 15-day IL just two days ago, but while Maeda’s strained right triceps issue seems slightly less serious, it seems like Maeda could also miss a big portion of May.
The Twins have an off-day on Monday, so Mahle’s own IL placement will likely be held off until prior to the team’s game against the White Sox on Tuesday. Bailey Ober was already called up from Triple-A to act as Maeda’s replacement in the rotation, so Minnesota will again have to dip into its starter depth. The silver lining might be that the Twins are better equipped than most teams to withstand rotation injuries, since Louie Varland is also on hand at Triple-A and seems the likeliest candidate to be called up in Mahle’s place. Simeon Woods Richardson and Brent Headrick might also be options, as both are on Minnesota’s 40-man roster.
The injury is a tough setback for Mahle, who looked good in posting a 3.16 ERA over his first five starts and 25 2/3 innings of the season. The righty’s 27.5% strikeout rate and 4.9% walk rate were both above league average, and the latter figure is of particular note given how control has often been an issue for Mahle throughout his six previous MLB seasons. A .266 BABIP and 80% strand rate have contributed to Mahle’s good numbers, but his 3.50 SIERA isn’t too far north of his actual 3.16 ERA.
In the bigger picture, Mahle is a free agent after the season, so any kind of lengthy injury layoff could certainly hamper his chances of maximizing his value on his next contract. It doesn’t help that Mahle also missed a big chunk of the 2022 season due to shoulder problems, as he pitched only 28 1/3 innings after July 2 due to three separate IL trips. Only time will tell if Mahle will be able to be able to return from this current injury in relatively short order and in good form, but an extended run of good health and quality pitching after his return could line Mahle up for a hefty multi-year deal this winter.
AL Central Notes: White Sox, Mahle, Skubal
The White Sox are set to get some much needed reinforcements early this week, as manager Pedro Grifol tells reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that both shortstop Tim Anderson and infielder Hanser Alberto are expected to return from the injured list on Tuesday.
That’s great news for the club, as the White Sox have begun their 2023 campaign with a worrisome 7-21 record that places them tied for last in the AL Central, nine games back of the division-leading Twins. A two time All Star who won the batting title in 2019, Anderson is one of the club’s marquee players. From 2019 to 2021 Anderson posted 11.6 fWAR in 295 games, a pace of nearly 6.4 fWAR per 162 games, thanks to solid defense at shortstop paired with a .322/.349/.495 slash line that was good for a 126 wRC+. That being said, Anderson missed three months of action in 2022 due to multiple injuries and didn’t reach those same standards when on the field, posting just a 110 wRC+ in 79 games along with a .093 ISO that was far below the .173 he managed during his peak years.
Even after a relative down season last year, however, Anderson figures to be one of the club’s best players this season, and any hope of a turnaround for the White Sox after this brutal start to the 2023 campaign likely rests in large part on his shoulders. In coming off the IL, he’ll be joined by Alberto, who figures to join Chicago’s bench mix alongside Romy Gonzalez, Lenyn Sosa, Gavin Sheets, and Adam Haseley. Despite a career wRC+ of just 77, Alberto is in his eighth year in the majors thanks to his versatility, which has allowed him to play all over the diamond except for behind the plate and in center field, and his penchant for avoiding strikeouts, as the 30-year-old veteran has punched out in just 12.2% of his 1,406 plate appearances in his career to this point.
More from around the AL Central…
- Twins right-hander Tyler Mahle underwent an MRI on his arm after he was diagnosed with an elbow impingement earlier this week. Manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters, including MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park, that the team will have more details soon but that Mahle is expected to miss his next start at the very least. It’s not currently known if an injured list stint will be necessary for Mahle, who has a 3.16 ERA in five starts so far in 2023. The Twins have a variety of options for a spot start on the 40-man roster if necessary, including Simeon Woods-Richardson, Cole Sands, Louie Varland and Brent Headrick.
- Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal, who underwent flexor surgery last August, threw off a mound for the first time since his surgery yesterday, as noted by MLive’s Evan Woodberry. Everything went well during the bullpen, during which Skubal threw 15 fastballs. Skubal doesn’t figure to return from injury any time soon, but the positive update is nonetheless great news for the Tigers, who also lost fellow youngsters Casey Mize and Matt Manning before the season began. 2022 was something of a breakout season for Skubal, as the young lefty posted a 3.52 ERA and 2.96 FIP in 117 2/3 innings of work.