Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Newsstand

Anthony Rendon To Undergo Season-Ending Wrist Surgery

By | at

6:17PM: The Angels have officially placed Rendon on the 10-day IL, and called up infielder Jack Mayfield from Triple-A.  Rendon will probably be held back from a 60-day IL placement until the Halos have need for an extra 40-man roster spot.

Angels team trainer Mike Frostad also gave reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger) some details on Rendon’s status, saying that Rendon will need 4-6 months to recover.  Rendon has a subluxed tendon, and tried to play through the discomfort, though it was known that surgery would eventually be needed to fix the problem.

4:10PM: Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon will undergo surgery on his right wrist next week, the team announced.  The procedure will sideline Rendon for the remainder of the 2022 season.

Rendon spent two weeks on the injured list due to soreness in that same wrist earlier this season, and he has missed the last couple of games after re-aggravating the problem.  Angels manager Phil Nevin intimated that Rendon was a pinch-hitting possibility as recently as yesterday, so today’s news comes as an unwelcome surprise, and an indication that further testing revealed a more severe problem with Rendon’s wrist.

This will mark the second straight season cut short by surgery for Rendon, as he underwent a hip procedure last August that prematurely ended his 2021 season.  That year had already been shortened by multiple trips to the IL for groin, knee, and hamstring injuries, with Rendon’s hip ultimately bearing the brunt as he tried to compensate for those other lower-body problems.

Rendon will finish the season with a .228/.324/.383 slash line and five home runs over 188 plate appearances.  While this still works out to above-average offensive production (106 wRC+), it is far below the standard Rendon yet during his heyday with the Nationals, or even in his first Angels season in 2020.  Since the start of the 2021 campaign, Rendon has hit only .235/.327/.383 in 437 PA, and played in only 103 games.

The Angels signed Rendon to a seven-year, $245MM free agent deal in December 2019, and apart from Rendon’s strong performance in the shortened 2020 campaign, this deal is already showing signs of joining the Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Justin Upton contracts in the Angels’ recent history of expensive misfires.  Rendon still has four more years to make good on the deal, of course, but he turned 32 earlier this month and now has two lost seasons under his belt.

Rendon’s injury continues a nightmarish stretch for the Angels.  In possession of a 27-17 record and a playoff berth on May 24, the Halos have since lost 18 of 21 games, including a 14-game losing streak.  Manager Joe Maddon was already fired, and the Angels now face an uphill climb just to break their string of losing seasons, let alone get back into the wild card hunt.  While it is still mid-June and plenty of the season remains, losing Rendon creates yet another hole in an already shaky roster.

Matt Duffy and Tyler Wade figure to handle third base duties in Rendon’s absence, which further weakens second base since that duo and Luis Rengifo were juggling time at the keystone.  David Fletcher was placed on the 60-day IL in the aftermath of adductor surgery, and in a best-case scenario would return around the All-Star break.  Jack Mayfield, Jose Rojas and Kean Wong are also in the organization, but are imperfect solutions to an already-shaky infield picture.  Should the Halos get back into the playoff picture, any of shortstop, second, or third base could be target areas for the trade deadline, depending on who was available and how Anaheim shuffled its other personnel around the diamond.

Tigers To Promote Riley Greene

By and | at

The Tigers are promoting top prospect Riley Greene, according to various reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News). Outfielder Austin Meadows is going on the COVID-19 injured list in a corresponding move.

Had it not been for a fractured right foot suffered in the last few days of Spring Training, Greene was on track to make his Major League debut back on Opening Day.  Instead, the 21-year-old has to work through injury rehab and then 17 minor league games (15 at Triple-A, two in A-ball on a rehab assignment) before officially being deemed ready for his first taste of the Show.

Detroit selected Greene with the fifth overall pick of the 2019 draft, and he has since been a fixture on top-prospect rankings, including a consensus top-six placement heading into the 2022 campaign.  The Athletic’s Keith Law considered Greene as the third-best prospect in baseball, with Baseball America (4th), MLB Pipeline (5th), and Baseball Prospectus (6th) not far behind.

Greene only had an okay start to his pro career in 2019 at age 18, and then naturally didn’t play at all in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season.  Returning to the field last year, Greene hit .301/.387/.534 with 24 home runs and 16 steals over 558 plate appearances at the Double-A (373 PA) and Triple-A (185) levels.

There is plenty of five-tool potential for Greene, who was already regarded as having “elite bat speed” (as per Baseball America’s scouting report) even before he started to display more power at the plate in 2021.  According to BA, Greene’s “physical gifts and advanced feel at the plate make him a potential plus-plus hitter who contends for batting titles and he has a chance to grow into 20-plus home run power.”  Greene adds to that offensive potential by being a stolen-base threat thanks to his plus speed, and that same speed has also helped him become a solid defensive center fielder.  He could ultimately be best suited to a corner outfield position, and Greene also has a strong throwing arm that would help him in right field.

As if there wasn’t enough pressure on a 21-year-old making his MLB debut, Greene also finds himself cast as perhaps a turning point (or savior) of what has been a disastrous season for the Tigers.  After years of rebuilding, the Tigers looked to be turning the corner with young talent on the way up, and they augmented that core of prospects with veteran additions like Javier Baez, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Meadows during the offseason.

Instead, Detroit has only a 24-39 record, as the club has been hampered injuries to almost every member of the rotation and a near-total lack of hitting.  Tarik Skubal, Beau Brieske, and Alex Faedo have helped keep the rotation afloat, but the Tigers are batting a collective .220/.275/.315.  Harold Castro’s modest 114 wRC+ leads all Detroit batters who have received regular or semi-regular playing time.

Against this backdrop, it is probably already too late for Greene to spark any sort of miracle turn-around.  Instead, the outfielder will try to hit the ground running and make a good showing for himself in his rookie season, in order to give the Tigers something to look forward to as they reshuffle the deck for 2023.  While Spencer Torkelson has struggled in his first MLB campaign, the Tigers’ long-term plan is to have Greene and Torkelson as lineup mainstays for years to come.

Meadows has hit .250/.347/.328 over 147 PA this season, and is still looking for his first homer of 2022 after mashing 27 balls out of the park with the Rays last year.  Meadows also spent close to four weeks battling vertigo-related symptoms, and was only activated off the regular injured list on June 7.

Ozzie Albies Suffers Foot Fracture

By | at

The Braves announced that second baseman Ozzie Albies has fractured his left foot. He departed tonight’s game against the Nationals in the fifth inning after suffering the injury.

Albies stumbled out of the batter’s box after hitting a ground-ball to shortstop. He was able to walk off the field under his own power, but he immediately departed the game and initial x-rays revealed a fracture. The club will no doubt provide a more specific timetable for his recovery over the coming days, but it’s likely he’s in for an extended absence.

The switch-hitting Albies has started 61 of Atlanta’s 62 games at the keystone. The lone other start went to utilityman Orlando Arcia, who’d seem to be the likeliest candidate to take over the position moving forward. Aside from the starting infield of Matt Olson, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley, the only other primary infielders on the Atlanta 40-man roster are first baseman/DH Mike Ford and recent waiver claim Kramer Robertson. The latter is capable of playing second base but has exactly one MLB plate appearance under his belt.

Arcia has hit well in limited playing time off the bench this season, but he’s been a below-average offensive player in every other year of his career. The former Brewer shortstop is a lifetime .244/.295/.365 hitter in a bit more than 2000 plate appearances at the big league level. Albies is a two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner who has been above-average at the dish in every full season of his career.

Albies had been off to a bit of a slow start this year, as he owns a personal-worst .244/.289/.405 line through 263 trips to the plate. He’d rated well defensively, though, and his career track record suggested he was likely to turn the corner offensively. Those efforts will now be put on hold.

The Braves have been playing as well as anyone in the sport over the past few weeks. They’re amidst an 11-game win streak that has pushed them to 34-27 entering play Monday. A slow start coupled with the Mets’ excellent first couple months still has Atlanta five and a half games back in the NL East standings, but the defending champions currently occupy the league’s third and final Wild Card spot.

Depending on how long Albies is expected to miss, general manager Alex Anthopoulos and his staff could turn to the trade market for help. Players such as Brandon Drury (Reds), Rougned Odor (Orioles) and César Hernández (Nationals) are impending free agents on non-competitive teams and aren’t going to demand a huge trade return. If the club looks internally for depth behind Arcia, non-roster veterans Phil Gosselin, Hernán Pérez and Pat Valaika are at Triple-A Gwinnett, as is recent waiver claim Joe Dunand. Gosselin, in particular, is hitting well with the Stripers this season.

Tigers Place Eduardo Rodriguez On Restricted List

By | at

The Tigers announced this afternoon that starting pitcher Eduardo Rodríguez is going on the restricted list. The club released a brief statement from general manager Al Avila accompanying the announcement, which reads: “Eduardo Rodríguez has informed the Club that due to personal matters he will not rejoin the team at this time. As a result, Eduardo has been placed on the restricted list until further notice.”

The team hasn’t provided any further details, nor is there any public timetable for his return. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch addressed the matter with reporters (including Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press) shortly after the announcement, stating “The restricted list part is the relationship with the player and the organization. I knew he wasn’t going to make his start, and he wasn’t going to pitch in the minor leagues or the major leagues at this time. This was inevitable.” Hinch added he was “looking forward to (Rodríguez’s) return, whenever that is” and would “continue to support him.”

Rodríguez signed a five-year, $77MM guarantee this past offseason. That marked the first aggressive strike of an active winter for Avila and his front office, with the southpaw brought in from the Red Sox to hopefully anchor a strong starting staff. Injuries have dashed those hopes, however, as the club has lost Casey Mize to Tommy John surgery and been without Matt Manning for an extended period of time because of shoulder and biceps issues. Back-end starters Tyler Alexander and Michael Pineda have also missed time, as has Rodríguez himself.

The 29-year-old southpaw has been out of action since May 22, when he landed on the injured list due to a ribcage strain. He’d begun a rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo last week and seemed on track to rejoin the rotation in fairly short order, but he’ll be away from the team as he attends to his personal concerns.

Players on the restricted list are not paid, so Rodríguez will forfeit his salary for whatever time he spends away from the team. He also won’t count against the club’s 40-man roster.

Diamondbacks, Dallas Keuchel Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

TODAY: Keuchel’s deal actually contains three opt-out dates, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.  The three dates are June 25, July 3, and July 11.

JUNE 6: The Diamondbacks have agreed to terms on a minor league contract with free agent lefty Dallas Keuchel, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll head to Triple-A for the time being but has an eventual opt-out date worked into the deal if he’s not added to the MLB roster by that time. Keuchel is represented by the Boras Corporation.

It’s a no-risk deal for the D-backs, who’ll owe only the prorated league minimum to Keuchel for any time spent in the Majors. The remaining balance of his $18MM salary will still be paid by the White Sox, who released him late last month. The Sox are also still on the hook for the $1.5MM buyout on Keuchel’s 2023 option.

Keuchel is headed to the minors for now, but the new agreement reconnects him with D-backs pitching coach Brent Strom, who was Keuchel’s pitching coach during his peak years with the Astros. At least for now, the two won’t be working side-by-side on a daily basis with Strom on the big league staff, but the connection quite likely played a role in the mutual interest between player and team.

The 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner, Keuchel was a force atop the Houston rotation from 2014-18, pitching to a 3.28 ERA with a 20.2% strikeout rate, a strong 6.4% walk rate and a sky-high 60% ground-ball rate over the life of 950 1/3 innings. That included his standout 2015 campaign, wherein Keuchel paced the American League in wins (20), shutouts (two) and innings pitched (232) — all while pitching to a career-best 2.48 ERA. He hasn’t replicated that success since, but that was one of three sub-3.00 ERAs that Keuchel posted in a four-year span.

Despite the impressive resume with Houston, Keuchel’s first trip through the free-agent process didn’t pan out as hoped. Saddled with the burden of draft-pick compensation after rejecting a qualifying offer from the Astros, Keuchel wound up waiting until after the 2019 draft to sign a prorated one-year deal with the Braves. (In waiting that long, he shed the draft-pick compensation provision.)

It was a surprising scene, likely due to a combination of multiple factors. The draft compensation undoubtedly played a role, and Keuchel surely hit the market with lofty multi-year goals that many teams found unreasonable. He’d also had multiple IL stints since that Cy Young year and reached the market on the heels of a 2018 season that saw him post his lowest strikeout and ground-ball rates since his 2012 rookie season.

Keuchel still reeled in a prorated $20MM salary on that deal (about $13MM), and he pitched well down the stretch with Atlanta. In 112 2/3 frames that year, he notched a 3.75 ERA with a revitalized 60.1% grounder rate. It was enough for the White Sox to guarantee Keuchel $55.5MM on a three-year deal as they emerged from a lengthy rebuilding effort.

The first season of that deal proved to be an overwhelming success, as Keuchel turned in a career-best 1.99 ERA over 11 starts (63 1/3 innings) during the Covid-shortened 2020 season. Keuchel got out to a strong start in Year Two of the deal as well, logging a 3.78 ERA through his first 14 starts of the season, but he fell into a disastrous slump shortly thereafter and has yet to really recover.

Keuchel has made 24 starts since June 20 of last year, allowing runs in 23 of them. During that time, he’s pitched to a 7.02 ERA with a bottom-of-the-barrel 12.4% strikeout rate against an elevated 10.2% walk rate. He’s still inducing grounders at a better-than-average 52.2% clip, but that’s a good ways off from his peak levels. It also bears mention that Keuchel has averaged just 87.8 mph on his heater during that span — nearly three miles per hour slower than the 90.4 mph he averaged during that Cy Young-winning season.

Arizona’s top four starters this season have been anywhere from solid to excellent, as each of Zac Gallen (2.40 ERA), Madison Bumgarner (3.31), Merrill Kelly (3.66) and Zach Davies (4.18) have made at least 10 starts and totaled at least 54 innings. The fifth spot has been more of a challenge to fill. Luke Weaver moved to the bullpen earlier in the year and hit the injured list not long after. Humberto Castellanos (nine starts), Tyler Gilbert (tw0) and Caleb Smith (one — which was only one inning) have made the remainder of the team’s starts and generally fared poorly. Castellanos recently hit the injured list with an elbow strain.

Keuchel will give the D-backs some depth to slot in behind that group. He’ll join fellow big league veteran Dan Straily, who has struggled on a minor league deal of his own following a big showing in South Korea, as a non-roster player down in Reno. The Snakes also have the aforementioned Gilbert, righty Luis Frias and former top prospect Corbin Martin on the 40-man roster as options down in Triple-A.

Walker Buehler Likely Out Two To Three Months With Flexor Strain

By | at

11:58PM: Buehler will be shut down from throwing for 6-8 weeks, Roberts told Jack Harris and other reporters, as the MRI revealed a flexor strain.  While Buehler will have to rebuild his arm strength almost from scratch afterwards, Roberts does believe the righty will be able to pitch again in 2022.

4:30PM: After Walker Buehler left yesterday’s game with discomfort in his right elbow, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and The L.A. Times’ Jack Harris) that Buehler will be placed on the 15-day injured list.  The team has officially announced the transaction, listing Buehler’s placement as due to a right forearm strain.

Buehler is currently undergoing an MRI to determine the extent and nature of the injury, but Roberts said that the right-hander will miss “a good bit of time.”  Right-hander Michael Grove will be called up to take Buehler’s place on the active roster.  Buehler underwent Tommy John surgery in 2015, and though he has avoided any serious elbow/forearm issues since, it is naturally a concern to see Buehler again sidelined with any sort of related injury.  More will be known once the MRI results are revealed, as it isn’t yet clear if Buehler’s season (or beyond) could possibly be in jeopardy.

At the very least, the Dodgers will have a big vacancy to fill in the starting rotation, even if Buehler hasn’t been quite his ace-level self in 2022.  Buehler has a 4.02 ERA over 65 innings, with a very solid 6.2% walk rate but a below-average 21.2% strikeout rate and underwhelming Statcast numbers.  The biggest problem is Buehler’s four-seam fastball, which was at times a dominant plus pitch in 2018-21, but batters have been teeing off on the four-seamer this year.  The velocity has dropped off to an average of 95.2mph, though it isn’t that far below Buehler’s career average velo of 96.1mph on his four-seamer.

The Dodgers could have a rotation replacement for Buehler in relatively short order, as Roberts said that Andrew Heaney is set for another rehab start on Tuesday and could be activated from the IL for the Dodgers’ game with the Guardians on June 19.  Los Angeles also has off-days on both Monday and Thursday, so a fifth starter won’t be immediately necessary in the short term.

In the bigger picture, of course, losing Buehler for a significant amount of time will certainly increase the Dodgers’ focus on adding starting pitching at the deadline.  While L.A. has gotten its typically strong results from its rotation this year, pitching was already expected to be a target area, to add more depth and quality to the starting five.  President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman hasn’t been shy about adding major names (including such star pitchers as Max Scherzer or Yu Darvish) to the roster at past trade deadlines, so anything from depth additions to blockbuster deals could be on the table for the Dodgers prior to August 2.

Buehler is sidelined just as Clayton Kershaw returns from his own IL stint, leaving the Dodgers still short of their ideal top of the rotation.  Kershaw, Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Anderson, and Heaney now form the current starting five, with Dustin May (TJ surgery) and Danny Duffy (flexor tendon surgery) expected to return at some point later in the season.  Pitchers like Grove, Ryan Pepiot, and Mitch White have also gotten some spot starts this season, and could be called upon again for more rotation work or potentially relief roles depending on how the club opts to deploy any of these hurlers.

Casey Mize To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By | at

Tigers right-hander Casey Mize will be undergoing Tommy John surgery. Manager A.J. Hinch gave the news to reporters, including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News, who relays that Mize’s ulnar collateral ligament is not torn, but is stretched to such a degree that it no longer has elasticity.

The news obviously comes as a disappointment for both Mize and the team. The first overall selection of the 2018 draft, Mize has long been seen as one of the best prospects in baseball and a key component of the Tigers’ future success. Last year was his first full season in the majors, with Mize throwing 150 1/3 innings with a 3.71 ERA, 19.3% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 48.1% ground ball rate.

Based on the work of Mize and fellow young starters Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal, the club felt it was time to get aggressive and spend some money on talented veterans to supplement their young core. They gave multi-year deals to Javier Baez, Eduardo Rodriguez and Andrew Chafin this offseason, hoping to making the transition from rebuilding to competing.

Unfortunately, just about everything has gone wrong in Detroit this year, with multiple players missing significant time due to injury. The starting rotation has been hit particularly hard, with Mize, Manning and Rodriguez all being held back to various maladies, as well as Tyler Alexander and Michael Pineda.

In the case of Mize, it was hoped that he could take a step forward in his development this year, his age-25 season. Instead, he was only able to make a pair of starts before landing on the injured list back in April. In the days after that IL placement, Mize began a throwing program, with the Tigers seemingly breathing a sigh of relief that a major absence had been avoided. However, over the subsequent months, repeated attempts to begin throwing ultimately led to further discomfort and shutdowns.

Instead of the breakout year many had hoped for, 2022 will go down as a lost season for Mize. 2023 will be a question mark as well, given the usual 12-18 months of recovery that are generally required to recovery from Tommy John surgery. Since Mize enters into salary arbitration in the 2023-24 offseason, his future earnings will certainly be impacted by his lack of a platform over the next two years, though Mize did already get some early-career financial comfort in the form of his $7.5MM draft signing bonus.

In the short term, this will hurt the chances of the Tigers recovering from their miserable start to the season. They went 10-23 over their first 33 games but have gone a much more respectable 13-10 since then. The resulting 23-33 record is still not great, but they’re only six games out of a postseason spot in this year’s expanded playoffs. With so many starters on the shelf, the club has been relying on unproven youngsters such as Alex Faedo, Elvin Rodriguez and Beau Brieske, which will have to continue for the time being.

In the long run, Mize will be following Spencer Turnbull down the Tommy John path, as he also underwent the procedure last year. By the time Mize returns in late 2023 or early 2024, it’s possible that the Tigers can finally have the elite rotation they dreamed of with Mize, Turnbull, Manning, Skubal and Eduardo Rodriguez all healthy, with Faedo, Brieske, Elvin Rodriguez, Joey Wentz and other hurlers working their way into the mix as well, though all of that will have to wait.

Andrew Kittredge To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By | at

Rays’ right-hander Andrew Kittredge will be undergoing Tommy John surgery, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

This news comes as a very unfortunate development for Kittredge and the team. The righty had been placed on the 15-day injured list just yesterday, with manager Kevin Cash telling reporters that Kittredge needed a procedure to remove a loose body from his elbow. Though he was expected to miss at least a month, it appears that further testing has revealed the situation is actually much more dire, with Kittredge now to miss the remainder of the season, and likely much of 2023 as well.

Last year was a tremendous breakout for the reliever, as he threw 71 2/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 53.5% ground ball rate. That success earned him a key role in the bullpen, as he eventually earned eight saves and seven holds. This year, he has been slowed by a few injuries, as he also spent time on the IL due to a back issue earlier this year. Through 20 frames on the season, his ERA has gone up to 3.15 while his strikeout rate has fallen all the way to 18.7%.

For Kittredge personally, it’s very unfortunate given his late-bloomer status. He didn’t make his major league debut until he was 27 and is currently 32 years old. He finished last season with three years and 70 days of service time, qualifying for arbitration for the first time. He and the team agreed to a $1.85MM salary for this year. With another season like he had in 2021, he could have earned himself a nice raise going forward. Unfortunately, this mostly lost season will limit him in that department.

For the Rays, it’s an unfortunate blow to a bullpen that has already taken a few punches this year. Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks, JT Chargois and Chris Mazza are all already on the 60-day IL due to significant injuries and will now be joined by Kittredge whenever the Rays need to open up a spot on the 40-man roster. They also recently lost J.P. Feyereisen to the 15-day IL. Despite missing those players as well as a bunch of starting pitchers, the club enters play tonight with a record of 34-23, placing them in the American League’s top Wild Card spot.

Royce Lewis Diagnosed With Torn ACL Again, To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

By | at

The Twins announced to reporters, including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com, that Royce Lewis has a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, the same ligament he had surgically repaired last year, which will require another surgery. The estimated recovery time is 12 months.

This comes as brutal news for both Lewis and the team, as the youngster already went through this whole process a year ago. It was February of last year that Lewis underwent the procedure the first time, which wiped out the entirety of his 2021 season. This year, he was able to finish the long journey back to health and showed tremendous signs of promise over the first few months of the season.

With Carlos Correa missing some time this year, Lewis was able to make his major league debut. Although he was optioned when Correa returned, he eventually came back with the aim of being a super utility player of sorts, not letting Correa’s presence stop him from getting into the lineup. Such a plan was feasible because Lewis was hitting so incredibly well on the year. In 12 MLB games, he hit .300/.317/.550 for a 148 wRC+, while also slashing .313/.405/.534 in Triple-A for a wRC+ of 151.

Unfortunately, the very day he was recalled, he left the game with a bone bruise in his right knee, which will now finish his season. Unlike his recovery from surgery last year, Lewis will be on the major league injured list, thus entitling him to MLB pay and service time. Since he was in the minors for the first month of the season and then another stretch when he was optioned in May, he will come up short of earning a full year of service. He will still have a shot at earning Super Two status and qualifying for arbitration after the 2024 season, though future optional assignments could also change that trajectory. For his part, Lewis seems to be staying positive about the whole situation, telling Park that he’s not afraid of the surgery because he’s already been through it before.

For the Twins, they will now be without one of their most exciting young players, who was capable of covering shortstop for Carlos Correa but was also spending some time at third base and in the outfield in order to get into the lineup when Correa was healthy. Correa’s contract affords him the ability to opt-out of his contract at the end of this year, something he is expected to do. Many had considered Lewis to be the heir apparent at shortstop, with his dalliances at other positions a temporary measure just for this season. Now the club will likely go into the winter with less certainty around their shortstop situation next year, with the potential that neither Correa nor Lewis will man the position when Opening Day 2023 rolls around.

Blue Jays To Promote Gabriel Moreno

By | at

The Blue Jays are calling up top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno, as first reported by Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com adds that Moreno’s call-up is likely to coincide with Toronto’s upcoming weekend series in Detroit. No 40-man moves will be required to facilitate Moreno’s debut, as the young catcher was added to the team’s roster back in 2020.

Signed as an international free agent in 2016, the 22-year-old Moreno has seen his stock soar after an excellent 2021 showing. Entering the 2022 season both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Moreno as the seventh best prospect in baseball after previously missing top prospect lists (and the 2020 season) entirely.

Through 32 games last season at Double-A, Moreno hit an otherworldly .373/.441/.651 with eight home runs and a manageable 22 strikeouts. A right thumb fracture limited the amount of regular season reps given to the Jays’ top prospect, but it didn’t stop him from receiving a promotion to Triple-A at the end of the year. An additional 100 plate appearances of .329/.410/.494 hitting in the Arizona Fall League, against older competition no less, only helped to reinforce the hype.

Moreno’s 2022 season hasn’t been quite as powerful as last season’s performance, but a .323/.377/.406 showing against Triple-A competition was clearly enough to impress Toronto’s top brass. Those 35 games will net Moreno his first big league call-up, but it remains to be seen what position he’ll be manning when the decision becomes official.

Primarily a catcher with a strong arm, Moreno has received the odd start at DH and third base in recent years to get his right-handed bat into teams’ lineups. With Alejandro Kirk producing at an elite level from behind the plate and offseason acquisition Matt Chapman locked in at third, there doesn’t appear to be a slam dunk place on the field for Moreno to helm.

Catcher Zack Collins was recalled just yesterday to fill in for injured catcher Danny Jansen (who was having a strong season in his own right), a move that perhaps signals the three catchers will shuttle between catcher and DH duties for the time being. If nothing else, Moreno’s call-up figures to place some pressure on a number of bench players and outfielders (who have seen reps at the DH position) who have underperformed offensively thus far.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top