Pirates To Promote Mitch Keller
The Pirates are set to promote top pitching prospect Mitch Keller, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reports. Keller will start one of the Pirates’ games against the Reds on Monday. The right-hander is already on the Pirates’ 40-man roster, so they won’t have to make a corresponding move in that regard.
Now 23, Keller joined the Pirates as a second-round pick (No. 64 overall) in the 2014 draft and has blossomed into a premier prospect during his time in the organization. MLB.com (No. 21), ESPN’s Keith Law (No. 24), Baseball America (No. 30) and FanGraphs (No. 37) each consider Keller one of baseball’s 40 finest farmhands. MLB.com notes Keller possesses a “plus 11-to-5 downer curve,” and BA lauds his “easy,” high-velocity fastball.
Keller’s primary offerings, not to mention his changeup and a newfound slider, have helped him ascend through the minors, though he’s still fairly new to the Triple-A level. He got to Pittsburgh’s top affiliate in Indianapolis for the first time last year, when he threw 52 1/3 innings, and has added another 47 this season. In those 99 1/3 frames, Keller owns a 4.17 ERA with 10.2 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9.
In his first taste of big league action, Keller will slot into a rotation which has been a mixed bag in 2019. The Pirates have gotten impressive production from Trevor Williams, Joe Musgrove and Jordan Lyles. But Williams is on the injured list, as is Jameson Taillon – the Pirates’ usual No. 1 starter. Taillon hasn’t pitched since May 1 because of an elbow injury and won’t return until at least July. Meanwhile, Chris Archer hasn’t performed to expectations since Pittsburgh acquired him in a blockbuster trade with Tampa Bay last summer. Likewise, Nick Kingham, Steven Brault and Montana DuRapau have struggled over a combined six starts.
Pittsburgh’s injuries and the issues in its rotation behind Musgrove and Lyles helped create an opening for Keller. It’s unclear how long Keller will stay up, but for now, the Pirates are left to hope he’ll come out firing and aid in their quest to earn a playoff spot.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Astros To Call Up Derek Fisher
Given yesterday’s news of George Springer‘s hamstring injury, it seemed likely that one of the many outfielders thriving for Houston’s Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock would join the big league club shortly. Sure enough, Derek Fisher is getting the nod, per The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan (via Twitter).
Fisher gets the call over fellow prospects Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, and Myles Straw. Of the four, only Alvarez has yet to use an option this season as he is not on the 40-man roster. This will be Fisher’s second stint with the big league club in 2019, having appeared briefly in back-to-back games on May 4th and 5th. In both games he entered late as a defensive replacement, grounding out in his only at-bat. Fisher last made the Astros top prospects list in 2016 when MLB.com clocked him at #5. He has since been ineligible, as he gained rookie eligibility the year after, hitting .212/.307/.356 across 166 plate appearances for the eventual World Series champs.
There’s still lots to like about Fisher, 25, who has raked to the tune of .314/.379/.555 in 33 games for Round Rock this season, while he’s mostly provided good power and a measured approach throughout his minor league career. The hope is that Springer’s injury is a short-term one remedied with a couple weeks rest, which could play into Houston’s decision to tab Fisher over Tucker or Alvarez, as Fisher is best prepped for an up-and-down style call-up, given his experience in doing so. Even with Springer sidelined, Fisher will have to compete for outfield at-bats with Michael Brantley, Josh Reddick, Jake Marisnick and Tony Kemp. Of course, about half of Springer’s time this season has been in centerfield, where Fisher far outpaces either Tucker or Alvarez.
With that in mind, however, Marisnick likely has the most ground to gain while Springer heals. Marisnick, 28, has actually seen the bulk of the playing time in center this season, starting 26 games and appearing in 35 of 52 overall. Metrics peg him as quite good out there as well, with 4 DRS and 2.3 UZR thus far while posting consistently positive defensive numbers since his debut in 2013. Though he’s long been a toolsy and useful piece for the Astros, he is already enjoying a mini-breakout in 2019, punching well above his weight at .284/.340/.558 worth 1.2 fWAR – not too far off his season-high number of 1.8 fWAR (in 2015).
It’s certainly an embarrassment of riches for the Astros, who should have no trouble covering for Springer in his absence. Still, it’s unfortunate for the 29-year-old who is off to the best start of his career at 2.7 fWAR via a .308/.389/.643 slash line and power surge evidence by 17 home runs and a somewhat ridiculous .335 ISO. Fisher could certainly be auditioning for another big league ball club during this stint, though there’s room for everyone long-term should Houston hold onto their prospects, as Brantley, Springer, Reddick and Marisnick could all depart via free agency after the 2020 season.
Blue Jays Promote Cavan Biggio
May 24: The Blue Jays have made Biggio’s promotion official.
May 23: The Blue Jays will promote infield/corner outfield prospect Cavan Biggio, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to report on Twitter. He’ll be joined in the majors by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
With a need for two roster spots, the Toronto organization will send down two players. Outfielder Billy McKinney and infielder Richard Urena will be optioned out.
It’s fun to see Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. share a MLB roster. They’ll likely be joined before too long by fellow top prospect Bo Bichette, at which time the Jays will be in position to compile a fearsome father-son softball team. (For the record, Cavan’s dad out-WAR’ed Vlad’s dad. Both are recent Hall of Fame inductees.)
If that trio can do anything to the 2020’s like their dads did to the 1990’s and 2000’s, it’ll make for heady times in Toronto. For now, the focus is on finishing off the development of these talented youngsters.
Biggio is the least hyped of the group, though he has already exceeded the expectations placed on him as a fifth-round draft pick. Entering the present season, he graded out as one of the ten or so best prospects in the Blue Jays system, but wasn’t considered an elite youngster on a leaguewide scale.
Notably, however, the 24-year-old has increased his offensive output at each step up the minor-league ladder. Through 168 plate appearances at Triple-A, he owns a robust .306/.440/.507 batting line with six home runs.
Having put the ball over the fence 26 times last year at Double-A, Biggio obviously possessed more power than might have been expected. He’s now combining that with the plate discipline that had long been his calling card — and doing so at the highest level of the minors. Biggio has ramped his walk rate all the way up to 19.0% while dropping his strikeout rate to 16.7% thus far in 2019.
Though he has primarily appeared at second base in the minors, Biggio also has experience at third, first, and the corner outfield. He and Gurriel could both appear at multiple positions in the big leagues. The latter was introduced to the outfield (where he has some prior experience in Cuba) after being optioned down due to his struggles at the plate and some yips that arose at second base.
Padres Promote Josh Naylor
May 24: The Padres announced that Naylor’s contract has been selected from Triple-A El Paso. Outfielder Alex Dickerson has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained right wrist, thus opening a 25-man roster spot, while lefty Aaron Loup‘s transfer from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL opens a spot on the 40-man roster.
May 23: The Padres are planning to promote outfield prospect Josh Naylor, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic (via Twitter). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known.
This decision adds to the interest in tomorrow’s matchup in Toronto, which will already feature just-promoted Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio. As Lin notes, Naylor is a Toronto-area native, hailing from neighboring Mississauga. Still another Ontarian, Cal Quantrill, will start Saturday’s game for the Friars.
Naylor was taken with the 12th overall pick of the 2015 draft by the Marlins. He ended up being shipped to San Diego in the partially undone 2016 trade — a transaction that came close on the heels of another swap in which the Friars picked the pocket of the Miami organization.
Primarily a first baseman to begin his professional career, Naylor has been shifted to a corner outfield role more recently in a bid to find a home for his bat. He’s still learning his way around the outfield grass, but has continued to ramp up his productivity at the plate while moving into the upper ranks of the Friars farm.
Naylor received at least one top-100 leaguewide prospect grade entering the present season, with Baseball America slotting him in at #99, and he has certainly boosted his stock since. So far this year, Naylor carries a .299/.378/.538 batting line through 209 plate appearances at Triple-A. He has swatted ten home runs and walked as many times as he has struck out (24 apiece), making for a nicely balanced offensive profile.
Bringing Naylor up is going to require both 40-man and active roster space. It’s fair to wonder whether the time is up for Alex Dickerson, who returned this year from a lengthy run of poor injury luck. He devastated Triple-A pitching but has managed just three singles while going down seven times on strikes in his 19 MLB plate appearances.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mets Sign Ervin Santana
The Mets announced Friday that they’ve agreed to terms with right-hander Ervin Santana on a minor league contract. The deal is still pending a physical. Assuming he passes that test, he’d head to Port St. Lucie to begin building his arm strength back up.
Santana, 36, missed nearly all of the 2018 season after undergoing surgery to repair a tendon in his right middle finger just prior to Spring Training, and the Twins declined a $14MM option on him last November. He signed a minor league pact with the White Sox this offseason but was released after just three unsuccessful starts with the team.
Despite the poor showing in 2018-19, Santana was a consistently and perhaps quietly effective mainstay in the Twins’ rotation in the preceding three seasons. From 2015-17, he pitched to a 3.47 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 and even was named to the American League All-Star team in 2017. That year, he racked up 211 1/3 innings, tossed five complete games (three shutouts) and finished out the season with a strong 3.28 earned run average.
The Mets’ rotation hasn’t performed as well as hoped in 2019, and while no one would reasonably expect Santana to return to his 2017 levels, he could eventually push Jason Vargas for the fifth spot in the rotation. He’s gone more than a month without pitching since being cut loose by the ChiSox, so he’ll need some time to build up, though. If nothing else, he’ll eventually serve as a depth option in the event of an injury at the big league level. New York has been using Wilmer Font in that role but has received just 10 1/3 innings of 7.84 ERA ball in three starts since trading a low-level minor leaguer for him.
Yoenis Cespedes Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery
The Mets announced Thursday that Yoenis Cespedes underwent surgery and is expected to miss the remainder of the 2019 season. Cespedes recently suffered multiple fractures in his right ankle after falling at his ranch in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Presumably, today’s procedure was tied to that injury, although the Mets’ press release did not specify anything beyond the simple fact that Cespedes had surgery.
Cespedes was never a lock to contribute to the Mets this season anyhow after undergoing surgery to alleviate calcification in both of his heels in 2018. The latter of those two surgeries was performed early in the offseason, and neither Cespedes nor the Mets had put a firm timeline on his recovery. This new injury renders any speculation about his recovery from heel surgery moot.
Now 33 years of age, Cespedes has only played in 119 games for the Mets since re-signing a four-year, $110MM contract in free agency. That deal wasn’t viewed as any sort of albatross at the time — Cespedes was coming off a .282/.348/.554 showing in 792 prior plate appearances with the Mets from 2015-16 — but injuries have turned the deal into a regrettable one. Cespedes has unquestionably been excellent when on the field in 2017-18, hitting .282/.343/.525 with 26 homers, but the Mets will get just 478 plate appearances out of him in the first three seasons of that nine-figure contract. It’s reportedly insured to an extent, so they won’t be out the full $29MM he’s owed in 2019, but it’s nevertheless an awful outcome for the club.
In an ideal world, Cespedes would be healthy and ready to go for Spring Training 2020, but the Mets didn’t offer any update on a potential timeline for his return. He’s owed $29.5MM next season in the final year of his contract.
Mets Place Robinson Cano, Jeff McNeil On Injured List
The Mets have placed infielder Robinson Cano and infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil on the 10-day injured list due to a quad strain and a hamstring strain, respectively, manager Mickey Callaway said prior to today’s series finale against the Nationals. Taking their place on the active roster will be infielder Luis Guillorme and left-hander Ryan O’Rourke, each of whom has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.
Injuries continue to mount in Queens, where the Mets now have Cano, McNeil, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto all on the injured list (in addition to Jed Lowrie and Yoenis Cespedes — neither of whom has played a game in 2019). The Mets have also been without Jason Vargas for three weeks — though Callaway noted that he is lined up to return this weekend — and recently lost key righty Seth Lugo to a shoulder issue.
With Cano and McNeil hitting the shelf and Lowrie still inactive, the Mets’ top three options at second base are all temporarily out of the picture. Presumably, Adeiny Hechavarria and the aforementioned Guillorme will split time there. Other infield options such as Todd Frazier and J.D. Davis lack any real experience at the position (beyond 38 games from Frazier a decade ago in the minors).
The Mets’ entire Opening Day outfield is now on the injured list with McNeil out of commission for the time being. They’re left with defensive standout Juan Lagares and minor league signees Carlos Gomez and Rajai Davis, each of whom returned to the Majors within the past week. Each of that trio can handle all three outfield spots, so while the Mets currently don’t have a conventional fourth outfielder on the roster, they can mix and match between that threesome and J.D. Davis, who has experience in the outfield corners, when filling out the lineup card on a daily basis.
Yankees Return Giancarlo Stanton To Injured List Due To Left Calf Tightness
7:14pm: Stanton will be shut down for 7-10 days before being re-evaluated, manager Aaron Boone told media (including the New York Post).
3:26pm: Just two days after Giancarlo Stanton began a minor league rehab assignment, the Yankees announced that Stanton has been returned to the injured list since the slugger is experiencing left calf tightness.
Today’s news is the latest setback in what has been a frustrating recovery period for Stanton, who originally sent to the IL after only three games due to a left biceps strain. While rehabbing that injury, Stanton then suffered a left shoulder strain that required a cortisone injection in early May.
All systems were seemingly go when Stanton took the field for the high A-ball Tampa Tarpons this week, though the former NL MVP has now been sidelined again. No information is yet known about the nature of Stanton’s calf problem, though such injuries are sometimes difficult to evaluate on a strict timetable. Since Stanton will now be out of action for an even longer period of time, the Yankees could consider shifting him to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster space, should such a need arise.
Despite playing without Stanton and a variety of other injured stars for much of the season, the Yankees are still a remarkable 30-17, and sit atop the AL East standings. The combination of Brett Gardner, Clint Frazier, and Cameron Maybin will continue to handle corner outfield duties while Stanton and Aaron Judge are sidelined, with Mike Tauchman as the top depth option at Triple-A.
Andrelton Simmons Diagnosed With Grade 3 Ankle Sprain
TODAY: Simmons updated Hoornstra (Twitter links) and other reporters on his status today, including the good news that surgery won’t be required. Once the swelling around the ankle goes down in another week or two, Simmons and the team will have a better sense of how long it will be before the shortstop is able to return to action.
TUESDAY, 6:57pm: Simmons, moving around the clubhouse on crutches, didn’t have a timeline for his return when asked by reporters, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group tweets. MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweets that the typical recovery timeline would range from eight to 12 weeks, but the Angels won’t know for certain until tomorrow.
4:42pm: The Angels announced that shortstop Andrelton Simmons has been diagnosed with a Grade 3 ankle sprain and been placed on the 10-day injured list. He’ll see a specialist tomorrow, after which the team will provide more details on his expected timeline. However, a Grade 3 sprain is severe (indicating a ligament tear), so Simmons will quite likely be on the shelf for an extended period of time. Luis Rengifo is up from Triple-A Salt Lake to take his spot on the active roster.
It’s a huge blow for the Angels, who saw both Simmons and Shohei Ohtani exit last night’s game due to injury. Thankfully, there’s better news on Ohtani, who is feeling better today after being hit by a pitch last night. He’s in the lineup for the Angels tonight.
The 29-year-old Simmons, in addition to long being known as perhaps baseball’s premier defensive player, has progressed offensively in recent seasons as well. He’d been out to a .298/.323/.415 start with three home runs, 13 doubles and five steals through his first 195 plate appearances on the year. That’s a tough all-around asset for any team to lose, and Simmons’ absence will be felt all the more by an Angels club that is also still without left fielder Justin Upton in the middle of its lineup.
The Angels entered the season with aspirations of returning to the postseason for the first time since a 2014 trip to the American League Division Series (where they lost to the Royals). But between injuries to key players such as Upton and Andrew Heaney and poor performances from offseason rotation additions like Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill and Chris Stratton (now with the Pirates), the Angels find themselves three games under .500 (22-25) and already nine and a half games back of the Astros in the American League West. The team’s three-and-a-half game deficit in the American League Wild Card race is far more manageable, but the loss of Simmons will obviously further lessen their chances.
Khris Davis Likely To Be Placed On Injured List
TODAY: Davis didn’t play in Oakland’s 7-2 win over Cleveland this afternoon, though he was still officially active for the game. Melvin told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other media that since Thursday is an off-day, the team will wait until Friday to officially decide on Davis, though Melvin said there is “probably a great chance that he goes on the IL.”
TUESDAY, 9:03pm: Davis himself now tells reporters that he’s also dealing with what could be an oblique issue (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Julian McWilliams). He’ll undergo an MRI tomorrow morning to determine the extent of his injury.
8:49pm: The Athletics will place designated hitter Khris Davis on the 10-day injured list, manager Bob Melvin told reporters after tonight’s game (Twitter link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Davis exited tonight’s contest after just one plate appearance due to what the team announced as ongoing discomfort stemming from a hip contusion. He’d previously missed a few games in May due to the same issue. Oakland has yet to determine a corresponding roster move.
The ultra-consistent Davis, who signed a two-year, $33.5MM contract extension to remain with the A’s earlier this season (forgoing free agency in the process), is hitting .248/.318/.497 with 12 home runs and an improved 24.3 percent strikeout rate through 173 plate appearances to begin the season. With him landing on the injured list, the A’s could perhaps temporarily use the DH spot as a means of cycling through Robbie Grossman, Mark Canha (who homered while pinch-hitting for Davis tonight) and Chad Pinder in an effort to get increased playing time for the latter two.
Of the Athletics’ 40-man options to replace Davis in Triple-A, outfielder Skye Bolt is the only one who’s already been up in the Majors this season, and he’s hitting better in Las Vegas than teammates (and fellow 40-man options) Dustin Fowler and Franklin Barreto.