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Michael Soroka To Start Monday For Braves

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9:34PM: Atlanta manager Brian Snitker confirmed to reporters that Soroka will indeed start Monday’s game.  The Braves are optioning Rodriguez to Triple-A to create space for Soroka on the active roster.

1:23PM: Michael Soroka hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since August, 2020, but an almost three year wait to return looks set to be over Monday with a series of transactions suggesting he’ll be called up to start tomorrow against the Athletics.

The Braves scratched Soroka from his start at Triple-A today, and as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman draws attention to, the Braves decision to option Dylan Dodd and replace him with Dereck Rodriguez adds further weight to the idea that Soroka will be the one called upon. And if any further evidence was needed, Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos was on SirusXM radio today and said Soroka is the “next guy up the next time we need a starter,” before adding that the next time is “tomorrow.”

Soroka, the 28th pick back in 2015, was a quality young starter for the Braves before injuries derailed things. Between 2018-20, he made 37 starts of 2.86 ERA ball, the bulk of which came during the 2019 season when he finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting.

Since the 2020 season, it’s been a wretched run for Soroka. A ruptured achilles tendon set him up for a year long recovery, and just as he was nearing a return to action that achilles blew out again and left Soroka facing another lengthy rehab process. After recovering from that he saw some time at Triple-A towards the back end of the 2022 season but never made it to the big leagues, as he was shut down with shoulder fatigue. He entered spring training competing for a spot in Atlanta’s rotation but a hamstring strain put him behind and he was optioned to the minor leagues to start the season.

He’s made eight starts at Triple-A this season, working to a 4.33 ERA and averaging about 4 1/3 innings per start. It’ll certainly be a much anticipated return to a big league mound for Soroka when he does pitch tomorrow.

AL East Notes: Fairbanks, Rizzo, Blue Jays

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In the words of Rays manager Kevin Cash, Pete Fairbanks’ “hip locked up” while the reliever was getting ready to enter today’s game with the Dodgers.  Instead, Fairbanks halted his warm-up and went to the dugout once the inning was over.  Cash told Kristie Ackert of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters that according to the team trainer, Fairbanks’ “muscles look to be okay, but we saw him walk very gingerly from the bullpen and he was in some pain.”  More will be known after Fairbanks undergoes further examination.

Fairbanks already spent 15 days on the injured list due to forearm inflammation earlier this season, and missed a couple of other games due to his symptoms of Raynaud’s disease, which manifests in the form of finger numbness.  Injuries have been a frequent setback for Fairbanks during his pro career, but he has been a very effective reliever when healthy, as indicated by his 2.84 ERA over 117 1/3 innings since joining the Rays during the 2019 season.  Tampa is 13 games into a stretch of 16 games in 16 games, and while Cash is hopeful that his bullpen can hold up until Thursday’s off-day, the club doesn’t have much room to maneuver if Fairbanks has to miss even a couple of days to recover.

More from around the AL East…

  • Anthony Rizzo left today’s game for what the Yankees deemed as “precautionary reasons” due to a neck injury.  During an unsuccessful attempt by Fernando Tatis Jr. to get back to first base during the sixth inning, Tatis’ hip and upper leg collided with Rizzo’s head, leaving Rizzo shaken up.  He left the game and underwent concussion protocol, though manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including MLB.com’s Betelhem Ashame) after the game that Rizzo “was fine” and might even be able to return for Monday’s game.
  • While other division rivals have dealt with various injuries, the Blue Jays have been among the healthier teams in baseball, which The Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm notes is something of a double-edged sword.  While it’s obviously good news that the Jays have avoided any major injury concerns, the club hasn’t really capitalized on its good fortune, as Toronto’s 28-26 record puts them in last place in the competitive AL East.  Furthermore, it seems unlikely that the Jays will avoid the injury bug for too long, which will put a further strain on the club’s thin bench.  This lack of depth has already been tested over the last few days, with Danny Jansen now on the 10-day IL and Kevin Kiermaier leaving Saturday’s game with back soreness.

Adam Morgan Retires

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Left-hander Adam Morgan hasn’t played since opting out of a minor league deal with the Astros in May 2022, and The Athletic’s Matt Gelb (Twitter link) reports that the seven-year MLB veteran has retired.  Morgan will call it a career after tossing 369 2/3 innings over 233 games with the Phillies and Cubs from 2015-21.

Six of those seven seasons were in Philadelphia, as Morgan was a third-round pick for the Phils in the 2011 draft.  Despite a shoulder surgery that cost him the 2014 draft, he still made a pretty quick path to his MLB debut in June 2015, though he had pretty shaky results as a starter in his first two seasons.  A move to the bullpen gave Morgan a niche as a multi-inning reliever, and he posted a 3.97 ERA over 133 2/3 relief innings from 2017-19.

Some other injuries hampered Morgan in 2019, and after struggling over 13 innings for Philadelphia in the shortened 2020 season, Morgan underwent a flexor tendon repair surgery in October 2020 that kept him off the mound until May 2021.  This return came with the Cubs’ Triple-A team, as Morgan signed a minor league deal with Chicago that offseason after the Phillies outrighted him off their 40-man roster.

Morgan made it back to the Show for 25 1/3 innings for the Cubs in 2021, posting a 4.26 ERA in what ended up being his final big league season.  For his career, the southpaw had a 4.80 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, and 7.2% walk rate over his 369 2/3 frames.  Unsurprisingly, most of Morgan’s success came against left-handed batters, who managed only a .215/.291/.331 slash line against the hurler in 574 plate appearances.

Morgan caught on with the Astros during the 2021-22 offseason, but enacted the opt-out clause in his contract since no opportunities were emerging for him on Houston’s MLB roster.  The lefty has now chosen to hang up his spikes altogether at age 33, and went back to the University of Alabama (where Morgan played college ball) to get his degree.  Gelb notes that Morgan is a co-founder of Objective X-Ray, an organization devoted to providing mental health resources and financial assistance to military veterans and first responders.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Morgan on his baseball career, and wish him all the best in his post-playing days.

Bryce Elder Has Been Bailing Out The Braves’ Rotation

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In the umpteenth example of “you can never have enough pitching,” the Braves have been through a whirlwind of rotation concerns over the last three months.  Heading into Spring Training, Atlanta seemingly had one of the better top four (Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Kyle Wright) alignments in the sport, with a plethora of interesting arms battling for the fifth starter’s role.  Former rotation stalwart Ian Anderson was trying to bounce back from a rough 2022 season, Michael Soroka was continuing his comeback from a pair of Achilles tears, and Bryce Elder was looking to build on a quality 2022 rookie season.

As it turned out, the Braves ended up going with none of these fifth starter options, as rookies Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster ended up being the top candidates.  Anderson and Elder both struggled in Spring Training and the Braves opted to take it a bit slower with Soroka’s recovery, opening the door for Shuster and Dodd.

However, injuries have shaken things up considerably since Opening Day.  Wright began the season on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder soreness, but after returning and making five starts, Wright was again sidelined with shoulder issues and now won’t be available until the first week of July (at the earliest) due to his placement on the 60-day IL.  Fried has also made only five starts due to an early-season hamstring strain and now his current IL stint due to a forearm strain, and is also tentatively expected to be out of action until early July.  Further down the depth chart, Anderson will miss the entire 2023 campaign due to Tommy John surgery, while Kolby Allard has yet to pitch at all due to a Grade 2 oblique strain suffered in Spring Training.

Between these injury absences and the fact that Shuster and Dodd haven’t pitched well, the Braves suddenly went from having a borderline surplus of pitching depth to a possible shortage.  This puts even more pressure on the remaining arms, and Strider is looking like a Cy Young Award candidate while the veteran Morton has been his typically solid self.  However, the surprise of the group has been Elder, as through 10 starts and 58 1/3 innings in 2023, Elder’s minuscule 2.01 ERA leads the National League.

It isn’t like Elder has exactly come out of nowhere, as it wasn’t much beyond a year ago that Elder made his MLB debut in more or less in this same role as an early-season injury fill-in.  Between those starts, other spot duty, and then a larger role later in the year as a replacement for Anderson and Jake Odorizzi, Elder ended up posting a 3.17 ERA over 54 innings in 2022.

Of the four players taken by Atlanta in the pandemic-shortened five-round 2020 draft, three (Elder, Strider, Shuster) have remarkably already reached the big leagues.  Elder was the club’s fifth round pick, and his first pro season saw him go from high-A to Triple-A ball in 2021.  Due to his quick path to the majors, Elder still has only 248 2/3 minor league frames under his belt, and he has a 3.55 ERA in the minors due in large part to ground-ball rates that have regularly topped 55%.

That has been Elder’s same recipe in the majors, as he has a 56.5% grounder rate in 2023.  A .296 BABIP doesn’t indicate any real amount of batted-ball luck, though Elder has been fortunate that his grounder-heavy arsenal hasn’t been hampered by the below-average defensive marks that Atlanta’s infield regulars have posted over two months of the season.

Elder is neither a hard thrower (89.8mph fastball) or a big strikeout pitcher, with a modest 21.1% strikeout rate over his brief MLB career.  Without many strikeouts and a lot of hard contact allowed, Elder’s ability to keep the ball on the ground has been all the more critical, as batters’ hard contact hasn’t translated into much damage.  His 6.8% walk rate this season is solidly above average, and a nice improvement from his mediocre 10.1BB% in 2022.

The walk rate is a rare flash of red on an overall uninspiring Statcast card for Elder, which probably indicates that some regression is inevitable.  His .295 wOBA is sigifnicantly under his .329 xwOBA, and such fielding-independent metrics as xFIP (3.58) and SIERA (3.77) both project his ERA to be well over his 2.01 mark.  Still, an ERA in the 3.58-3.77 range is still pretty good, especially for a pitcher Atlanta ultimately hopes could be a fifth starter once everyone is healthy.  Your average fifth starter also doesn’t normally have an elite-level pitch, which is how Elder’s slider has performed to date this season.

Between Elder’s success, Shuster’s improved results since his return from the minors, and Soroka’s impending return to the big leagues, things are looking up for Atlanta’s rotation.  With at least over a month to go until Fried and Wright’s returns, it’s still far too early to say that the Braves are out of danger just yet, but missing key hurlers is less of a problem when a promising young arm like Elder steps up with a front-of-the-rotation performance.

Twins To Activate Royce Lewis, Max Kepler From Injured List On Monday

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Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman (Twitter link) and other reporters that the club will activate Max Kepler and Royce Lewis from the injured list prior to Monday’s game with the Astros.  Kepler has been on the 10-day IL, while Lewis will make his season debut after spending all of 2023 on the 60-day IL.  Outfielders Kyle Garlick and Matt Wallner have both already been optioned to Triple-A to create roster space.

It was just short of a year ago that Lewis went onto the 10-day IL with what appeared to be a bone bruise in his right knee, but the worst-case scenario occurred when Lewis needed to undergo surgery to fix a torn ACL.  It was the second ACL surgery in as many years for Lewis, which wiped out his entire 2021 season.  Due to his injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, Lewis has only played in 56 total games (12 in the majors, 44 in the minors) since the end of the 2019 minor league season.

In the wake of two major knee surgeries, it is hard to know exactly what to expect from Lewis (the first overall pick of the 2017 draft) as he again restarts his career.  However, he hit .300/.317/.550 in his only 41 career MLB plate appearances, and he has a 1.088 OPS over 43 PA in the minors this year, and Lewis has apparently had little to no issue running or pivoting, so his knee appears to be holding up.

Since Lewis has gotten an equal amount of time at third base and shortstop in the minors this year, it stands to reason that he’ll get a look at third base in the big leagues, as the hot corner has been a bit of a question mark.  Jose Miranda’s struggles resulted in a demotion to the minors, and while the utilityman collective of Kyle Farmer, Willi Castro, and Donovan Solano have held the fort, the Twins surely want to see what Lewis can bring to the table.  Carlos Correa is naturally the starter at shortstop, though Lewis might get some time at short as well depending on how Minnesota manages Correa’s plantar fasciitis (which has yet to send Correa to the IL).

Though such notables as Jorge Polanco, Kenta Maeda, Nick Gordon remain sidelined, the Twins are slowly inching closer to full health after dealing with a plethora of injuries all season along.  Kepler missed just over two weeks with a hamstring strain, which came after a previous IL stint earlier this season due to right patellar tendinitis.  Kepler has a modest .212/.298/.444 slash line through 114 PA, but he is looking to boost that production now that his injuries are hopefully behind him.  Since Minnesota holds a $10MM club option on Kepler for the 2024 season, the outfielder is looking for a big year to either convince the Twins to exercise that option, or to impress suitors on the free agent market.

Chad Pinder To Retire

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TODAY: Pinder went into more detail about his decision, telling Slusser and Matt Kawahara that “there’s been times where I was like, ’Why do I play anymore, what is my purpose of playing?’ Over the last year or so, I couldn’t come up with the answers for it.  I’ve always said that once I felt I could give more to the game outside the white lines than between them, that was probably the time.  While I still think I can play baseball, I just know for me physically, mentally, for my family, it was time.”

Pinder’s next step is to spend time with his wife and two children, and he is also intending to explore clinical health studies program at grad school.  He left the door open to a further career in baseball in some capacity, saying “I’m excited to get on the other side.  I want to help other people in their careers.  I will gain more from that than I would playing another year or two, whether be in Triple-A or even in the big leagues.”

MAY 27: Veteran utilityman Chad Pinder is playing his final pro game, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter link) that Pinder will retire following tonight’s appearance with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett.  Pinder is hitting seventh and starting at first base for the Stripes as they face the Durham Bulls.

A second-round pick for the Athletics in the 2013 draft, Pinder spent all of his seven Major League seasons in an A’s uniform, batting .242/.294/.417 (96 wRC+) over 1740 plate appearances from 2016-22.  The right-handed hitting Pinder was naturally more productive against lefties than righties, as he had a .778 career OPS against southpaws and a .660 OPS against right-handed pitching.  Pinder had only 26 career postseason plate appearances, but he made them count, posting a whopping 1.021 OPS during Oakland’s 2020 playoff run.

Beyond his work at the plate, Pinder was also immensely valuable to the A’s as a Swiss army knife of a utility player.  Over his 537 career games in the big leagues, he made appearances as a left fielder (195 games), right fielder (148), second baseman (92), third baseman (55), shortstop (43), center fielder (16), first baseman (six) and even a single appearance on the mound.  Pinder’s ability to play anywhere allowed Oakland’s managers and front office some extra flexibility in deciding how to fill out a roster, how to account for injuries, or in deciding on in-game adjustments.

The 2022 season saw Pinder make a career-high 379 PA, as there was plenty of playing time to be had on a rebuilding Athletics team that was almost bereft of veteran players.  However, Pinder hit only .235/.263/.385, and had a sub-replacement level -0.1 fWAR.  The A’s let Pinder go in free agency, and Atlanta represents Pinder’s third minor league deal of the last five months.  The Reds cut Pinder from their minors deal near the end of Spring Training, and a follow-up minor league contract with the Nationals also led to a release in early May.

Cumulatively, Pinder has hit .256/.322/.402 over 90 PA at the Triple-A level this season with the Nats’ and Braves’ top affiliates, but it would appear as though he has decided to hang up his glove rather than wait for another call to the majors.  Pinder just turned 31 back in March, but it seems like the next phase of his baseball career might just be starting, as Pinder seems likely to get a wide range of coaching offers.  As Slusser writes, Pinder was “always a superb and unselfish team leader.  He will be a great manager one day.”

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Pinder on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.

White Sox Activate Eloy Jimenez From 10-Day Injured List

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TODAY: Jimenez was indeed activated off the 10-day IL today, with Chicago optioning outfielder Adam Haseley to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

MAY 27: White Sox fans have received a variety of positive injury news in recent days, led by progress for closer Liam Hendriks as he makes his way back to the mound after his battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Hendriks threw a live bullpen session on Friday, following which manager Pedro Grifol noted to reporters (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times) that Hendriks “feels great” and that they are “discussing as an organization to see when he’s going to be activated.”

While Grifol did not specify a timeline, that Hendriks’ return to game action appears imminent is not only a major win for the scuffling White Sox, but a personal triumph for Hendriks as well. The three-time All Star has been among the very best relievers in baseball since the start of the 2019 season, with a 2.26 ERA, 2.13 FIP, and 114 saves in 239 innings of work in that time. When Hendriks returns to action, he figures to reclaim the closer role, joining Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, and Reynaldo Lopez in the late inning mix on the south side.

There may not be a specific timeline for Hendriks’ return to action, but the same cannot be said for outfielder Eloy Jimenez, who Van Schouwen notes could return to action as soon as tomorrow, per Grifol. That tracks with last week’s report that Jimenez was “ahead of schedule” in recovering from his recent appendectomy and could return to the lineup over Memorial Day weekend.

The former top prospect broke out in a big way in 2022. Though he was limited to just 84 games by injuries, Jimenez slashed a phenomenal .295/.358/.500 with 16 home runs in that limited time on the field. The 26-year-old slugger hasn’t quite reached those same heights in 25 games this year, though he has managed a solid if unremarkable .258/.321/.423 slash line in 97 plate appearances across those games. Upon his return, Jimenez figures to spend most of his time at DH, though he will factor into the corner outfield mix as well.

With Jimenez returning to take over the DH slot on most days, it was recently reported that infielder Jake Burger would move from the designated hitter spot to begin taking reps at second base, allowing the club to keep his 144 wRC+ bat in the lineup. That decision puts into question the role of incumbent second baseman Elvis Andrus once he returns from his current oblique injury. The answer to those questions may end up coming in short order, as Van Schouwen notes that Andrus is set to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte tonight as Grifol revealed that the veteran infielder could return to the big league club later this week.

Andrus impressed with the Sox in 43 games down the stretch last season, slashing .271/.309/.464, but has struggled in 39 games this season after returning to the club on a one-year, $3MM deal during the offseason. In 151 plate appearances in 2023, Andrus has slashed just .201/.280/.254 with a wRC+ of just 50. Much of Andrus’s lost production comes from a power outage, as the veteran slammed nine home runs and eight doubles in 191 plate appearances with the Sox last year, but has mustered only a single home run and four doubles in just 40 fewer trips to the plate this season.

Pirates Place Vince Velasquez On 15-Day IL

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After making just one start since returning from injury, the Pirates have sent right hander Vince Velasquez back to the injured list with right elbow discomfort and recalled right hander Cody Bolton.

Velasquez threw just two innings his return from a three week layoff due to elbow discomfort yesterday, giving up four earned runs against the Mariners before being removed from the game. There’s obviously a lot of concern when a player is sent to the IL almost immediately after returning, and Velasquez relays to Pirates reporters (including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that he’ll take a bit longer to rest his elbow. Just what that timeline looks like is unclear, but it seems safe to assume that Velasquez will be out a bit longer than the three weeks he missed in May.

It’s a shame for the Bucs and Velasquez, who was enjoying a nice first season in Pittsburgh. Prior to getting knocked around yesterday, Velasquez had made seven starts of 3.06 ERA ball for the Pirates this season. That was a bright start for a player who has often flashed promising stuff, but has struggled to lock down a rotation spot in recent years. Between 2020-22, Velasquez made 37 starts and 24 relief appearances for the Phillies, Padres and White Sox, pitching to a 5.61 ERA, so this was clearly a step forward with the Bucs.

As Justice delos Santos of MLB.com mentions, GM Ben Cherington told 93.7 The Fan radio that the team had planned to shift Roansy Contreras to the bullpen before Velasquez’ injury, but it now seems those plans will be shelved and Contreras will remain in the rotation, with Bolton going to the pen.

Bolton has made a handful of appearances for the Pirates this year, pitching six innings across three appearances and giving up three earned runs. At Triple-A Indianapolis he owns a 2.08 ERA in 17 1/3 relief innings.

Angels Select Ben Joyce

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The Angels announced that they have called up hard throwing right hander Ben Joyce to the big leagues. To make room, left hander Matt Moore has been placed on the 15-day IL with a right oblique strain, and Austin Warren has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Joyce has been working at Double-A this season, where he’s posted a 4.60 ERA over 15 2/3 innings, combining a 34.3% strikeout rate with an 18.3% walk rate. His calling card is undoubtedly the fastball, which as touched 105 mph in the past. Joyce ranked 19th on Keith Law’s Angels prospect rankings for The Athletic, with Law stating “he doesn’t have an average second pitch or particularly good command of the fastball … He’ll have to develop his slider to be a big-league reliever.”

That’s seemed to shine through in his minor league numbers, with Joyce walking more than seven batters every nine innings so far this season.  There’s obviously a big step up from Double-A to the big leagues, but it’ll be fascinating to see how such a hard thrower goes against the increased competition.

Joyce will be replacing one of the Angels’ best relievers in Moore. The left hander has worked to a 1.44 ERA through 25 innings for the Angels, following on from his impressive season in 2022 for the Rangers. Moore has reverse splits for a left hander, with left handed hitters going .250/.333/.625 against him while right handers have struggled to a .117/.194/.167 line against the veteran. There’s no timetable yet for Moore’s recovery, but he’ll miss at least the next two weeks as he recovers. 

Royals Place Josh Taylor On Injured List

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The Royals announced that they’ve placed left hander Josh Taylor on the 15-day IL with left shoulder impingement syndrome and activated left hander Daniel Lynch. Lynch will start today’s game against the Nationals in Kansas City.

Taylor had limped to an 8.15 ERA over 17 2/3 innings this season, but was perhaps a little more unfortunate than that mark suggests. He owns a very high .409 BABIP and had been striking out batters at a quality 31.3% clip, so perhaps his performance was somewhat better than the ERA.

Acquired by the Royals this winter in the Adalberto Mondesi trade with the Red Sox, Taylor arrived in Kansas City with a career 3.69 ERA over 102 1/3 big league innings in Boston. He missed the entire 2022 season with a back injury, but his track record suggests there is certainly some talent in the left hander. Like many left handers, Taylor is far better against same sided batters, holding them to a .196/.277/.272 line as opposed to a .283/.367/.446 line against right handed hitters.

Lynch was activated to make his season debut for the Royals as he returns from a rotator cuff strain suffered in spring training. The 26-year-old former first round pick has made 42 starts for the Royals over the past two years, putting together a 5.32 ERA with a 19.4% strikeout rate and a 9.1% walk rate, both marks that fall slightly below the league average.

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