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Brewers Place Hunter Renfroe On Injured List, Select Mark Mathias

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The Brewers have placed corner outfielder Hunter Renfroe on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain. Milwaukee selected infielder Mark Mathias onto the big league roster in a corresponding move. The Brewers’ 40-man roster tally now sits at 38.

Milwaukee acquired Renfroe from the Red Sox over the winter, attaching prospects David Hamilton and Alex Binelas to the contract of Jackie Bradley Jr. in order to bring in Renfroe. The power-hitting outfielder had made a favorable impression on his new club, hitting .266/.303/.503 with nine home runs through 155 plate appearances. That’s been a marked upgrade over Bradley’s .163/.236/.261 production as the primary right fielder last season, a much-needed boost for a Milwaukee team that was middle-of-the-pack offensively in 2021. Manager Craig Counsell suggested to reporters (including Sophia Minnaert of Bally Sports Wisconsin) the club expects Renfroe back within ten to fourteen days.

Mathias is back in the majors for the first time this season. The Brew Crew had outrighted the right-handed hitter off their 40-man roster last November on the heels of a campaign lost to shoulder surgery. Mathias returned to health this year and has earned his way back with an incredible showing at Triple-A Nashville. Over 106 plate appearances, he’s hitting .341/.425/.549 with four home runs. Mathias has also walked in an impressive 11.3% of his trips to the dish while only striking out 19.8% of the time.

That work earns the 27-year-old his first MLB call in two years. A former Cleveland prospect, Mathias tallied 36 plate appearances over 16 games for the Brewers in 2020. That marks the entirety of his big league experience to date, but he’s a .262/.356/.406 hitter in parts of six minor league seasons. Mathias has experience at each of second base, third base and shortstop. The bulk of that playing time has come at the keystone.

Pirates Designate Cam Alldred For Assignment

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The Pirates announced they’ve designated reliever Cam Alldred for assignment. Pittsburgh also placed first baseman Daniel Vogelbach on the 10-day injured list and put reliever Heath Hembree on the 15-day IL. The moves clear roster space for the previously-reported promotions of right-hander Roansy Contreras and outfielder Calvin Mitchell.

Alldred just earned his first major league call a couple weeks ago. The 25-year-old made one appearance, tossing a scoreless inning against the Reds before being optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis. He’s spent the rest of the season there, working 20 1/3 innings across ten appearances. Alldred has a sterling 1.33 ERA, inducing grounders on three-fifths of the batted balls he’s allowed.

The University of Cincinnati product hasn’t missed many bats in the minors. He has a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate in Triple-A, unsurprising for a pitcher who averaged 86.7 MPH on his sinker during his lone big league outing. Alldred has performed throughout his time in the minors, however, and he’s seen marked improvements in both his walk and ground-ball numbers thus far in 2022.

Vogelbach hits the IL due to a left hamstring strain. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for a return for the 29-year-old, who has been the club’s primary designated hitter this season. The lefty-swinging Vogelbach signed a $1MM deal over the offseason and had been off to a nice start to his Pittsburgh tenure. He’s hitting .241/.321/.457 while popping six home runs through his first 131 plate appearances.

Hembree also signed a one-year deal with the Bucs as a free agent, though he’s gotten off to a more inauspicious start. The right-hander has an 8.10 ERA through 17 appearances, walking 14.5% of batters faced. Hembree profiled as an interesting buy-low flier after striking out 34.2% of opponents between the Reds and Mets last season. He hasn’t come close to replicating that thus far, owning just a 16.1% strikeout rate in the early going.

In other Bucs’ injury news, the club transferred shortstop Kevin Newman to the 60-day IL yesterday. (The move was necessary to accommodate the promotion of Yerry de los Santos). General manager Ben Cherington announced over the weekend that Newman had suffered a hamstring injury while on a minor league rehab assignment (link via Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). That’s a separate issue than the left groin strain that originally landed him on the IL last month.

Cherington indicated Newman’s new injury isn’t likely to be serious, though it has halted his rehab stint. He won’t be eligible to return to the majors for sixty days from the time of his initial IL placement on April 27. A late-June return is now the best possible outcome for the 28-year-old, who hit .250/.308/.375 in 14 games before suffering the groin injury.

Yankees Place Aroldis Chapman On Injured List

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The Yankees announced this evening that closer Aroldis Chapman has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left Achilles tendinitis. Catcher Kyle Higashioka is back from the COVID-19 injured list to fill the active roster spot.

Chapman has been dealing with Achilles issues of late, although manager Aaron Boone told reporters yesterday that an MRI had come back clean. The skipper suggested an IL stint remained in play, though, and that’ll ultimately come to fruition. Whether because of the nagging foot discomfort or merely a coincidental cold streak, Chapman seems due for a reset. He’s allowed runs in each of his past five outings, taking the loss in two of those appearances.

That came on the heels of a stretch of 12 straight scoreless games to open the year. Through May 9, the southpaw had tossed 10 1/3 run-free frames while holding opponents to a .111/.256/.139 slash line. In the two weeks since then, he’s allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings and been hit at a .474/.522/.947 clip. Chapman’s average fastball velocity has lost around a mile and a half per hour relative to last season, leaving the 34-year-old to try to rediscover his prior form once he returns to health.

In spite of Chapman’s recent struggles, the Yankees have had a customarily strong bullpen. New York relievers rank fourth league-wide in ERA (3.10) and seventh in strikeout/walk rate differential (16.6 percentage points). The Yankees did lose Chad Green to Tommy John surgery, but Michael King and Clay Holmes have shown signs of blossoming into elite high-leverage arms this season. They join Jonathan Loáisiga and Wandy Peralta among Boone’s most important bullpen arms while Chapman is out.

Higashioka was one of three players whom the Yankees have placed on the virus list in recent days. Outfielder Joey Gallo and third baseman Josh Donaldson joined him in experiencing flu-like symptoms, but Higashioka has apparently tested negative and is feeling better this evening than he had over the weekend.

White Sox Place Luis Robert On Injured List; Lynn, Jimenez Nearing Rehab Assignments

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The White Sox have placed center fielder Luis Robert on the COVID-19 injured list. Corner infielder Jake Burger was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take his place on the active roster.

Speaking with reporters (including James Fegan of the Athletic), general manager Rick Hahn indicated that Robert has been experiencing symptoms of the virus. Whether he’s tested positive isn’t clear, but Hahn indicated he didn’t expect the 2020 Gold Glove winner to return to the team until next week. In the meantime, it seems likely Adam Engel will handle the center field duties, as he is tonight against the Guardians.

Robert is off to another great start to the season. One of the game’s top defensive outfielders, the Cuba native also consistently posts quality production at the plate. This season, the 24-year-old is hitting .285/.319/.438. That’s far better than the .237/.308/.380 league average offensive output, and Robert has also chipped in six stolen bases. While he’s not likely to be out for an extended period of time, the Sox will be down one of their best players for the next few games.

Hahn provided more fortuitous news on a pair of key players rehabbing from injury. Both starter Lance Lynn and left fielder Eloy Jiménez are likely to head out on minor league rehab assignments within a week. That’s not particularly surprising in Lynn’s case, as the big right-hander had progressed to throwing to live hitters. It’s a more positive development for Jiménez, who is exactly a month removed from a hamstring tendon tear that initially came with a six-to-eight week recovery timetable.

Pitchers are allotted up to 30 days on rehab assignments; those stints can last as many as 20 days for position players. Lynn is still at least a few weeks from his return, as he’s on the 60-day injured list and not eligible to make his season debut until June 6 at the earliest. Jiménez, meanwhile, seems to be trending towards the earlier end of his initial timetable. The power-hitting outfielder had scuffled through the season’s first couple weeks, hitting .222/.256/.333 with a lone homer in 11 games.

Injury Notes: Bryant, Renfroe, Lynn

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Rockies left fielder Kris Bryant was scratched from yesterday’s game about 90 minutes before first pitch due to continued discomfort in his back, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. He’ll be further evaluated today, but it’s an ominous scratch given that Bryant only just returned from a month-long absence due to a lower back injury.

Signed to a seven-year, $182MM contract in free agency this past offseason, Bryant was viewed by the Rockies as a potential lineup centerpiece who’d bolster a revamped outfield that also featured trade acquisition Randal Grichuk. Bryant, however, has gotten out to a tepid .270/.342/.333 start to the season and yet to put a ball in the seats. The Rox barely changed the rest of their roster but did sign four in-house players to multi-year extensions (Ryan McMahon, Antonio Senzatela, C.J. Cron and Elias Diaz). Ownership and the restructured/thinned-out front office group clearly had confidence that last year’s group could deliver better results, and while that’s been true to an extent, the Rox are currently at fifth place in the NL West with a 19-22 record.

Some more injury scenarios to keep an eye on…

  • Brewers outfielder Hunter Renfroe exited yesterday’s game due to hamstring discomfort after scoring from first base on a double and is headed for an MRI to determine the extent of any damage he may have suffered, tweets MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Acquired in the offseason trade that saw the Brewers dump Jackie Bradley Jr.’s contract on the Red Sox — Milwaukee also sent a pair of prospects to Boston in the deal — Renfroe is out to a solid .266/.303/.503 start this season. His nine homers place him in a three-way tie for the team lead alongside Rowdy Tellez and Willy Adames. However, like Renfroe, Adames is currently sidelined; the Brewers placed him on the 10-day injured list last week, owing to a high ankle sprain. If Renfroe is to join Adames on the injured list, that’ll mean 29% of the Brewers’ home runs are sitting out at a time when the team has generally been struggling to score runs. Milwaukee ranks seventh in the Majors with 195 runs (4.6 per game), but they’re averaging just 3.5 runs per contest over their past 10 games.
  • Right-hander Lance Lynn has yet to make his 2022 debut with the White Sox after undergoing spring knee surgery, but he’ll throw to live hitters for the second time in his rehab process today, as noted by MLB.com’s Betelhem Ashame. Lynn, who also faced hitters this past Friday, inked a two-year, $38MM extension with the Sox last summer just prior to the trade deadline. The 35-year-old Lynn had a career year with the South Siders in 2021, pitching to a 2.69 ERA in 157 innings over the life of 28 starts, and he’s posted a terrific 3.26 ERA in 449 1/3 frames dating back to 2020.

D-backs Release Humberto Mejia, Ryan Meisinger

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The Diamondbacks have released right-handers Humberto Mejia and Ryan Meisinger from their Triple-A affiliate in Reno yesterday, according to the transactions log at MiLB.com. Mejia was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A earlier this season. Meisinger inked a minor league deal late in Spring Training and didn’t appear for the big league club this season.

Mejia, 25, was one of three players acquired in the 2020 trade that sent Starling Marte from Arizona to Miami. Lefties Caleb Smith and Julio Frias also landed in Arizona by way of that deal, which was largely driven by finances. The D-backs reportedly had no intention of picking up Marte’s $12.5MM option for the 2021 season on the heels of a shortened 2020 slate with no gate revenue.

At the time of the swap, Mejia was an interesting name. He’s posted huge numbers across two Class-A levels in 2019 and, due to a lack of a minor league season in 2020, made a brief big league debut with Miami that summer. He opened the 2021 season with Arizona’s Double-A affiliate and pitched reasonably well, logging a 4.22 ERA with far more impressive strikeout and walk rates, but Mejia has been clobbered both in Triple-A (86 2/3 innings, 6.23 ERA) and in the Majors (22 1/3 innings, 7.25 ERA) with the Diamondbacks. Mejia has solid strikeout and walk rates throughout his minor league career, but he’s also battled shoulder injuries and, since reaching the upper minors, become increasingly susceptible to home runs.

The 28-year-old Meisinger has now been with five organizations since being selected by the Orioles in the 11th round of the 2015 draft. He’s seen big league time in Baltimore (2018), St. Louis (2020) and with the Cubs (2021) but only tallied 31 total innings in the Majors. He’s been tagged for a grisly 7.26 ERA in that stretch, thanks to home-run troubles of his own as well as a bloated 13.8% walk rate.

Meisinger tossed 14 2/3 innings with Triple-A Reno this season and yielded 10 runs on 19 hits and seven walks with 16 strikeouts. It was a rough showing, but his broader track record in Triple-A remains strong. Even with this year’s 6.14 ERA, Meisinger carries a lifetime 3.37 mark through 117 2/3 innings in Triple-A and a 3.32 ERA in 81 1/3 Double-A frames. He’s fanned 29.7% of his opponents throughout his minor league career against a solid 7.9% walk rate. Things didn’t work out with the D-backs organization, clearly, but his strong minor league track record could earn him a look elsewhere.

Pirates To Promote Cal Mitchell

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The Pirates are calling up outfield prospect Cal Mitchell, reports Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (Twitter link). Mitchell isn’t on the 40-man roster, so he’ll need to have his contract formally selected (unless he’s being brought up specifically as a Covid-related substitute player). Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is full at the moment, so they’ll need to make at some corresponding moves. It seems likely there’s a set of transactions on the horizon, as it was reported Sunday that right-hander Roansy Contreras was also being brought back to the big leagues — and Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted last night that a locker is indeed set up for Contreras.

Mitchell, 23, was the No. 50 overall draft pick back in 2017. He’s had something of a slow developmental arc and hasn’t been considered among the Pirates’ top tier of prospects. Prior to the season, he ranked 22nd among Bucs farmhands at Baseball America, 25th at MLB.com and 37th at FanGraphs. However, Mitchell’s early work in 2022 has surely elevated his status. So far in 2022, he’s hitting for more power, striking out far less and running more often (and more successfully) than in any season of his professional career.

Prior to 2022, Mitchell had never reached an .800 OPS and was generally an above-average but not excellent hitter, by measure of wRC+. This year, however, Mitchell has stormed out of the gate with a .306/.362/.500 batting line (128 wRC+) through his first 138 plate appearances. He’s homered five times and connected on nine doubles, and the resulting .194 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) is the best of his career by 39 points. He’s also gone a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen bases, already tying his career-high total, and has fanned in just 14.5% of his plate appearances — well south of his prior rate of 22.4%.

Mitchell has spent the vast majority of his professional career playing right field (2797 innings), though he’s also logged 488 frames in left field and 27 in center. The Bucs have gotten solid production from Ben Gamel in left field, so he’s unlikely to be displaced, barring injury. Over in right field, rookie Jack Suwinski has struggled to the tune of a .182/.232/.377 batting line in his first 82 big league plate appearances.

Astros Notes: Tucker, McCullers, Pena

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Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker has quickly rebounded after a rocky couple weeks to begin the year, hitting .310/.402/.530 over the past month after getting out to a brutal .087/.192/.217 start through his first 13 games. That production only serves as a reminder that the 25-year-old is viewed as a building block in Houston. That fact is also backed up by the team’s apparent efforts to sign Tucker to a long-term extension. Mark Feinsand and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported recently that the ’Stros approached Tucker’s camp about an extension this year but talks proved unsuccessful and are not active at this time (Twitter link).

Tucker confirmed the report when speaking with Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Tucker tells Rome that he’s open to continued negotiations, whether they take place during the current season or in future offseasons. The former No. 5 overall draft pick noted that he’s controlled through the 2025 season regardless, leaving plenty of time for a deal to come together, though he did voice a preference to “get it out of the way if something does happen, just to not prolong [talks] over a long period of time.” Tucker looked overmatched as a 21-year-old rookie in 2018 but has batted .278/.345/.526 in 1036 plate appearances from 2019-22. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter.

More out of Houston…

  • Lance McCullers Jr. hit a milestone in his rehab from a flexor tendon strain in his right forearm, telling reporters that he threw off a mound for the first time yesterday (Twitter link, with video, via FOX 26’s Mark Berman). McCullers prepped for the mound session by throwing from 90 feet on flat ground and then tossed “about ten” pitches off the mound. The righty still didn’t offer a concrete timetable for his return, replying that his next step is to “just continue to build” as restores arm strength and works toward a minor league rehab assignment. McCullers, 28, pitched to a 3.16 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate in 162 1/3 innings last season in what would’ve been his final year of club control prior to reaching free agency. However, he inked a five-year, $85MM extension to remain in Houston last spring, and the 2022 season is the first year of that new pact. He’s eligible to come off the 60-day injured list in early June, but considering the fact that he hasn’t pitched yet this season and is only just getting on a mound, he won’t be activated when first eligible.
  • General manager James Click spoke with Alex Speier of the Boston Globe about his team’s decision to move on from Carlos Correa and entrust the shortstop job to rookie and top prospect Jeremy Pena — a decision he knew might not be universally accepted, given Correa’s popularity in Houston. “[The fans] loved Correa and they wanted to keep him,” said Click. “But we have tried to make it clear to our fans here that our priority is winning. We would love to win and keep everybody together. But sometimes you have to make a difficult decision to move on in order to try to keep that championship window open as long as you possibly can.” Pena has softened the blow by outproducing his predecessor for the time being and slashing .287/.343/.504 with seven homers and quality defense at short.

Alex Reyes To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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Cardinals right-hander Alex Reyes is staring down yet another injury-related setback, as he’s scheduled for surgery on his shoulder late this month, tweets Katie Woo of The Athletic. MLB.com’s John Denton first reported that Reyes would require surgery to repair his right shoulder (Twitter link).

Reyes met with renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday, and he confirmed a team recommendation that surgery will be required. The exact nature of the procedure has not yet been announced by the Cardinals. Woo adds that while the surgery is likely to end his season, there’s at least a small chance Reyes will be able to return late in the year.

It’ll be the third major surgery for Reyes in the past five years. The righty underwent Tommy John surgery back in Spring Training of 2019 and has since gone under the knife to repair a torn tendon in his latissimus dorsi muscle. Reyes also missed time with shoulder trouble back in 2020, though he didn’t require surgery at the time.

The expected shoulder procedure, then, is just the latest in a long line of physical ailments that have combined to derail what looked to be one of the sport’s most promising young talents. Reyes, for years, was heralded as a potential ace, frequenting top prospect rankings throughout his minor league tenure. Heading into the 2017 season, Baseball Prospectus ranked him as the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, while Baseball America ranked him fourth and MLB.com ranked him sixth.

At that time, Reyes had barely retained his rookie and prospect status after an electrifying MLB debut in 2016, when he pitched 46 innings of 1.57 ERA ball. However, Reyes had Tommy John surgery before he had the chance to follow up on that debut. That surgery, paired with the previously mentioned lat and shoulder troubles, combined to limit Reyes to just 87 total innings from 2017-20 (big leagues and minors combined). He pitched a career-high 72 1/3 innings for the Cardinals in 2021, all coming as a reliever, leading the team with 29 saves. Reyes punched out more than 30% of his opponents but also issued walks at an untenable 16.4% clip.

The hope heading into the 2022 season was that Reyes, like Jordan Hicks, could potentially be stretched out to either again work as a starter or to provide a multi-inning option in high-leverage spots. This latest bout of shoulder trouble, however, nixed that possibility before it ever even truly began. Now, Reyes’ very future in the organization could be in question.

At 27 years of age (28 in August), Reyes has just 145 Major League innings under his belt. Despite that paltry total, he’ll reach five years of Major League service this season, due largely to the significant amount of time he’s spent on the Major League injured list. He’ll likely add another full season of IL time to that ledger. The Cards will be able to retain him via arbitration this winter, and given that he’s unlikely to pitch at all, he’d likely be in line for a repeat of this year’s $2.9MM salary. It’s a modest sum, but the Cards will still need to determine whether they’ll make that commitment to a player who has averaged 29 innings per year over his first five MLB campaigns.

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