White Sox Select Bennett Sousa, Jason Bilous
The White Sox announced this afternoon they’ve selected pitchers Bennett Sousa and Jason Bilous to their 40-man roster. The moves keep both players from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.
Sousa, 26, was a tenth-round pick in 2018 out of the University of Virginia. The reliever has never appeared on an organizational top 30 ranking at FanGraphs or Baseball America, but he’s posted strong minor league numbers. The southpaw split the 2021 campaign between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte, working to a 3.61 ERA over 47 1/3 cumulative frames. Sousa fanned a strong 35.5% of opponents along the way against a 10% walk rate.
Bilous, 24, was a 13th-round pick in the same class coming out of Coastal Carolina. The right-hander has spent his entire minor league career as a starter, although his elevated walk rates might result in a bullpen future. BA ranked Bilous 21st among White Sox farmhands midseason, crediting him with a low-90s fastball and plus slider. He spent 2021 at High-A Winston-Salem and in Birmingham, combining for a 5.76 ERA over 79 2/3 innings with a 30.2% strikeout rate and a 9.1% walk percentage.
Brewers Outright Mark Mathias
The Brewers announced this afternoon that utilityman Mark Mathias has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Nashville. The 27-year-old doesn’t have the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.
Mathias has spent the bulk of his career in the Cleveland farm system. He generally offered a solid combination of bat-to-ball skills, plate discipline and defensive versatility, helping to compensate for a lack of power. Milwaukee swung a minor trade to acquire the right-handed hitter in November 2019 and selected him to their 40-man roster.
With no minor league season in 2020, Mathias spent the bulk of the year on optional assignment to the alternate training site. He did appear in sixteen big league games, tallying 36 plate appearances. Mathias came to Spring Training in 2021 hoping to compete for a utility role. Unfortunately, he suffered a labrum tear in his shoulder in March and missed the entire season, although he did at least pick up a big league salary and service time while on the injured list.
Mets Select Ronny Mauricio, Three Others
The Mets have added a quartet of players to their 40-man roster tweets Tim Healey of Newsday. The Mets players being added to the roster, and thus being protected from the impending Rule 5 draft, are shortstop Ronny Mauricio, infielder/outfielder Mark Vientos, and right-handed pitchers Jose Butto and Adam Oller. The Mets now have 36 players on their roster.
Mauricio has appeared among Baseball America’s top 100 overall prospects in each of the past three years. The switch-hitter’s best attribute is his big power from both sides of the plate, but Mauricio has moved fairly slowly up the minor league ladder. He’s posted subpar strikeout and walk numbers, and he’s coming off just a .242/.290/.449 showing over 420 High-A plate appearances. Still, Mauricio boasts a rare level of power for a player projected to stick on the infield.
Vientos is a former second-rounder who mashed at a .281/.346/.580 clip with 22 homers over 306 Double-A plate appearances. He struck out at an alarming 28.4% clip and isn’t particularly well-regarded defensively, but those numbers highlight massive raw power that has made him an intriguing prospect for years. BA slots him fourth among New York farmhands.
Butto and Oller are both coming off strong high minors campaigns. The former, whom BA named the Mets’ #13 prospect entering 2021, worked 40 1/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball over his first eight Double-A starts. Oller, 27, is older than most prospects, but he earns a roster spot after tossing 120 frames of 3.45 ERA ball between Double-A and Triple-A this past season.
Astros Trade Garrett Stubbs To Phillies
The Phillies announced Friday that they have acquired catcher Garrett Stubbs from the Astros in exchange for minor league outfielder Logan Cerny. Stubbs becomes the second backup catching option acquired by the Phils tonight, who also added minor league backstop Donny Sands in a trade with the Yankees.
Stubbs, 28, has spent parts of three seasons in the Majors with the ‘Stros, hitting at a combined .182/.238/.247 clip — albeit through a tiny sample of 87 plate appearances. It’s obviously not an impressive line, but Stubbs has a far better track record in Triple-A, where he hit .265/.418/.363 this season and carries a career-long line of .272/.369/.404 in parts of four seasons.
The Phils obviously don’t have a need for a starting catcher, not with J.T. Realmuto entering the second season of a five-year contract, but Stubbs will join Sands as a backup option. The former eighth-rounder has a strong defensive reputation, having posted a massive 41% caught-stealing rate in his pro career and strong framing rates (via Baseball Prospectus) throughout his minor league tenure. Stubbs also has a minor league option remaining, giving the Phils some flexibility if they choose to acquire a more established backup option to Realmuto. That said, Stubbs seems plenty capable of filling a backup role — he just hasn’t had the opportunity in recent seasons with the Astros leaning heavily on Martin Maldonado and Jason Castro.
As was the case in the Phillies’ trade with the Yankees, they tapped into their recent draft class to add some depth options rather than dealing more experienced farmhands from a thin minor league system. It’s not a bad strategy in moderation, particularly given that all of the players acquired in today’s pair of deals — Stubbs, Sands and righty Nick Nelson — can both be immediate depth options and be controlled for several years.
Cerny, 22, obviously isn’t one of the Phils’ top prospects given his status as a recent 10th-round pick, but he turned in a .291/.377/.529 in three seasons at Troy University. He hit .200/.349/.286 in 43 pro plate appearances following the draft.
Giants Select Three Players, Designate Jay Jackson For Assignment
The Giants have selected outfielder Heliot Ramos and right-handers Sean Hjelle and Randy Rodriguez to the 40-man roster. The moves keep them from being eligible for the Rule 5 draft. To create roster space, San Francisco designated reliever Jay Jackson for assignment and returned Rule 5 pick Dedniel Nuñez to the Mets.
Ramos is among the better prospects in baseball, entering the 2021 campaign as Baseball America’s #83 overall farmhand. A first-round pick out of Puerto Rico in 2017, the right-handed hitting Ramos has compensated for a lot of swing-and-miss by hitting for a lot of power. He’s regarded as a potential above-average everyday right fielder and hit .254/.323/.416 with 14 homers in 495 plate appearances between Double-A Richmond and Triple-A Sacramento.
Hjelle was a second-rounder out of the University of Kentucky in 2018. The big righty draws praise for his deception and control, but his minor league track record has been mixed. The 24-year-old dominated in the low minors but has run into some trouble at the higher levels, particularly in Triple-A. BA ranks him eleventh in system and calls him a potential back-end starter.
Rodriguez, 22, is a former amateur signee out of the Dominican Republic. Working exclusively as a reliever, he pitched to a sterling 1.74 ERA with a huge 39.1% strikeout rate and a fine 8.9% walk percentage over 62 innings with Low-A Augusta. Rodriguez has never appeared on an organizational ranking at FanGraphs or BA.
San Francisco’s decision to DFA Jackson comes as a bit of a surprise, considering the club just exercised a 2022 option on his services a few weeks back. Signed to a minors pact in January, the 34-year-old Jackson made the big league club in July and worked 21 2/3 frames down the stretch. He struck out a strong 31.1% of opposing hitters in that time, although he also handed out free passes at an alarming 13.3% clip.
Nuñez never appeared in a regular season game with the Giants. Selected out of the New York organization in last year’s Rule 5 draft, he suffered an elbow injury in Spring Training and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery. He’ll return to the Mets but won’t occupy a 40-man roster spot.
Dodgers Select Five Players
The Dodgers have filled their 40-man roster, adding five players to their roster in advance of the Rule 5 deadline per MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. The players being added are infielders Jacob Amaya, Eddys Leonard, and Jorbit Vivas, outfielder James Outman, and right-handed pitcher Michael Grove. In corresponding moves, outfielders Billy McKinney and Zach Reks have been designated for assignment.
Each of Amaya, Leonard and Vivas appeared on the back half of the Dodgers’ midseason top 30 prospects ranking at Baseball America. Amaya’s a well-regarded middle infielder but struggled offensively in Double-A this past season. Leonard and Vivas haven’t yet advanced beyond High-A, but they’re both infielders with good low minors numbers and some offensive upside.
The Dodgers acquired McKinney from the Mets in July. He struggled mightily down the stretch with L.A., though, and his overall .192/.280/.358 line over 300 plate appearances with three teams was well below-average. McKinney draws a fair amount of walks, but he’s never quite tapped into enough power to offset high strikeout totals and a limited defensive profile. He’ll either be traded or waived in the coming days.
Reks made a brief big league debut in 2021, tallying ten plate appearances over six games. He spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he raked at a .280/.382/.539 clip in 379 plate appearances. Reks is already 28 and has essentially no big league body of work, but it’s possible another club takes a shot on his strong track record of minor league performance. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining.
Angels Outright Chad Wallach, Select Elvis Peguero
The Angels announced Friday that catcher Chad Wallach went unclaimed on waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. In his place, the Halos selected righty Elvis Peguero to the roster. Meanwhile, right-hander Junior Guerra, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has been released.
Wallach, 30, never appeared in a game with the Angels after being claimed off waivers out of the Marlins organization in August. The Angels haven’t given any indication that Wallach will elect free agency, but he’d technically be able to do so if he wishes.
A former fifth-round pick and the son of former big leaguer Tim Wallach, the younger Wallach has posted a .207/.271/.303 line in 231 plate appearances between the Reds and Miami. He’s typically operated as a backup, as last year’s 66 plate appearances marked a career-high. For now, he’s been assigned to Triple-A, where he’s a .220/.317/.392 hitter in parts of four seasons.
Peguero, 24, joined the Angels in the trade that sent Andrew Heaney to the Yankees. He made a brief MLB debut late in the season as a Covid-19 replacement player but didn’t need to be formally selected to the roster for that to happen. He’s now been permanently added to the 40-man. The hard-throwing righty soared through four minor league levels this season, pitching to a collective 3.43 ERA with a 30.1% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.
Rays Select Four Players
The Rays announced that they’ve added four players to their 40-man roster. The players being added are infielder Jonathan Aranda, infielder/catcher Ford Proctor, and right-handed pitchers Calvin Faucher and Tommy Romero. Following some earlier trades today, the roster is now full at 40 players.
None of this group cracked the Rays’ midseason top 30 prospects at Baseball America. Tampa Bay’s farm system is one of the league’s deepest, though, and it stands to reason clubs would’ve had interest in even some of the lower-ranked names in the organization.
Proctor, 24, is a former third-round pick who has posted strong minor league numbers over his pro career. He hit .244/.381/.419 in 381 Double-A plate appearances this past season. Perhaps most interestingly, he saw significant work behind the plate in addition to his customary middle infield role. Aranda mashed at a .325/.410/.540 clip over 322 Double-A plate appearances while playing all over the infield.
Faucher and Romero have both missed plenty of bats in the high minors. The former, who works primarily as a reliever, was acquired from the Twins as part of the Nelson Cruz trade this summer. The latter came over from the Mariners in 2018 as part of the Denard Span deal.
Rangers Outright Kyle Cody, Edwar Colina
The Rangers announced they’ve selected the contracts of infielder Ezequiel Duran and right-handers Ronny Henriquez and Ricky Vanasco. Additionally, righties Kyle Cody and Edwar Colina have cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Round Rock.
Duran was among the most important pickups from the Yankees in this past summer’s Joey Gallo trade. Baseball America ranked him fifth in the Texas system midseason, praising his bat-to-ball skills and power. The 22-year-old struggled with the Rangers after a scorching start in the Yankees’ system, but he always seemed like a lock to be protected from the Rule 5 draft. The Dominican Republic native hit .267/.342/.486 over 471 plate appearances at High-A this past season. Duran hasn’t yet reached Double-A, so he’s likely to spend most or all of next season in the minors.
Henriquez and Vansaco appeared on the back half of BA’s midseason top 30 Rangers’ prospects. Henriquez split the 2021 campaign between High-A and Double-A, struggling with home runs but posting quality strikeout and walk numbers at the latter stop. Vansaco missed the year recovering from Tommy John surgery but is regarded as a potential mid-rotation starter.
Neither Cody nor Colina have the service time to reject an outright assignment, so both will remain in the organization as non-roster depth. Cody owns a 3.71 ERA/4.58 SIERA over 34 major league innings since the start of 2020. Colina has pitched in just one MLB game and was recently claimed off waivers from the Twins.
Guardians Designate Seven Players For Assignment
The Guardians announced Friday that they’ve designated outfielders Daniel Johnson and Harold Ramirez; righties Justin Garza and J.C. Mejia; and lefties Kyle Nelson, Alex Young and Scott Moss for assignment.
Cleveland also added a whopping 10 players to the 40-man roster, headlined by top prospects Tyler Freeman and George Valera. Also added to the 40-man roster are Brayan Rocchio, Richie Palacios, Steven Kwan, Jose Tena, Cody Morris, Bryan Lavastida, Konnor Pilkington and Jhonkensy Noel.
Finally, the Guardians have also acquired right-hander Tobias Myers from the Rays in exchange for minor league infielder Junior Caminero, tweets FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. Myers will also be added to the 40-man roster.
Johnson and Ramirez have been part of a revolving door in an uncertain Cleveland outfield in recent seasons. Neither has hit well enough to lock down a permanent roster spot, although Ramirez did start more than half the team’s games in 2021. Ramirez would have the right to elect minor league free agency if he clears waivers.
Mejia logged significant action as a depth starter this year but struggled. Garza, Nelson and Young saw some bullpen work, while Moss has yet to make it to the major leagues.
The massive turnover highlights the high minors depth Cleveland has stockpiled in recent seasons. The selection of ten prospects is highly atypical, but it’s a testament to the Guardians’ scouting and development staffs that they’ve managed to accumulate so much talent they’re afraid other teams might jump on. That’s particularly true on the position player side, with much of this group being hitters with advanced bat-to-ball skills who could factor onto the big league roster in relatively short order.
Freeman, Valera and Rocchio might be the most notable. All three appeared on FanGraphs’ Top 100 list entering the 2021 season. They’ve all topped out at Double-A Akron, where each posted above-average offensive performances despite being 22 years old or younger. Valera plays center field, while Freeman and Rocchio are middle infielders. Palacios is another infielder with great high minors numbers, while Lavastida is regarded as one of the better catching prospects in the minors.