Rangers Designate Khris Davis For Assignment
The Rangers have designated DH/outfielder Khris Davis for assignment, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets.
A three-time 40-home run hitter, Davis joined the Rangers in the offseason in a trade with the Athletics, who acquired shortstop Elvis Andrus as their headlining piece. Neither player has performed well this season, however. Davis missed the first month-plus of the season with a left quad strain and has since batted .157/.262/.333 with a pair of home runs in 61 plate appearances. So far, it’s the third straight year in which Davis has posted subpar production at the plate.
Davis is making $16.7MM this season, the last of a two-year, $33.5MM contract. Considering Davis’ offensive issues and his lack of defensive value, he’s unlikely to appeal to any team in a trade over the next week.
To replace Davis, the Rangers recalled infielder/outfielder Eli White, whom they also acquired from the A’s in a past trade. White has hit a dismal .155/.214/.194 with zero home runs in 112 PA since he debuted last year.
Riley Pint Retires
Rockies right-handed pitching prospect Riley Pint has retired from baseball at the age of 23, Thomas Harding of MLB.com was among those to relay.
Pint – who at times showed off triple-digit velocity – was the fourth overall pick of the Rockies in 2016, at which point outlets such as MLB.com and Baseball America ranked him as the second-best prospect in his class. BA even wrote then that Pint had a chance to turn into a Justin Verlander-type ace in a best-case scenario, though it did note that there were concerns regarding his control.
The Rockies signed Pint to a $4.8MM bonus after they picked him, but his inability to throw strikes on a consistent basis helped lead to his undoing. Pint walked at least five batters per nine at every minor league level from 2016 through this season, and he ever advanced beyond High-A ball. He’ll wrap up his career with a 5.56 ERA and 8.8 K/9 against 7.2 BB/9 across 166 2/3 frames in the minors.
Rockies assistant general manager of player development Zach Wilson has left the door open for Pint to return, but for now, he’s the latest of their recent high picks to retire early. Fellow righties Mike Nikorak (the 27th pick in 2015) and Robert Tyler (38th in 2016) have also stepped away from the game since 2020.
Outrighted: Martini, Minaya
The latest outrights from around Major League Baseball:
- Cubs outfielder Nick Martini has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Iowa after clearing waivers, Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune was among those to report. Martini – who signed a minor league contract with the Cubs in the offseason – earned a promotion in early May but went just 1-for-12 in the bigs before they designated him for assignment last week. The 30-year-old former Athletic and Padre has enjoyed some success in the majors, though, as shown by his .261/.363/.366 line across 303 plate appearances.
- Righty Juan Minaya will stay with the Twins after accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A St. Paul, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets. The club designated Minaya over the weekend after he yielded three earned runs on five hits (including two homers) and put up four strikeouts against three walks in 6 1/3 innings. It was the first major league action for the 30-year-old since his run with the White Sox from 2016-19. He joined the Twins on a minors pact over the winter.
Phillies Select Luke Williams
The Phillies have selected the contract of infielder Luke Williams from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Philadelphia also reinstated right-handers Chase Anderson and David Hale from the COVID-19 injured list, optioned lefty Cristopher Sanchez and placed reliever Brandon Kintzler on the 10-day IL (retroactive to Monday) with a neck strain.
This is the first major league opportunity for Williams, a 24-year-old who has been with the Phillies since they drafted him in Round 3 in 2015. Williams now ranks as the Phillies’ 29th-best prospect at MLB.com, which compliments his high-end speed, defensive versatility and improving offense. Indeed, in his Triple-A debut this year, Williams has slashed a marvelous .352/.439/.465 with three stolen bases in 82 plate appearances.
Kintzler, meanwhile, has gotten off to a rough start this year after joining the Phillies on a minor league contract in the winter. The 36-year-old previously established himself as a competent reliever with multiple teams, but he has only managed an 8.50 ERA in 18 innings this season. To Kintzler’s credit, he has continued to induce groundballs and limit walks at above-average clips, and his 3.47 SIERA suggests better days may be ahead.
Reds Activate Joey Votto
The Reds announced Tuesday that first baseman Joey Votto is back from the 10-day injured list. To clear room for Votto, the Reds placed right-hander Michael Feliz on the 10-day IL (retroactive to Monday) with an elbow issue.
Cincinnati has gone more than a month without Votto, who hasn’t played since May 5 on account of a fractured left thumb. The 37-year-old, a six-time All-Star and former MVP, was off to a tough start before then with a career-low .226/.305/.425 line and five home runs in 118 trips to the plate. However, it wasn’t necessarily a hopeless start to the season for Votto, who dealt with some poor fortune that contributed to his mediocre line. For instance, Votto ranks well above average in several important Statcast categories – including expected weighted on-base average (his .377 xwOBA far outdoes his .319 real wOBA) – so his meager .250 batting average on balls in play seems likely to increase.
The Votto-less Reds have tread water since he went down, as they were one game under .500 then and that remains the case. The club is four games back in the competitive National League Central, which has three other contenders in the division-leading Brewers, the Cubs and the Cardinals.
Blue Jays Place Danny Jansen On IL, Recall Riley Adams
The Blue Jays have placed catcher Danny Jansen on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet was among those to report. The club called up fellow backstop Riley Adams to take Jansen’s place.
Toronto has gotten little offensive production this year from Jansen, who’s off to a .157/.248/.278 start with three home runs in 122 plate appearances. Reese McGuire has recorded similarly uninspiring numbers, while Alejandro Kirk hit the IL at the beginning of May with a left hip flexor injury. The Blue Jays have nonetheless come out of the gates with a respectable 30-27 record.
Now, the hope for the Jays is that they’ll receive a boost from Adams, a 24-year-old who has held his own against minor league pitching since the team chose him in the third round of the 2017 draft. Adams has slashed .265/.366/.422 with 27 home runs in 1,129 plate appearances in the minors, and he has worked his way to the majors this year with an even better .250/.410/.600 line and six homers over 78 PA in his first Triple-A action. MLB.com ranks Adams 18th in the Jays’ system, lauding his combination of offensive power and defensive ability.
Brewers Select Jace Peterson
The Brewers announced that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Jace Peterson from Triple-A Nashville. He’ll take the roster spot of infielder Keston Hiura, whom the Brewers optioned on Monday.
The 31-year-old Peterson was with the Brewers earlier in the season, but they designated him for assignment on May 24. That came in spite of a productive year-plus offensive showing for Peterson, who has batted .203/.371/.391 (114 wRC+) with four home runs in 89 plate appearances as a Brewer since 2020. But Peterson hasn’t typically been that effective in the majors, evidenced by his lifetime .227/.317/.333 mark across 1,721 trips to the plate with a few teams. Regardless of how he hits, though, Peterson has shown that he’s versatile enough as a defender to line up all over the diamond.
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Mariners Designate Jacob Nottingham For Assignment
The Mariners announced Tuesday that they have once again designated catcher Jacob Nottingham for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to outfielder Dillon Thomas, whose promotion to the big leagues was reported earlier this morning.
It’s the latest in a staggering series of transactions for Nottingham, who has spent the past several seasons with the Brewers organization and recently begun to be ping-ponged back and forth between Seattle and Milwaukee. A quick rundown of Nottingham’s bizarre timeline leading up to today’s DFA:
- April 22: Brewers designate Nottingham for assignment
- April 28: Mariners claim Nottingham of waivers
- May 1: Mariners designate Nottingham for assignment
- May 2: Brewers reacquire Nottingham in exchange for cash
- May 20: Mariners re-claim Nottingham off waivers
It remains to be seen if the Brewers will take another run at Nottingham, if he’ll land with another club or, perhaps, if he might finally clear waivers. The Mariners will have a week to gauge trade interest in the catcher or once again attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so any team that claims or acquires Nottingham will have to carry him on its MLB roster.
On the one hand, Nottingham is surely grateful to be in demand by at least these two teams. He gets Major League service time and Major League pay for any time spent in DFA limbo, so he’s at least being well compensated for the increasingly ridiculous tug-of-war the two teams are playing over him. On the other hand, it’s difficult for any player to bounce back and forth this much. Family considerations, housing, Covid protocols and myriad other factors come into play every time he changes teams.
Nottingham was once a catching prospect of some note, although he’s yet to receive any sort of regular playing time in the Majors. (Clearly, this year’s sequence isn’t helping.) He’s a career .250/.326/.421 hitter in 528 Triple-A plate appearances but has managed a more tepid .184/.277/.421 slash in a small sample of 130 plate appearances in the Majors. He homered twice in his 2021 debut with the Brewers and has also connected on a long ball in Seattle, but Nottingham’s 45 plate appearances in this strange season have resulted in a .150/.222/.400 output.