Jackson Holliday Undergoing MRI For Continued Hand Discomfort
Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday is in Baltimore for another MRI on his ailing right hand, the team announced to reporters (link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). The O’s will likely have further updates once the imaging has been performed. However, with an off-day tomorrow, said update might not come before Friday.
Holliday suffered a broken hamate bone during a batting practice swing early in spring training. He had surgery on Feb. 12 to remove the hamate hook — standard procedure for hitters who incur this injury. That surgery typically comes with a recovery period of four to eight weeks, but Holliday hasn’t been able to get back on track. The O’s halted his first rehab stint and sent him for additional testing. He went out on a new rehab stint a few days later but has now been pulled back again after experiencing another painful swing.
Now more than two months removed from the surgery, Holliday still doesn’t appear all that close to joining the Orioles. The 22-year-old has taken 56 plate appearances between High-A Frederick and Triple-A Norfolk during his pair of rehab stints and carries an anemic .176/.250/.235 batting line with a 23.2% strikeout rate and a 5.4% walk rate. He’s averaged 86.3 mph off the bat with just a 26.7% hard-hit rate in his 47 plate appearances in Norfolk.
With Holliday sidelined, the Orioles have given utilityman Jeremiah Jackson the lion’s share of playing time at second base. He’s responded with a stout .297/.321/.527 batting line (136 wRC+) and five home runs in 78 turns at the plate.
Whether he can sustain that is an open question. Jackson has benefited from a .327 average on balls in play — a higher-than-average mark, but not egregiously so. (League average thus far is .289.) However, he’s walked only three times (2.6%), and his 73.2% contact rate ranks 139th among the 195 MLB hitters who’ve tallied at least 70 plate appearances this season. His free-swinging, low-contact approach could well prove exploitable over a larger sample, but for the time being, Jackson has more than capably held down the fort at the keystone.
Holliday’s eventual return could have ramifications around the infield. If Jackson is still hitting well, he could slide over to third base in place of former top prospect Coby Mayo. The expectation was that Mayo’s bat would be fine at the hot corner in place of the injured Jordan Westburg, but there were substantial questions about his defense. The inverse has played out. Mayo has looked plenty solid with the glove, but he’s continued to flounder against big league pitchers, hitting just .158/.262/.246 with a homer and a 27.7% strikeout rate. Mayo has drawn plenty of walks but hasn’t hit the ball hard (86.3 mph average exit velocity, 33.3% hard-hit rate).
Time will tell how much longer Holliday remains sidelined, but recent developments certainly aren’t encouraging. The former No. 1 pick hit .242/.314/.375 with 17 homers and 17 steals last year as a 21-year-old in his first full major league season.
Red Sox Select Eduardo Rivera
April 22: The Sox have made it official today, announcing they selected Rivera, optioned Anderson and put Casas on the 60-day IL. Chris Cotillo of MassLive confirmed the Casas move prior to the official announcement.
April 21: The Red Sox are promoting left-hander Eduardo Rivera, as first reported by Javier Sabath. The Sox will option righty Jack Anderson to Triple-A Worcester, according to Ari Alexander of Boston 7 News. They’ll also need to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Triston Casas stands as a 60-day injured list candidate after suffering an intercostal strain on top of his work back from knee surgery.
Rivera makes the jump directly from Double-A Portland. The 22-year-old southpaw dominated over his first two starts of the season. He recorded 16 strikeouts against three walks over 10 innings of one-run ball. Rivera also missed bats for his native Puerto Rico during the World Baseball Classic. He fanned nine hitters over 6 2/3 frames in two WBC games. Rivera allowed three runs on two hits, four walks, and a hit batter.
Listed at 6’7″ and 237 pounds, Rivera cuts an imposing figure on the mound. The long limbs have also contributed to strike-throwing issues in his minor league career. Rivera was an 11th-round selection by the Athletics in 2021. He never advanced out of A-ball in their system and was released in May ’24.
The Red Sox took a flier on his size and a fastball that runs into the mid-90s. They’ve been rewarded for the pickup, as Rivera has pitched well since joining the Boston organization. He combined for a 2.48 ERA while striking out 29.7% of batters faced over 87 innings between High-A and Double-A last season. That came with a near-13% walk rate, but Rivera has been around the strike zone over his first couple appearances this year.
Rivera did not crack Baseball America’s Top 30 prospects. However, MLB Pipeline slotted him #26 in the system with praise for his fastball-slider combination. Rivera probably projects to a bullpen role but is stretched out enough to work multiple innings.
The Red Sox used seven relievers to get through Monday’s game. Their leverage arms got a rest today, as the duo of Anderson and Tyler Samaniego finished the 4-0 loss to the Yankees. Rivera will replace Anderson as a potential mop-up arm. They’re carrying a ninth reliever for the next couple days after placing Sonny Gray on the injured list but will need to drop back to an eight-man bullpen to call up a starter (most likely Payton Tolle) this weekend.
Padres Sign Lucas Giolito
Lucas Giolito‘s protracted 2025-2026 free agency stint has finally ended. The Padres announced that they have signed him to a one-year deal with a mutual option. He’ll receive a $3MM guarantee, with half of that total via buyout on a 2027 mutual option worth $8MM. Giolito can increase the buyout by $3MM based on starts in 2026. There is an additional $2MM in unlockable bonuses tied to awards voting. To make room on the 40-man, the Padres announced that righty Bryan Hoeing has been transferred to the 60-day IL as he recovers from flexor surgery. Giolito will start with Single-A Lake Elsinore and must be on the major league roster within the next 25 days. Giolito is represented by CAA Sports.
For Giolito, his second foray into free agency was not nearly as successful as his first. His 2019 to 2021 run with the White Sox had him positioned as a top-of-the-rotation arm. Among 46 starters who threw at least 350 innings in that time frame, Giolito was sixth with a 30.7% strikeout rate on the back of a fantastic fastball-changeup pairing. His propensity for fly balls (41.7 FB%) and homers (13.7 HR/FB%) possibly prevented “ace” designation, yet Giolito was easily one of baseball’s best pitchers in this time frame.
However, more middling results followed in 2022 and 2023, with the homers especially ticking up in 2023. His 41 big flies were second only to Lance Lynn. Despite a poor platform year by his standards, Giolito and his representatives were able to parlay the showing into a $38.5MM guarantee with the Red Sox over the ’24-’25 seasons, with some additional incentives and player option structure.
Unfortunately, a torn UCL brought his 2024 season to an abrupt halt. An internal brace procedure (which carries a shorter rehab timeline than a traditional Tommy John ligament graft) had him back on the mound at the end of the following April, where he threw 145 innings. ERA evaluators/predictors like xFIP (4.59) and SIERA (4.65) were more bearish on his work than his actual results (3.41). Notably, Giolito’s strikeouts were down from his heyday with the White Sox. He profiled more as a back-of-the-rotation starter than the tremendous upside he flashed from 2019-2021 with Chicago.
Despite a solid return to the rotation, Giolito suffered from flexor irritation and a bone issue at the conclusion of the 2025 season. Although he was set to return to the club after resting, the Red Sox’s early postseason exit meant Giolito had no chance to pitch again before free agency. Under the hood, Giolito looked like a muted version of his best days, but he was a perfectly adequate starter in 2025.
His fastball velocity checked in about a one mile per hour (93.3) lower than his best seasons with the White Sox (94.2), but this was a continuation of a trend started in 2022. Among 82 pitchers who tossed at least 140 innings last season, Giolito was 69th in K-BB%, indicating both below-average ability to miss bats and control the zone. However, he was able to limit homers more effectively than ever before: his 9.3 HR/FB% was below league average, and the first time he recorded a single-percentage mark in a season of 25 or more starts.
Giolito declined his end of a $19MM mutual option (essentially a formality) with the Red Sox for 2026, and it perhaps came as no surprise that the Red Sox passed on extending Giolito a qualifying offer after the 2025 season due to some lingering injury trepidation. He is the last of the MLBTR 2025-2026 Top 50 MLB Free Agents to sign, and comes in far below expectations in years and total guarantee. Even without draft pick compensation attached, Giolito sat on the free agent market well into April, despite some notable playoff aspirants like the Braves, Cubs, and Padres losing multiple starters during Spring Training and the early season.
Speaking of the Padres, the news couldn’t come at a better time. Injuries and slowed recoveries have decimated the top of the rotation over the past few months. Yu Darvish had his second UCL surgery after the playoffs concluded in early November. Darvish is currently rehabbing on the restricted list away from the team and has reportedly considered retirement. Joe Musgrove, recovering from his own Tommy John surgery back in October 2024 and expected to open the season in the rotation, has had his rehab interrupted and was placed on the IL to open the season. 2025 workhorse Nick Pivetta hit the IL after four starts with a flexor strain. Surgery is not currently on the table, but given the recurrence of the strain (Pivetta also hit the IL for a short period in 2024 with the same issue), the Padres will give Pivetta ample time to rest his ailing arm in the hopes of having him available for a postseason run.
These injuries have thinned the depth of the rotation considerably in San Diego. Juan Soto trade returns Michael King and Randy Vasquez are providing quality innings, but the back of the rotation has shown mixed results to this point. Walker Buehler, though a far cry from his Dodgers’ peak, is looking like he still might have something left in the tank. Former Rockies All-Star German Marquez has a 3.86 ERA but less exciting numbers under the hood. Knuckleballer Matt Waldron was hit hard in his 2026 debut.
All three back-end starters have struggled to give the Padres consistent innings at the back of the rotation. Seven of the Padres’ first 23 games have had a starter fail to record an out in the fifth inning. Though Griffin Canning is on the horizon while working through a Triple-A El Paso rehab, the Padres decided that it was worth fortifying the rotation depth for the summer ahead.
Giolito’s contract stipulation for a Major League recall within the next 25 days would put him in line for a mid-May debut. This should give him four turns through the rotation to build up his arm after missing all of Spring Training. Should the rotation remain healthy after Canning joins, the Padres will have some decisions to make. As MLB veterans with ample service time, Buehler and Marquez can’t be optioned without their consent. Someone may end up in the bullpen or pushed off the roster entirely, depending on future health.
For now, San Diego will be happy to kick the roster-crunch can down the road. It’s an affordable, low-risk signing of an MLB-quality arm that could help the team weather the injury storm. The deal is much in the vein of recent similar signings by PBO/GM A.J. Preller. Operating under some payroll constraints after the death of former owner Peter Seidler and the imminent sale of the club, Preller has prioritized creative, low-dollar guarantees to Pivetta, Marquez, Buehler, and now Giolito to minimize the CBT hit (the Padres are currently in the first luxury payor tier). For his part, Giolito gets the opportunity to pitch for a potential contender with a recent record of rehabilitating starting pitchers’ value as he looks to surpass his 2025 platform year for a better offer next offseason.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post was the first to report the $3MM guarantee and the $2MM in awards bonuses. Ari Alexander of 7News Boston WHDH had the $1.5MM salary and buyout on the $8MM mutual option plus the $3MM in escalators. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune had the details on the initial minor league assignment and recall stipulation.
Twins Promote Connor Prielipp
The Twins announced Wednesday that they’ve recalled top pitching prospect Connor Prielipp from Triple-A St. Paul. He’ll make his major league debut tonight, starting their road game against the Mets. Infielder/outfielder Ryan Kreidler was optioned to Triple-A in his place.
Prielipp, 25, was the No. 48 overall draft pick out of Alabama back in 2022. He’s a consensus top-five prospect in the Twins’ system who currently sits 81st on Baseball America’s ranking of the sport’s top 100 prospects. The 6’2″ southpaw has begun his 2026 season with 16 2/3 frames, a 2.30 ERA and a huge 34.9% strikeout rate in Triple-A, but his 12.7% walk rate is obviously higher than Minnesota would prefer.
Health troubles have plagued Prielipp to this point in his career. He dominated when healthy enough to take the mound at Alabama but required Tommy John surgery early in his sophomore season. On stuff alone, he might’ve been a first-round talent, but the injury concerns and the pandemic-impacted 2020 season limited him to only seven starts in his NCAA career. He posted preposterous numbers in that time: a 0.96 ERA with 45.6% strikeout rate against a 6.8% walk rate.
Durability concerns have carried over into Prielipp’s pro career. Renewed elbow troubles in 2023 prompted an internal brace procedure to once again repair his left ulnar collateral ligament. He pitched just 30 innings in his first two pro seasons combined but in 2025 tossed a career-high 82 2/3 frames with a 27% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate.
Prielipp has worked off a four-pitch mix in 2026, sitting 95.7 mph on his four-seamer — up from the 94.8 mph he averaged in his return from surgery last year. He’s largely shelved his sinker this season but incorporated a new curveball that sits in the 82-83 mph range. Prielipp also has a slider and changeup in the upper 80s. All three of his fastball, slider and changeup draw plus grades in Baseball America’s scouting report (60 each on the 20-80 scale). FanGraphs touted the slider as a plus-plus (70) pitch on last season’s scouting report.
Minnesota’s rotation ran into trouble as soon as pitchers and catchers reports. Right-hander Pablo López experienced discomfort in his first bullpen session this spring and wound up requiring UCL surgery that’ll cost him the whole season. David Festa, a former top-100 prospect who was in the rotation mix this spring, suffered a shoulder injury and has yet to pitch in 2026. Right-hander Mick Abel, a former first-round pick and top prospect acquired in the trade sending Jhoan Duran to the Phillies last summer, won a rotation spot in camp but just hit the injured list due to elbow inflammation. He’d just rattled off 13 shutout frames with a 16-to-3 K/BB ratio across his past two starts.
With those injuries impacting the staff, the Twins have Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and breakout candidate Taj Bradley in the rotation at the moment. Prielipp will get at least one crack at forcing his way into the mix, and it’s plausible that he could get a couple looks if he impresses in tonight’s debut. There’s no formal timeline on Abel’s recovery yet, but Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that his MRI results were a best-case scenario: only mild inflammation and no structural damage. Abel will miss at least two starts. Even if he only requires a minimum stint, Woods Richardson has been hit hard in the early-going and could be a bullpen candidate if Prielipp and Abel outpitch him. (Woods Richardson is out of minor league options and thus cannot simply be sent to Triple-A to get back on track.)
The timing of Prielipp’s promotion takes him out of the running for any PPI consideration. He’s also been called up late enough in the season that his only viable path to a full year of major league service would be a top-two finish in American League Rookie of the Year voting. Barring that, he’ll be controllable through at least the 2032 season. If Prielipp is up for good, he’d be on pace for Super Two status, making him arbitration eligible four times rather than three (beginning after the 2028 season). However, he’s in the first of three minor league option years, so he’s hardly a lock to stick in the majors for good from this point forth.
Regardless, Prielipp joins a crop of controllable young arms who can give Twins fans some hope even amid the chaos stemming from last July’s fire sale, an ownership restructuring and the recent departure of president of baseball operations Derek Falvey. Prielipp, Bradley, Abel, Kendry Rojas (called up yesterday), Dasan Hill (another top-100 arm down in Triple-A) and recently recalled righty Andrew Morris are all at or on the cusp of the MLB level. Festa and fellow right-hander Zebby Matthews (currently in Triple-A) were both top-100 talents prior to their debuts but have yet to establish themselves. Bradley is controlled through 2029. The others are all controlled through 2030 or later. The entire group is 25 or younger, with the exception of Festa, who turned 26 a month ago.
MLBTR Podcast: Kevin McGonigle, The Padres’ Franchise Valuation, And Edwin Díaz To Miss Time
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Tigers signing Kevin McGonigle to an eight-year extension (1:30)
- José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones reportedly having an agreement in place to buy the Padres (13:10)
- Dodgers right-hander Edwin Díaz requiring elbow surgery (27:20)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Are the Braves for real? And what do they do once their injured guys get healthy? (32:20)
- If a salary cap is theoretically implemented, how would it work with the teams currently over the cap? (40:50)
- Can Michael Wacha of the Royals keep up his dominance? (45:50)
- What are the Reds going to do with Matt McLain and TJ Friedl? (48:15)
- Can the Nationals keep up this level of offense? And if so, should they have invested more in this year’s pitching staff? (52:10)
Check out our past episodes!
- Lenyn Sosa Traded, And Injury Concerns For The Astros, Cubs And Orioles – listen here
- Previewing The 2026-27 Free-Agent Class – listen here
- Lots Of Extensions And Big-Picture Topics – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Braves Recall Didier Fuentes, Designate Ian Hamilton For Assignment
The Braves announced Wednesday morning that they’ve recalled right-hander Didier Fuentes from Triple-A Gwinnett. Fellow righty Ian Hamilton was designated for assignment to open a spot on the active roster. Fuentes will start tonight’s game against the Nationals.
Hamilton’s contract was just selected to the big league roster last week. He made only one appearance with Atlanta and was tagged for three runs in an inning of work. He’ll now be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days.
With his latest appearance, the 30-year-old Hamilton has now pitched 151 1/3 major league innings between the White Sox, Twins, Yankees and Braves. He’s worked to a solid 3.75 ERA overall, although a terrific 2023 season (2.64 ERA, 58 innings) disproportionately affects that career-long mark; Hamilton had a 4.91 ERA in 14 2/3 innings prior to that season and has a 4.35 earned run average in 78 2/3 frames since.
Hamilton has fanned just over one quarter of his major league opponents (25.4%) but also carries a bloated 11.3% walk rate that’s nearly three percentage points north of the league average. He’s shown above-average grounder tendencies (45.9%) and has done a nice job of avoiding homers and hard contact in general. The right-hander sat 96 mph with his heater for the 2024-25 Yankees but averaged 94.4 mph in his lone Braves appearance. His sinker velocity dipped similarly. Hamilton’s primary breaking pitch is a slider that he’s typically thrown at a near 50% clip.
Fuentes, 10 years younger than Hamilton, won’t turn 21 until mid-June. Despite that youth, he’s auditioning for a role in the Atlanta rotation. The right-hander struggled in a four-start cup of coffee last summer but had a big spring showing and has been excellent in Gwinnett thus far. Through his first 16 2/3 frames, Fuentes sports a tidy 2.16 ERA with a 31.7% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate. He made one long relief appearance with the Braves early this season before being sent down and shined there as well, holding the Royals to a run on two hits and a walk with four punchouts in four innings.
Atlanta’s pitching injuries have been chronicled at length. Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep had surgery to remove loose bodies from their elbows before the season started. Joey Wentz tore his ACL during spring training. Spencer Strider opened the season on the injured list due to an oblique strain and has yet to return.
The Braves have been left with a group of Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Martín Pérez to shoulder the rotation load thus far. To call Elder (1.50 ERA in 30 innings) and Pérez (2.21 ERA, 20 1/3 innings) “pleasant surprises” thus far would be an understatement. Pérez has pitched like a fifth starter when healthy for the bulk of the past five seasons. Elder was one of the least-effective pitchers in baseball in 2024-25.
It’s not reasonable to expect either Elder or Pérez to sustain this level of production, but there’s no taking away what’s already in the books; these impeccably timed hot streaks have helped the Braves weather a storm of early injuries that threatened to dig them in a massive hole for a second straight season. Instead, Atlanta has an NL-best 2.98 ERA from the rotation and sits at 16-8 with a five-game cushion in a disappointing NL East division. With Strider on a minor league rehab assignment, Fuentes now in the majors, top prospect JR Ritchie performing well and injured arms like Schwellenbach, Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver (Tommy John surgery last year) all progressing through their rehab windows, Atlanta could be on the cusp of escaping those early health setbacks with an improbable division lead, which would set the Braves up incredibly well for the remainder of the season.
The Opener: Soto, Kurtz, Ohtani
The Mets’ losing streak grew to a dozen last night. The club will be getting some reinforcements for Wednesday’s matchup.
1. Soto set to return
Outfielder Juan Soto is expected back tonight against the Twins. He’s missed a little under three weeks while nursing a calf injury. The four-time All-Star left early against the Giants on April 3. New York won that game and the next three contests with Soto out of the lineup. The team has since lost 12 straight games. Getting Soto’s bat back in the mix should be a boost. He had a .928 OPS through eight games before the injury. After last night’s 5-3 loss, the Mets have scored three runs or fewer 10 times during the losing streak.
2. Kurtz nearing A’s record
First baseman Nick Kurtz led off last night’s matchup against the Mariners by working a walk against right-hander Luis Castillo. It was his 12th consecutive game with a free pass, moving him into a tie with Rickey Henderson for fifth-most in franchise history (h/t Sarah Langs of MLB.com). The A’s record is a three-way tie at 15 straight games with a walk by Henderson, Max Bishop, and Topsy Hartsel. Kurtz will have a tough task on Wednesday, facing right-hander Logan Gilbert and his 4.3% walk rate.
3. Two-way Ohtani returns?
Right-hander Shohei Ohtani will be on the mound tonight against the Giants. It remains to be seen if he’ll be in the hitting lineup. The two-way star did not hit in his last start. Instead, Dalton Rushing served as the DH and slugged a home run. It was the first time as a Dodger that Ohtani pitched but wasn’t in the batting lineup. Manager Dave Roberts said a HBP earlier in the week led to the decision. LA’s lineup will be an interesting one to monitor on Wednesday, especially with Rushing off to a tremendous start.
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images
Braves Place Raisel Iglesias On Injured List
The Braves placed closer Raisel Iglesias on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder inflammation this morning, per a team announcement. Lefty Dylan Dodd was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to take Iglesias’ spot on the active roster. Iglesias had an MRI which showed inflammation, no structural damage, per Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The IL placement comes a few days after Atlanta skipper Walt Weiss had acknowledged that Iglesias was unavailable because he’d slept on his shoulder wrong (via MLB.com’s Mark Bowman). Weiss said at the time that Iglesias might be available the following day (Sunday), and he indeed pitched an inning in that game. He’s now headed to the IL and will miss at least two weeks of action. Weiss will likely provide further updates on Iglesias’ status later tonight, before the Braves take on the Nats in D.C.
Iglesias sat 94.8 mph with his four-seamer in 2025 and was close to that mark for his first several appearances of the current season. His heater sat 95 mph in an April 14 outing but dropped to 93.9 mph the following day and sat just 92.9 mph his last time out.
Iglesias re-signed with Atlanta on a one-year, $16MM deal over the offseason. He’s gotten out to another strong start, holding opponents scoreless on just five hits with an 11-to-1 K/BB ratio in his first 8 2/3 frames. The right-hander struggled early last season due to an uncharacteristic stretch of susceptibility to home runs, but since mid-June of last year, he’s rattled off 52 innings with a 1.04 ERA, 31.2% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate while converting 26 of 27 save attempts.
With Iglesias shelved, Atlanta will almost certainly turn to fellow free-agent addition Robert Suarez in the ninth inning. The former Padres closer, who inked a three-year, $45MM contract this offseason, picked up the save Saturday when Iglesias was unavailable and has been dominant as the Braves’ primary setup man this season. He’s held opponents to just one run on seven hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts in 9 2/3 frames. Suarez picked up 77 saves and 20 holds while pitching to a 2.91 ERA in four seasons with San Diego before signing in Atlanta this winter.
Phillies Re-Sign Pedro León To Minor League Deal
The Phillies re-signed outfielder Pedro León to a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’s back with Triple-A Lehigh Valley but no longer occupies a 40-man roster spot.
Philadelphia released León on Saturday when they selected infielder Felix Reyes onto the roster. León had been placed on the minor league injured list with a right hamstring strain a couple weeks ago. Teams cannot place injured players on outright waivers, so the Phils released León to take him off the roster.
It’s unclear how long León will be sidelined. The Phillies evidently still like him as a depth piece but were willing to risk him signing elsewhere if needed to drop him from the 40-man. Philadelphia claimed León off waivers from Baltimore early in the offseason. He’s hitting .283 but has fanned 19 times in his first 53 plate appearances with Lehigh Valley.
León is a .253/.354/.443 hitter in just over 400 Triple-A games. His MLB experience consists of seven games for the Astros two years ago. León was once a highly-regarded amateur signee out of Cuba based on his power-speed combination. That has been undercut by strikeout issues that have made him an average Triple-A hitter.
Phillies To Activate Zack Wheeler On Saturday
Zack Wheeler will start for the Phillies against the Braves on Saturday night, manager Rob Thomson told reporters (link via Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic). It’ll be his season debut after last year’s thoracic outlet surgery.
Wheeler completed his fifth minor league rehab start on Sunday. He threw four innings and 77 pitches. Wheeler had gotten through 5 2/3 frames over 72 pitches in his previous outing. He should be able to work 80+ offerings in his season debut as long as he’s pitching well. Thomson suggested the Phils would cap him around 90 pitches and six innings in any case.
The Phillies have yet to name their starter for tomorrow’s game against the Cubs, though it’s expected to be an opener in front of Taijuan Walker. They’ll turn to Cristopher Sánchez on Thursday. Andrew Painter will go in Friday’s opener in Atlanta, with Aaron Nola getting the nod on Sunday. That’d give Jesús Luzardo six days of rest before next Tuesday’s series opener against the Giants.
Thomson declined to announce Philadelphia’s long-term pitching plans yet. One would imagine Walker will move into a long relief role after tomorrow’s scheduled bulk appearance. The veteran righty has had a miserable start to the season. Walker has yet to make it beyond five innings in any of his first four starts. He has given up six home runs over his past three appearances.
This is the final season of Walker’s four-year, $72MM free agent deal. If the Philadelphia bullpen were at full strength, they might have had a difficult call in whether to carve out a relief role to keep him on the roster. Recent injuries to Jhoan Duran, Jonathan Bowlan and Zach Pop probably ensure that Walker will hold a roster spot. The Phils can option any of Kyle Backhus, Chase Shugart or Alan Rangel once Wheeler returns.
Walker’s struggles have been just one aspect of a brutal start for the Philly rotation. That was expected to be a strength, but only Sánchez has gotten out to a great start to the season. Luzardo has been frustratingly inconsistent. Nola has struggled with the home run ball for a few years and has allowed just over five earned runs per nine innings. Painter has been their second-best starter on a rate basis, though that’s at least partially because the Phillies have mostly shielded him from facing a lineup three times in a game.
Philadelphia’s rotation ranked 27th in MLB with a 5.48 earned run average entering play tonight. That’ll improve slightly after Luzardo managed 4 2/3 frames of one-run ball, but he walked four batters and threw 100 pitches in an inefficient showing. The Phils lost to the Cubs by a 7-4 score, dropping them to 8-15 on the year. Although it has been overshadowed a bit by the Mets’ horrendous start, this has been a rough couple weeks for the two-time defending NL East champions.
They’ll hope for Wheeler’s activation to provide a spark. His post-injury form remains to be seen. The three-time All-Star was one of the top 5-10 pitchers in MLB before the injury. However, his velocity has been down three miles per hour during his Triple-A rehab work. He’s sitting around 93 mph after averaging 96 last year.