Tigers Hire Kyle Hendricks As Special Assistant
The Tigers have hired recently retired right-hander Kyle Hendricks as a special assistant to the baseball operations department, reports Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. While Hendricks never pitched for Detroit during his excellent 12-year major league career, he knows both Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg dating back to the pair’s days in the Cubs’ front office. Stavenhagen adds that Hendricks is expected to focus his efforts on pitching development.
Hendricks, 36, spent 11 seasons (2014-24) pitching with the Cubs and finished up his career with the Angels in 2025. He retired with a career 3.79 ERA, 105 wins and 1373 strikeouts through 1745 innings in the major leagues. All of that success came despite Hendricks lacking the prototypical power arsenal associated with modern pitchers. He never averaged even 91 mph on his four-seamer in a given season, finishing with an overall average velocity of 87.2 mph on his “fastball” in his career.
A throwback to generations past, Hendricks thrived thanks to excellent command, a good feel for pitching and a knack for avoiding hard contact. “The Professor” and his thoughtful approach to attacking hitters with less-than-premium stuff could well prove to be an asset in developing young arms in the Detroit pipeline.
There’s been a growing number of former big leaguers climbing to prominent positions in major league front offices in recent seasons. Former players who are currently running baseball operations for their clubs include Jerry Dipoto (Mariners), Chris Getz (White Sox), Craig Breslow (Red Sox), Buster Posey (Giants) and Chris Young (Rangers). Brandon Gomes isn’t the top decision-maker for the Dodgers but holds the general manager title and sits No. 2 on their baseball operations hierarchy behind president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman. The same is true of Marlins GM Gabe Kapler, who’s the No. 2 executive behind Peter Bendix over in Miami. Sam Fuld recently held a GM position with the Phillies but is in the process of moving over to become their new president of business operations.
Hendricks’ eventual aspirations on the executive side of things aren’t yet clear, but there are certainly some parallels between the path he’s charting and the ones taken by Young and Breslow in particular. Both Young (Princeton) and Breslow (Yale) are former Ivy League standouts who enjoyed successful big league careers while operating with middling velocity. Young got his start in baseball operations working in the league’s central offices, while Breslow jumped right into the Cubs’ baseball ops department with an emphasis on strategic initiatives and pitching development. Hendricks, a Dartmouth product, could pursue a similar trajectory, though given his lengthy career and reputation within the game, he’d also surely have opportunities on the coaching side of things if he preferred to throw his hat into that ring at some point down the line.
The Reds’ Confusing April
The Reds are out to an early lead in the NL Central. Their 19-10 record is tied with San Diego's for third-best in the Senior Circuit, narrowly behind the Braves and Dodgers. They're on track for their best record in a month since June 2023.
It doesn't necessarily come as a surprise that the Reds have been competitive. They were a playoff team a year ago, and the division is one of the more wide open in MLB. Yet the way they've gotten to this start is more perplexing. Their two best starters haven't thrown a pitch. The back of their rotation has been knocked around. Their bullpen is walking more hitters than any other in MLB. They've had arguably the NL's least productive catching tandem and outfield.
How have they overcome all of that? The lineup has been carried by two players: one established star and a rookie who already looks like an impact slugger. Let's dig in beyond the scorching starts from Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart to gauge what the front office might prioritize when they start sketching out deadline plans 6-8 weeks from now.
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Tigers Place Casey Mize, Javier Báez On Injured List
The Tigers have placed righty-hander Casey Mize and utilityman Javier Báez on the injured list, per a club announcement. Mize heads to the 15-day IL due to a right adductor strain. Báez is going on the 10-day IL due to a sprained right ankle. Lefty Enmanuel De Jesus and infielder Jace Jung were recalled from Triple-A Toledo in a pair of corresponding moves.
The loss of Mize is a tough blow for the rotation. He’s out to the best start of his career, having pitched to a 2.90 earned run average with a 27.3% strikeout rate that would easily register as a career-high in a full season. He’s walked 8.6% of his opponents and kept 38.8% of batted balls against him on the ground. Mize’s prior career-highs in opponents’ chase rate and swinging-strike rate were 28.3% and 10.8%, respectively; he’s at 30.8% and 12.1% so far in 2026.
Mize exited his most recent start in the third inning. He pulled up with an apparent injury while attempting to field a bunt up the first base line. He wound up being charged with two earned runs that game — just the second time in six starts this season that he’s been charged with multiple earned runs in a start.
With Mize sidelined for at least two weeks and Justin Verlander also on the injured list, the Tigers’ rotation depth is being tested. Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez remain a formidable one-two punch atop the staff. Keider Montero is also out to a career-best start. Veteran Jack Flaherty, conversely, is having one of the worst starts to a season in his career. Swingman Drew Anderson, who’s stretched out and has gone as long as 3 1/3 innings this season, is a candidate to step into the vacant spot in the rotation. Detroit could also turn to Triple-A, where righties Sawyer Gipson-Long and Ty Madden are possibilities.
Báez, meanwhile, had to be carted off the field in yesterday’s game after injuring himself on a slide. He underwent an MRI that revealed the sprain. A timetable for his return isn’t yet clear. He’s been getting frequent run in the infield and in center field, following the Parker Meadows injury, and is hitting .256/.280/.397 with a pair of homers in 82 plate appearances this year.
With Báez out of the equation for the short term at least, Detroit’s options in center field include Matt Vierling and Wenceel Perez. Young outfielder Max Clark, a former top-five pick and one of the ten top prospects in all of baseball at the moment, looms as an option in Triple-A. He’s slashing .303/.377/.444 with a homer, eight steals, an 11.4% walk rate and just a 13.2% strikeout rate in 116 trips to the plate. Clark isn’t on the 40-man roster but seems quite likely to make his big league debut at some point this season. It’s possible that Báez’s injury accelerates that timetable, although for now, center field will seemingly be entrusted to more experienced options.
Brewers Select Brian Fitzpatrick, Outright Luis Matos
3:45pm: Manager Pat Murphy says that Zerpa’s issue is concerning, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The lefty is likely facing a notable absence but will undergo further testing and will get a second opinion.
2:45pm: The Brewers announced that left-hander Angel Zerpa has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 26th, with left forearm tightness. Fellow lefty Brian Fitzpatrick has been selected to take his place on the active roster. Milwaukee has had a 40-man vacancy since they designated outfielder Luis Matos for assignment last week. Matos cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Nashville, per the Brewers today.
Zerpa hasn’t been in good form this year, his first as a Brewer. He has a 6.39 earned run average and his fastball velocity is down about one mile per hour relative to last year. Details on his injury haven’t yet been provided but the club will perhaps provide some more info in the future.
Regardless of the specifics, his injury opens a path for Fitzpatrick to make his major league debut, a few weeks before he turns 26 in June. A tenth-round pick from 2022, Fitzpatrick isn’t a top prospect but put up some intriguing numbers in the minors last year. He started at High-A and quickly got bumped to Double-A. Between those two stops, he tossed 39 1/3 innings with a 2.06 ERA. He struck out 28.8% of batters faced while limiting walks to a 7.8% clip.
He got promoted to Triple-A in August but struggled, posting a 6.87 ERA over 13 appearances. He returned to that level to start 2026 and has fared much better, with 10 1/3 scoreless innings. He has a 28.9% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 54.5% ground ball rate. His four-seamer and sinker are both averaging above 93 miles per hour while he’s also throwing a slider and changeup around 83 mph.
Swapping in Fitzpatrick for Zerpa allows the Brewers to keep their bullpen balanced with four righties and four lefties, the other three southpaws being Aaron Ashby, DL Hall and Shane Drohan. That’s with Zerpa, Rob Zastryzny and Jared Koenig all on the IL. Since this is Fitzpatrick’s first time on a big league roster, he has a full slate of options and could be sent back to Triple-A at some point if other guys get healthy or fresh arms are needed.
As for Matos, he was once a notable prospect with the Giants but he struggled to produce in the majors. He languished in the minors a lot and eventually exhausted his option years. Out of options coming into 2026, he got squeezed into DFA limbo and was flipped to the Brewers in a cash trade. His struggles in the big leagues continued for a few weeks and the Brewers designated him for assignment last week.
Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, he does not have the right to elect free agency. The Brewers can keep him as non-roster depth and will see if they can get him back on track. They have had some decent results with post-hype hitters, including Andrew Vaughn and Jake Bauers. With Matos, he has a .230/.279/.363 line in the majors but a much better .287/.345/.505 slash in Triple-A.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images
Giants Select Gregory Santos
2:07pm: The Giants announced that Santos has indeed had his contract selected from Sacramento. Oliva was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. He’s now out until mid-June at the earliest. San Francisco optioned righty Blade Tidwell to Triple-A to clear a spot on the active roster. Tidwell would’ve been unavailable for several days after tossing 47 pitches in long relief yesterday.
9:21am: The Giants will select the contract of right-handed reliever Gregory Santos from Triple-A Sacramento today, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. San Francisco has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding transaction.
Santos won’t turn 27 until August but already has experience in parts of five major league seasons — including two seasons with the Giants. He originally signed with the Red Sox as a teenager out of his native Dominican Republic but wound up going to the Giants organization alongside righty Shaun Anderson in the 2017 trade that sent utilityman Eduardo Nunez to Boston. Santos made his big league debut with the Giants in 2021 and briefly appeared again in 2022, though he totaled only 5 2/3 innings in orange and black before being designated for assignment and flipped to the White Sox in a cash swap.
Santos had a breakout showing in the South Side bullpen, tossing 66 1/3 frames with a 3.39 ERA, five saves, six holds, a 22.8% strikeout rate, a 5.9% walk rate and a hefty 52.5% grounder rate. Those results, coupled with a sinker that averaged 98.9 mph and a sharp slider averaging 91.3 mph, made Santos look like a potential long-term piece in the bullpen for the White Sox … or for the Mariners, who pounced on that breakout and traded outfielder Zach DeLoach, righty Prelander Berroa and a Competitive Balance Round B pick to the Sox to acquire Santos in February of 2024.
Unfortunately for both the Mariners and Santos, injuries ruined his time with the Seattle organization. Santos suffered a lat strain during spring training just six weeks after the trade and was on the injured list into mid-July. He returned to throw 5 1/3 innings before a biceps injury put him back on the shelf for another eight weeks. Santos did make it back to close out the 2024 season with a pair of scoreless frames, at least giving some hope that he could be on track for a healthier, productive season in 2025.
That didn’t prove to be the case.
Santos opened the 2025 season with diminished velocity and yielded four runs in seven innings (5.14 ERA). He walked eight batters and didn’t strike anyone out. In late April, he underwent surgery to repair some cartilage in his right knee. That procedure effectively ended his season. Santos made it back to a minor league mound in mid-September but issued nine walks against five strikeouts in five rehab innings. He didn’t return to the majors. The Mariners non-tendered him in November.
Now back in the organization for which he made his major league debut, Santos has posted nice results in Triple-A. His sinker and slider are both down a bit more than a mile per hour from their peak, but he’s tossed 11 innings and held opponents to three runs (2.45 ERA) on nine hits and three walks. He’s only fanned six of his 44 opponents (13.6%) and has just a 7% swinging-strike rate, which are both cause for some concern, but he does have three strikeouts in his past 2 2/3 frames (12 batters faced). Given all the recent injuries, some early rust would only be natural.
Time will tell whether this is a a quick cup of coffee or an opportunity to grab a lasting job in the relief corps. Santos has a minor league option remaining, so now that he’s being added to the 40-man, he can be sent down again without needing to pass through waivers. If he can get back to his pre-injury form, he still has at least two seasons of club control remaining beyond the current season.
The Giants don’t have any surefire 60-day IL candidates to open a 40-man spot. Relievers Sam Hentges and Joel Peguero have spent the whole season on the IL but are both on minor league rehab assignments; Peguero is approaching the end of his rehab window. Outfielder Jared Oliva is a candidate after suffering a hamate fracture earlier this month, but while some hitters take eight or more weeks to return from that injury, there are plenty of cases of players returning after only four to five weeks.
Pirates Designate Ryan Harbin For Assignment
Pirates right-hander Ryan Harbin has been designated for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to veteran reliever Chris Devenski, whose previously reported promotion to the major league roster is now official. Lefty Hunter Barco was optioned to Triple-A to open a 26-man roster spot for Devenski.
Harbin, 24, was the Pirates’ 17th-round pick back in 2019. The Bucs added him to the 40-man roster this past November in order to protect him from being selected by another organization in December’s Rule 5 Draft. He was rocked in his first taste of Triple-A last summer but had pitched 50 combined innings between High-A and Double-A prior to that, logging a 2.88 ERA with a massive 36% strikeout rate.
The 6’4″, 228-pound Harbin relies primarily on a three-pitch mix: a four-seamer that averaged 97.2 mph last year, a slider that sat 87 mph and a sinker that averaged 96.7 mph. He also mixed in a very occasional cutter (87.8 mph) and splitter (89.8 mph), though his usage rate on both pitches in Triple-A sat just north of 5%.
With a good start to the season in Triple-A, Harbin might have gotten his first big league look this year. Instead, injuries have derailed his season. Harbin suffered a strained teres major during spring training not long after being optioned to minor league camp. The Bucs put him on the 60-day injured list in the minors. He hasn’t pitched yet in 2026, and there’s no clear timetable for his return to the mound. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, so now that he’s been designated for assignment, Harbin will either be traded to another club or released.
Pirates To Select Chris Devenski
1:17pm: The Pirates optioned Hunter Barco to clear an active roster spot, per Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. They still need to open a 40-man spot.
1:06pm: The Pirates are selecting the contract of veteran right-hander Chris Devenski from Triple-A Indianapolis, reports Alex Stumpf. They’ll need to make a corresponding roster move prior to first pitch (about four and a half hours from now). Ethan Hullihen reports that Devenski had an upward mobility clause in his contract, which means the Bucs would’ve had to either add him to the 40-man roster or allow him to go to another club willing to put him on its own major league roster.
The 35-year-old Devenski signed a minor league deal with the Bucs back in January. He’s logged big league time in each of the past 10 seasons. In 2016-17, Devenski was a dominant force out of the Houston bullpen, combining for 189 innings of 2.38 ERA ball with a 28.2% strikeout rate against a 6.4% walk rate. He’s never recaptured that form, however, and has bounced around the league journeyman style for the past several seasons.
Since Opening Day 2018, Devenski has pitched 227 2/3 frames in the majors and logged a 5.18 earned run average — a far cry from his outstanding first two seasons. Along the way, he’s pitched not only for the Astros but also the D-backs, Phillies, Rays, Angels and most recently the Mets. Devenski tossed 16 1/3 frames for New York last season and held opponents to a 2.16 ERA with a 21.5% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. That was his first season with a major league ERA under 4.46 since 2018.
Devenski has had a strong start to his season down in Indy. He’s pitched 10 2/3 innings out of the bullpen and held opponents to just one earned run on five hits and a pair of walks with 15 punchouts. That comes out to a huge 38.5% strikeout rate against a tiny 5.1% walk rate. That lofty strikeout rate is supported by excellent swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates (17.2% and 41.8%, respectively). Devenski’s 92.7 mph average fastball is a ways from its 94.7 mph peak but still higher than last year’s 91.9 mph average from Triple-A (and 92.4 mph in the majors).
Devenski has seven-plus years of big league service, so the Pirates aren’t able to option him without his consent. Hullihen suggests that Devenski will likely be amenable to that setup if the team chooses. Given his strong performance in Indianapolis, however, there’s a chance he’ll simply be given an opportunity to carve out a role in a Pirates bullpen that still has some spots up for grabs.
Blue Jays Designate Eloy Jiménez For Assignment
The Blue Jays have reinstated outfielder/designated hitter George Springer from the 10-day injured list. In a corresponding move, designated hitter Eloy Jiménez has been designated for assignment. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet was first to report the moves.
It’s the inverse of a transaction from a couple of weeks ago. Springer fractured a bone in his left big toe when he fouled a ball off of his foot. On April 12th, he was placed on the IL, with Jiménez selected to take his place on the roster. Now that Springer is healthy enough to return, Jiménez has been bumped off.
In the meantime, Jiménez wasn’t able to do much to secure a longer look. He didn’t play the field, continuing a recent trend of his. He only played eight innings in the outfield in 2024 and none in 2025. As a bat-only player, he needs to hit to provide value, but he wasn’t able to do much of that. His .290 batting average looks nice but he didn’t produce an extra-base hit, leading to a .290/.343/.290 slash line and 82 wRC+, indicating he was 18% worse than league average at the plate overall.
That’s a small sample size of 35 plate appearances but continues a trend that began a few years ago. Though Jiménez was potent slugger for much of the 2019 to 2023 window, he hasn’t been in good form since. In 2024, he hit just six home runs in 98 games, leading to a .238/.289/.336 line and 78 wRC+. He didn’t play in the majors last year, spending the season in the minors, where he hit a combined .247/.326/.347 between the Triple-A teams of the Rays and the Jays.
There was a bit of optimism among some Jays fans when Jiménez put up a decent .286/.333/.524 line in spring training this year, followed by a .257/.372/.371 line in 11 Triple-A games. But as mentioned, his big league numbers were uninspiring. With Springer now back and likely to be in the DH spot most of the time, there wasn’t going to be much use for Jiménez.
Jiménez now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take as long as five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner if they so choose. Given his recent track record, it’s likely he will clear waivers. As a veteran with at least five years of major league service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and instead elect free agency. It’s possible the Jays will skip that step and just release him.
For the Jays, their hope is that greater health can steady the ship for them. They are out to a shaky 13-16 start as they have been battling a large number of injuries. They just got Trey Yesavage back in the mix yesterday and now Springer has rejoined the roster as well. José Berríos and Addison Barger could be next, with guys like Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk ideally returning to the club in the not-too-distant future as well.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Red Sox Place Garrett Crochet On Injured List
The Red Sox have placed ace Garrett Crochet on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his left shoulder, per a club announcement. Utilityman Nate Eaton has been recalled from Triple-A Worcester to fill Crochet’s spot on the roster for the time being.
Crochet tells Christopher Smith of MassLive.com that he’s “pretty confident” he’ll be back after a minimum stay on the injured list. The 6’6″ lefty said he felt some fatigue during his last start, which prompted the team to take a cautious route and shut him down for the time being. He hasn’t stopped throwing, per Smith, so it seems the club also does not fear a lengthy layoff.
It’s been a strange start to the 26-year-old’s season. He’s turned in three quality starts — two of them scoreless six-inning gems — but also been hit hard on three occasions. In particular, Crochet was bludgeoned by the Twins in a visit to Target Field that saw him tagged for a career-worst 11 runs (10 earned) in only 1 2/3 innings. A drubbing that extreme, this early in the season, will take awhile to recover from — hence Crochet’s grisly 6.30 earned run average through his first six starts.
The average velocity on Crochet’s four-seamer and sinker is down this year, albeit not egregiously so. He’s down about 0.6 mph on the former (from 96.4 mph to 95.8 mph) and 0.8 mph on the latter (from 96 mph to 95.2 mph). It bears noting that Crochet’s velocity sat in a similar range through his first six starts last season but climbed as the season progressed. That brutal day in Minnesota featured his lowest single-game averages of any start this season (94.9 mph and 94.2 mph, respectively).
In swapping out Eaton for Crochet, the Sox will be playing a pitcher short today. They’d originally released a lineup without Roman Anthony, presumably to get him consecutive rest days — the Sox are off tomorrow — after his recent struggles with back pain. They’ve since released an amended lineup with Anthony atop the order and Jarren Duran out. Eaton’s recall to the roster gives interim manager Chad Tracy a full contingent of four bench options even if the Sox are trying to get Duran a breather for a couple days.
Boston’s rotation for the weekend will need to be reshuffled. Crochet, Connelly Early and Ranger Suarez would’ve been lined up to take the mound had everyone remained on turn, but they’ll have some choices now. They could move Early and Suarez up to start Friday and Saturday, respectively, as tomorrow’s off-day would keep them on regular rest. Smith also noted last night that prospect Jake Bennett was scratched from yesterday’s start in Triple-A Worcester. Tracy told the Sox beat that the team was just keeping its options open with an off-day Thursday; the reason for keeping those options open is now much clearer.
Bennett, 25, would be making his major league debut if he gets the call for a spot start. Acquired in an offseason trade with the Nationals, he’s begun the season with a 0.86 ERA in five starts and 21 innings with Triple Worcester. Bennett’s 20.3% strikeout rate is below average, but he’s only walked 3.8% of his opponents this season. He’s never sustained that level of command in the past, and he’s currently benefiting from a minuscule .207 average on balls in play, but there’s no denying it’s been a strong start to his season.
Bennett is already on the 40-man roster, which surely works in his favor as well. If not this weekend, it seems likely he’ll make his debut at some point before too long. In addition to Crochet, the Red Sox also have Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval and Tanner Houck on the injured list.
White Sox Select Jarred Kelenic
The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Jarred Kelenic from Triple-A Charlotte. Fellow outfielder Everson Pereira has been diagnosed with a pectoral strain and placed on the 10-day injured list. The Sox already had a 40-man vacancy, which Kelenic fills, so no additional moves are necessary.
A former top-10 pick in the draft and top-10 prospect in all of baseball, Kelenic has yet to find his footing in the majors. He’s been traded from the Mets to the Mariners (as a prospect) and then, after a lackluster run in Seattle, to the Braves in what effectively amounted to Atlanta paying close to $30MM (between bad contracts being eaten and the associated luxury taxes) in order to purchase Kelenic.
Now 26 years old, Kelenic has played in parts of five big league seasons between Seattle and Atlanta. He’s a career .211/.282/.376 hitter — about 16% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. The lefty-swinging outfielder has popped 49 homers and swiped 31 bags in 1488 career plate appearances, but he’s also gone down on strikes in just shy of 31% of his trips to the batter’s box.
The White Sox brought Kelenic in on a minor league deal this offseason after the Braves cut their losses and moved on. He’s hitting just .202 in Charlotte but has reached base at a .346 clip and has slugged .464. Kelenic started the season hitless in 21 plate appearances but has righted the ship since. Over his past 65 turns at the plate he’s hitting .262/.422/.600 with six homers and four doubles. He’s still fanned in a quarter of his plate appearances even during that hot streak, but he’s also drawn walks at a huge 21% clip.
Kelenic is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to stick on the roster or else be designated for assignment. With Pereira joining infield/outfield utilitymen Brooks Baldwin and Tanner Murray on the injured list, Chicago’s outfield collection right now includes Andrew Benintendi, Luisangel Acuña, Austin Hays, Tristan Peters, Sam Antonacci and Kelenic. It’s anything but a settled and established group, so Kelenic could well have an opportunity to carve out some playing time if he hits the ground running.
The 25-year-old Pereira is a former top prospect himself. He was out to a decent start this season, hitting .250/.310/.453 with three homers in 71 trips to the plate. Like Kelenic, he comes with major swing-and-miss concerns. He’d fanned in 29.6% of those 71 plate appearances and posted a well below-average 66.2% contact rate. The Sox picked him up in a minor offseason trade sending relievers Steven Wilson and Yoendrys Gomez to the Rays.