Pirates To Recall Antwone Kelly For MLB Debut
The Pirates will recall pitching prospect Antwone Kelly for his MLB debut, reports Francys Romero. He’s already on the 40-man roster, as the Bucs needed to select his contract last offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. They’ll need to make an active roster move involving a pitcher tomorrow.
Kelly, not to be confused with the similarly named pitcher who was recently traded from the Dodgers to the Cubs, is one of Pittsburgh’s better minor league arms. An Aruba native, he was an under the radar international signee in 2021. Kelly has added strength and built his velocity in pro ball, posting strong strikeout numbers as he climbed through the minors. He put himself firmly on the prospect radar with 107 1/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball between High-A and Double-A last year.
Baseball America ranks Kelly the #8 prospect in the organization. He’s seventh in the system at MLB Pipeline. Keith Law of The Athletic ranked him 15th in his offseason writeup of the Pittsburgh organization, while Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him 19th when rankings Bucs prospects just last week. Despite the slight variation in the ordinal rankings, the scouting reports are generally in alignment.
Kelly is a shorter righty at 5’10” who gets good life on a fastball that is averaging 97.6 mph in Triple-A. His mid-80s changeup is his best secondary pitch and a potential weapon against left-handed hitters. Evaluators’ biggest question is whether he’ll develop a reliable enough breaking ball. Kelly has a mid-80s cutter that most scouts grade as a fringe-average offering. The arsenal has gotten a lot of whiffs at the lower levels but hasn’t missed many bats in Triple-A.
Over his first 54 innings at the top minor league level, Kelly owns a 4.50 earned run average with a modest 20% strikeout rate. His 10.6% swinging strike mark is also a bit below average, while he has walked 10% of batters faced. Kelly has spent most of the season working from the Triple-A rotation but has come out of the bullpen for his last two outings.
Kelly does have some experience against the top hitters in the world. He was the #1 starter for the Netherlands in this year’s World Baseball Classic. That gave him the unenviable task of taking on eventual champion Venezuela to kick off the tournament. Kelly worked three innings of two-run ball, striking out Wilyer Abreu but giving up a home run to Javier Sanoja.
Colin Beazley of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette confirms the Bucs will use Kelly out of the bullpen. They’re surely not closing the door on a long-term rotation future. Pittsburgh took a similar tack last year breaking Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft in as relievers. They’re also simply in need of reliable bullpen arms, particularly ones from the right side.
Pirates relievers are 20th in MLB with a 4.45 ERA. The past couple weeks have been even uglier, as they’re allowing nearly six earned runs per nine in the last 14 days. They gave up a 10-run inning to blow open a tied game in a loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday. That was less than a week after an utter meltdown in Houston, when they squandered a 9-5 lead in the eighth inning — allowing six runs despite retiring the first two batters.
Dennis Santana was expected to be their most reliable right-hander this season. He’s sitting on a 5.00 ERA across 27 frames. Carmen Mlodzinski got knocked around in his second appearance after being bumped from the rotation. Rookie Wilber Dotel pitched well in his first seven outings before the Dodgers pummeled him in the aforementioned 10-run frame. Yohan Ramírez is a journeyman who should be in low-leverage spots. It’s a clear area of need at the trade deadline, but they’ll take a look at Kelly as they search for solutions in the interim.
Angels Re-Sign Taijuan Walker To Minor League Deal
The Angels announced they’ve re-signed Taijuan Walker to a minor league contract. He’s back on the mound for Triple-A Salt Lake tonight against the D-Backs’ affiliate.
Walker had opted out of a prior non-roster deal with the Halos on Monday. It’s common for players to re-sign on a new minor league contract after doing so. Testing the market gives them a few days to see whether a major league opportunity presents itself. If not, their previous team is usually happy to sign a new minor league deal. The player can try to negotiate more opt-out or upward mobility clauses or, in some cases, a higher salary.
The latter isn’t a factor for Walker, who is making $18MM from the Phillies this year either way. Philadelphia remains on the hook for that money after releasing him in April. The Angels would pay him the prorated $780K major league minimum if he spends any time on their MLB roster, and that would come off Philadelphia’s obligations.
Walker struggled for the majority of his three-plus seasons in Philadelphia. He allowed more than a run per inning across 22 2/3 frames this season, leading the Phillies to move on. The veteran righty spent a month on the free agent market before signing with the Angels in late May. He made a couple tune-up appearances in the Complex League before reporting to Salt Lake. He tossed 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts and walks apiece against Colorado’s affiliate in his only Triple-A start.
The Angels have an opening for the final rotation spot behind José Soriano, Reid Detmers, Grayson Rodriguez and Walbert Ureña. They lost Jack Kochanowicz to Tommy John surgery earlier this week. Sam Aldegheri is getting the first look in the vacated role, as he’ll start tomorrow’s series opener against Shane McClanahan and the Rays.
Guardians Trade Nolan Jones To White Sox
The Guardians announced they’ve traded non-roster outfielder Nolan Jones and cash considerations to the White Sox. Chicago sends a $250K international bonus pool allotment to Cleveland in return.
Cleveland outrighted Jones off their 40-man roster at the end of Spring Training. He therefore won’t immediately occupy a roster spot for Chicago. The Sox announced that they’ve assigned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Jones has spent the entire season in the International League with Cleveland’s affiliate in Columbus.
The 28-year-old Jones appeared in the Majors each season from 2022-25. He had by far his best season with the Rockies in 2023, hitting .297/.389/.542 with 20 homers in a little over 400 plate appearances. Back problems limited him to half a season a year later. His numbers plummeted, as he hit only .227/.321/.320 with three homers in 79 games.
Colorado moved on after that injury-riddled season. The Rox dealt Jones back to Cleveland, the organization that had drafted him in 2016 and with which he made a brief debut six years later. He spent the entire season on the MLB roster, aside from a season-ending oblique strain in late September, but did not rebound offensively. Jones mustered only a .211/.296/.304 batting line while striking out in 28% of his 403 trips to the plate.
It came as a surprise that the Guardians tendered him an arbitration contract after a second consecutive season of below replacement level production. The sides hammered out a $2MM agreement early in the offseason. Jones had a rough camp and failed to make the team out of Spring Training. He cleared waivers and had an easy call to accept an assignment to Triple-A so as not to forfeit that salary.
Jones is amidst a nice year in the minors. He’s hitting .275/.385/.460 with eight longballs across 226 plate appearances. He’s striking out a little too often (24.3%) but hitting the ball hard and drawing walks at an excellent 14.2% rate. Jones has had that “three true outcomes” approach throughout his career.
The Guardians are paying an undisclosed portion of the roughly $1.15MM he’s owed through the end of the season. The White Sox weren’t going to take on that entire sum for a Triple-A player. Cleveland takes the opportunity to get some amount of salary relief for a player who had clearly been squeezed out of their plans. The Guardians haven’t gotten much from their outfield lately, but Jones was behind the 10 outfield options they have on their 40-man roster.
Chicago isn’t actually sending cash. They’re trading $250K in space from their hard-capped bonus pool for international amateurs, which means the Guardians can spend a little more of their own money to add to their farm system. The White Sox seemingly don’t intend to sign anyone else of note before the close of this period. They also packaged $250K in bonus space alongside Derek Hill in their afternoon trade with the Phillies to add a couple minor leaguers.
Jones gives them some upper minors depth for right field, which has been an issue this season. They’re in better shape now with Braden Montgomery up and Everson Pereira back from the injured list, but they don’t have much depth in the upper minors. Jones would be eligible for arbitration for a few years if the Sox call him up before the end of the season. He’d otherwise become a minor league free agent once the regular season concludes.
Astros To Select Raynel Delgado
The Astros will select infielder Raynel Delgado onto the major league roster for the start of tomorrow’s series in Kansas City, reports Francys Romero. Houston acquired him from the Rays in a minor league trade yesterday. The Astros initially assigned Delgado to Triple-A Sugar Land but have instead decided to jump him straight to the MLB level.
It’s the first big league call for the 26-year-old. A Havana native who moved to Florida as a child, Delgado was a sixth-rounder by Cleveland in 2018. He played in their system until 2024, topping out at Triple-A Columbus. He qualified for minor league free agency after that season when the Guardians elected not to add him to the 40-man roster.
The lefty-hitting Delgado spent 2025 in Triple-A on a minor league deal with Milwaukee. He hit .281/.363/.378 and didn’t get a major league look. Tampa Bay added him on a non-roster invitation early last offseason. Delgado struggled offensively with their top affiliate in Durham, hitting .250/.320/.362 with three home runs in 253 plate appearances.
Delgado has posted league average strikeout and walk rates at the Triple-A level for the past couple seasons. He has middling power but can steal a few bases and move around the infield. Delgado is more of a second/third base type than a true shortstop, but he has more than 500 minor league innings at all three positions.
Houston, which lost Carlos Correa for the season in May, is also down a pair of depth infielders in Nick Allen and Braden Shewmake. They’re operating without a great backup option at shortstop behind Jeremy Peña. Shay Whitcomb made his first MLB start at the position last night against the Angels. Whitcomb has logged almost 2000 career innings at shortstop in the minors but profiles more as a corner bat at the MLB level. That’s also true of Delgado, but he’ll offer a little more balance in a lineup that leans very heavily to the right side.
The Astros have a full 40-man roster. They’ll need to make corresponding active roster and 40-man moves tomorrow. Lance McCullers Jr., Bennett Sousa and LaMonte Wade Jr. all have uncertain return timelines from injury and could be options to move to the 60-day injured list.
Brewers Sign Lyon Richardson To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed right-hander Lyon Richardson to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville. He elected free agency last week after being outrighted by the Reds.
Richardson, 26, was a second-round pick of the Reds back in 2018. Cincinnati initially developed him as a starter. He missed the entire 2022 season recovering from Tommy John surgery but the club still valued him highly enough to put him on the 40-man roster in November of that year to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He struggled with command in 2023 and 2024, so the Reds moved him to a primary relief role over time.
That hasn’t translated into any major league success yet. Richardson has thrown 56 2/3 innings in the big leagues, allowing 6.67 earned runs per nine. He has shown a bit more potential in the minors. Over 2025 and 2026, he has thrown 62 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.48 ERA. His 10.1% walk rate is higher than average but just barely. His 24.7% strikeout rate is a couple of ticks better than par. He has induced grounders on almost half the balls in play he has allowed.
The Reds shuttled Richardson up and down through the 2023 through 2025 seasons, exhausting his three option years. They passed him through waivers unclaimed in the most recent offseason. He was added back to the roster in May of this year as the club was dealing with a number of injuries. He was outrighted again shortly thereafter. Since that was his second outright, he had the right to elect free agency, which led to this deal with the Milwaukee.
For the Brewers, there’s no real risk on a minor league deal. Richardson has an intriguing arsenal. His four-seamer and sinker both average around 96 miles per hour. He complements those two with a slider, curveball and changeup. As a former second-round pick, there’s some pedigree there and the Brewers have a good reputation for helping pitchers become their best selves.
If he eventually gets back to the big leagues, he is out of options but has less than a year of service time, so he could be cheaply controlled for years to come. That will be a secondary concern, as he will first need to earn his way back to the show.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images
Phillies Acquire Derek Hill
The White Sox have traded outfielder Derek Hill and $250K of international bonus pool space to the Phillies in exchange for outfield prospect Dylan Campbell and infield prospect Jose Colmenares, according to announcements from both clubs. Outfielder Everson Pereira has been reinstated from the injured list to take Hill’s spot on the roster. Philadelphia designated right-hander Jackson Rutledge for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Hill. Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the trade.
Hill, 30, is a journeyman depth outfielder. This is his seventh big league season but he has appeared in just 268 games in that span. He has suited up for the Tigers, Nationals, Rangers, Giants, Marlins and White Sox. Chicago claimed him off waivers late last season and tendered him an arbitration contract, with the two sides agreeing to a $900K salary for this year.
He’s not much of a threat at the plate. He has a career .227/.278/.351 batting line, which leads to a wRC+ of 74, while striking out at a 30.8% clip. This year’s slash of .213/.284/.375 leads to a slightly better 84 wRC+, but still notably south of league average.
But he has other attributes. He is one of the fastest players in the league, with Statcast putting his sprint speed in the 94th percentile this year. That’s allowed him to steal 30 bases in 39 tries in his career. That speed has also helped him in the field. In over 1500 outfield innings, mostly in center, he has been credited with 11 Outs Above Average. Defensive Runs Saved has considered him to be league average.
Thanks to that speed-and-defense profile, he can be a useful player. The lack of offense hurts but he can at least be a short-side platoon guy. A right-handed swinger, he has a .272/.317/.463 line and 115 wRC+ against lefties, compared to a dismal .195/.251/.271 line and 45 wRC+ in the other split.
Despite his attributes, he has been getting squeezed for playing time in Chicago. The Sox have been calling up rookies this year and have lately been giving most of their outfield playing time to Braden Montgomery, Sam Antonacci, Tristan Peters and Rikuu Nishida, with Hill and Randal Grichuk chipping in from time to time.
The Sox have been rebuilding for years but are having a good season, currently leading the American League Central. This may feel like a “sell” move since they are trading a big leaguer for prospects, but it’s surely more that they feel subtracting Hill doesn’t significantly hurt their chances in 2026. Hill was already losing playing time and Pereira’s return from the IL would have further squeezed him out.
But the Phillies have a far more open outfield mix. They have been giving most of the playing time to Brandon Marsh, Justin Crawford and Adolis García this year, with Edmundo Sosa and Steward Berroa currently in bench roles. Johan Rojas would have been in the mix as a depth option but he was given a PED suspension earlier this year and his comeback was stopped by season-ending elbow surgery this week.
García departed last night’s game after appearing to injure his right shoulder. It’s possible he’s going on the injured list, though Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that the Phils were looking for a right-handed complement to their outfield even before the García injury.
Marsh and Crawford are both lefty bats. Marsh has a career .221/.284/.318 line against lefties and would ideally have a platoon partner. He has a .288/.333/.442 slash against southpaws this year but that’s getting a lot of help from a .424 batting average on balls in play. Crawford is a rookie with a paltry .232/.291/.332 line on the year, which includes a ghastly .143/.250/.143 line against lefty pitchers.
Between Crawford’s struggles, the platoon issues for both Crawford and Marsh, García’s injury and the Rojas surgery, it’s easy to see how Hill could have a better path to playing time in Philadelphia than he did in Chicago.
To get him aboard, the Phils are parting with a couple of prospects. Campbell, 23, has now twice been traded for pool space. Originally drafted by the Dodgers, that club sent him to the Phillies in January of 2025 to add pool space to help them sign Roki Sasaki. He has played all three outfield positions as well as second base. He’s got some wheels, as he stole 42 bases on the farm in 2024, 33 last year and nine so far in 2026.
His offense is a bit more questionable. He is only hitting .216/.281/.412 at Double-A this year, leading to a wRC+ of just 75. He has been better in the past. He had a combined .232/.314/.370 slash over 2024 and 2025, leading to a league average 100 wRC+. FanGraphs ranked him the #19 prospect in the Philadelphia system in the offseason, though that was before this year’s struggles. He’s not currently listed as a top 30 prospect in the system by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline.
Colmenares, 24, was originally a Yankee prospect. He was released in August of last year and was signed by the Phillies. He’s having a good season for High-A Jersey Shore, hitting .278/.403/.413, but he’s old for the level and that line is propped up by a .386 BABIP. He has exclusively played shortstop this year but has previous experience at second and third base.
Both prospects feel like lottery tickets, which makes sense since Hill is more of a role player than a true difference maker. The Sox probably don’t feel like they are giving up much since Hill was getting pushed off the roster anyway. They also presumably feel that Campbell and Colmenares are better than anyone they could have spent the bonus pool money on. The international signing period begins in January and most of the notable youngsters would have signed by now. The Phils, meanwhile, bolster their outfield group without giving up much and can use that pool space to replace the prospects they surrendered.
Rutledge, 24, was just claimed off waivers from the Nationals last month. He has been kept on optional assignment since then, so he hasn’t appeared for the Phillies in the majors. He gave the Nats 103 innings from 2022 to 2026, allowing 6.29 earned runs per nine.
He now heads into DFA limbo for a second time this year. If he garners interest, it will mostly be about past pedigree. He was a first-round pick of the Nats in 2019, getting selected 17th overall but he never developed into the kind of player the Nats hoped they were getting. He was initially a starter but walked too many batters and got moved into a relief role. As mentioned, his major league results have not been good so far.
There’s not too much encouragement in his minor league numbers either. Dating back to the start of 2025, he has thrown 21 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. His 3.80 ERA in that time looks nice but his 17.6% strikeout rate and 13.2% walk rate are both poor numbers. He is still optionable for the rest of this year but will be out of options next year. He will likely be put on waivers in the coming days. If he clears, he would not have the right to elect free agency, since he hasn’t yet been outrighted in his career and has less than three years of service time.
Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Tigers Claim James Outman
The Tigers announced Thursday that they’ve claimed outfielder James Outman off waivers from the Twins. Detroit’s 40-man roster was full, but they created space by shifting infielder/outfielder Javier Báez from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. The Tigers will need to create an active roster space for Outman before tomorrow’s game, given that he’s out of minor league options.
Outman, 29, gives the Tigers another option in center field with both Báez and Parker Meadows on the injured list. That pair has been shelved since April. Detroit has been using Matt Vierling and Wenceel Pérez in center field for the past six weeks, though both are better suited for infield or corner outfield work. Outman, with above-average sprint speed and arm strength, gives manager A.J. Hinch a more credible defensive option.
While Outman may be a fine defender, however, his bat has typically undercut any value he adds with his glove or his legs. He impressed as a rookie with the Dodgers in 2023, hitting .248/.353/.437 despite a sky-high 32% strikeout rate. His contact problems have only increased since, which has relegated Outman to a backup role for the most part.
Dating back to 2024, Outman has taken 374 big league plate appearances but turned in a woeful .144/.235/.284 slash. He’s walked at a respectable 8.8% clip, but his 39.3% strikeout rate is far and away the worst among the 444 players who’ve totaled 300 or more plate appearances in that time. Jose Siri is second-worst, sitting two percentage points lower. No other hitter is within four percentage points of Outman’s strikeout rate.
The Twins acquired Outman from the Dodgers at last year’s deadline in a trade sending talented but oft-injured reliever Brock Stewart to Los Angeles. It was a head-scratching move even at the time. Minnesota’s roster was deep with lefty-swinging outfield options (Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, Kody Clemens, Alan Roden), and the Twins’ top two prospects — Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez — are both lefty-swinging outfielders who’d perhaps already have debuted this season were it not for injuries. Add in that Outman was going to be out of options in 2026, and the fit was all the more curious.
Perhaps the Twins felt they could cut down on Outman’s swing-and-miss troubles, but the opposite has played out. This year’s 41.4% strikeout rate is the highest in baseball for any of the 428 players with even 40 plate appearances on the season. Outman has four steals but has also been caught twice. His defense in the outfield has been solid, but Minnesota still designated him for assignment a few days ago.
If nothing else, Outman gives the Tigers a late-game option when they need a pinch-runner or a defensive upgrade in the outfield. Given his penchant for strikeouts and the overall anemic offensive output since what now looks like an outlier rookie showing back in ’23, it’ll be hard for him to stick on the roster for the rest of the season, barring a massive turnaround.
The Tigers are hopeful that Meadows — who suffered a concussion and a broken forearm in an April outfield collision with teammate Riley Greene — will return this summer. Báez’s return appears less certain. Hinch said late last month that the veteran’s sprained ankle hasn’t healed as hoped, and Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reported earlier this month that Báez was being shut down entirely due to ongoing discomfort. The Tigers will presumably remain on the lookout for outfield help. If they continue their recent hot streak — today’s win gives them seven victories in their past nine games, at a time when Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize are set to return — then bringing in some additional center field help could be a point of focus at the trade deadline.
Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List
June 11th: The Dodgers have now made it official, listing Smith’s ailment as neck inflammation. Robinson has been selected to take his place on the roster.
June 10th: The Dodgers will place Will Smith on the 10-day injured list tomorrow, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register). They’ll select Chuckie Robinson onto the active roster to back up Dalton Rushing. L.A. opened the necessary 40-man roster spot by releasing Tyler Fitzgerald this afternoon.
Smith has been nursing a stiff neck for the past few days. He hasn’t played since Friday. The Dodgers can backdate his IL placement for up to three days, so he’ll be down until at least next Wednesday. Roberts downplayed the level of concern.
It has been a relatively slow start to the season for Smith. He’s hitting .249/.338/.382 with six home runs in 201 plate appearances. His plate discipline and batted ball metrics are mostly in line with those of previous seasons, so the Dodgers surely aren’t worried. Smith remains on the short list of the best catchers in the sport even if the slight dip may keep him from a fourth straight All-Star appearance.
Rushing, who is hitting .275/.352/.532 on the season, would be the #1 catcher on most other teams. He’s more than capable of holding the primary job for what should be a short-term absence. Rushing has started four straight around Monday’s off day. The Dodgers don’t have another day off until next Thursday, so they needed to get a healthy catcher up at some point.
That’ll fall to the 31-year-old Robinson, an organizational depth type. He played one game for the Dodgers last September and has had brief MLB stints with the Reds and White Sox. The Dodgers re-signed him on a minor league deal over the offseason and have kept him at Triple-A Oklahoma City. Robinson missed the first month of the season but has come back with a solid .274/.338/.466 start over 20 games. He’s a career .131/.169/.192 hitter at the big league level.
Mariners Designate Domingo González For Assignment, Select Michael Rucker
The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Michael Rucker. Fellow righty Domingo González has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Last night, the Mariners went into the game with a pretty taxed bullpen. They are operating with a six-man rotation at the moment, giving them a seven-man bullpen while most other clubs have eight. Andrés Muñoz, Jose A. Ferrer, Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier all pitched two out of three days from Sunday to Tuesday. Alex Hoppe and Nick Davila both pitched on Tuesday.
George Kirby started last night’s game and was dealing for a while, keeping the Orioles scoreless through five. But he allowed three runs in the sixth, putting the M’s down 3-0. Seattle opted to have González enter at that point. He covered the seventh and eighth, allowing four earned runs and throwing 39 pitches as Baltimore took the game 7-2. While the other arms got a day of rest, the Mariners have decided to swap in a fresh arm for tonight.
González, 26, was claimed off waivers from Atlanta last year. He has made five appearances for the Mariners this year as they have shuttled him between Triple-A and the majors. In his 7 2/3 innings, he has allowed four earned runs, which all crossed the plate last night.
He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mariners could take as long as five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put González on waivers sooner than that.
He is still optionable, which could give him some appeal to a club looking for more depth in the minors. He has thrown 107 Triple-A innings since getting promoted to that level in 2024. In that time, he has a 3.62 earned run average, 24.7% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate. His four-seamer and sinker both average around 93 miles per hour. He also throws a slider and a changeup.
Rucker, 32, gets back to the big leagues for the first time in a few years. From 2021 to 2023, pitched 123 1/3 innings for the Cubs with a 4.96 ERA. He was traded to the Phillies ahead of the 2024 season but he didn’t pitch for them in the big leagues. He spent the campaign either on the injured list or pitching on optional assignment. He was put on waivers in September and claimed by the Nationals, but that club also kept him on optional assignment and then outrighted him off the roster at season’s end. He elected free agency and didn’t sign with any club for 2025.
He signed a minor league deal with the Mariners coming into 2026 and has been with Triple-A Tacoma. He has thrown 22 2/3 innings over 22 appearances with a 1.59 ERA. He’s gotten a lot of help from an 87.1% strand rate. His 24.5% strikeout rate and 47.5% ground ball rate are a few ticks better than average but his 10.8% walk rate is on the high side. Rucker will try to put up some good numbers with the Mariners. If they need bring in more fresh arms in the near future, he is out of options.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Kyle Isbel Diagnosed With Grade 3 Plantar Fascia Tear
The Royals placed center fielder Kyle Isbel on the 10-day injured list last night due to plantar fasciitis. Manager Matt Quatraro announced at the time that Isbel was undergoing an MRI to determine the severity of the issue. That imaging came back with unfavorable results, it seems. The Royals announced this morning that Isbel has a Grade 3 tear of a portion of the plantar fascia in his left foot. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that the team isn’t putting a formal timetable on his return but that it’ll be quite some time before he’s even able to resume baseball activity — let alone embark on a rehab assignment or return to the big league roster.
There’s better news on righty Seth Lugo, who exited last night’s game after taking a 106 mph comebacker to the head. Lugo rather incredibly quickly rose back to his feet, assuring distraught former Mets teammate Brandon Nimmo (who hit the ball in question) that he thought he was OK. Per the Royals, a CT scan was clean. Lugo will continue to be monitored, but for the time being, it seems he’s thankfully avoided any kind of significant injury.
Isbel, 29, has handled the vast majority of the Royals’ center field work this season. He’s long graded as a plus defender on the grass, though his grades in 2026 have dipped a bit. That’s not entirely surprising, given the full context of his season; Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star writes that Isbel has been playing through considerable pain in his left foot for quite some time. He finally reached a point where he couldn’t continue. Even with that ailing foot, Isbel drew a positive grade from Statcast’s Outs Above Average (4) and was only slightly below average in the estimation of Defensive Runs Saved (-2).
At the plate, Isbel has hit at his typical levels. He entered the season with a well below-average .235/.288/.365 batting line in his career (78 wRC+) and has turned in a .244/.298/.354 slash (80 wRC+) that closely mirrors his career marks.
With Isbel sidelined indefinitely, the Royals will piece together the center field mix via in-house options for the time being. Missouri native and Mizzou product Kameron Misner was recalled from Triple-A and is getting the start today. Lane Thomas has also logged some time in center this season and got the start in Isbel’s place last night. Utilityman Tyler Tolbert has four innings in center this season but logged 100 frames there last year. He probably won’t draw many starts in center but could slot in if he’s used as a pinch-runner (as was the case last night) or if the Royals make other defensive/lineup shuffles midgame during Isbel’s absence.
The veteran Thomas signed a one-year deal with Kansas City over the winter. He’s not hitting for any power whatsoever in 2026 but is sporting a career-best 15.8% walk rate in 152 plate appearances. He’s slashing .234/.362/.315 overall and, as is so often the case, has been a menace to left-handed opponents (.262/.395/.361). There’s a natural platoon to be formed between the righty-swinging Thomas and lefty-swinging Misner. Though Misner has batted just .203/.260/.325 in 231 MLB plate appearances with the Rays (and one with Kansas City last night), the former first-rounder has bludgeoned Triple-A pitching at a .276/.373/.547 pace in 252 plate appearances this year. He belted 13 homers and swiped 11 bags with the Storm Chasers prior to yesterday’s recall to the majors.