Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Marlins Sign Adam Oller To Minor League Deal
The Marlins have signed right-hander Adam Oller to a minor league deal, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X. The righty will presumably report to Triple-A Jacksonville at some point in the near future.
Oller, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Guardians in the offseason but was released last week. He had tossed 27 2/3 innings for Triple-A Columbus in a swing role, including six starts and six relief appearances. His 7.48 earned run average in that time was obviously not great and surely contributed to the Guards deciding to let him go, along with his 14.4% walk rate. But he also punched out 26.4% of batters faced, which is a strong clip.
Prior to this season, Oller was with the A’s for a while, coming over from the Mets in the Chris Bassitt trade from March of 2022. He tossed 94 big league innings with Oakland over 2022 and 2023 but with a 7.09 ERA, 13.5% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate. He went to the Mariners on waivers in July of last year but was kept on optional assignment and struggled before being outrighted at season’s end.
Despite the rough numbers of late, there’s logic to the interest from the Marlins. Going back to the start of 2021, Oller has struck out 25.2% of batters faced in 293 2/3 minor league innings. His 4.93 ERA in that time isn’t great, but teams are generally on the lookout for pitchers who can get punchouts.
The Marlins have had their pitching staff decimated by injuries this year, with Braxton Garrett currently on the 15-day injured list while each of Sandy Alcántara, Eury Pérez, Jesús Luzardo, Sixto Sánchez, Ryan Weathers and Josh Simpson are on the 60-day version. As a deadline seller, they could further deplete the staff by trading guys like Tanner Scott, Trevor Rogers, Edward Cabrera and others in the next few weeks.
If Oller can get onto Miami’s roster, he still has one option season remaining and less than a year of service time. If he brings his strikeout stuff to the big leagues, that could make him a long-term piece for the Fish, though he’ll have to earn his way into their plans first.
Marlins Unlikely To Move Jesus Luzardo, Bryan De La Cruz
The Marlins are open to offers on center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and will have multiple bullpen pieces available in the next three weeks, but they’re not planning to move anyone and everyone on the roster. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reports that the Fish aren’t going to move lefty Jesus Luzardo until he’s fully healthy again, which likely points to an offseason trade or even a deal at next year’s deadline. Mish adds that Bryan De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez are both likely to stay in South Florida as well. De La Cruz has already drawn interest, but he and Sanchez are both controllable through the 2027 season.
With regard to Luzardo, the notion of holding onto him is rather straightforward. The talented 26-year-old is on the 60-day injured list due to a stress reaction in his lower back. That 60-day term will extend beyond the July 30 trade deadline. Trading Luzardo right now would require selling low, and for a pitcher of his caliber with two remaining seasons of club control, that’s not a palatable course of action. It’s likely possible that a club could still obtain Luzardo by blowing the Marlins away with an offer commensurate with that of one for a healthy Luzardo — but it’s also highly unlikely a team would make that type of offer with Luzardo ailing.
Beyond that, the southpaw simply didn’t pitch up to his capabilities prior to landing on the shelf. Perhaps that back injury played a role, and Luzardo also had a brief IL stint for some elbow tightness early in the season. Whether he’s been fully healthy at any point this season isn’t clear, but the lefty has been tagged for a 5.00 ERA in 66 2/3 frames.
It’s an unflattering mark, though a 21.2% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate are both portents for some improvement. And it’s of course important to emphasize how good Luzardo was in the two prior seasons; the former third-round pick who once rated as the sport’s top left-handed pitching prospect started 50 games and notched a 3.48 ERA with a huge 28.7% strikeout rate and sharp 7.9% walk rate in 279 innings from 2022-23. He averaged 96.7 mph on his heater in those two years, though this year’s average fastball dipped to 95.5 mph — still a strong mark but a red flag for a pitcher who hasn’t been at his best.
If Luzardo is able to return from his back injury in the second half and close out the year in good health, then offseason interest should be robust. He won’t turn 27 until Sept. 30, still boasts a power arsenal, is only earning $5.5MM this season and is controlled through 2026 via arbitration. That type of pitcher should command a significant prospect haul — the type that’s extremely unlikely to be available when Luzardo is on the 60-day IL and questions about his ability to recover from this back injury persist. Luzardo has reportedly continued to draw interest while on the injured list, but it’s safe to presume the offers aren’t close to what they’d be if he were healthy and performing as he did in 2022-23.
As for the pair of outfielders, neither is a household name but both De La Cruz and Sanchez have shown some upside with the bat in the past. They’re both having below-average seasons at the plate in 2024 but have roughly average batting lines in their careers to date. De La Cruz is 27 years old. Sanchez is just 26.
De La Cruz is hitting .237/.286/.410 this season (94 wRC+). He’s popped 15 home runs and is on pace for a new career-high, but his 26% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate both offset some of that solid power. Sanchez is hitting a comparable .239/.291/.386 (92 wRC+) with nine home runs. He strikes out a bit less (23.6%) and walks at a similar 5.8% clip. Both players have notable platoon splits. The left-handed-hitting Sanchez is batting .270/.323/.445 against righties but just .091/.130/.159 against lefties (albeit in only 44 plate appearances). The righty-hitting De La Cruz has hit lefties at a .288/.318/.464 pace but floundered to a .210/.269/.380 line against righties.
There’s a case for the two to simply be platooned, and perhaps on a deeper roster that’d be how they’re utilized. But the Marlins are thin on outfielders as it is, and trading one or both Sanchez and De La Cruz — likely at a fairly low rate — would only further expose that deficiency. With three seasons of remaining club control apiece, there’s no urgency to move either. A big second half or strong start to the 2025 season could increase the trade value of either player.
Sanchez, in particular, has displayed some tantalizing batted-ball metrics that could signify the potential for growth. He’s averaged a whopping 93.5 mph off the bat this season with a huge 51% hard-hit rate. Those figures rank in the 96th and 94th percentile of MLB hitters, respectively. It’s also worth noting that current Marlins president Peter Bendix knows Sanchez well from his prospect days in the Rays system, where Bendix previously served as general manager. (Although that also means that Bendix was in the Tampa Bay front office when Sanchez was traded for Nick Anderson and Trevor Richards.)
Nationals Preparing To Be Deadline Sellers
The Nationals have been on the periphery of the postseason picture for much of the season but are preparing to approach the trade deadline as a seller, per Ken Rosenthal, Katie Woo and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Washington will be open to offers both on potential free agents and players signed/controlled for only one additional season, per the report. The Nats’ group of impending free agents include outfielder Jesse Winker, lefty Patrick Corbin, righty reliever Dylan Floro, struggling slugger Joey Gallo and the currently injured Trevor Williams. Of even more interest will be outfielder Lane Thomas, setup man Hunter Harvey and closer Kyle Finnegan, each of whom is controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration.
The vibe in D.C. is high at the moment following the debut of top-ranked prospect James Wood and the All-Star selection of shortstop CJ Abrams. But Washington has dropped 11 of its past 15 games to fall seven under .500. At 16.5 games back in the NL East, there’s no hope of surging back to the front of the division, and in the Wild Card chase, the Nats are 5.5 games back of the third spot with six teams to pass in order to get into the fray.
The Nationals are already three years into a rebuilding process that kicked off in 2021 with trades of Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber (among many others) and continued into the summer of 2022 with the deadline blockbuster that shipped Juan Soto to San Diego in exchange for a package of five young players headlined by Abrams, Wood and current staff leader MacKenzie Gore. Selling off some short-term pieces at this year’s deadline isn’t a sign that said plan has faltered or a setback necessarily; for much of the season, the Nats appeared ahead of schedule but are now settling into the type of position most expected them to occupy heading into the 2024 campaign.
Among Washington’s slate of rental players, Winker stands as the most productive healthy option. He’s back in vintage form after a pair of seasons ruined by knee and neck injuries that both required surgery in the 2022-23 offseason. In 337 trips to the plate, the former Reds, Brewers and Mariners outfielder is hitting .268/.382/.436 with ten home runs and a career-high 12 steals. Winker’s 13.6% walk rate is more than five percentage points ahead of the league average, and he’s striking out at a manageable 22.3% clip.
Winker has long had platoon issues, but the Nats have given him 80 plate appearances against southpaws this season and he’s held his own, hitting .250/.344/.363. It should be noted that his small-sample production against lefties is aided by a bulky .358 average on balls in play and comes in spite of a huge 29% strikeout rate (10 points higher than his mark against righties). Winker probably can’t be expected to continue his output against lefties, but he’s punishing righties just as he always has when healthy: .275/.397/.465 with nine of his 10 home runs and six of his 17 doubles. Winker signed a minor league deal with a $2MM base salary, making him an ultra-affordable option for any team seeking a quality left-handed bat to add to its DH/outfield mix.
Floro, 33, is in the midst of a nice rebound season. He’s on a one-year, $2.25MM deal and has produced 43 2/3 innings of 2.06 ERA ball. His 20.5% strikeout rate is a couple percentage points shy of average, but his 6.4% walk rate is a couple points better than par. Floro sports a strong 50.4% grounder rate as well. However, he’s yet to allow even one home run this season, and it’s not sustainable for any pitcher to see every single one of his fly-balls stay in the park. Metrics like SIERA (3.50) and xFIP (3.45), which normalize homer-to-flyball rate, view Floro as a solid arm but not the dominant force his raw ERA might suggest. He should still draw plenty of interest as an affordable veteran with some track record.
Corbin’s $35MM salary is going to nullify any trade interest unless the Nats are willing to pay down almost the entire sum. The first season of his six-year, $140MM contract with the Nats went beautifully, as Corbin helped lead a deep rotation and stepped up as a key postseason arm en route to Washington’s Cinderella World Series run. He’s posted a 5.60 ERA since, including a 5.49 mark in 100 frames this year.
That said, the veteran has been pitching well of late. Corbin sports a 4.53 ERA dating back to Memorial Day weekend and has delivered a 3.81 ERA in 28 1/3 frames over his past five starts. A team just looking for some veteran innings in the five spot could look at Corbin as a cheap solution if the Nats eat most or all of the remaining salary.
If healthy, Williams might stand as the clearest and most coveted rental piece the Nats have to offer. He made 11 starts, and though he was averaging just five frames per appearances, Williams logged a pristine 2.22 ERA with a solid 21% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate. As with Floro, he’s been extremely fortunate with home runs (just two in 56 2/3 frames), and a solid but unspectacular K-BB profile points to some ERA regression if that home run trend doesn’t continue. But Williams is in the second season of a two-year, $13MM contract and would be an affordable rotation option. He’s been out since early June with a strained muscle in his forearm.
Also on the injured list is Gallo, who was struggling at career-worst levels prior to a hamstring strain. He’s hitting .164/.285/.321 with a glaring 43% strikeout rate and five homers in 165 plate appearances. Between that line and Gallo’s injury, it’s hard to envision any trade value even if he’s healthy enough to return before July 30. He’s more a DFA candidate than a trade candidate.
Looking to the Nationals’ more controllable pieces, Thomas and the bullpen duo of Finnegan and Harvey will draw wide-reaching interest. A deal for Thomas could be difficult to line up, depending on how the Nats price him. At last year’s deadline, Washington was valuing Thomas as an everyday outfielder, whereas many other clubs were viewing him more as a potential platoon piece.
That perception from other clubs won’t be different in 2024. Thomas has never hit righties much but is slashing a dismal .208/.262/.343 against them in 2024. Conversely, he’s always hit well against southpaws and is even better than his career line in 2024, hitting .338/.407/.563. Thomas is an absolute menace to southpaw pitchers, and he’s perhaps deceptively fast. Statcast ranks him in the 94th percentile of MLB players in average sprint speed, and Thomas has already swiped 21 bags — though he’s also been caught seven times. He’s making $5.45MM this season and will be owed one more raise in arbitration this winter before hitting free agency post-2025.
Both Finnegan and Harvey are on track for free agency in the 2025-26 offseason as well. Finnegan has saved 23 games and posted a tidy 2.17 ERA in 37 1/3 frames. He’s averaged a hefty 97.4 mph on his heater while recording a 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 42.7% ground-ball rate. After a rough start in terms of his command, Finnegan has reined in the walks, yielding only a 5.8% rate over his past 32 innings.
Harvey was arguably even more appealing for much of the season, though a recent rough patch could have altered that. His $2.325MM salary is less than half Finnegan’s $5.1MM mark, he throws even harder, and his strikeout/walk/ground-ball rates were the better of the two for the bulk of the current campaign.
Some recent struggles have ballooned Harvey’s ERA to 4.40 — more than two runs higher than the 2.08 mark he carried into the month of June. He’s been tagged for 14 runs in his past 12 2/3 innings. In that time, he’s walked 9.1% of his opponents (more than double his rate over the first two months) and been tagged for a grisly 2.13 homers per nine frames. For a pitcher with a lengthy injury history — Harvey still has just 166 2/3 career innings despite debuting in 2019 — that could be a particular concern among bullpen-needy clubs. But the affordable salary, extra year of control, 98.1 mph average heater and K-BB profile should all generate interest.
One other name to consider is journeyman righty Derek Law, who’s posted a 3.35 ERA in 53 2/3 innings of relief already and is controllable through 2025. Law has fanned 21.2% of opponents against a 6.2% walk rate but has been wildly inconsistent dating back to his 2016 debut campaign. He’s earning $1.5MM this season and could be a sensible middle-innings arm for a team looking at low-cost means of deepening the ’pen.
The Opener: Phillies, Red Sox, MLBTR Chat
With just three weeks until the trade deadline, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Phillies getting healthy:
The Phillies are expecting to welcome slugger Kyle Schwarber back from the injured list today, and he might be joined by veteran superstar Bryce Harper. The duo were both placed on the injured list late last month due to a groin strain and hamstring strain, respectively, though both issues were described as very mild. Per reporting over the weekend, Schwarber has been running at 100% intensity for several days now while Harper had been running “either at or close to 100% intensity.”
The return of Schwarber and potentially Harper figures to transform a Phillies lineup that has dealt with not only those losses but also the loss of catcher J.T. Realmuto in recent weeks. Schwarber has enjoyed a strong season that’s become typical of him during his time with the Phillies, slashing .250/.373/.447 with 17 home runs in 367 trips to the plate this year. Harper has been even better at the plate, turning in a massive .303/.399/.582 line with 20 homers in 336 plate appearances.
2. Red Sox 40-man move incoming?
The Red Sox optioned left-hander Cam Booser to Triple-A following last night’s game, per a team announcement. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported last night that Booser’s departure is likely to lead to the Red Sox selecting the contract of right-hander Trey Wingenter today. Wingenter, 30, was acquired by the Red Sox in trade with the Tigers over the weekend in exchange for minor league reliever CJ Weins.
Wingenter, who’s pitched in parts of three big league seasons, has struggled to a 5.28 ERA in the majors despite a much stronger 3.82 FIP. He’s posted strong strikeout numbers but also an elevated walk rate. The deal was reportedly prompted by Wingenter triggering an assignment clause in his minor league contract, meaning the Red Sox would have to add the righty to their 40-man roster shortly after the trade. That’s now expected to happen today, and the Sox will need to clear a 40-man spot for Wingenter.
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
We’re now just three weeks from the July 30 trade deadline, and the earliest trades of the summer are now starting to take place, with Aaron Civale, Austin Slater, and Alex Young now having changed uniforms. If you have any questions about the upcoming deadline or your team’s direction with the All-Star break just over the horizon, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will host a chat with readers at 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, and that same link will allow you to join in on the chat once it begins or read the transcript after it is completed.
Report: “Growing Belief” That Marlins Will Trade Jazz Chisholm Jr.
The Marlins announced their status as deadline sellers more than two months ago with their surprising early trade of Luis Arraez, and with the trade deadline now just 22 days away, their activity on that front should pick back up. While much of the focus has been on closer Tanner Scott, who’s a free agent at season’s end, Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports that there’s a “growing belief” Jazz Chisholm Jr. will also be traded. Mish lists the Mariners as a “club to watch” if Chisholm is moved and also suggests the Pirates and Royals could join the bidding.
Chisholm, 26, is enjoying a solid season at the plate, hitting .255/.326/.407 (105 wRC+) with ten homers and 17 steals (albeit in 25 tries). He’s struggled with strikeouts on the past, and while his 24.9% rate is still worse than average, it’s a notable improvement over the 29.2% clip he registered in the four prior seasons. He’s paired those improved contact skills with a career-best 8.8% walk rate.
There’s little doubting Chisholm’s raw tools and star-caliber upside. He’s averaged 26 homers and 32 steals per 162 games played in his career. However, he’s never topped 124 games in a season and has only reached 400 plate appearances once to this point in his major league career. Injuries have frequently hobbled Chisholm and caused him to miss significant time. Since establishing himself as a regular in 2021, Chisholm has missed time due to a shoulder injury, a back strain (which required a 60-day IL stint), turf toe and an oblique strain.
Chisholm is earning an affordable $2.625MM this season and is controlled for two more years following the current campaign. He’s been the Marlins’ primary center fielder over the past two seasons, though that move was borne out of necessity. Miami has been unable to develop a center fielder and has come up empty in its long-running attempts to acquire a controllable option at the position. Chisholm, a natural shortstop who slid over to second base early in his career, moved to center field last year and has drawn mixed reviews from most public defensive metrics. He was a plus defender in just over 1300 innings at second base before the move to the outfield.
All three of the potential teams listed in Mish’s report stand as clear fits in a theoretical Chisholm deal. Royals general manager J.J. Picollo has been open about his desire to add a bat capable of playing both the infield and the outfield — a need Chisholm would fill nicely. The Royals have fairly even platoon splits as a team, but the bulk of the team is right-handed — including Kansas City’s two best hitters, Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and second baseman Michael Massey (who’s been limited to just 142 plate appearances due to injury) are the only left-handed bats on the roster who have turned in average or better production, by measure of wRC+.
The Pirates, meanwhile, have received sub-par offensive production from second base this season. Since being called up, former first-round pick Nick Gonzales has delivered roughly league-average offense (.269/.307/.414, 99 wRC+), but he’s been more productive against lefties than righties. Pittsburgh outfielders are also hitting just .227/.299/.352 as a collective unit this season. Chisholm could provide an offensive boost in either role or potentially split his time between the two positions based on matchups.
Both the outfield and second base have been weaknesses for the AL West-leading Mariners as well. The hope in Seattle was that the offseason acquisition of Jorge Polanco would have solidified second base, but the switch-hitter’s steady offensive output unexpectedly cratered this season; in 214 plate appearances, the former Twins infielder has slashed just .189/.280/.284 with a career-worst 33.6% strikeout rate. Their outfielders have combined for a .230/.285/.365 batting line.
With two and a half seasons of club control remaining, an affordable salary and another productive season highlighted by his typical blend of speed and power, Chisholm should come with a relatively steep cost of acquisition. Mish notes that a deal in the offseason is possible as well, if the Marlins don’t get an offer to their liking in the next three weeks, and suggests that even some current non-contenders could look into a deal for Chisholm (both now and in the offseason) as they look toward the 2025 campaign and beyond.
Mariners Outright Seby Zavala
The Mariners announced that catcher Seby Zavala went unclaimed on waivers. He was outrighted back to Triple-A Tacoma. Zavala has the right to elect free agency because he has been outrighted multiple times in his career, though he accepted his previous assignment to Tacoma a couple weeks ago.
Zavala spent the majority of the season as the backup catcher behind Cal Raleigh. Seattle has given Mitch Garver more time behind the dish in recent weeks, pushing Zavala off the roster as they try to find more offense. The M’s briefly brought him back up last week while Garver was day-to-day with a wrist issue.
The 30-year-old Zavala is a .205/.271/.342 hitter in 557 big league plate appearances. Most of that time came with the White Sox before brief stints with the D-Backs and Mariners over the last couple years. Raleigh and Garver are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Assuming he sticks in the organization, Zavala would probably be the next man up if either of Seattle’s big league backstops suffer an injury.
Latest On Marlins’ Bullpen Trade Candidates
The Marlins should trade a handful of veteran players over the next three weeks. While center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. might be the team’s most interesting candidate, the Fish are also a lock to move at least one reliever.
Closer Tanner Scott, who is on his way to his first All-Star Game next week, has looked likely to move essentially since the Marlins started their season on a nine-game losing streak. The Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies and Orioles were all linked to the hard-throwing lefty last month. Scott is a viable target for any team with postseason aspirations, though, and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald writes that roughly a dozen clubs have expressed interest.
Scott got off to a rather shaky start to the season. After walking seven of the 34 hitters he faced during Spring Training, he handed out 13 free passes in 12 2/3 innings through the end of April. While Scott worked around the walks to turn in a 2.84 ERA in the season’s first month, he’d likely have been in for regression if he didn’t dial in his command.
To his credit, Scott has taken a step forward in that regard. He has walked 10 of 93 opponents (10.8%) going back to May 1. It’s still not pristine control, but it’s significantly better than the 21.3% walk percentage he’d posted through the season’s first few weeks. Strike-throwing is Scott’s only real question mark. He has some of the best raw stuff in the sport, pairing a 97 MPH heater with a wipeout slider. Opponents have only managed 18 hits over 38 innings. They’re hitting .142/.273/.205 across 154 plate appearances.
While this is the first year in which Scott is headed to the Midsummer Classic, he was arguably even better in 2023. Scott pitched to a 2.31 ERA with a 33.9% strikeout rate and a career-best 7.8% walk percentage over 78 innings last year. Over two and a half seasons in South Florida, he owns a 2.82 earned run average while striking out 31.5% of opposing hitters. He has picked up 45 saves and finished 89 games while working as Miami’s closer for the majority of that stretch.
There’s little reason for the Marlins to hang onto Scott past the deadline. He’s headed to free agency for the first time in his career a few months from now. He’ll be entering his age-30 campaign and should have a case for a three- or four-year deal. A rebuilding Miami team isn’t likely to bring him back. Scott is playing this season on a $5.7MM arbitration salary, a little over $2.5MM of which is still owed.
As the lone rental in the bullpen, Scott should be the top priority for president of baseball operations Peter Bendix and his staff. Yet the front office is probably open to discussing their more controllable relievers as well. Mish writes that other teams have shown particular interest in left-hander Andrew Nardi, whom the Marlins control for another four seasons. Mish also lists right-handers Calvin Faucher and Declan Cronin as potential trade candidates, though it’s not clear how strong interest is in those cases.
Nardi is probably the most appealing of that group. His pedestrian 4.72 ERA belies excellent strikeout and walk numbers. The 25-year-old southpaw has fanned 29% of batters faced against a 7.6% walk rate. He’s inducing swinging strikes at a lofty 14.4% clip. Nardi has been plagued by a .337 average on balls in play this season but posted a 2.67 ERA across 57 1/3 frames last year. There should be significant interest, although Mish suggests the Marlins may wind up holding onto Nardi to plug him into the ninth inning next year.
Faucher and Cronin were low-cost offseason acquisitions. The former came over from the Rays alongside Vidal Bruján in one of Bendix’s first trades. Faucher has a 3.55 ERA while striking out nearly a quarter of opponents through 33 innings. Cronin, claimed off waivers from the Astros in February, has a 3.35 ERA with solid peripherals over 43 frames. The 26-year-old righty has average strikeout and walk numbers while running a massive 55.7% ground-ball percentage.
Rangers Select Daniel Robert
The Rangers selected reliever Daniel Robert onto the MLB roster for tonight’s matchup with the Angels. Texas optioned Grant Anderson to Triple-A Round Rock to clear a spot in the bullpen. In order to open space on the 40-man roster, the Rangers designated lefty Antoine Kelly for assignment.
Robert gets his first big league call a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday. Texas drafted him in 2017 as a 21st-round pick out of Auburn. Robert has pitched parts of three seasons (including all of 2024) in Round Rock. After struggling in his first two seasons there, he has posted excellent numbers across 25 appearances this year.
Through 30 2/3 innings, Robert carries a 2.35 earned run average. He has punched out more than 35% of batters faced while walking only 6.1% of opponents. It’s a massive improvement over last season, when he fanned 26.4% of hitters with a near-12% walk percentage. Robert has fanned 12 without issuing a walk in his most recent 10 2/3 frames.
His promotion bumps Kelly off the roster. The 24-year-old is a former second-round pick of the Brewers who runs his fastball into the high 90s. Milwaukee traded him to Texas at the 2022 deadline in the Matt Bush deal. Texas added Kelly to the 40-man roster to keep him out of last winter’s Rule 5 draft, but things haven’t gone well this season.
Kelly has walked 21 of the 91 hitters he’s faced in Round Rock. That’s clearly not viable and resulted in a 9.39 ERA. That pushed him back to Double-A last week and now off the roster entirely. The Rangers have five days to trade the 6’5″ lefty or put him on waivers. Kelly pitched to a 1.95 ERA with a 32% strikeout rate in Double-A last season. He still has a full slate of options and could find some interest on the waiver wire, this year’s control woes notwithstanding.
Reds Recall Rece Hinds For MLB Debut, Outright Levi Jordan
The Reds made a handful of moves before tonight’s series opener with the Rockies. Cincinnati recalled outfield prospect Rece Hinds in his first MLB promotion. They also brought up righty reliever Yosver Zulueta from Triple-A Louisville. In corresponding moves, the Reds optioned right-hander Graham Ashcraft and placed outfielder Stuart Fairchild on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to July 7) with a spinal disc injury.
Hinds is in the starting lineup tonight in right field. He’ll hit eighth and likely take his first big league at-bat against Colorado starter Ryan Feltner. The righty-hitting corner outfielder has been on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster since the start of last offseason. The Reds selected his contract to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He has been on optional assignment to Louisville all year.
Initially drafted as a third base prospect, Hinds was a second-round pick out of high school back in 2019. Evaluators have long been intrigued by the massive raw power he packs into a 6’4″ frame, but Hinds’ stock has dipped since he entered pro ball because of longstanding contact questions. The 23-year-old has punched out in nearly 35% of his plate appearances over parts of five minor league campaigns.
Strikeouts have again been a concern this season. Hinds has fanned at an untenable 38.4% clip through 328 trips to the plate in Louisville. While he has connected on 13 home runs, his .216/.290/.409 slash line in Triple-A is below average. The Reds remain intrigued by Hinds’ pure power potential, but it’s fair to expect a lot of swing-and-miss in his initial look at MLB pitching.
Cincinnati has tried to find a reliable righty-hitting outfielder to take some at-bats from lefties Jake Fraley and Will Benson. Fairchild has teed off on lefties at a .308/.388/.473 clip over 103 plate appearances, but he hasn’t produced at all against right-handed pitching (.127/.188/.203 in 86 PAs). He’s now out for an indeterminate amount of time, perhaps contributing to the decision to bring in Austin Slater in a late-night trade with the Giants. (Fraley is also currently away from the team tending to a family matter.)
On the pitching side, Zulueta steps into the bullpen and pushes Ashcraft back to Triple-A. It’s the second time this season that the Reds optioned the righty, who opened the year in the rotation. Ashcraft started three times since being recalled on June 26, allowing 10 runs in 15 innings. The Reds could soon welcome Nick Lodolo back from his stint on the 15-day injured list. Manager David Bell told reporters that rookie right-hander Carson Spiers will hold his rotation spot behind Lodolo, Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and Frankie Montas (X link via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer).
In other Reds news, Cincinnati announced that utilityman Levi Jordan went unclaimed on waivers. He was outrighted back to Louisville. The Reds designated Jordan for assignment last week when they called up Edwin Ríos. A former 29th-round draftee, Jordan earned an MLB call in late June and appeared in seven contests. He picked up his first hit, a double off Daulton Jefferies, over 10 at-bats. He’s hitting .302/.384/.443 on the year in Triple-A.
