Pirates Call Up Henry Davis From Triple-A
5:01pm: The Pirates announced this evening that right-hander Chase Shugart was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Davis on the club’s roster. That will leave Pittsburgh to carry three catchers on the big league roster for the time being, with Davis joining Bart and Rodriguez.
10:41am: The Pirates are calling catcher Henry Davis up from Triple-A Indianapolis, MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf reports. No corresponding move is yet known, though Davis’ arrival is likely related to Joey Bart leaving yesterday’s game due to lower back discomfort.
Bart was the starting catcher in Pittsburgh’s 5-3 loss to the Reds, but he was replaced in the field prior to the bottom of the second inning. The Pirates described Bart’s status as day-to-day, yet having Davis on hand is a wise move even in the short term, so the team wouldn’t be entirely shorthanded behind the plate if backup catcher Endy Rodriguez also picked up an injury. More will be known later today on Bart’s status, and whether or not he might be headed to the 10-day injured list.
In any case, the situation has led to another big-league look for Davis, the first overall pick of the 2021 draft. Heralded for his batting ability at the University of Louisville, Davis has yet to show anything at the plate at the MLB level. After hitting .213/.302/.351 in 255 plate appearances in his 2023 rookie season, Davis had only a .144/.242/.212 slash line in 122 PA last year. His 2024 campaign was also marred by a pair of IL stints — one on the concussion-related injured list, and another due to hand inflammation.
Davis’ development has taken a few twists and turns, chiefly due to the Bucs’ experiment with Davis as an outfielder, as the team looked for ways to fit both Davis and another top catching prospect in Rodriguez into the lineup at the same time. This long-term view hit some immediate roadblocks, however, as Rodriguez missed the entire 2024 season due to UCL surgery, plus Bart (also a former top prospect during his time with the Giants) also broke out with solid numbers last year to claim the starting catching job.
The Pirates have now recommitted Davis to a catching-only path, while Rodriguez has seen a good chunk of action at first base in addition to serving as Bart’s backup this season. Perhaps regardless of how the fielding situation might develop, Davis isn’t going to stick in the Show unless he can hit, and it is still far too early to write Davis off at age 25. His minor league numbers also hint at the potential, as Davis has a .316/.417/.548 slash line and 15 homers over 346 career PA at the Triple-A level.
Reds Activate Andrew Abbott From Injured List
The Reds activated southpaw Andrew Abbott from the injured list earlier today, as noted by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Abbott will be starting tonight’s game against the Pirates. Outfielder Will Benson was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.
Abbott, 26 in June, emerged as a regular rotation option for the Reds when he was a rookie back in 2023. He posted a strong 3.87 ERA (120 ERA+) in 21 starts that year while striking 26.1% of his opponents, but his sophomore campaign saw him take something of a step backwards. While the southpaw’s 3.72 ERA and 118 ERA+ were largely unchanged from his rookie campaign, his peripheral numbers suffered as he posted a well below-average 5.02 FIP across 25 starts. Much of that can be attributed to his lackluster 19.5% strikeout rate in his follow-up season, though a sizable increase in his home run rate also played a role.
The lefty mostly looked good during Spring Training, with a 2.57 ERA and five strikeouts against just one walk in seven innings of work across two outings. Those sorts of numbers would normally put Abbott in a good place to improve upon his work in 2025 this year, but a slow build up to the season after last year was cut short by a shoulder strain meant that he actually started out on the injured list rather than breaking camp with the club. Fortunately, it proved to be a relatively brief IL stint as he finished building up with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate in Louisville with a 3.60 ERA in two starts.
With Abbott now back in the majors, he’ll be tasked with sliding into the back of the Cincinnati rotation alongside Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Nick Martinez, and Brady Singer. It’s a strong group that the Reds figure to lean on heavily this year as they look to fight their way back into the postseason for the first time since 2020, though the eventual return of youngster Rhett Lowder from the injured list could push someone out of the mix. Abbott could be a candidate to move out of the rotation depending on his performance, though perhaps the most sensible choice would be Martinez given his past experience (and success) in a bullpen role.
Moving off the roster to make room for Abbott is Benson, who appeared in just one game after being called up from the minors earlier this week. That lone appearance left much to be desired, as Benson struck out four times in four trips to the plate, but that he’s been in the minors at all this year while the Reds rely on players like Blake Dunn and Jacob Hurtubise to fill in while Austin Hays is on the injured list is telling of how far his stock has fallen in the organization’s eyes. It wasn’t long ago, after all, that Benson was one of the team’s best hitters with a .275/.365/.498 slash line back in 2023.
A lackluster 2024 season that saw him strikeout out in 39.7% of his plate appearances with a subpar 75 wRC+ was enough to push him out of the club’s roster plans for this year despite that impressive history, and while he’s raked in nine games at Triple-A this season it seems he’ll need to show more improvement to get a substantial opportunity in the majors this year. In the meantime, Gavin Lux has joined Dunn, Hurtubise, and Jake Fraley in the corner outfield mix while Hays is out of commission, while TJ Friedl remains the club’s everyday center fielder.
Mariners Outright Jesse Hahn
The Mariners announced that right-hander Jesse Hahn has been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma. Hahn cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. Since Hahn has more than three years’ worth of MLB service time, he has the right to reject that outright assignment in favor of free agency, but there isn’t yet any word on whether or not Hahn will test the market or stick in Seattle’s organization.
Hahn already quickly re-signed with the Mariners on a fresh minor league deal after they released him from a previous minors contract at the end of March, which might hint that Hahn will again stick around in Triple-A. Hahn’s return to the M’s ended up landing the righty his first taste of Major League action since 2021, after the Mariners selected his contract and deployed him in two games last week. Hahn threw four scoreless frames in those two appearances, albeit with three hits and four walks in that limited sample.
The 35-year-old Hahn has a 4.17 ERA over 315 1/3 career innings with the Padres, A’s, Royals, and Mariners. Health issues have cost him big chunks of his career, as Hahn has undergone two Tommy John surgeries, and he also didn’t pitch at all in 2022-23 while recovering from a shoulder issue. He returned to action to post a 4.29 ERA across 50 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level for the Dodgers and Mariners, as control issues continued to limit Hahn’s effectiveness.
Luis Severino Discusses Offseason Talks With Mets
Luis Severino is scheduled to start for the Athletics on Sunday when the Mets and A’s face off in Sacramento, and as the veteran righty gets set to face his old team, Severino opened up about New York’s limited pursuit of a reunion last winter when Severino was a free agent. Severino told SNY and other media members that he had interest in re-signing with the Mets last winter, and said he “told my agent that I’d stay for two years and $40MM.”
This is notably less than the three years and $67MM than Severino received from the Athletics, but the righty was open to the lesser payday. “I knew it was going to be less money, but I just liked the environment there,” Severino said. “The trainers were unbelievable, everything there, it was good. So I was trying to sacrifice more money by staying in a place that I know…I can get better. But by the end, like I said, I was not in their plans.”
From the Mets’ perspective, the club had some level of interest, though apparently only at an even lesser price. Severino said he heard from his agent that the Mets’ “only offer they were going to give me was the same deal that they gave [Frankie] Montas. So I think for me that was not fair.”
New York signed Montas to a two-year, $34MM deal that allows Montas the ability to opt out of the contract following the season. (Severino’s deal with the A’s also has an opt-out clause following the 2026 season.) The $17MM average annual value of that contract is also well below the $22.333MM AAV Severino is getting from the Athletics, and also less than the Mets’ one-year, $21.05MM qualifying offer that Severino turned down last fall.
Even if Severino was willing to drop to a $20MM AAV with his proposed two-year, $40MM contract, a further haircut down to $17MM was a bridge too far for the 31-year-old, especially given the interest he was garnering from other teams. The Cubs and Blue Jays were publicly linked to Severino’s market before he surprised many by joining the low-payroll A’s, whose uncharacteristic spending spree this winter was more than a little related to the team’s desire to post a minimum luxury tax number related to its revenue-sharing recipient status.
Apart from the unique circumstances of the Mets’ record-setting splurge to add Juan Soto, president of baseball operations David Stearns was otherwise relatively measured in his offseason transactions, as evidenced by the lengthy staring contest of a negotiation with Pete Alonso before the slugger returned to the fold. It could be that Stearns simply didn’t value Severino beyond a particular price point, or that the Mets prioritized Alonso and Sean Manaea (who both also received qualifying offers) moreso than Severino.
The QO perhaps factored into the Mets’ decision process in another fashion, as the Mets ended up down one draft pick overall for the winter despite having three players rejecting QOs. The compensatory pick the Mets received for Severino ended up being one of the two picks the Mets had to surrender as compensation for signing Soto. Of course, the club didn’t get any compensation for re-signing their own free agents — Alonso re-upped for two years and $54MM (with an opt-out after this season), and Manaea for a three-year, $75MM deal that contains $23.75MM in deferred money, dropping the current value in terms of luxury tax numbers to roughly $22MM per season.
Severino signed a one-year, $13MM deal with New York in the 2023-24 offseason, which he viewed as a bounce-back contract after several injury-plagued years with the Yankees. The plan worked out well, as Severino had a solid 3.91 ERA over 182 innings with the Mets that paid off in the form of his three-year commitment from the Athletics. It proved to be a win from the Mets’ perspective as well, as Severino provided steady rotation work for a team that made the NLCS, and New York even get an extra draft pick back for its investment.
Time will tell if the A’s made a wise move in locking up Severino, or if the Mets made a good call in letting him walk. In the short term, however, some second-guessing is inevitable since both Manaea and Montas are hurt. Manaea will be out until late May at the earliest after suffering an oblique strain and then a setback in his rehab, while Montas also figures to be out until roughly mid-May after a lat strain cost him all of Spring Training. Severino has a modest 4.74 ERA over his three starts in an Athletics uniform, but he is at least healthy and on the mound, whereas the Mets have already had their rotation depth stretched in the early going.
White Sox Place Austin Slater On 10-Day IL Due To Right Meniscus Tear
The White Sox announced that outfielder Austin Slater has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a meniscus tear in his right knee. The IL placement is retroactive to April 11. Outfielder Greg Jones was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
With Andrew Benintendi (groin strain) and Mike Tauchman (hamstring strain) already on the IL, Chicago’s outfield has now been further reduced by Slater’s injury, which looks to be significantly longer term in nature depending on the severity of the tear. The best-case scenario could see Slater back on the field in a few weeks’ time, while he might be shelved for a couple of months if surgery is required. Manager Will Venable told SoxMachine’s JamesFegan and other reporters that the team doesn’t have a timeline yet for Slater.
This is actually the second injury Slater has suffered during his brief tenure with the White Sox, after an oblique issue cost him a couple of weeks during Spring Training. Slater signed a one-year contract worth $1.75MM in guaranteed money back in November, as the Sox aimed to use the right-handed hitting Slater in a platoon capacity in one or both of the corner outfield positions. Now, all of Chicago’s planned corner outfield candidates are on the IL, leaving Michael A. Taylor, Brooks Baldwin, Joshua Palacios, and now Jones as the makeshift group flanking center fielder Luis Robert Jr.
Slater posted solid to very good numbers as a part-timer with San Francisco from 2020-23, but his production cratered badly last year, as he slashed just .209/.321/.266 over 212 combined plate appearances with the Giants, Reds, and Orioles. He has actually logged more big league innings as a center fielder than he has in left or right field, though defensive metrics indicate that Slater is much better suited to corner outfield work.
Nationals Place CJ Abrams On 10-Day Injured List
The Nationals announced that shortstop CJ Abrams has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hip flexor strain. Infielder Nasim Nunez was called up from Triple-A to take Abrams’ spot on the active roster.
Abrams’ injury has been bothering him for the better part of a week, as he didn’t play on Monday or Tuesday before returning to action on Wednesday. The Nationals didn’t play on Thursday, but that extra day of rest didn’t help Abrams, as he made an early exit during the fourth inning of Friday’s game with the Marlins. Manager Davey Martinez told reporters (including MLB.com’s Santos Perez) that Abrams had hip discomfort while trying to steal a base in the top of the third, and then again when fielding a grounder in the bottom half of the inning.
Given the lingering nature of the injury, it isn’t surprising that the Nats decided to shut Abrams down entirely for at least 10 days to let him fully shake the hip issue. Paul DeJong will likely shift over from third base to take over most of the starting duties at shortstop, with Amed Rosario and Jose Tena probably handling things at third. Nunez also has a lot of shortstop experience in the minor leagues, and the former Rule 5 Draft pick figures to get some playing time in his second MLB season.
Not that there’s ever a great time to visit the IL, but the placement cuts short Abrams’ heavy-hitting start to the 2025 campaign. Abrams has already hit four homers and delivered a .585 slugging percentage in his first 46 trips to the plate, even if his batting average (.244) and OBP (.289) are far more modest.
Abrams also had a big first half in 2024, earning the shortstop a spot on the NL All-Star team. Just when it looked like Abrams was having a proper breakout year, however, his production tailed off in the second half, and he was optioned to Triple-A for the last week of the season as a disciplinary response to an off-the-field issue. Washington president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo made a point of confirming his team’s commitment and belief in Abrams during the Nats’ end-of-season press conference, and the matter might end up being a footnote if Abrams continues as a cornerstone piece for a Nationals team that is emerging from the end of a rebuild.
Athletics Designate Angel Perdomo For Assignment
The Athletics announced that left-hander Angel Perdomo has been designated for assignment. Right-hander J.T. Ginn was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move, and Ginn will get the start today against the Mets in West Sacramento.
Perdomo has only been in West Sacramento for two weeks, after the A’s claimed him off waivers from the Angels following another DFA. This brief stint saw Perdomo make four relief appearances for the Athletics, posting a 5.40 ERA across 3 1/3 innings of work. Perdomo pitched in yesterday’s game (albeit with only nine pitches in one-third of an inning), so he was the odd man out given the Athletics’ need to open up a roster spot for Ginn today.
Perdomo is out of minor league options, so the A’s had to designate him and expose him to the waiver wire before sending him to Triple-A. If he does clear waivers, Perdomo has the ability to reject an outright assignment and become a free agent, since he has been previously outrighted off a 40-man roster during his career.
Tommy John surgery kept Perdomo off the mound entirely in 2024, and his return to action hasn’t seen an answer to the control problems that have plagued the southpaw for much of his limited MLB career. Perdomo has a 16% career walk rate across his 52 career big league innings with the Brewers, Pirates, and Athletics, and a 5.54 career ERA reflects the lack of control. Perdomo has only two strikeouts in 19 batters faced this year, but owns a whopping 34.2% strikeout rate over his time in the majors.
This ability to miss bats has gotten Perdomo attention from multiple teams. The Braves took a flier on Perdomo with a split contract in the wake of his 2023 TJ procedure, but after getting a look at him in action this spring, Atlanta dealt Perdomo to the Angels late in camp. The lefty’s time in the Angels’ camp was also limited to just a few days before he was designated and claimed away by the A’s. It could be that another team in need of southpaw depth could be willing to make a claim and take a shot at fixing Perdomo’s control, since even an average amount of walks combined with his strikeout power could make him an interesting bullpen weapon.
Cardinals Place Masyn Winn On 10-Day IL, Activate Nolan Gorman
The Cardinals announced that shortstop Masyn Winn was placed on the 10-day injured list due to back spasms. Winn will be replaced by fellow infielder Nolan Gorman, whose own 10-day IL stint (due to a hamstring strain) has now ended with Gorman’s activation to the big league roster.
Winn lasted just an inning into yesterday’s game before his bad back required his removal from the lineup. Winn also fought through some back problems last season, and told reporters (including MLB.com’s John Denton) yesterday that his current issue “was similar” but “last year was actually a little bit worse.” Winn felt he might miss a couple of games but wouldn’t need an IL trip, yet the Cardinals have apparently decided to take the cautious route in giving the shortstop 10 days to fully recover.
A second-round pick for St. Louis in the 2020 draft, Winn went from highly-touted prospect to everyday shortstop when he hit .267/.314/.416 with 15 homers over 637 plate appearances in 2024. With both this above-average hitting and strong glovework in the view of some defensive metrics, Winn earned himself an everyday role in the Cardinals’ lineup, though he was off to a slow start at the plate this year.
Thomas Saggese now looks to play shortstop while Winn is out, though super-utilityman Brendan Donovan will also receive his first taste of shortstop playing time since 2023 as the Cardinals figure out how to juggle their roster. Having Donovan at shortstop would open up second base for Gorman, since third base will only be a possibility if Nolan Arenado is given a rest day. Gorman appeared in two games before hitting the IL, but he’ll now make it back after just a minimal 10-day absence.
Rays Place Kevin Kelly On 15-Day Injured List
Prior to Friday’s 6-3 win over the Braves, the Rays placed right-hander Kevin Kelly on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 10) with a left gluteal strain. Righty Cole Sulser was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move.
Rays manager Kevin Cash told the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud and other reporters that Kelly woke up feeling sore on Thursday, following the reliever’s scoreless inning of work against the Angels the previous night. There was some initial uncertainty over whether Kelly might’ve been dealing with a nerve issue or not, but Cash said “it’s an actual glute strain. So, pretty unique in that fact. We’ll see if it shrunk down in a couple days and get a ball back in his hands and see where he’s at.”
As Cash noted, a timeline isn’t yet in place for when Kelly might return, but the Rays will be without one of their more underrated relievers for at least the next two weeks. The Rockies selected Kelly out of the Guardians’ organization in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, and after Tampa acquired Kelly in a trade that same draft day, the right-hander has become the latest in a long line of pitchers to blossom with the Rays.
Kelly posted a 2.88 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, and a superb 4.3% walk rate over 137 2/3 relief innings for Tampa Bay in 2023-24. That walk rate ranks among the best in the game over the last two seasons, and Kelly augmented that excellent control with very good soft-contact numbers. His grounder rate also jumped from a very good 47.7% in 2023 to an elite 56.8% mark in 2024. Kelly isn’t a hard thrower, but he rarely uses a traditional four-seamer, as he relies heavily on a devastating slider and an above-average sweeper to retire batters.
If that production wasn’t enough, Kelly is also a workhorse, often working multiple innings. He has yet to go beyond one inning of work in any of his five outings this season, and his numbers are a bit more on the modest side in the small sample size of those five innings — a 3.60 ERA and an equal number of walks and strikeouts (two apiece). All of the damage came on a two-run homer Kelly allowed to the Rockies’ Mickey Moniak on March 30, which marked only the tenth home run Kelly has surrendered in his MLB career.
In the short term, Cash said the Rays view Sulser as a candidate to take over from Kelly in that multi-inning capacity. Tampa acquired Sulser from the Mets in a cash transaction last July, and Sulser tossed 11 2/3 scoreless innings for the Rays over the rest of the season. Sulser had an excellent season out of the Orioles’ bullpen in 2021, but has since posted a 4.69 ERA over 55 2/3 innings with four different Major League teams.
Twins Designate Scott Blewett For Assignment
The Twins announced that right-hander Scott Blewett has been designated for assignment. The move opens up a roster spot for left-hander Kody Funderburk, who was called up from Triple-A.
Blewett’s minor league deal was selected to Minnesota’s roster earlier this week, and the righty made a good accounting for himself by allowing one run over 4 2/3 relief innings, while striking out five of 19 batters faced and allowing no walks in his two appearances. Today’s transaction simply seems to be about getting a fresh arm into the Twins pen, since Blewett tossed 36 pitches over 2 1/3 innings in yesterday’s 7-6 loss to the Tigers.
Blewett now has a 1.80 ERA over 25 big league innings for Minnesota over the last two seasons, though the strong bottom-line results haven’t earned him any kind of roster stability. The Twins twice outrighted him off the 40-man roster in 2024, with Blewett both times clearing waivers and electing free agency, only to resign with the club on a new minors contract. Assuming Blewett clears waivers again, the same scenario could play out this time around, though a team in need of some swingman help could consider putting in a claim.
The return to the big leagues and then to DFA limbo has made for quite the birthday week for Blewett, who turned 29 on Thursday. Blewett is out of minor league options, so the Twins had no choice but to pursue the DFA/outright route in order to try and send him to Triple-A. Blewett has worked only as a reliever over his 33 career MLB innings, but he has a lot of experience as a starter in the minors and during a brief stint in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2023.