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Shane McClanahan Targeting Return Around Late July

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The Rays have a timeline for the return of their ace. President of baseball operations Erik Neander told MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this week that Shane McClanahan is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Friday. Neander added that if things go as planned, McClanahan could begin a minor league rehab assignment by the end of the month and return to the big league club in “late July or early August, fingers crossed.”

McClanahan hasn’t pitched in a regular season game since 2023. He was amidst a second straight All-Star season and carried a 3.29 ERA over 115 innings. That’s when he came off the mound in early August with forearm tightness. McClanahan was headed for Tommy John surgery two weeks later. The late-season timing of the injury meant he was almost immediately ruled out for the entire ’24 campaign as well.

Tampa Bay was hopeful of getting McClanahan back at the beginning of this year. He looked sharp over three starts in Spring Training. That was halted when he suffered a nerve injury in his triceps midway through camp. His timeline had been uncertain until now. The Rays will hope for a smooth progression from here that’d allow McClanahan to make it back within the next couple months.

The target coincidentally aligns with the July 31 trade deadline. The Rays almost certainly aren’t going to move McClanahan, but his return could make the front office more comfortable dealing a different starter. Impending free agent Zack Littell is the most obvious trade candidate, but the Rays are generally open to listening to offers on anyone. They’ll presumably get calls on each of Ryan Pepiot, Drew Rasmussen, Taj Bradley and Shane Baz as well.

In other Rays injury news, Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times writes that outfielder Jonny DeLuca will be shut down from all baseball activities for another three weeks. DeLuca has been out since early April with a shoulder strain. He suffered a setback last week and is evidently going to miss quite some time.

Dodgers Sign José Ureña

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8:03pm: Los Angeles officially announced the Ureña deal and reported DFA of Chuckie Robinson. They optioned Will Klein to Triple-A in a corresponding active roster move.

11:38am: The Dodgers are signing right-hander José Ureña, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s expected to be in Los Angeles tonight to join their staff against the Mets, for whom he pitched earlier this year (albeit just one appearance). That suggests Ureña, a client of Premier Talent Sports & Entertainment, has agreed to a major league contract. Ureña is indeed getting a major league contract, per Alden González of ESPN.

Ureña, 33, just elected free agency yesterday. He’d been with the Blue Jays since early May and pitched reasonably well for Toronto but was cut loose when the Jays needed a fresh arm. He’ll at least temporarily join an injury-plagued Dodger bullpen that has seen significant turnover amid injuries to Evan Phillips, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen and Luis García, among others.

Though Ureña’s time with the Jays resulted in a solid 3.65 ERA through 12 1/3 frames, he coupled that with an ugly 5-to-3 K/BB ratio and also served up three home runs. His 9.5% swinging-strike rate is noticeably south of the 11.3% league-average mark for a reliever, and opponents made contact on 88.8% of his pitches within the zone — a good bit higher than the 85% league average. Those red flags and the fact that he was on a minimal contract after signing under similar circumstances to the ones seen here with the Dodgers, made Toronto comfortable moving on.

Ureña throws hard but has a spotty track record in the big leagues. He was a solid starting pitcher with the Marlins early in his career, posting a 3.90 ERA in 343 2/3 innings from 2017-18. Declines in his command and his ability to keep the ball in the park plagued him for several years thereafter and caused him to begin to bounce around the league; from 2019-23, Ureña pitched a very similar number of innings to that ’17-’18 run  (350 1/3) but did so with a bleak 5.50 ERA while suiting up for five different clubs.

A 2024 stint with the Rangers revitalized Ureña’s career to an extent. He was a valuable swingman in Texas last season, piling up 109 innings with a 3.80 ERA and a much-improved 8.4% walk rate — albeit in conjunction with a 15.4% strikeout rate that ranked near the bottom of the league.

The Dodgers’ bullpen is in shambles, with Phillips recently learning he’ll require season-ending Tommy John surgery. That’s the most notable but hardly the only injury. Yates has missed more than two weeks with a hamstring strain. García hit the injured list over the weekend due to a groin strain. Treinen has been out since April due to a forearm strain. Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol haven’t pitched at all in 2025 — the former due to an offseason forearm strain and the latter due to offseason shoulder surgery.

With the relief corps reeling, the Dodgers have recently brought in a fresh wave of arms. Lou Trivino, like Ureña, was signed after being cut loose by another club (the division-rival Giants, in Trivino’s case). He’s been excellent in 8 1/3 innings. Righty Ryan Loutos was acquired from the Cardinals in exchange for cash after being designated for assignment. Another righty, Will Klein, joined the team just yesterday after the Dodgers and Mariners swapped minor league arms; Seattle picked up lefty Joe Jacques from L.A. in that deal. Chris Stratton briefly signed in L.A. after his release in Kansas City but has since been designated for assignment. Former Reds closer Alexis Diaz was also added in a recent trade, though he’s in Triple-A Oklahoma City at the moment.

The Dodgers will need to open a 40-man spot for Ureña. They’re currently at capacity in that regard, and while they’ve had a mountain of injuries pile up they’re currently without a clear candidate to move to the 60-day IL. If the Dodgers think Diaz’s salary will allow him to pass through waivers, they could designate him for assignment and try to stash him in Triple-A that way. Loutos struggled in his lone MLB inning but has been sharp in Triple-A since his acquisition. Righty Noah Davis, a depth pickup back in March, has struggled both in OKC and in the majors, which could put him at risk as well.

Orioles Re-Sign Chadwick Tromp To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles announced to reporters, including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, that catcher Chadwick Tromp has been re-signed to a minor league deal. He is with the club in Seattle and on the taxi squad.

Tromp, 30, was on the O’s roster for a few days recently. Adley Rutschman got a concussion scare, so the O’s added Tromp in order to have another backstop on the roster alongside Maverick Handley. Rutschman felt better a few days later, which led to the out-of-options Tromp being designated for assignment. He went hitless in four plate appearances during that brief stint as an Oriole. He elected free agency just a few hours ago but he and the club have worked out a new pact.

There hasn’t been anything to suggest that there’s anything currently wrong with Rutschman or Handley, so it’s possible Tromp is just around on the taxi squad for logistical reasons. The Orioles are in Seattle for three games and then play three against the Athletics in West Sacramento. The Triple-A Norfolk Tides are in Louisville, Kentucky this week, so it would take some time to get a fresh body to the West Coast if an injury did pop up. Tromp’s presence gives them someone on hand who can be added to the roster on short notice.

The O’s go back home next week after facing the A’s, at which point Tromp could perhaps join the Tides. He hasn’t hit much in his big league career, with a .219/.229/.375 line in part-time play over six seasons, but he has a solid defensive reputation and better offense in the minors. He has a combined .256/.337/.427 line and 102 wRC+ in 872 Triple-A plate appearances dating back to the start of the 2022 season.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images.

Cardinals Sign Tyler Matzek To Minor League Deal

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The Cardinals announced that they have signed left-hander Tyler Matzek to a minor league deal. He has been assigned to Triple-A Memphis and will provide the club with some non-roster bullpen depth.

Matzek, 34, started the year with the Yankees on a minor league deal. He was called up to the big leagues on April 22nd and lasted almost a month before being designated for assignment on May 16th. He tossed 6 1/3 innings over seven appearances, striking out seven opponents while giving out five walks and allowing 11 hits, which resulted in three earned runs. After being bumped from the roster, he cleared waivers and elected free agency. After a couple of weeks on the open market, he has landed with a new organization.

The lefty has some good seasons on his track record but hasn’t been able to do much in recent years. From 2020 to 2022, he logged 135 2/3 innings with Atlanta, posting a 2.92 earned run average in that time. His 13.4% walk rate was quite high but he also struck out 27.4% of batters faced. He earned one save and 33 holds over that span.

In October of 2022, he required Tommy John surgery. That put him on ice through the entire 2023 season. He was back in the mix last year but it turned out to be another challenging season. By early May, he allowed 11 earned runs in 10 innings for Atlanta. He then landed on the IL due to elbow inflammation. While still on the IL, he was traded to the Giants as salary ballast in the Jorge Soler deal. The Giants released him in August and he returned to Atlanta on a minor league deal but didn’t get back to the majors.

Put it all together and Matzek has only 16 1/3 big league innings since the end of the 2022 season. Regardless, he has some past major league success and there’s no harm for the Cards in adding some non-roster depth. They currently have Steven Matz, JoJo Romero and John King as the left-handed contingent of their big league bullpen but pitching injuries are fairly inevitable for all teams. The Cards will get a close-up look at Matzek in Memphis as he tries to earn his way back to the majors.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Astros Looking For Starting Pitching

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The Astros lost yet another rotation member to the surgeon’s table recently, with Ronel Blanco requiring Tommy John surgery. He will officially undergo that procedure this Friday, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the club is on the lookout for more starting pitching.

It shouldn’t come as a shock that Houston has this focus. They currently have six viable starting pitchers on the injured list, most of them unlikely to return anytime soon. Luis Garcia hasn’t pitched in the majors in over two years now, as he has repeatedly hit setbacks in his attempts to return from his own Tommy John surgery. Cristian Javier underwent that procedure in June of last year. Hayden Wesneski required it last month and, as mentioned, Blanco is next. In addition to all those Tommy Johns, J.P. France is still recovering from last year’s shoulder surgery and has an uncertain timeline.

Spencer Arrighetti is also on the IL, though he hasn’t required surgery. He suffered a right thumb fracture in a bizarre accident, getting struck by an errant ball while throwing on the field during batting practice. That means he could be able to return quicker than the guys who did require surgery, though he’s not especially close either. Manager Joe Espada said last week that the righty is now out of the cast and playing catch, per Leah Vann of chron.com. He suffered his fracture almost two months ago and will presumably need to ramp up his throwing program before going on a rehab assignment for a few weeks.

That leaves the Astros with a very top-heavy rotation in the short term. Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown are a fantastic one-two punch at the front but it gets flimsy behind them. Lance McCullers Jr. is back after his own two-year-plus injury odyssey and has made five starts thus far with mixed results. He is obviously talented but it’s anyone’s guess what to expect from him now after such a lengthy absence.

Ryan Gusto and Colton Gordon currently have two rotation spots but they have less than 60 big league innings pitched combined. AJ Blubaugh and Brandon Walter are also inexperienced arms on the 40-man, currently on optional assignment. Jason Alexander is also on the 40-man, though he’s a 32-year-old veteran swingman. Miguel Ullola is a notable prospect but he’s not on the roster and has only 36 Triple-A innings under his belt so far.

Taken all together, it’s understandable that the front office wants to add to this group. Doing so this far in advance of the July 31st trade deadline will be a challenge. Most clubs prefer to hang onto their players until closer to the deadline to see if they can hang in the playoff race. Even those teams with pitchers to offer usually prefer to wait with the hope that the pressure of the deadline will drive up prices. To get a major deal done earlier usually comes at a premium.

Even as the deadline approaches, the Astros will probably have to walk a fine line. They have clearly been trying to avoid paying the competitive balance tax this year. While they made some notable offseason additions such as signing Christian Walker, they also moved some money around by flipping Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly to the Cubs in separate deals. RosterResource puts their CBT number at just under $236MM, which puts them about $5MM away from this year’s $241MM base threshold.

Assuming they still want to stay under that line, they will have to avoid taking on significant salary in the coming weeks. Asking another club to eat money in a deal could help them in that regard, though that usually means having to pay a higher price in terms of prospect capital. Houston’s farm system is generally considered one of the weaker ones in the sport, so that could be a tricky balancing act.

Elsewhere on the roster, infielder/outfielder Zach Dezenzo landed on the 10-day IL a few days ago due to left hand inflammation. The club told reporters today, including Rome, that Dezenzo has a capsule sprain. He will be resting for the next two weeks and will get more imaging done at that time. Even if declared healthy at that point, he will presumably need to take some time to get back into game shape, either via some live batting practice or a rehab assignment.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images.

Mets Recall Ronny Mauricio

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4:45pm: As expected, Vientos has been placed on the 10-day IL with a right hamstring strain, per Will Sammon of The Athletic.

8:45am: The Mets are calling infielder Ronny Mauricio back up to the majors for what’ll be his first MLB action since 2023, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. Mauricio missed the entire 2024 season after suffering an ACL tear during winter ball in the 2023-24 offseason and began the 2025 season on the injured list as he finished up his rehab from the resulting knee surgery.

Mauricio’s return to the big leagues dovetails with a potential injury for third baseman/designated hitter Mark Vientos, who left last night’s game with discomfort in his hamstring after running out a grounder in the 10th inning. Skipper Carlos Mendoza noted after the game that it “didn’t look good” for Vientos following that exit and added that the slugger went straight to have imaging performed. The results of that MRI haven’t yet been shared publicly, but Mauricio traveling to Los Angeles to meet the Mets certainly seems to suggest an IL stint for Vientos could be forthcoming.

Still just 24 years old, Mauricio has ranked among the Mets’ top prospects for upwards of six years now. Originally signed out of his native Dominican Republic eight years ago, he’s had a relatively slow climb to the majors — granted, in large part due to that injury — but now looks poised for an opportunity of some note. He received a 26-game cup of coffee late in the 2023 season and batted .248/.296/.347 in his first 108 MLB plate appearances. Were it not for last year’s knee injury, Mauricio very likely would’ve gotten a larger opportunity in 2024.

The question of how to juggle playing time and opportunities for the promising young infield group of Mauricio, Vientos, Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña has loomed over the Mets for some time, but that quartet has never been healthy enough simultaneously to force the issue. Early this season, Baty increasingly looked to be the odd man out, but he shook off a slow start and has been hitting well enough to cut into Vientos’ time at third base. After collecting only three hits in his first 10 games of the season, Baty has tallied 101 plate appearances with a hearty .280/.330/.548 slash (146 wRC+). He’s homered six times and added three doubles, two triples and a pair of stolen bases along the way.

As Baty’s bat heated up, both Vientos and Acuña cooled. Acuña’s month of May was even rougher than Baty’s first week-plus; he hit .204/.252/.222 last month and is hitless in three plate appearances since the calendar turned to June. Vientos, meanwhile, carried above-average production at the plate into mid-May, but he’s batted just .191/.250/.298 in his past 52 turns at the dish. All the while as that balance of playing time shifted in the majors, Mauricio was reacclimating to the rigors of pro ball and readying for another opportunity — one that now looks to have presented itself.

Mauricio posted an awful .125/.176/.188 line with a 35.3% strikeout rate in his first 10 games back from the injured list, which were split between Class-A and Double-A. With his rehab complete, the Mets unsurprisingly optioned him to Triple-A rather than call him up after that performance in the lower minors. A return to Triple-A Syracuse coincided with a return to form at the plate. Mauricio has played in nine Triple-A games and collected multiple hits in seven of them. He’s ripped three homers and a double, all while drawing the same number of walks as strikeouts (five) in 39 plate appearances.

The Mets would probably have preferred to see Mauricio draw out this hot streak a bit longer — both given the extent of his initial struggles in the low minors and because he’s yet to play on three consecutive days at any point in his return to action. He’s only played on consecutive days six times since his return to the field on April 27. The Vientos injury likely forced the Mets’ hand, however. Mauricio may end up in a limited role early on, sharing time at third base with Baty, at second base with Acuña and Jeff McNeil, and at DH with Starling Marte.

Corbin Burnes Placed On IL, Still Being Evaluated Due To Elbow Discomfort

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June 3: Results on Burnes’ first wave of imaging were inconclusive, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. He’ll seek further testing and opinions to determine the severity of his elbow issue, and the club will have more information on his status later in the week. Per Jody Jackson of Arizona Sports, the further testing will include a visit to Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles. As expected, Burnes was officially placed on the 15-day IL today with lefty Tommy Henry recalled as the corresponding move. Per Gambadoro, Nelson will return to the rotation with Henry to the bullpen.

June 1: Corbin Burnes made an early exit from the Diamondbacks’ 3-1 win over the Nationals due to what was described by manager Torey Lovullo as right elbow discomfort.  The right-hander had sailed through 4 2/3 shutout innings before allowing a two-out single to CJ Abrams in the top of the fifth, and a clearly upset Burnes then immediately motioned to the home dugout for a quick consultation with team trainers.

Post-game, Lovullo told reporters (including Arizona Sports) that Burnes will get an MRI tomorrow, and won’t join the Diamondbacks on their upcoming road trip to Atlanta and Cincinnati.  The pitcher himself also described his health situation to the media, saying his elbow started to gradually tighten up during the outing.

“It just got to the point where the tightness was just too much…didn’t feel like we needed to push any farther.  Hopefully we caught it early, hopefully it’s not bad, but we’ll see,” Burnes said.

More details will be known in the aftermath of the MRI, though it seems like Burnes will probably be placed on the 15-day injured list at least as a precaution.  This would be the first arm-related IL stint of Burnes’ durable career, as his two previous IL trips were due to Covid-19 (in 2021) and an oblique strain late in the 2020 season that kept him out of the Brewers’ brief playoff run.

After signing a six-year, $210MM free agent deal with his local team this past offseason, Burnes has mostly looked the part of a frontline ace in posting a 2.66 ERA over 64 1/3 innings.  However, his secondary metrics tell another story, as Burnes entered today’s start with a more modest 3.99 SIERA.  Burnes’ hard-hit ball rate and walk rate are both well below the league average, let alone the strong numbers in both categories that Burnes had posted over his previous seven Major League seasons.  Burnes’ whiff rate remains above the league average but also down from his 2024 total.

The right-hander’s signature cutter has been among the best pitches in baseball over the last few years, but Statcast’s Run Value metric indicates that the cutter has gone from a +17 in 2024 to only a +2 in 2025 since batters have been able to square up on the pitch with far more regularity.  Both Burnes’ cutter (95.3mph to 94.2mph) and his sinker (97mph to 95.6mph) have lost some velocity from last season to this campaign.

Even with these red flags, the bottom-line results have still been there for Burnes, and he has still been the most consistent member of Arizona’s underwhelming rotation.  MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently explored how the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff is again struggling, and undermining the efforts of the team’s powerful lineup.  Today’s win bumped the Snakes up to only a 28-31 record, and they are five games behind the Giants for both third place in the NL West and the final NL wild card slot.

Losing Burnes even for a fairly minimal amount of time would severely hamper the Diamondbacks’ chances of making up that ground, let alone making a late run at the Dodgers at the top of the division.  Eduardo Rodriguez is expected to return from the 15-day IL this coming week after a mid-May placement due to shoulder inflammation, but if Burnes is also sidelined, Ryne Nelson (who was headed to the bullpen due to E-Rod’s return) will likely be reinserted back into the starting five.

White Sox Notes: Cannon, Teel, Quero

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The White Sox announced Tuesday that righty Jonathan Cannon has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a lower back strain. Right-hander Caleb Freeman is up from Triple-A Charlotte to take Cannon’s spot on the active roster.

Cannon, 24, was sharp through his first nine trips to the hill this season (3.60 ERA, 18 K%, 7.8 BB% in 50 innings) but has run into a rough patch of late. Over his past trips to the mound, he’s been roughed up for 13 runs on 17 hits and four walks in 13 2/3 innings. Yesterday’s outing against the Tigers was particularly shaky; Cannon surrendered five runs — on the strength of three homers — and walked three batters in just three innings. A recent velocity drop could underscore the fact that he’s been pitching at less than 100 percent; Cannon averaged 93.5 mph on his four-seamer and 93 mph on his sinker through May 18 but has averaged just 91.8 mph and 92 mph, respectively, since.

The South Siders haven’t yet said how long Cannon will be out. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports that the Sox have already had imaging performed but have not yet publicly disclosed the results. It’s also not clear who’ll replace Cannon in the rotation. The Sox are currently going with Shane Smith, Davis Martin, Sean Burke and Adrian Houser in an all-righty rotation. Swingman Bryse Wilson is stretched out enough that he tossed five innings yesterday in relief of Cannon, but he’s sitting on a 6.80 ERA this year — including 17 earned runs in his past 14 2/3 innings.

Chicago’s depth chart has thinned out in recent months. Prospects Ky Bush and Drew Thorpe are out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery this spring. Other once-well-regarded prospects like Jairo Iriarte, Nick Nastrini, Owen White and Wikelman González have all struggled in the upper minors. Veteran southpaw Martín Pérez is out until at least September and could miss the rest of the year due to a flexor strain.

Lefties Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith are two of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, but neither has even reached Triple-A yet; Smith only has 25 Double-A frames under his belt. The Sox probably want both to get more development time in before bringing them to the majors — particularly since neither needs to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason in order to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft.

The South Siders do have a top prospect who’s making a compelling case for a call to the majors sooner than later, but it’s not one of their coveted young arms. Catcher Kyle Teel, the headline prospect in the trade sending Garrett Crochet to Boston, is hitting .289/.394/.491 in Triple-A (131 wRC+). Teel has walked in a massive 14.8% of his plate appearances, fanned at a 26.6% clip that the Sox would surely like to bring down, clubbed eight homers and even swiped seven bags in eight attempts.

A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, Teel got out to a slow start this season but has only been held hitless four times in 34 games dating back to an April 12 doubleheader where he went 0-for-3 in both halves of that twin bill. In 134 plate appearances since that time, the 2023 first-rounder (No. 14 overall) is batting .331/.428/.532. Strikeouts remain an issue, and Teel’s .378 average on balls in play isn’t sustainable, but it’s hard for him to do much more to clamor for a call to the majors.

The Sox, it seems, are taking notice. Teel tells Scott Merkin of MLB.com that the organization has begun to have him work out at first base. Teel hasn’t played there in a game yet but has been taking grounders at first base the past few days and working with the staff in Charlotte to acclimate himself to a new position.

Chicago recently optioned longtime first baseman Andrew Vaughn to Charlotte. The former No. 3 pick has been a constant in their lineup for four-plus seasons but has never lived up to expectations when he was one of the top prospects in his draft class. Vaughn has been a roughly average offensive performer with poor glovework and baserunning. The Sox are surely hoping he can get on track in Triple-A and salvage some value later this summer, but sending him down and getting Teel some looks at first base signal a clear shift in the team’s plans.

Teel probably isn’t an option to be the Sox’ everyday first baseman moving forward. He’s regarded as a viable defensive catcher who blocks balls in the dirt and throws well. He’s nabbed 33% of would-be base thieves this season. Baseball Prospectus also gives him solid framing marks behind the dish in the minors.

That said, the Sox entered 2025 with two of baseball’s top catching prospects: Teel and former minor league teammate Edgar Quero. It was Quero who received the first call to the majors, and he’s held his own, hitting .248/.336/.301. That’s about 13% worse than league-average overall, per wRC+, but not far off the average line posted by catchers in 2025. Quero has walked in 10.2% of his plate appearances against a 16.4% strikeout rate that’s about six percentage points better than average. He’s also making plenty of hard contact, but too much of it is resulting in grounders rather than line-drives or fly-balls. For a player whose sprint speed ranks in just the seventh percentile of MLB hitters, per Statcast, that’s not a good batted-ball trait.

Quero started quite strong and had a league-average batting line as deep into the season as May 25, so it’s not as if he’s been a lost cause at the plate. He’s in the midst of a dreadful 6-for-38 stretch, but he’d hit well prior to this slump. A cold streak spanning all of two to three weeks isn’t going to change the organization’s long-term view of Quero. The Sox are still hopeful that Quero and Teel can be their catching tandem for the next several years, and Teel getting some reps at first base only makes it easier for the Sox to get both into the lineup — assuming Teel handles the drills at first base reasonably well.

Tucker Barnhart Elects Free Agency

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The Rangers announced that catcher Tucker Barnhart has elected free agency. That indicates that he has passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment over the weekend.

Barnhart, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in the offseason. He was called up to the big leagues at the end of April as Kyle Higashioka battled a hamstring injury, replacing Higashioka as the backup to Jonah Heim. Higashioka was on the injured list for most of the first half of May. Barnhart stuck on the roster even once Higashioka was reinstated, giving the club three catchers for a while.

Naturally, that didn’t lead to a lot of playing time for Barnhart. Though he spent over a month on the roster, he only got into eight games and stepped to the plate just 15 times, producing a .231/.333/.231 line in those.

As a veteran with years of big league experience, Barnhart can’t be sent to the minors without his consent, so the Rangers bumped him off the 40-man. His experience also gives him the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, so he will now look for his next opportunity.

The fact that he cleared waivers suggests there isn’t a major league job available for him right now but he should have no trouble finding a minor league offer if he wants one. He has now appeared in 924 major league games dating back to his 2014 debut. His .241/.318/.351 line translates to a wRC+ of 78 but he has a strong reputation for his work while donning the tools of ignorance.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

Blue Jays Designate Michael Stefanic, Ali Sánchez

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The Blue Jays have designated infielder Michael Stefanic and catcher Ali Sánchez for assignment, per a team announcement. Their spots on the roster will go to second baseman Andrés Giménez and catcher Tyler Heineman, who have formally been reinstated from the injured list.

Stefanic, 29, appeared in nine games for the Jays after Giménez hit the injured list and went 4-for-22 with four singles, three walks and three strikeouts. That marked the fourth season in which he’s logged big league time but the first that he’s done so for any team other than the Angels. Stefanic has appeared in 99 MLB games and batted .227/.314/.267 in 289 trips to the plate.

For all his struggles in limited big league time, Stefanic has excelled at the top level in the minors. He’s played parts of five Triple-A seasons and touts a .344/.436/.468 batting line in a hefty sample of 1568 plate appearances. Stefanic has drawn 190 walks in Triple-A (12.2%) against just 147 strikeouts (9.7%). He has nearly 3000 career innings at second base and about 700 innings of work at both shortstop and third base. He’s regarded as a poor defender at each spot, however, and offers below-average grades in both power and speed as well.

The 28-year-old Sánchez went 2-for-11 with a double in his short time with the Jays. He was selected to the major league roster when Heineman hit the 7-day concussion injured list. This is Sánchez’s fourth season with a brief big league appearance, but he’s never tallied more than 31 games or 96 plate appearances at the major league level in a given season. He’s a .176/.217/.222 hitter in 43 MLB games/121 plate appearances.

Though he’s never hit in his limited MLB time, Sánchez is regarded as a quality defensive backstop with a nice track record at the plate in Triple-A. He’s played parts of six seasons there and turned in a .266/.338/.399 batting line. It’s not exactly standout production, particularly in typically hitter-friendly Triple-A settings, but Sánchez puts the ball in play at a better-than-average clip and walks in nearly 10% of his plate appearances in Triple-A; for a catcher with a sound defensive skill set, that’s decent production — certainly enough to make him a quality No. 3 or No. 4 catcher on a team’s depth chart.

The maximum length of the DFA window for either Stefanic or Sánchez is seven days. The Jays are free to explore trades or place them on waivers along the way, although since waivers are a 48-hour process, they’d need to have a trade lined up within five days or else go the waiver route with either or both players.

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