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Braxton Garrett Scratched From Sunday Start Due To Elbow Discomfort

By Nick Deeds | June 22, 2024 at 8:45pm CDT

Marlins left-hander Braxton Garrett has been scratched from his scheduled start against the Mariners tomorrow due to discomfort in his left elbow, as noted by MLB.com’s Christina DeNicola earlier today. DeNicola adds that Garrett is set to undergo further evaluation on his elbow.

It’s not currently clear how severe Garret’s ailment, which he reportedly felt following his bullpen session on Friday, will wind up being. That being said, elbow issues are always anxiety-inducing for fans and players alike given the fact that serious elbow injuries often require season-ending surgery, as has been the case for a number of star pitchers of late, ranging from Spencer Strider of the Braves to Kyle Bradish of the Orioles to Garrett’s teammates Eury Perez and Sandy Alcantara. Of course, it’s important to remember that elbow issues can also be relatively minor, as was the case for Astros lefty Framber Valdez when he was placed on the IL with elbow soreness back in April and ended up requiring only a minimum stay.

Regardless of if Garrett misses an extended period or is down for just one start, it’s the latest difficult injury news for a Miami franchise wracked with pitching injuries. The club already has six starting pitchers on the injured list after placing left-hander (and potential top trade candidate) Jesus Luzardo on the injured list due to a lumbar stress reaction earlier today. Luzardo joined right-handers Perez, Alcantara Edward Cabrera, and Sixto Sanchez as well as fellow southpaw Ryan Weathers on the IL. That massive group of injured starters has left the Marlins scrambling to fill out a rotation that on paper should have been the deepest part of the club’s roster entering the season.

Trevor Rogers, Roddery Munoz, Yonny Chirinos, and Shaun Anderson currently occupy rotation spots alongside Garrett, and it’s possible that top prospect Max Meyer could replace Garrett in the rotation in the long-term if needed. DeNicola notes that Meyer last started in Triple-A on Thursday, however, meaning he would not be lined up to pitch tomorrow even if the club did want to call him up for a spot start in Garrett’s stead. DeNicola floats the possibility that the club could turn to multi-inning reliever George Soriano, who pitched three innings at the Triple-A level on Tuesday, to open a bullpen game tomorrow. Soriano is already on the 40-man roster, and an alternative spot starting option such as Kent Emanuel or Devin Smeltzer would require the Marlins to make space on the 40-man.

While the Marlins are widely acknowledged to be one of the game’s few clear sellers this summer after already shipping Luis Arraez to the Padres earlier this year, an injury of significance for Garrett would surely all but guarantee that he remains with the Marlins for the remainder of the 2024 season. After all, the July 30 trade deadline is just over a month away at this point, and even a minimum stint on the IL for Garrett would sideline him for long enough to allow him just three more starts prior to the trade deadline.

For a pitcher who was already shelved with a shoulder impingement earlier this year and has struggled to a 5.35 ERA in the seven starts he’s been healthy enough to make this year, that timeline makes it difficult to imagine Garrett convincing an interested club of his health and effectiveness enough for them to be comfortable dealing for the lefty prior to the deadline. Fortunately for the Marlins, there’s no real urgency to move Garrett given that the southpaw is under team control through the end of the 2028 season. That gives the lefty plenty of time to return to the form he flashed over 48 appearances between 2022 and 2023, when he pitched to a 3.63 ERA with a 3.64 FIP with a 23.8% strikeout rate.

Padres Notes: Campusano, Tatis, Profar

By Nick Deeds | June 22, 2024 at 7:52pm CDT

The Padres placed catcher Luis Campusano on the 10-day injured list today with a thumb contusion, per a team announcement. Catcher Brett Sullivan was recalled to the big league roster in a corresponding move. Fortunately, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune relays that the Padres don’t expect Campusano’s stay on the shelf to be a long one as it likely won’t require more than a minimum stay of ten days.

After a 2023 season where Campusano was limited to just 49 games by injuries but appeared to break out at the plate with a .319/.356/.491 slash line (good for a 134 wRC+), the former top prospect’s 2024 campaign has been somewhat disappointing. He’s appeared in 66 of the club’s games this year but has mustered only a .234/.282/.371 slash line, which even in the game’s current deflated offensive environment is good for a wRC+ of just 89. That’s hardly a terrible mark for a catcher, but it’s nonetheless a far cry from the offensive output San Diego was surely hoping for after Campusano flashed the ability to be a star-level bat behind the plate when healthy enough to take the field last year.

With the 25-year-old sidelined for the time being, veteran backup Kyle Higashioka figures to step in as the club’s regular behind the plate while Campusano heals up. That leaves backup duties to Sullivan, 30, who had a three-game stint with the Padres earlier this year after making his MLB debut with the club last season. In a 33-game cup of coffee with San Diego last year, Sullivan struggled to a .210/.244/.284 slash line in 86 trips to the plate and appeared to be below average defensively behind the plate both in terms of framing and controlling the running game, although he does have a reputation as a solid blocker.

While Campusano was the only player the Padres placed on the shelf today, he’s not the only member of their starting lineup nursing an noteworthy injury. As MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell explored last night, both Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar exited yesterday’s game against the Brewers due to injuries. Profar departed due to tendinitis in his left knee that he’s been dealing with throughout the season to this point, while Tatis left because of a left triceps contusion, though Cassavell notes that he also appeared to be favoring his right quad, which he notes the young star has been playing on despite an injury for weeks.

Both players were out of the lineup today, though Profar told reporters (including Cassavell) today that he would be available off the bench for today’s game against Milwaukee and that he’s been managing the injury successfully to the point where it isn’t getting worse. Manager Mike Shildt, for his part, indicated to reporters last night that the club wasn’t especially concerned about either Profar or Tatis and that both believed they could play through their current ailments.

It’s easy to see why the Padres wouldn’t want to lose either player to the injured list. In 80 games this season, Tatis has looked good with a .279/.354/.468 slash line (139 wRC+) with eight stolen bases, while Profar leads all NL hitters with a .415 on-base percentage and sports an even more impressive 162 wRC+ as the club’s everyday left fielder. With the duo standing out as perhaps the club’s two biggest run producers in a strong lineup that also features Manny Machado, Luis Arraez, and Jackson Merrill, it’s hard to measure how difficult things could get for the Padres if they were to lose Profar and Tatis for a significant period. After all, that strong offense has only translated to a 40-40 record to this point in the season that leaves them in the mix for an NL Wild Card spot among a group of eight teams that are within three games of .500.

Angels Place Patrick Sandoval On 15-Day IL With Elbow Strain

By Anthony Franco | June 22, 2024 at 6:49pm CDT

TODAY: The Angels announced this evening that Sandoval has been placed on the 15-day injured list with an elbow strain. Right-hander Guillo Zuniga was recalled from Triple-A to take Sandoval’s spot on the active roster. The severity of Sandoval’s injury is not yet clear, though he’s now set to miss at least the next two weeks of action.

June 21: Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval left tonight’s start against the Dodgers in the third inning. After walking former teammate Shohei Ohtani, Sandoval began shaking his arm and called for a trainer. The Halos announced the initial diagnosis as forearm tightness.

It seems fair to presume Sandoval will head for imaging in the next couple days. While it’s too early to know whether he’s facing a significant absence, the southpaw’s reaction on the mound and the diagnosis are clearly cause for concern.

Sandoval worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings tonight. He still has an uninspiring 5.08 earned run average over 79 2/3 frames on the season. The 27-year-old’s underlying indicators are quite a bit more promising. Sandoval has punched out a solid 23% of batters faced while keeping the ball on the ground 45% of the time. He has issued a few too many walks (9.9% rate), but he looks like a mid-rotation arm at his best. Sandoval carried an above-average 11.7% swinging strike rate into tonight’s start.

Between 2022-23, Sandoval was somewhat quietly one of the better starters in the league. He topped 140 innings in both seasons, combining for a 3.50 ERA over 55 starts. While Sandoval was more effective in ’22 than he was a year ago, he has generally been a bright spot amidst a tough few years in Orange County.

As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored in a piece for Front Office subscribers just this week, Sandoval looked like a very appealing trade candidate. Steve noted the parallels between the Angels hurler and Miami’s Jesús Luzardo, who is regarded as one of the best (if not the top) controllable starting pitcher who is likely to move this summer. The Angels haven’t shown the same willingness to deal key players as the Marlins’ new front office has, yet Los Angeles GM Perry Minasian would get no shortage of calls on a healthy Sandoval.

Tonight’s injury at least complicates that possibility. An extended absence would take a deadline deal off the table entirely. The Angels control Sandoval via arbitration for two seasons beyond this one. He’s making $5.025MM this season in his second of four arbitration years after qualifying as a Super Two player in 2022.

Pirates Owner Bob Nutting Discusses Deadline Outlook

By Nick Deeds | June 22, 2024 at 5:09pm CDT

The race for the final two Wild Card spots in the National League is quickly becoming a dogfight, and the Pirates are one of a whopping eight teams all within two games of each other in the standings currently vying for those final two spots in the postseason picture alongside the division-leading Phillies, Dodgers, and Brewers as well as the Braves, who have a firm grasp on the top Wild Card spot with a 5.5 game lead. That positioning in the thick of the playoff hunt comes in spite of Pittsburgh’s lackluster 36-39 record to this point in the season, but club owner Bob Nutting nonetheless recently indicated to reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) that he believes the club can contend for the playoffs this year.

“I think we’ve shown it’s attainable,” Nutting told reporters (as relayed by Gorman) when discussing the possibility of postseason berth this year, before going on to acknowledge that the club needs more production from its offense, which ranks fourth from the bottom in the majors with an 85 wRC+. Nutting went on to suggests that the club is currently working to determine how much the offense can improve internally and how much of the improvement will need to come from external acquisitions.

Nutting went on to suggest that those external acquisitions won’t necessarily have to wait until the July 30 trade deadline is imminent, even as the league has generally gravitated towards making the bulk of its major summer transactions in the days and hours leading up to the deadline in recent years. As noted by Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the club’s owner suggested that the Pirates could “have opportunities well in advance of the deadline” this year.

“I think we should be prepared to move early,” Nutting told reporters (as relayed by Hiles). “I think we should be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. I know [club GM Ben Cherington] has that flexibility to look across a broader range of alternatives, options but also a timeline of when it makes sense to strike.”

Hiles goes on to note that Nutting reaffirmed his past remarks that more funds would be made available to the baseball operations department now that the club is, in his view, in a position to contend for a spot in the postseason. That’s good news for Pirates fans, as the club’s current payroll of just over $86MM is already the highest payroll they’ve posted since 2017 according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. The following offseason saw the departures of key players like Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole that served as a clear sign the club was entering the rebuild they’ve only just now begun to fully come out of.

The club has a strong starting pitching apparatus with Paul Skenes and Jared Jones offering top-of-the-line stuff at the front of the rotation while Mitch Keller and Bailey Falter serve as solid mid-rotation arms behind them. Between that strong pitching staff and the club’s aforementioned difficulties on offense, it’s hardly a surprise that Robert Murray of FanSided recently reported that the Pirates are expected to making buying offense a “high priority” this summer. As things stand, the only clubs that are currently clear sellers are the White Sox, Rockies, Marlins, Angels, and A’s. Those clubs certainly have some interesting potential targets available, ranging from Chicago’s star center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to late-blooming A’s slugger Brent Rooker.

Either of those targets make sense on a speculative level for a Pirates club that has clear room for improvement in the outfield, and it’s also certainly possible to imagine the club having interest in adding at first base, where Rowdy Tellez has a 71 wRC+ in 61 games this year. Star first basemen Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have both found their names in the rumor mill fairly frequently this winter, although even a smaller acquisition such as long-time Pirate (and currently Marlin) Josh Bell or recently DFA’d A’s corner bat J.D. Davis could potentially constitute an upgrade for the club over Tellez.

AL East Notes: Duran, Romano, Orioles, Abreu

By Mark Polishuk | June 22, 2024 at 3:11pm CDT

The Red Sox haven’t yet discussed a contract extension with Jarren Duran, the outfielder told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo earlier this week, though Duran doesn’t seem bothered by the lack of talks. “I’m just here to play baseball. If they come talk to me, then they come talk to me, but I’m just enjoying playing baseball with this team,” Duran said. The Sox aren’t exactly on a ticking clock, as Duran doesn’t reach arbitration eligibility until this coming winter, though he will likely qualify for Super Two status and thus earn a fourth arbitration year.

That extra arb year could make things very lucrative for Duran, given how has continued to up his game in 2024. He has hit .280/.347/.478 over 350 plate appearances this season, just about matching the numbers he posted over 362 PA in 2023. When combined with his excellent baserunning and solid defense in left and center field, Duran has generated 3.1 fWAR, a number topped by only eight players this season.

Considering how Duran struggled in his first two big league seasons, it isn’t surprising that the Red Sox wanted a little more data beyond just 2023 to make sure that Duran’s breakout was for real. Signing Duran to an extension will be a lot more expensive now than it would’ve been last winter, yet it still might allow the Red Sox to gain some certainty over Duran’s escalating arb salaries, and add another year of control or two over a player they might now view as a longer-term building block. That said, Duran’s age could also be a factor, as he turns 28 in September, and so Boston already has him arb-controlled through his age-31 season.

Rockies Select Austin Kitchen

By Nick Deeds | June 22, 2024 at 3:08pm CDT

The Rockies announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Austin Kitchen. Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb was designated for assignment in order to make room for Kitchen on both the 40-man and active rosters in Colorado.

Kitchen, 27, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game with the Rockies. The southpaw went undrafted out of Coastal Carolina University back in 2019 and spent the 2020 season pitching for the independent Washington League as a member of the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies. After impressing with a 1.50 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 12 innings of work as a reliever in indy ball that year, the Rockies decided to bring Kitchen into the fold and assigned him to Single-A Fresno during the 2021 season.

Kitchen’s first season in affiliated ball left something to be desired, as he struggled to a 4.97 ERA while striking out just 16.6% of batters faced across 50 2/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen. From 2022 onward, Kitchen moved into something closer to a full-time relief role and saw his results improve noticeably. That first season after moving out of the rotation saw Kitchen strike out a far more respectable 21.2% of batters faced while surrendering an ERA of just 3.32 between the High-A and Double-A levels, and the following season saw him return to Double-A with similar numbers across 59 2/3 relief frames. Kitchen got a taste of Triple-A action at the end of last year but was blown up for six runs in a single inning of work across two appearances.

This year, the southpaw has made 18 relief appearances at the Triple-A level that have gone much better. Kitchen sports a 3.00 ERA that’s all the more impressive given the fact that he plays in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, although his strikeout rate has dipped to a somewhat worrying 17.6% figure in 33 innings of work this year. Nonetheless, Kitchen’s performance has been enough to get him an opportunity in the majors with the Rockies, who could certainly use all the help they can get given their disastrous 5.75 ERA out of the bullpen this year, good for dead last among all big league clubs.

Making room for Kitchen on the active and 40-man rosters is Hartlieb, a 30-year-old righty who has pitched in parts of five big league seasons since making his debut with the Pirates back in 2019. Hartlieb’s big league opportunities have been relatively few and far between since the end of the 2020 season, as he’s appeared in just 14 big league games over the past four years. He’s not exactly impressed in those 22 innings of work, however, surrendering an ERA of 8.59 and striking out just 17.2% of batters faced. That includes a rough stint with Colorado this year, where he’s allowed ten runs (nine earned) on 13 hits and five walks while striking out seven in nine innings of work.

The Rockies will now have one week to either work out a trade involving Hartlieb or attempt to pass him through waivers. If Hartlieb clears waivers, the Rockies can attempt to outright him to the minor leagues, although the right-hander would have the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency after being outrighted previously in his career.

Marlins Outright Kent Emanuel

By Steve Adams | June 22, 2024 at 2:47pm CDT

TODAY: The Marlins have outrighted Emanuel to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, as per Emanuel’s MLB.com profile page. There isn’t yet any word as to whether or not Emanuel has accepted the assignment.

JUNE 19: The Marlins announced Wednesday morning that left-hander Kent Emanuel has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Yonny Chirinos, whose previously announced promotion to the big league roster is now official. Chirinos will start today’s game for the Fish.

Emanuel, 32, was selected to the Marlins’ big league roster for a second time this season over the weekend. He tossed 2 1/3 shutout innings across two appearances during this most recent stint. The former Astros, Phillies and Pirates farmhand made two more appearances with Miami back in April and was hit hard. Overall, he’s surrendered seven earned runs in 8 1/3 major league innings this season. That’s a far cry from the 2.55 ERA he notched in a 17 2/3-inning big league debut with the 2021 Astros (the team that originally selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft).

Things haven’t gone much better for Emanuel in Triple-A Jacksonville. He’s made nine appearances, four of them starts, and totaled 30 innings of 6.60 ERA ball. The 6’4″ UNC product has fanned 19% of his opponents against a tidy 5.8% walk rate in that time. It’s the sixth season in which Emanuel has logged time at the Triple-A level. Overall, he owns a 5.18 ERA, a 20% strikeout rate and a 6.1% walk rate in 391 frames there.

Within the next week, Emanuel will either be traded, placed on outright waivers or released. He’s been outrighted in the past, so if he goes unclaimed on waivers he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Steven Matz Has Rehab Setback, Won’t Return For At Least 4-6 Weeks

By Mark Polishuk | June 22, 2024 at 2:25pm CDT

Steven Matz’s time on the injured list has been extended after the left-hander hit a setback in his rehab work. As Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told The Athletic’s Katie Woo (links to X) and other reporters, Matz came out his Double-A rehab start last Sunday with more tightness in his back, and the starter has now been shut down for two weeks. Marmol gave a 4-6 week timeline as a projected best-case scenario for Matz to return to the active roster, as Matz’s throwing program will have to more or less be started from scratch after his shutdown period.

It’s a tough break for Matz, who had banked three rehab starts already and was seemingly on track to be activated from the injured list around the start of July. Instead, he’ll now be sidelined for another month at the very least, and more realistically probably won’t be back until some time in August.

Matz made six starts and posted a 6.18 ERA over 27 2/3 innings before going on the IL in early May with a lower back strain, so it has been a rough season all around for the 33-year-old. All told, not much has gone right for Matz since signing his four-year, $44MM free agent deal with St. Louis in November 2021, as various injuries have limited the southpaw to 180 2/3 innings since Opening Day 2022. He looked to be turning things around with a solid 3.86 ERA over 105 innings last year, but neither the production or the good health has been there for Matz this year.

Since it doesn’t seem like Matz will make it back prior to the July 30 trade deadline, it only exacerbates the Cardinals’ need for rotation help. The club’s top four of Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Miles Mikolas has been more solid than outstanding, but the quartet has at least been reliably able to take the ball and eat innings. Finding a fifth starter has been an issue for the Cards, as none of Matz, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante, or Zack Thompson have provided much help in what has become a bit of a revolving door of a rotation spot.

Like pretty much the entire National League, the Cardinals are in something of a holding pattern with more than a month to do before the trade deadline. St. Louis is an even 37-37 on the season, but the Cards are out of the last wild card spot on percentage points alone due to a lot of parity in the Senior Circuit — only four NL teams entered Saturday’s action with records above .500.

If this uncertainty continues over the next month, it will leave St. Louis and many other teams unclear about how aggressive they should be with their deadline shopping, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Cardinals explore selling if they hit a slump and fall out of the race. Given how the Cards are coming off a rare losing season, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak could possibly feel more pressure to “go for it” in order to get the team back to its customary dose of October baseball, though Mozeliak has traditionally made more mid-level deadline moves rather than true blockbusters during his tenure in the St. Louis front office.

Mariners Outright Seby Zavala

By Steve Adams | June 22, 2024 at 2:10pm CDT

TODAY: Zavala cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma, the Mariners announced.

JUNE 18: The Mariners have designated catcher Seby Zavala for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to first baseman Ty France, who’s been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Seattle’s 40-man roster is now down to 37 players.

Acquired alongside flamethrowing relief prospect Carlos Vargas in the offseason trade sending Eugenio Suarez and his remaining salary to the D-backs, Zavala entered the 2024 season as the primary backup to catcher Cal Raleigh. He’s only appeared in 18 games and taken 43 plate appearances, however, in part due to Raleigh’s iron-man workload — his 503 innings behind the dish rank second in MLB to William Contreras — and also due to some pronounced struggles in that limited playing time. Zavala is batting just .154/.214/.282 with a 37.2% strikeout rate thus far.

The Mariners signed former Twins and Rangers catcher/designated hitter Mitch Garver to a two-year pact over the winter, with the idea that Garver would serve as the full-time designated hitter. But as Garver has begun to heat up after a dreadful start at the plate (.229/.413/.571 over his past 46 plate appearances), the Mariners have begun using him at catcher more frequently. He’s still only made four appearances at the position, but they’ve all come in the past two weeks. And whether it’s coincidence or not, Garver’s turnaround at the plate has dovetailed with the team’s decision to begin plugging him back into the catcher’s spot on occasion.

With Garver now factoring into the catching equation, Zavala’s grip on a roster spot appeared increasingly tenuous. He’s a glove-first, light-hitting backup who’s always been prone to whiffs, as evidenced by a career 35.9% strikeout rate. The Mariners have been seeking ways to inject some life into a lackluster offense that has thus far been supported by a dominant pitching staff. Plugging Garver into that backup catcher role is one logical way to do that.

Though Zavala is highly prone to punchouts and carries an unsightly .205/.271/.342 batting line in 557 big league plate appearances, he’s a premium defender with particularly strong marks for his framing and ability to block balls in the dirt. Zavala is out of minor league options, so the Mariners didn’t have the ability to simply send him to the minors.

As such, Zavala will now be traded or placed on outright waivers within the next five days. Waivers themselves would be a 48-hour process. Within a week’s time, Zavala will know whether he’s cleared waivers or is headed to another team, either via trade or claim. He’s been outrighted previously, so if he goes unclaimed he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.

Astros To Select Bryan King, Designate Alex Speas

By Mark Polishuk | June 22, 2024 at 1:45pm CDT

1:45PM: Right-hander Alex Speas was designated for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot for King. Speas was claimed off waivers from the Athletics last month, and threw two innings in his lone MLB game in an Astros uniform (Houston’s 6-1 loss to the Twins on May 31.)

The hard-throwing Speas’ only other Major League experience came in the form of three appearances for the Rangers in 2023. A second-round pick for Texas in the 2016 draft, Speas has a big 32.73% strikeout rate over 165 1/3 career minor league innings, but also a 5.01 ERA and an ungainly 18.24% walk rate.

12:13PM: Bloss will indeed be placed on the 15-day IL due to shoulder discomfort, manager Joe Espada told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters.

8:38AM: The Astros will select the contract of left-hander Bryan King from Triple-A, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports (X link), and righty Luis Contreras has also been called back up to the 26-man roster after being optioned to Triple-A on Thursday. Houston optioned right-hander Nick Hernandez to Triple-A, and Contreras’ quick return would indicate that another player is being placed on the injured list, since Contreras wouldn’t have otherwise been eligible for another call-up within 10 days of his demotion.

The injured player is likely Jake Bloss, as the right-hander’s MLB debut was cut short in the fourth inning yesterday due to shoulder discomfort. Bloss described the injury to McTaggart and other reporters as “a little tweak” and that “it doesn’t feel like anything that serious,” but the Astros’ subsequent transactions indicate that a trip to the 15-day injured list could be looming. It makes for a bittersweet birthday present for Bloss since he turns 23 tomorrow, coming on the heels of allowing two runs over 3 2/3 innings in his first game in the Show.

Assuming that Bloss does need to miss time, he’ll join nine other pitchers on Houston’s injured list, as the Astros’ pitching depth has been badly depleted all season long. To cover innings, 26 different players have taken the mound for the Astros this season, and King will be the 27th once he makes his Major League debut. The Astros will need to make another transaction to open up a 40-man roster spot for the 27-year-old King.

The Cubs made King a 30th-round selection in the 2019 draft, and he has a 2.77 ERA over 123 2/3 career minor league innings, all as a reliever. King’s time on the mound has been limited by both the canceled 2020 minor league season and by a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the entirety of the 2023 campaign. Fortunately, it seems as though King has returned from rehab in fine form, posting a 1.87 ERA, 51.9% grounder rate, and 29.9% strikeout rate in 33 2/3 innings for Triple-A Sugar Land this season.

A 3.86 xFIP and an 82.9% strand rate indicate some level of good fortune in King’s numbers, and a 10.2% walk rate is still a little high, if an improvement over greater control problems the southpaw endured earlier in his career. That said, if King can show he can hang at the majors, he could get an extended look both because the Astros simply need healthy arms, and because Houston’s bullpen is short of left-handed depth. With Bennett Sousa done for the season due to thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, closer Josh Hader is the only southpaw in Houston’s bullpen.

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