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Pirates Select Billy Cook; Place Henry Davis On 10-Day Injured List

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The Pirates announced today that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Billy Cook. In a corresponding move, catcher Henry Davis was placed on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his left hand. The club’s 40-man roster now stands at 39. Additionally, the club announced that right-hander Domingo German has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A.

Cook, 25, was a tenth-round pick by the Orioles in the 2021 draft. Cook was a relatively fast riser with the Orioles and made it to Triple-A earlier this year. The outfielder performed admirably with a .279/.372/.485 slash line in 304 trips to the plate with the club’s affiliate in Norfolk. Cook was dealt to the Pirates in a swap on the day of the trade deadline, with Pittsburgh sending minor league right-hander Patrick Reilly to Baltimore in exchange for Cook’s services. Since joining the Pirates organization, Cook has picked up right where he left off at Triple-A Indianapolis with a .276/.389/.486 slash line in 30 games.

That’s clearly enough for the club’s brass to decide the youngster ought to be given a shot in Pittsburgh. Oneil Cruz’s recent move to center field leaves the Pirates with regular starters at each outfield position for the moment, as Cruz is flanked by Bryan Reynolds and Bryan De La Cruz in the outfield corners while Connor Joe and Michael A. Taylor both also mix in on a fairly regular basis. It’s an open question, then, whether Cook will be able to find much playing time on the club’s roster as things stand. That being said, however, Cook also has experience at both first and second base that could allow him to find more playing time. He could mix in alongside Joe and Rowdy Tellez at first base while also offering Nick Gonzales an occasional day off at the keystone.

Making room for Cook on the active roster is Davis, the first overall pick from the 2021 draft. The top prospect made his big league debut last year but has struggled to establish himself in the big leagues to this point in his career with a .191/.283/.307 slash line in 99 games across the past two seasons where he’s split time between the outfield and catcher. Now, he’s headed to the injured list for the second time this year, following up a stint on the concussion IL back in June.

This time, Davis is dealing with hand inflammation, though the severity of the issue is not yet clear. With the end of the regular season just three weeks away and the Pirates all but eliminated from playoff contention, a stint on the shelf that extends beyond the minimum ten days could spell the end of his season even if the issue isn’t especially serious. With Davis out of action, the club figures to rely on a tandem of Joey Bart and Yasmani Grandal behind the plate in the season’s final weeks.

As for German, the right-hander signed with the Pirates on a minor league deal earlier this year and made seven appearances for the club, two of which were starts. Those outings did not go especially well, however, as German was lit up for 19 runs (18 earned) in just 20 2/3 innings of work. In all, he’s posted a 7.84 ERA, 6.13 FIP, and 18% strikeout rate during his time with the big league Pirates this year. Now back in Triple-A, German figures to serve as non-roster depth for the club’s pitching staff for the remainder of the season before likely trying his luck in minor league free agency this winter.

Brewers Select Isaac Collins

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The Brewers announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Isaac Collins. In corresponding moves, outfielder Brewer Hicklen was optioned to Triple-A and outfielder Christian Yelich was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Collins, 27, was a ninth-round pick by the Rockies back in 2019 and has yet to make his major league debut. The Brewers plucked him from Colorado in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, and he’s spent the past two seasons in the upper levels of Milwaukee’s minor league system. He’s performed well in his first full season at Triple-A this year, with a .273/.386/.475 slash line in 500 trips to the plate. He’s supplemented that solid production at the plate with impressive baserunning (24 steals in 29 attempts) and the versatility to play second base, third base, and all over the outfield.

He’ll now get the opportunity to prove himself at the big league level with the Brewers as the regular season winds down. Milwaukee has little to worry about in terms of making the playoffs, as their ten-game lead over the Cubs and Cardinals is all but insurmountable at this point, though the club still does have something to play for as they’re three games back of both the Phillies and Dodgers for a bye through the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Even so, the Brewers’ cushion in the NL Central race and September’s expanded 28-man rosters provides the club with an opportunity to get potential future contributors exposure at the big league level while also shoring up their overall depth.

Making way for Collins on the club’s roster is Hicklen. The 28-year-old outfielder had a brief cup of coffee with the Royals in the majors back in 2022 but his time with the Brewers this year has been his second foray into major league action. Hicklen’s .247/.364/.484 slash line at the Triple-A level isn’t too dissimilar from that of Collins, and his slightly less valuable offense is more or less outweighed by a fantastic 42-for-47 record on the basepaths this year at Triple-A. That said, replacing Hicklen on the roster with Collins offers the Brewers the opportunity to roster a hitter with a similar skillset who can back up the infield alongside Andruw Monasterio as well as filling in around the outfield when necessary.

As for Yelich, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise given the fact that his season came to an end when he underwent back surgery last month. The 32-year-old enjoyed his best offensive season in years when healthy enough to take the field this year, slashing .315/.406/.504 in 73 games while stealing 21 bases in 22 attempts. He’s currently expected to be ready to return to the middle of the club’s lineup in time for the 2025 season.

Rockies Designate Ty Blach For Assignment

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The Rockies announced this morning that they’ve activated right-hander Victor Vodnik from the 15-day injured list. In a corresponding move, left-hander Ty Blach was designated for assignment. Colorado’s 40-man roster now stands at 39 players.

Blach, 33, now wraps up his second stint on the big league roster with the Rockies this season. He’s generally performed poorly in 71 1/3 innings of work with the club this year with a 6.94 ERA and 6.28 FIP in 20 appearances, 12 of which were starts. A fifth-round pick by the Giants back in 2012, Blach found some success as a decent swing man with San Francisco early in his career. Over his first three seasons in the big leagues from 2016 to 2018, Blach pitched to a 4.36 ERA (93 ERA+) with a 4.14 FIP in 299 1/3 innings of work spread across 85 appearances and 39 starts. Overall, Blach posted a 4.56 ERA and 4.23 FIP in a Giants uniform but suffered through five disastrous starts with the Orioles after being shipped to the club in 2019. Those wound up being the last appearances he’d make at the big league level until he resurfaced with the Rockies back in 2022.

When the lefty signed a minor league deal with the Rockies back in 2022, that kicked off a string of what has now become three seasons where the veteran journeyman has bounced between Triple-A and the majors for the club. While he generally hasn’t pitched well for the Rockies, with a career 6.13 ERA (78 ERA+) and 5.46 FIP that are below average even for a hurler who calls Coors Field home, he’s served as a veteran depth option that has allowed the Rockies to avoid rushing young, promising pitchers to the big leagues amid the club’s number of rotation injuries in recent years. Going forward, Blach will have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he clear waivers.

Blach’s departure from the active roster makes room for the return of Vodnik. The 24-year-old hurler made his big league debut in Colorado last year as he struggled through a six-game cup of coffee, but quickly entered the club’s late inning mix this year. In 64 2/3 innings of work this year, Vodnik has impressed with a respectable 4.04 ERA (115 ERA+) and 3.91 FIP while collecting nine saves. Though Vodnik sports a strikeout rate of just 20.2% this year, he’s generated grounders at an impressive 52.9% clip that’s left him with a 4.19 SIERA, third-best among all Rockies pitchers with at least 40 innings of work this year. The hard-throwing right-hander was sidelined late last month by a bout of biceps inflammation but now that he’s returned, he figures to slot back into the club’s late inning mix alongside closer Tyler Kinley.

Jeff McNeil To Miss Rest Of Regular Season Due To Wrist Fracture

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September 8: The Mets officially placed McNeil on the injured list this morning, and recalled outfielder DJ Stewart to replace McNeil on the big league roster. Stewart has slashed .175/.326/.299 in 190 trips to the plate with the club this year.

September 7: Mets second baseman/outfielder Jeff McNeil had to leave Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch on his right wrist, and tests revealed a wrist fracture, as manager Carlos Mendoza told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman and other reporters today.  McNeil will be sidelined for the next 4-6 weeks, so he’ll miss the rest of the regular season and potentially the playoffs unless the Mets reach the postseason and make a deep run.

McNeil will be placed on the 15-day injured list at some point today or tomorrow, though the official news of the injury came close enough to the Mets’ 3:10pm CT start time today that Mendoza said the team will play a man short against the Reds.  Jose Iglesias figures to take over second base for the remainder of the season, and Mendoza said infield prospect Luisangel Acuna is one of the candidates to be called up to take McNeil’s spot on the active roster.

New York is right in the thick of the wild card race, sitting in a tie with Atlanta for the third and final NL wild card slot but also within three games of San Diego for the first wild position.  Passing any of the Braves, Padres, or Diamondbacks will be a lot trickier for the Mets without a lineup regular like McNeil, who has gotten the bulk of time at second base this season while also playing at both corner outfield slots.

McNeil will finish his 2024 season with a .238/.308/.384 slash line and 12 home runs over 472 plate appearances, translating to a 98 wRC+ that matches his seesaw of a year.  Hitting just .214/.271/.308 over his first 300 PA, McNeil’s bat finally caught fire in July, and he proceeded to hit .294/.368/.566 in his next 163 PA before cooling off again in September.  McNeil has remained one of baseball’s toughest hitters to strike out, though not much his contact has resulted in hard-hit balls, and a .256 BABIP also hasn’t helped his cause.

It is possible McNeil’s numbers could be related to the partial UCL tear in his left elbow that was revealed near the end of last season, though McNeil only received a PRP shot rather than surgery and was able to be part of the Mets’ Opening Day lineup.  Or, it could be that a traditionally soft-contact hitter like McNeil is reliant on batted-ball luck to be especially productive at the plate, and it isn’t any surprise that his best seasons have involved BABIPs all north of the .330 mark.  When McNeil isn’t finding holes in the field, he has been closer to a league-average bat, as evidenced the 99 wRC+ he has posted since the start of the 2023 season.

This downturn followed the signing of McNeil’s four-year, $50MM contract extension, so the Mets haven’t gotten what they were expecting following McNeil’s All-Star season in 2022.  However, as a left-handed hitter who can play multiple positions, McNeil has still been a useful player to have as a regular part of the lineup, and his absence forces New York to fill a couple of holes.  Iglesias has been excellent in part-time duty this season and now faces an extra challenge in an everyday role, while Tyrone Taylor and Jesse Winker figure to get more outfield time.

Kris Bryant “Questionable” To Return From Injured List This Year

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Rockies outfielder Kris Bryant has spent most of the 2024 season on the injured list, and his latest trip to the shelf due to a strained back began early last month. Manager Bud Black provided an update to reporters (including Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post) regarding Bryant’s status prior to the club’s game against the Brewers yesterday, and it seems to be possible that Bryant won’t return from the IL before the end of the year.

Black indicated that Bryant’s back, which is plagued by chronic disc problems and severe arthritis at this point in his career, is doing “better” and that the 32-year-old is “feeling good” at this point, but there’s been no indication that Bryant has resumed baseball activities at this point. With just three weeks remaining in the regular season and the 53-90 Rockies eliminated from playoff contention, it’s not clear if Bryant will be able to return this season. Black’s comments on the matter backed up that assessment as he described Bryant’s status as “questionable,” referencing the term used in the injury reports of other sports leagues like the NFL, while acknowledging that the club is “running out of time” to get Bryant back onto the field.

If Bryant doesn’t return to the field this season, he’ll finish the year with just 37 games played and a lackluster .218/.323/.301 slash line in 155 trips to the plate this year. The former superstar once seemed to be on a Hall of Fame track when he won NL Rookie of the Year in his debut 2015 season before following it up with the 2016 NL MVP award, but after slashing .278/.376/.504 (134 wRC+) in the first seven years of his career with the Cubs and Giants his career has taken a nosedive due to injuries ever since he signed a seven-year, $182MM deal with the Rockies prior to the 2022 campaign. He’s only been able to play 159 games in the three seasons since he first donned the purple and black, with a disappointing .250/.332/.381 (88 wRC+) line during that time.

According to Saunders, it’s unclear whether there would be regular playing time available to Bryant down the stretch this year even if he were to make it back from the injured list. Michael Toglia has locked down first base in Bryant’s absence after hitting a scorching .255/.368/.516 with ten home runs in his last 47 games, and Nolan Jones won’t be vacating left field to make room for Bryant either as the 26-year-old searches for the form that earned him a fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting last year amid a down season.

It’s possible he could find playing time between right field and DH if he returns, but with 14-year Rockies veteran Charlie Blackmon in the midst of what could be the 38-year-old DH’s final season in Colorado and top 100 prospect Jordan Beck trying to establish himself as an option for the club in right field headed into 2025, it’s not difficult to imagine a scenario where Bryant struggles to find playing time even if he were to return to the field before the 2024 campaign comes to a close. That said, there have been starts in the outfield corners afforded to bench players like Jake Cave and Sam Hilliard in recent weeks that Bryant could theoretically take on if he were to return to the roster in the coming weeks.

Braves Acquire Cavan Biggio From Giants

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The Braves have acquired infielder Cavan Biggio from the Giants, as noted by Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Giants are receiving cash considerations in return for Biggio’s services. Biggio is on a minor league deal and as such was eligible to be traded despite the trade deadline having passed. As he was acquired after the calendar flipped to September, Biggio will not be eligible to participate in the postseason with the Braves.

Biggio, 29, was a fifth-round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2016 who made his big league debut in 2019. Once seen as part of a budding core of youngsters in Toronto who were the children of former big leagues, Biggio’s career got off to a strong start as he batted .234/.364/.429 (115 wRC+) in 100 games during his rookie season as the club’s regular second baseman and earned fifth place in Rookie of the Year voting, finishing ahead of then-teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The good times continued for Biggio during the shortened 2020 season, as he appeared in 59 of the club’s 60 games and postd a career-best 122 wRC+.

Unfortunately, that’s the last time Biggio has found success in the majors as a regular player. Biggio’s offense cratered over the next two years as he slashed just .213/.320/.353 (91 wRC+) in a combined 597 trips to the plate. While he drew walks at an impressive 12.6% clip during that time, his strikeout rate crept up to 27.3% and the power he had flashed during the first two seasons of his career, when he combined for 24 homers in just 695 trips to the plate, cratered as he slugged just 13 between the 2021 and ’22 seasons combined. Late in the 2022 season, Biggio even found himself optioned to the minor leagues as Santiago Espinal took over the everyday second base job.

Things turned around slightly for Biggio last season, as he posted his first above-average offensive campaign in a full season since his rookie year. Although he was limited to just 338 trips to the plate as he served as a part time player for the club, Biggio hit a decent .235/.340/.370 (102 wRC+) in 111 games while splitting time between first base, second base, third base, and right field. While Biggio found success in that utility role last year, that didn’t last as he entered his age-29 season. In 44 games with Toronto this year, Biggio hit a paltry .200/.323/.291 as his strikeout rate soared to 32.1%, going over 30% for the first time in his career as a big leaguer.

The Blue Jays had evidently seen enough by the time early June rolled around and opted to designate him for assignment. He was traded to the Dodgers shortly thereafter but struggled with his new club as well, hitting a similar .192/.306/.329 in 88 trips to the plate across thirty games before they released him back in August. Biggio eventually found his way to the Giants on a minor league deal, though he did not appear at the big league level with the club before today’s swap and appeared in just 12 games for their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

That’s led Biggio to his fourth organization of the 2024 campaign, where he becomes the latest player who was released earlier this year to be brought in as an injury replacement by the Braves. Atlanta has dealt with a number of injuries this year all throughout their roster, and as such have gotten creative by bringing in the castoffs of other teams such as outfielder Ramon Laureano, reliever John Brebbia as well as infielders Whit Merrifield and Gio Urshela. Now, Biggio is seemingly being brought in as the injury replacement for an injury replacement. It was revealed earlier today that Merrifield sustained a left foot fracture after fouling a ball off his foot last night, and while the club reportedly hopes that he’ll be able to return to action as soon as next weekend, injuries around their infield have left them to rely on questionable options like Luke Williams and Eli White to handle the keystone while he and Ozzie Albies are sidelined.

For all of Biggio’s struggles with the Blue Jays and Dodgers earlier this year, even that lackluster production would be a substantial upgrade for either Williams or White given that the pair have career wRC+ figures of 56 and 58 respectively in the big leagues. While Biggio has struck out at a clip that isn’t befitting of a regular role this year, particularly given his lack of power, his penchant for drawing walks gives him a solid floor of offensive production. He’s never walked less than 11% of the time in a season and sports a 13.6% walk rate for is career, good for 13th best in the majors since the start of his career.

Though Biggio won’t be able to participate in the postseason with Atlanta, it seems as though both Merrfield and Albies are expected to return before then, meaning there’s little downside to giving Biggio a bit of runway down the stretch while the club’s preferred options at the keystone are injured. Of course, as Biggio is currently on a minor league contract, he’ll need to be added to the club’s 40-man and active rosters before he can play for the club. Atlanta’s 40-man roster is full, so a corresponding move will be necessary if the club decides to add Biggio to their roster.

Red Sox To Select Richard Fitts

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The Red Sox are planning to select the contract of right-hander Richard Fitts tomorrow, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. Per Smith, there’s a “really great chance” Fitts starts tomorrow’s game against the White Sox, though it’s also possible he’s used as a bulk reliever behind an Opener. The club’s 40-man roster is currently at capacity, meaning corresponding moves will be necessary to accommodate Fitts’s addition to both the 40-man and active rosters before tomorrow’s game.

Fitts, 24, was a sixth-round pick by the Yankees in the 2021 draft. After making his pro debut the following year, he reached the Double-A level with New York last year and delivered an impressive season with a 3.48 ERA in 152 2/3 innings of work across 27 starts where Fitts struck out 25.9% of batters faced. Over the offseason, Fitts was shipped to Boston alongside right-hander Greg Weissert and pitching prospect Nicholas Judice in the trade that sent Alex Verdugo to the Yankees.

It’s a trade that now looks rather lopsided in favor of the Red Sox, as Verdugo has struggled to an 84 wRC+ with New York this year and his lackluster performance has even prompted the club to consider bumping him from the lineup to accommodate top prospect Jasson Dominguez, though that has not happened to this point. Meanwhile, Weissert has provided the Red Sox with solid middle relief this year with a 3.81 ERA and 4.14 FIP in 52 innings of work. Now Fitts is set to join him in the majors coming off what has been a solid season at Triple-A, albeit not one as impressive as he posted at Double-A with the Yankees last year. In 116 2/3 innings of work this year, Fitts has posted a 4.17 ERA with a 22.6% strikeout rate against a 7.5% walk rate, as well as a career-best 42.4% grounder rate.

The right-hander will now make his way to Boston and look to carry that success he’s seen in the upper minors over into his major league debut. Should he start tomorrow’s game as expected, he’ll pitch opposite White Sox right-hander Chris Flexen, who sports a 5.36 ERA in 29 appearances with Chicago this year. While the Red Sox have a full rotation featuring Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, and Cooper Criswell at the moment, the club will now be able to offer their regular rotation extra rest ahead of a pair of tough series against the Orioles and Yankees next week by slotting Fitts in for a spot start.

Of course, the Red Sox are longshots to make the postseason at this point with a lackluster record of 72-70. Fangraphs gives the club a 9.9% chance to make the playoffs, although in order to do so they would need to run down either the Twins (76-66) or Royals (78-65) to capture an AL Wild Card spot with the AL East almost certainly out of reach. Even if getting their regular starters an additional day of rest ahead of a tough stretch of the schedule is unlikely to make an impact in the standings, however, it’s worth noting that the Red Sox would’ve needed to add Fitts to the 40-man roster this offseason even if they didn’t want him to get him big league exposure down the stretch in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, from which he’ll need to be protected this winter.

Cardinals To Activate Lance Lynn On Wednesday

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The Cardinals are planning to activate right-hander Lance Lynn from the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, as noted by The Athletic’s Katie Woo. Lynn will take the ball for a start against the Reds in St. Louis when he returns to action. The veteran right-hander has been on the injured list for just over a month due to a bout of knee inflammation.

Lynn, 37, pitched decently enough for the Cardinals in 21 starts prior to going on the IL. In 106 1/3 innings of work, he posted a roughly league average 4.06 ERA (105 ERA+) with a 4.46 FIP and a 20.8% strikeout rate. Lynn pitched quite well for St. Louis throughout the first half but his numbers took a sharp turn for the worse in July, when he pitched to a 6.27 ERA and 7.04 FIP in just 18 2/3 innings of work across four starts.

Even with that ghastly performance in his last four starts before hitting the IL, however, his overall numbers this season are much better than they were in 2023 and roughly comparable to the 2022 campaign, when he posted a 3.99 ERA (99 ERA+) and 3.82 FIP in 21 starts. While the veteran right-hander is no longer close to the same pitcher who posted a sterling 3.26 ERA (146 ERA+) and 3.39 FIP with a 27.5% strikeout rate and three consecutive top-6 finishes in AL Cy Young award voting from 2019 to 2021, he’s still proven to be a capable back-end rotation option after a disastrous 2023 season where he struggled to a 5.73 ERA (77 ERA+) with a 5.53 FIP in 183 2/3 innings of work.

Given Lynn’s value as a steady back-of-the-rotation arm and the Cardinals’ lack of starting pitching depth headed into 2025, it’s no surprise that the club would want Lynn to make a few starts down the stretch as they evaluate whether to pick up their $12MM option on his services for next year or decline the option in favor of a $1MM buyout. They have an identical decision on their hands regarding fellow veteran righty Kyle Gibson, who has pitched to a 4.39 ERA (97 ERA+) with a 4.26 FIP in 26 starts with the club during his age-36 season this year.

With those decisions looming after the season comes to a close, the Cardinals also figure to use the last few weeks of the season to evaluate right-hander Andre Pallante’s viability as a long-term rotation option for the club. The 25-year-old’s 4.07 ERA (105 ERA+) and 4.08 FIP aren’t especially spectacular, but he’s looked very impressive since moving from the bullpen to the rotation in late May with a 3.81 ERA and 4.00 FIP in his last 87 1/3 innings of work spread across 16 starts. Staff ace Sonny Gray and longtime veteran Miles Mikolas both appear to be entrenched in their current rotation roles as well, and that’s left southpaw Steven Matz as the odd man out of the club’s rotation picture.

According to Woo, the lefty is set to be available out of the bullpen starting tomorrow, after making just one start since returning from a lengthy trip to the injured list that wiped out four months of his 2024 campaign. The 33-year-old signed with the Cardinals on a four-year, $44MM deal prior to the 2022 season but that contract hasn’t panned out as he’s struggled to a 4.61 ERA (98 ERA+) despite a solid 3.98 FIP. He’s also been limited to just 185 1/3 innings of work over the past three years by injuries and multiple moves to the bullpen, and figures to act as a back-end rotation option and long relief arm for the club once again in 2025, depending on the needs of the roster and the lefty’s performance.

Whit Merrifield Suffers Left Foot Fracture

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The Braves’ battered infield mix took another hit last night when second baseman Whit Merrifield fouled a pitch off his foot during last night’s win over Toronto. As manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman) this evening, Merrifield was diagnosed with a fractured foot last night that was initially expected to keep him out of action for six to eight weeks. Fortunately, both club and player received great news when Merrifield was examined by a specialist today who told them that Merrifield was not at risk of worsening the injury by continuing to play. That’s made the issue a matter of pain tolerance, and Bowman went on to note that the Braves are hopeful the veteran will be able to return to the lineup next weekend when they face the Dodgers for a four-game set.

That’s great news for a Braves club that has been plagued by injury woes all throughout the year and is currently without both Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley as they nurse injuries of their own. Merrifield himself was brought into the fold after being released by the Phillies in order to help fill the void left by Albies when he suffered a wrist fracture back in July. He’s performed admirably as a fill-in since then, slashing a respectable .243/.359/.342 (103 wRC+) while walking at a 14.2% clip and going five for seven on the basepaths in 34 games with the Braves so far.

Once Merrifield is ready to take the field again, they’ll need him to continue acting as a stopgap option at the keystone at least for the time being. As noted by David O’Brien of The Athletic, Albies has been doing fielding drills and hitting from the right side but still feels discomfort when hitting lefty. Until that subsides, he won’t be cleared to move on to batting practice but could start a rehab assignment not long after being cleared to resume hitting. With Riley out until sometime during the postseason, Albies’s return could free Merrifield up to move to third base, where Gio Urshela’s 85 wRC+ in 15 games since taking over the club’s regular job at third base leaves something to be desired.

While Merrifield is unable to play, it seems likely that reserve infielder Luke Williams will get a look at second, though Snitker told reporters (including Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that Eli White and Ramon Laureano could also be infield options on a stopgap basis while Merrifield’s foot is too sore for him to play. Williams is the most experienced infielder of the group but sports a career wRC+ of just 56 in the majors, including a paltry .152/.243/.212 line (33 wRC+) in 33 games this year. White has only limited experience at second base in the majors but has hit fairly well in an extremely limited sample this year with a 120 wRC+ in just 26 plate appearances.

While Williams and White being considered as stopgap options at the keystone is hardly a surprise, the fact that Laureano is also being looked at as an option to play the infield for the Braves is something of a shock. An outfielder by trade, Laureano has slashed an excellent .299/.336/.500 (130 wRC+) in 49 games since joining the Braves earlier this year but has virtually no experience on the infield, with a single inning of time at first base in the minor leagues representing all of his experience on the dirt as a pro. The 30-year-old has also become a key part of the club’s outfield mix while platooning with Jarred Kelenic in left field, further complicating the possibility. In all likelihood, the club will probably be best served using some combination of White and Williams at second over the next week while Merrifield rests up and looks to return to the position next weekend.

One possibility that wasn’t mentioned by Snitker was top prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. The 21-year-old made his big league debut earlier this year with an eight-game cup of coffee but didn’t hit a lick in that brief stint as a big leaguer, going just 3-for-30 with ten strikeouts and no walks or extra base hits before he was sent back down to the minor leagues. Giving that lackluster performance in the big leagues and his relative lack of experience at the Triple-A level, it’s perhaps not a surprise that the club would prefer to avoid using Alvarez in the big leagues again this year as they continue to develop the youngster as their shortstop of the future.

Royals Outright Dan Altavilla

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The Royals announced this afternoon that right-hander Dan Altavilla has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Omaha. The right-hander was designated for assignment by Kansas City earlier this week when they activated him from the 60-day injured list but did not add him back to the 40-man roster.

Altavilla, 31, was a fifth-round pick by the Mariners back in 2014 who made his big league debut in Seattle during the 2016 season. He provided solid middle relief for the club in the first few years of his career with a combined 3.28 ERA and 4.32 FIP in 79 2/3 innings of work from 2016 to 2018, but struggled badly over the next three seasons with the Mariners and Padres. In 36 1/3 innings of work across 41 games between 2019 and 2021, Altavilla posted a 5.70 ERA with a 4.55 FIP before undergoing Tommy John surgery in June of the 2021 season.

The right-hander’s time with the Padres came to a close shortly after he went under the knife, and though he signed a two-year minor league deal with the Red Sox prior to the 2022 season he never made it into a big league game in Boston. He made his return in the minors with the Red Sox, however, with a 3.00 ERA but a lackluster 14.3% strikeout rate in eight appearances that spanned 12 innings in total before he was released by the club in August of that year. He didn’t catch on with another club down the stretch in 2023 but found a minors pact with the Royals back in December.

In Kansas City, Altavilla found his first big league opportunity since 2021 when the club selected his contract back in June. Unfortunately, the righty made just five appearances that saw him surrender six runs in just 3 2/3 innings of work before he found himself back on the injured list due to an oblique strain. He began a rehab assignment early last month but struggled at the Triple-A level during that time with a ghastly 9.39 ERA in eight appearances. That led the Royals to designate the righty for assignment once he had reached the maximum rehab time in the minor leagues, though he evidently went unclaimed on waivers and now will return to Omaha with the Royals as a non-roster depth option for the club down the stretch.

While the Royals have struggled to get consistent results from their bullpen this year with a relief corps that’s bottom five in the majors by ERA since the calendar flipped to August and bottom six overall this season, it nonetheless seems unlikely that the club would turn to Altavilla down the stretch barring injuries forcing the clubs’ hand. Lucas Erceg, John Schreiber, and James McArthur form a solid enough back-end trio for the club with strong peripherals despite mediocre results, and the trio of Kris Bubic, Sam Long, and Carlos Hernandez have performed well in the middle innings of late to leave few reasons for the club to make a change as they enter the stretch run in position to make the postseason for the first time since their 2015 World Series championship.

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