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Red Sox Designate Jorge Alcala For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala for assignment. Fellow righty reliever Isaiah Campbell was recalled from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the roster.

Boston acquired Alcala in a mid-June trade with the Twins — a deal sending minor league infielder Andy Lugo back to Minnesota. Alcala was an obvious change-of-scenery candidate at the time. The hard-throwing righty had run out of opportunities in Minnesota after allowing 24 runs in 24 1/3 innings (8.88 ERA). That marked Alcala’s second ERA north of 6.00 in a span of three seasons with the Twins. He posted solid run-prevention numbers in 2024 but was far too prone to both walks and homers.

Alcala’s time with the Red Sox looked better, at least on the surface. His 3.31 ERA is a clearly solid mark, but there were plenty of troubling trends under the hood. As was the case throughout his time in Minnesota, Alcala proved susceptible to free passes and the long ball. He walked 10.5% of the batters he faced with Boston and tossed three wild pitches. He was also tagged for four homers in just 16 1/3 frames (2.20 HR/9).

The recent results for Alcala, who turned 30 late last month, were too rough for Sox brass to overlook. He’s lasted a combined 3 1/3 innings over his past five appearances and been shelled for six runs (five earned) on eight hits (four homers) and four walks in that time. He allowed three runs, including a pair of home runs, in one-third of an inning yesterday in what proved to be his final appearance with the Sox.

Alcala will now head to either outright or release waivers within the next five days. He’s very likely to clear in either case. He’s earning $1.5MM this year and still has about $435K of that sum yet to be paid out. He’s out of minor league options, so an acquiring team would need to plug him right into the big league bullpen. Between that lack of options, his remaining salary and his recent struggles, it’s doubtful any team would claim him. Alcala has more than five years of big league service time, so even if the Red Sox outright him to Worcester, he can reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency while retaining the remainder of that guaranteed money.

Marlins Release Matt Mervis, Rob Brantly

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The Marlins have released first baseman Matt Mervis and catcher Rob Brantly, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Both had been in the majors earlier this season but were playing with the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville after passing through waivers unclaimed and thus being removed from the 40-man roster.

Mervis, 27, got some Miami fans excited with an early-season home run binge, but it never seemed especially sustainable. The former Cubs farmhand popped six big flies in his first 13 games of the season, hitting .275/.333/.725 along the way. That was a sample of just 45 plate appearances, however, and Mervis fanned a whopping 18 times within that stretch (40%). His power has never been in doubt, but strikeout issues have long plagued Mervis and did so again following that early hot streak. He hit just .125/.213/.213 with a 37% strikeout rate over his next 89 trips to the plate before being designated for assignment and passing through waivers.

Things have gone better for Mervis in Jacksonville, where he’s hitting .250/.310/.614 with 13 homers in 145 plate appearances. However, much of that production is buoyed by a recent hot streak over the past week, and he’s still been set down on strikes in 27% of his plate appearances. This is his fourth season with notable time spent in Triple-A, and he’s had strikeout rates well higher than average in each of the past two (including a 30% strikeout rate in 350 Triple-A plate appearances with the Cubs last year).

Brantly, 36, was briefly summoned to the majors earlier this season when Miami needed an extra catcher, but what was supposed to be a big league stint lasting just a few days wound up turning into months. Brantly incurred a lat strain during that call-up and wound up landing on the 60-day injured list and picking up more than two months of service time.

Brantly has appeared in parts of 10 big league seasons but hasn’t topped 36 MLB plate appearances in a given year since 2013. He’s a .226/.286/.323 hitter in 472 big league plate appearances and has played in parts of 13 Triple-A seasons with more than 2700 plate appearances to his credit.

Tigers Re-Sign Tyler Owens To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Tyler Owens has re-signed with the Tigers on a minor league deal, reports Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group. Detroit recently released Owens but the two sides have quickly reunited.

Owens, 24, was designated for assignment a week ago when the Tigers acquired Rafael Montero. At the time he was designated for assignment, Owens was on the minor league injured list due to a hip injury. Teams aren’t allowed to place injured players on outright waivers. Once Owens was in DFA limbo, the club had to either trade him or release him.

They eventually went with the latter option. Owens had a few days to field interest from all 30 clubs but decided to return to the Tigers on a new pact, a fairly common sequence of events in situations like this. He gets to stay in a familiar place while the Tigers get to keep the player without him taking up a roster spot.

Owens had a limited major league track record. He made his big league debut earlier this year by pitching three innings for Detroit, allowing one earned run. His recent minor league numbers have been solid. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has tossed 147 1/3 innings on the farm with a 3.73 earned run average, 23.1% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and grounders on about half the balls in play he allowed.

Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The NL Central?

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The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Over the next week-plus, MLBTR will be running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies came out on top in the NL East with about half the vote. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the NL Central. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers have the best record in baseball but had a fairly quiet deadline. Perhaps their most impactful move of the summer came last month, when they traded away Aaron Civale to land former top prospect Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox. Vaughn had struggled in Chicago for years but has caught fire with the Brewers and has proven to be an anchor for a lineup that’s without Rhys Hoskins and Jackson Chourio. Looking at deals made closer to the deadline, Milwaukee swapped out another big league starter to add a hitter when they shipped Nestor Cortes to the Padres alongside infield prospect Jorge Quintana and cash in order to bring in outfielder Brandon Lockridge.

Another unusual trade for Milwaukee was acquiring injured closer Shelby Miller and injured lefty Jordan Montgomery in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Montgomery won’t pitch this year, so the deal essentially saw the Brewers buy Miller off of the Diamondbacks in exchange for eating some of Montgomery’s salary. Perhaps the only typical buy-side addition was catcher Danny Jansen, who they acquired from the Rays to back up William Contreras. Dealing away Cortes and Civale hasn’t seemed to hurt the team much, but their additions are fairly modest on paper.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have fallen behind the Brewers after posting a somewhat pedestrian 29-25 record since the start of June, and entered trade season in clear need of upgrades. Perhaps their most impactful addition was utility man Willi Castro, a switch-hitter who can help take pressure off of rookie Matt Shaw at third base while upgrading the bench to make giving regulars like Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ days off more feasible. Deals with the Orioles and Pirates to acquire veteran setup man Andrew Kittredge and southpaw Taylor Rogers should help bolster a bullpen that had been relying on reclamation projects like Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz to this point, as well.

Despite those generally solid additions, the Cubs did not substantially address their biggest need this summer: starting pitching. It was no secret that adding rotation help was a top priority for Chicago with Justin Steele done for the year, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad both on the injured list, and both Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd in uncharted territory in terms of innings. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were unable to find much help in that regard on the market. Michael Soroka was added in a trade with the Nationals in order to pitch in, but his velocity was down in his last few outings with the Nats and now he’s headed for the injured list with shoulder discomfort. While the club’s bench and bullpen additions were solid, it’s unclear if that will be enough to outweigh the lack of impactful rotation help down the stretch.

Cincinnati Reds

The 59-54 Reds currently sit just three games out of a Wild Card spot in the NL, and that was enough to convince them to go for it this summer. They made three trades to round out their roster. They picked up right-hander Zack Littell from the Rays in a three-team deal that sent righty Brian Van Belle to Tampa and lefty Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers. They added Miguel Andujar to their bench in a deal with the A’s and, most interestingly, they picked up third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Pirates in exchange for Rogers (who was later traded to the Cubs) and shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura.

Littell should provide some depth for an already-strong rotation that has a history of struggling to stay healthy (as was reinforced by Nick Lodolo’s departure from yesterday’s game after just 1 2/3 innings of work). Andujar provides a lefty-mashing bench bat to a club that has struggled badly against southpaws this year, but Hayes is the most interesting addition of the bunch. A former top prospect and Gold Glove award winner at third base, Hayes is one of the most talented defenders in the sport but hit just .236/.279/.290 (57 wRC+) in 100 games with the Pirates this year and has a career wRC+ of just 84. His relatively pricey contract makes bringing him in a gamble, but if he can float a slash line even close to league average, he should be a 3-win player when healthy.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals sold at the deadline for the second time in three years, but in doing so they only traded veterans on expiring contracts. Right-hander Erick Fedde was the first domino to fall, as the veteran starter was shipped to the Braves for a player to be named later or cash amid a disappointing season that saw him designated for assignment just before the deal. Veteran setup man Phil Maton netted a pair of prospects from the Rangers, one of whom is now St. Louis’s #26 ranked prospect at MLB Pipeline, and swingman Steven Matz was shipped to the Red Sox in a deal that brought back power-hitting first baseman Blaze Jordan (#18 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline).

The team’s biggest deal this summer, however, was shipping out closer Ryan Helsley to the Mets. Even in the midst of a down season by his standards, Helsley brought back a trio of talented players: infield prospect Jesus Baez (#6 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline), righty pitching prospect Nate Dohm (#15), and right-handed prospect Frank Elissalt (unranked). It’s a solid group of talent to bring in for a handful of rentals on expiring deals and the moves should help set incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom up for success as John Mozeliak departs the club at the end of the season.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates also sold off pieces this summer, although their deadline was quiet for a club that entered July with Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen as their only two untouchable players. Not only did widely-speculated trade candidate Mitch Keller stay put despite a market starved for controllable rotation talent, but a number of rental players for whom the Pirates have little use did not end up getting cashed in for prospects and/or salary relief. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, and Tim Mayza all remain in town. And some deals they did make, such as the David Bednar swap with the Yankees, produced underwhelming returns.

That’s not to say everything about the club’s deadline was disappointing, however. The Pirates did manage to get out from under the Hayes contract, and then flipped Rogers to get an additional prospect from the Cubs. Lefty Caleb Ferguson and infielder Adam Frazier both were successfully cashed in for prospect talent and the Bucs received a return led by intriguing MLB-ready reliever Evan Sisk when they looked to sell on back-end starter Bailey Falter. Some of those young players acquired should help the Pirates going forward, and getting Hayes off the books should make adding offense easier for 2026 and beyond. Even so, it’s fair to wonder if this deadline represents a missed opportunity in Pittsburgh.

The NL Central was one of the quieter divisions in baseball this deadline, with only a handful of non-rental players changing hands and no blockbusters. With that being said, three teams did make an effort to get better for 2025, while the Cardinals and Pirates picked up a number of pieces for their futures. Which club did the best of this quintet? Have your say in the poll below:

Which NL Central team had the best deadline?
Cincinnati Reds 32.32% (1,464 votes)
Milwaukee Brewers 26.56% (1,203 votes)
St. Louis Cardinals 22.12% (1,002 votes)
Chicago Cubs 11.32% (513 votes)
Pittsburgh Pirates 7.68% (348 votes)
Total Votes: 4,530

Astros Re-Sign Jon Singleton To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have agreed to a new minor league deal with first baseman Jon Singleton, as first reported by Michael Schwab of The Ice Box Insider. Singleton was designated for assignment shortly before the trade deadline and passed through waivers unclaimed. He briefly became a free agent after rejecting an outright assignment but will now return to the ’Stros and presumably head to Triple-A Sugar Land for the time being.

Singleton was on the Astros’ 40-man roster heading into the season but was released after he didn’t make the club in spring training. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets and has spent the bulk of the season with their Triple-A club in Syracuse but was cut loose in June. Singleton quickly latched back on with Houston on a minor league deal and was briefly selected to the big league roster last month prior to his DFA.

That call to the bigs saw Singleton, 33, get into three games and go 1-for-9 in that tiny sample. He’s logged a combined 306 Triple-A plate appearances between the Mets and Astros organizations this year, slashing .224/.373/.451 with 16 home runs, a massive 18.4% walk rate and a 26.5% strikeout rate.

Singleton was the Astros’ primary option at first base last year, following the release of Jose Abreu. He wound up making 405 trips to the plate in 119 games and turning in a solid, if unspectacular .234/.331/.386 batting line (104 wRC+) with 13 homers. Singleton doesn’t hit lefties well and is a below-average defender at first base, but he draws plenty of walks and can hit for some modest power against right-handed pitching.

The Astros acquired lefty-swinging outfielder Jesus Sanchez from the Marlins prior to last week’s trade deadline, but they’re still very light on left-handed bats — particularly with Yordan Alvarez having missed most of the season due to a fracture in his hand. Singleton will add a lefty-swinging option to the depth chart — one who seems to be a sentimental favorite within the organization. This is the third minor league deal Singleton has signed with Houston since 2023, and he’s spent the vast majority of career in the Astros organization.

Orioles Claim Rico Garcia

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The Orioles have claimed right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Mets, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The latter club designated him for assignment earlier this week. The O’s have multiple 40-man roster vacancies from their deadline dealings. Garcia is out of options, so the O’s will need to make a corresponding active roster move whenever he reports to the team.

Garcia, 31, has been a fringe bullpen arm for the two New York clubs this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the winter and got called up in early July. He later went to the Yankees and then back to the Mets via waiver claims.

Around the transactions, his results have been quite good. He has thrown 15 1/3 innings over nine big league appearances this year, with a 3.52 earned run average. His 30% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate this year are all above-average figures.

That’s a small sample of work and he may not be able to maintain it over a larger time frame, particularly the control. Before getting called up, he tossed 30 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.45 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate, 14.8% walk rate and 34.2% ground ball rate. He walked 11.5% of minor league batters faced last year and 17.2% in 2023. Put together, he has a 13.7% walk rate in 119 2/3 minor league innings dating back to the start of 2023.

Even if his major league numbers regress a bit, he’s a sensible flier for the O’s. They stripped down their bullpen ahead of the deadline, trading away Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto and Andrew Kittredge. They have also lost Félix Bautista, Scott Blewett and Colin Selby to the injured list in recent weeks.

Those trades and injuries have opened up lots of opportunities in the Baltimore bullpen. As the club plays out the string on this lost season, they can pick up guys like this and give them auditions down the stretch. If things go well with Garcia, he can be cheaply retained beyond this season. He’ll finish 2025 with less than two years of service time, meaning he still won’t have qualified for arbitration and will be controllable for five more seasons.

Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images

Yankees To Designate JT Brubaker For Assignment

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The Yankees are designating right-hander JT Brubaker for assignment, according to a report from Robert Murray of FanSided. The corresponding move for Brubaker’s departure is not yet known.

Brubaker’s time with the Yankees has been punctuated by frequent injury. Acquired from the Pirates alongside $550K of international bonus pool space for a player to be named later (Keiner Delgado) in March of 2024, he’s only pitched 16 innings in the majors.

Brubaker was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time of the trade sending him to the Bronx, though he was nearly at the one-year mark. He was targeting a midseason return but suffered an oblique strain during his rehab stint in July. He never made it back to the mound thereafter. This spring, he was quickly placed on the injured list after a comeback liner struck him in the chest and fractured three ribs. He was finally activated for his team debut in mid-June.

The 31-year-old Brubaker held opponents to six runs in 16 innings (3.38 ERA) but did so with a paltry 15.9% strikeout rate and a massive 14.3% walk rate. He also plunked a batter, meaning nearly 16% of his opponents in his brief run reached base without putting a ball in play. On top of his command troubles in the majors, Brubaker walked 12.5% of his opponents in five rehab appearances between Double-A and Triple-A (18 1/3 innings).

Though Brubaker didn’t pitch in the majors at all in 2023-24, he was solid for the Pirates in 2022, eating up 144 innings with a pedestrian 4.69 ERA but far more encouraging rate stats. Brubaker was dogged by a .334 average on balls in play that year but fanned 22.8% of his opponents against an 8.4% walk rate while generating a 44% grounder rate. Those were effectively league-average rate stats across the board — enough for metrics like FIP (3.92) and SIERA (3.97) to view him far more favorably.

With the trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, Brubaker will simply head to waivers. The Yankees have up to five days before they need to place him there. Brubaker has five-plus years of major league service, meaning he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Any team that claims him would be on the hook for the remainder of this year’s $1.82MM salary (about $528K). It’s possible that a contending club looking for some long relief/rotation depth could place a claim, but given his walk issues and lengthy layoff from pitching, there’s a better chance he’ll clear. Because he has five years of big league service, he’d be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and still retain the entirety of his guaranteed salary.

Pirates To Select Cam Sanders

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The Pirates are selecting right-hander Cam Sanders, according to a report from Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com confirms that report, adding that right-hander Johan Oviedo is set to be optioned to the minors to make room for Sanders on the active roster. The Pirates have multiple 40-man roster vacancies, so no additional corresponding transaction will be necessary.

Sanders, 28, was a 12th-round pick by the Cubs back in 2018. He’s spent the past four seasons bouncing between the Double- and Triple-A levels with the Cubs and Pirates. He’s typically posted excellent numbers at Double-A and poor numbers at Triple-A and ultimately converted from starting to relief work with the Cubs last year. Now in the Pirates organization after electing minor league free agency over the winter, he’s looked utterly dominant in the upper minors with a 1.90 ERA in 18 appearances at Double-A to go with a nearly identical 1.93 ERA in 15 appearances at the Triple-A level.

Between the two levels, Sanders has punched out 30.5% of his opponents in 42 1/3 innings of work this year. Walks have been a problem for Sanders in the past, as he surrendered free passes at an unplayable 22.4% clip at Triple-A last year. He’s kept them under control this year, however, with a 12.0% walk rate overall that drops to just 9.7% when looking only at Triple-A. Sanders will need to continue throwing strikes if he’s to survive in the majors, but the quality of his stuff gives him possible late-inning upside if he can continue to show even passable command. He’ll now join a relief corps that recently lost closer David Bednar at this year’s trade deadline and will vie for work with the likes of Dauri Moreta, Kyle Nicolas, and Yohan Ramirez.

As for Oviedo, the right-hander made his first big league appearance since 2023 yesterday in a start against the Giants but surrendered two runs in one inning of work after walking three and striking out three. Acquired from the Cardinals in the Jose Quintana trade back in 2022, Oviedo posted a solid 4.31 ERA in 31 starts for the Pirates the following year and looked like a viable #4 starter of the future for the club before being sidelined by Tommy John surgery. He has a 3.12 ERA in six rehab starts in the minor leagues this year, but judging off yesterday’s difficult return he may need some more time to build up before returning to the majors in a more permanent role. The Pirates have Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Andrew Heaney, and Mike Burrows holding things down at the big league level in rotation for the time being.

Blue Jays Release Chad Green

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The Blue Jays released Chad Green yesterday after the veteran right-hander cleared waivers, according to a team announcement. Green is now eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs. He had been designated for assignment by the Jays just prior to the trade deadline.

A veteran of ten MLB seasons, the 34-year-old righty has struggled badly in 45 appearances for the Jays this year with a 5.56 ERA and an eye-popping 6.70 FIP across 43 2/3 innings of work. Green’s 6.8% walk rate remains more or less in line with the best seasons of his career, but his strikeout rate has dipped considerably. After punching out 32.4% of his opponents through the end of the 2023 campaign, he struck out batters at just a 21.9% clip last year. That number has dropped even further this season, down to 18.4%. In addition to the lack of whiffs, Green has allowed 14 home runs this year. That’s the most of any reliever in baseball so far this season, and only two relievers (Enyel De Los Santos and Tyler Alexander) allowed more homers than that over the entirety of the 2024 campaign.

It’s an ugly profile overall, and it seems unlikely that any team would be particularly enthused about offering him an immediate spot in their bullpen between the lack of strikeouts and his 16.4% barrel rate allowed. Certain underlying metrics do offer some room for optimism, however. Green’s 4.26 SIERA is only slightly below average, and his K-BB% is in line with quality relief arms like Caleb Ferguson and Taylor Rogers. Perhaps there’s a team out there that sees enough in Green that they’re willing to take a flier on him in the form of a minor league deal. Even with his poor numbers this year, it would certainly be understandable if a team decided to do so.

That’s because Green has a long track record of success in the majors prior to this year. From 2017 to 2022, Green was a dominant late-inning relief arm for the Yankees with a 2.96 ERA, a 33.4% strikeout rate, and a 3.01 FIP. He picked up ten saves in that time while joining arms like Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, and David Robertson at the back of the Yankees’ bullpen. Perhaps a team sees some sort of adjustments they can help Green make in order to get back to being a viable setup man; his heater is still averaging 95.2 mph this year, and while advanced metrics like Stuff+ have signaled a decline in the quality of Green’s offerings in recent years, he still grades at average to slightly above average.

As for the Blue Jays, they’ll be on the hook for what’s left of his $10.5MM salary for the 2025 campaign. If Green gets added to an MLB roster at some point this year, he’ll be paid a prorated portion of the MLB minimum by his new club and that amount will be deducted from what Toronto owes him. With newly-added relievers Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez now in the fold, the Jays figure to do just fine without Green in their late-inning mix even if he does manage to turn things around with a new organization.

Yankees Option Jake Bird

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The Yankees have optioned right-hander Jake Bird to Triple-A, per a team announcement. A corresponding move has not yet been announced, though ESPN’s Jorge Castillo notes that right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. is expected back from the injured list today and could take Bird’s roster spot.

Bird, 29, was one of the Yankees’ trio of potential high-leverage bullpen additions acquired ahead of the trade deadline last week. With a 4.73 ERA and 3.89 FIP to go along with a 26.3% strikeout rate for the Rockies this year, Bird showed himself capable of putting up at least decent numbers even when playing half his games at Coors Field. That was enough to intrigue the Yankees, and they surrendered second base prospect Roc Riggio and pitching prospect Ben Shields in order to acquire him. While Bird lacks the track record of dominance that David Bednar and Camilo Doval both offer, he comes with three years of team control after 2025 and the hope was that he could help deepen a bullpen mix that will lose Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to free agency this winter.

It’s only been a few games, but the early returns have not been great. The Yankees found themselves swept at the hands of the Marlins in the days following the deadline and have yet to win a game in August. That slump has left them with just a 1.5 game lead over the Rangers for the final AL Wild Card spot, and Bird has been in the thick of those troubles. After surrendering four runs to the Marlins while recording just one out in his Yankees debut, the right-hander surrendered three runs (two earned) while recording two outs against Texas last night. Those six runs allowed in a combined two innings of work across three appearances leave him with a 27.00 ERA for his Yankees career, and now he’s headed to the minor leagues as New York waits for him to get right.

While an effective version of Bird would undoubtedly make the Yankees’ bullpen better, it’s hard to argue they’re light on talent at the moment. Williams, Weaver, Bednar, and Doval have all had worrying moments at points throughout the season, but each has a strong track record of success in the late innings. And now it seems they’ll be reinforced later today by the return of Leiter, who has been sidelined for the past month due to a stress fracture in the fibular head of his left leg. Acquired from the Cubs at last year’s deadline, Leiter’s 4.46 ERA in 41 appearances leaves something to be desired but his underlying metrics remain brilliant. He’s struck out 29.1% of his opponents this year while walking a career-low 7.6%, and he’s paired all that with a career-best 49.0% ground ball rate. If Leiter keeps looking that good in his return to action, that elevated ERA should come back down in a hurry as he helps avoid further bullpen meltdowns in the Bronx.

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