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Braxton Garrett

Braxton Garrett’s Rotation Emergence

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Braxton Garrett did not begin the 2023 season in the Marlins’ rotation. His first appearance was a three-inning relief outing on April 1. The Fish optioned him two days later but recalled him within a day as Johnny Cueto went on the injured list.

Cueto’s injury opened a spot for Garrett to assume the #5 starting job behind Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and Edward Cabrera. The left-hander was a quality depth option, a former #7 overall pick who had turned in a 3.58 ERA over 17 starts in 2022. That the Marlins nevertheless brought in Cueto and began with Garrett sixth on the depth chart suggests the front office had trepidation about his ability to repeat those results.

Once injury pushed Garrett back into the starting mix, he didn’t look back. The 26-year-old made 30 starts from that point forward, ultimately logging 159 2/3 innings. He finished third on the team in workload while allowing 3.66 earned runs per nine. That came with above-average peripherals across the board. Garrett punched out a solid 23.7% of batters faced while keeping the ball on the ground nearly half the time. He walked only 4.4% of opposing hitters, showcasing the plus control which evaluators had praised during his time as a prospect.

It’s not an overpowering profile. He averaged just 90.5 MPH with the sinker that serves as his primary offering. Despite the pedestrian velocity, Garrett has shown the ability to miss bats with his assortment of secondary pitches. He generated above-average whiff rates on each of his slider, cutter and changeup. The well-rounded arsenal allowed him to avoid significant platoon issues. Garrett’s strikeout and walk profile was better than average regardless of the opponent’s handedness. Right-handed hitters made more authoritative contact than southpaws, but neither side produced much overall.

Garrett’s development into a mid-rotation arm has taken on extra importance given other setbacks in the starting staff. Alcantara underwent Tommy John surgery in October, knocking him out of the mix for 2024. Rogers injured his left biceps and right (non-throwing shoulder), limiting him to four starts. Cabrera, a former top pitching prospect, has shown promising stuff but continues to issue plenty of free passes. The Cueto signing didn’t work.

Miami’s rotation was productive overall. Luzardo also took a step forward, while 20-year-old Eury Pérez posted a 3.15 ERA over 19 starts as a rookie. That the Fish turned to Garrett in the second game of their Wild Card series with the Phillies still hints at both the strength of his ’23 campaign and some of the hits Miami took above him on the season-opening depth chart.

Garrett has just under two years of major league service. He’ll surely qualify for early arbitration next offseason as a Super Two player but remains under club control for five additional seasons. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote in late November the Fish were receiving trade interest in their young starters but were likely to consider Garrett off limits. There’s no question of his place in the rotation heading into 2024.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Marlins’ Edward Cabrera, Trevor Rogers Drawing Trade Interest

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It wouldn’t be an offseason or trade deadline without the annual tradition of rumors regarding the Marlins’ collection of young starting pitchers. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes this morning that Miami has received interest in right-hander Edward Cabrera and lefty Trevor Rogers this winter, though there’s no indication a deal involving either has been seriously discussed.

Miami’s wealth of starting pitching has been the focus of other clubs for several years now, although the extent of that depth is probably overstated now. The Fish traded Pablo Lopez as part of their Luis Arraez acquisition and will be without 2022 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara in 2024 due to Tommy John surgery. Pitching prospect Jake Eder was traded at the deadline to acquire Jake Burger from the White Sox. Fellow prospects Max Meyer (2022 TJS), Dax Fulton (2023 elbow surgery) and Sixto Sanchez (shoulder surgeries in 2021, 2022) have all seen injuries slow their trajectories as well — particularly in the case of Sanchez.

Currently, the Marlins project to trot out a rotation including Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, Cabrera, Rogers and ballyhooed young right-hander Eury Perez. There’s no way the Marlins would move Perez, who entered 2023 as arguably the top pitching prospect in the sport and debuted as a 20-year-old with 19 starts of 3.15 ERA ball. Similarly, Rosenthal suggests that Luzardo and Garrett are likely considered off limits. Beyond that top quintet, the Marlins’ top in-house options are 27-year-old Bryan Hoeing and lefty Ryan Weathers, whom they acquired in a buy-low deal from the Padres over the summer.

The extent to which Cabrera or Rogers is available will depend on the strength of offers made by other clubs, as there’s no urgency for Miami to move either pitcher. Rogers, the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up, has three years of team control remaining. Cabrera has five. Rogers has had a pair of disappointing years since a brilliant rookie campaign, pitching to a 5.26 ERA in his past 125 frames (just 18 of which came in an injury-ruined 2023 season). Cabrera has been better but inconsistent while showing worrying command; he’s logged a 3.73 ERA and fanned 26.6% of his opponents in his past 171 1/3 innings but has also issued walks at a 13.7% clip in that time.

Between the greater amount of club control and the better recent track record (both in terms of health and performance), Cabrera has the greater trade value of the pair. He’ll likely be eligible for Super Two status next winter and thus be arbitration-eligible four times rather than three, but Rogers is already into his arb years and projected to earn a modest $1.5MM this coming season, via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

With their past trades and all of the injuries throughout the prospect ranks, the Marlins are no longer as deep as some may believe them to be. It’s still feasible that they could trade someone like Cabrera or Rogers in an effort to acquire help at another area of need like catcher, shortstop or center field (depending on the new front office’s plans for Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s defensive home). It’s a thin free-agent market for bats, after all, and the Marlins likely don’t have extensive financial flexibility anyhow.

That said, if new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix does deal from the rotation to address another need, it’d likely just create a hole on the starting staff that would need to be filled via free agency or a subsequent trade. The Marlins tried this last year when dealing Lopez and signing Johnny Cueto, but the results weren’t at all what the team had hoped, as Cueto posted a 6.02 ERA in 52 1/3 innings.

Marlins Looking To Add Starting Pitcher

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The Marlins pulled off one of the bigger moves of deadline season last night, acquiring back-end reliever David Robertson for a pair of promising low minors prospects. It’s the first of what is likely to be multiple additions for a Miami club that currently sits just outside the NL Wild Card picture.

Before the Robertson deal, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported that adding both a starter and a reliever were Miami’s top priorities. They moved quickly on the latter front but figure to explore the rotation market over the coming days.

It’s surprising to see the Fish looking for rotation help at first glance. For a few seasons, Miami has skewed rotation-heavy and been light on offense. As a result, the Marlins dealt Pablo López to Minnesota for Luis Arraez in an effort to balance the roster.

That said, the Marlins’ rotation has been more good than exceptional in 2023. They rank 11th in starting pitching ERA, allowing 4.11 earned runs per nine innings. They’re third in strikeout rate (25.4%), 11th in walks (7.5%) and third in grounder percentage (45.9%). Starting pitching certainly hasn’t been a weakness, but it hasn’t been quite as effective as last year’s group — which ranked eighth in ERA behind a Cy Young performance from Sandy Alcantara.

Some amount of regression was probably inevitable. The López trade subtracted arguably Miami’s second-best starter. The Marlins rearranged their infield, installing Arraez at second base to push Jazz Chisholm to the outfield. They signed Jean Segura to move to third and dealt away Miguel Rojas while moving Joey Wendle to shortstop. All those transactions were designed to add offense — and the Arraez trade in particular has achieved that — but come with the expected effect of reducing the defensive efficiency behind a ground-ball heavy pitching staff.

That’s among the reasons for Alcantara’s step back, although there are myriad factors whenever a pitcher’s ERA jumps more than two runs (from 2.28 to 4.46). They’re obviously not going to displace Alcantara from the rotation, but his relative down season magnifies some of the other challenges Miami has faced.

Trevor Rogers has been on the injured list since the middle of April; a partial tear in his non-throwing shoulder leaves him with an uncertain return timetable. Free agent pickup Johnny Cueto lost a couple months to injury and was knocked around on his minor league rehab stint. Miami broke him in as a reliever before moving him back into the rotation last weekend.

Top prospect Eury Pérez has had a brilliant start to his MLB career, but he’s back in the minors temporarily as the club keeps an eye on his workload. The 20-year-old has already set a personal high with 86 2/3 innings between Double-A and the majors this season. Bryan Hoeing has gotten six starts but allowed a 6.66 ERA in 24 1/3 frames over that stretch. He’s been much better in a multi-inning relief role.

There have also been signs of promise, of course. Jesús Luzardo has taken another step forward and looks like a #2 caliber starter. Braxton Garrett, who opened the season in the minors, has stepped up with a 4.32 ERA and above-average peripherals through 100 innings. Edward Cabrera is missing plenty of bats and racking up grounders, though he’s walking over 14% of opponents and has an ERA approaching 5.00.

Miami has plenty of high-upside arms who are capable of starting a playoff game if they play into October. They don’t need to shop at the top of the rotation market. There’s some sense in adding a stable back-end starter to ease the workload on some of Miami’s younger arms — in effect playing the role the Marlins envisioned from Cueto when they signed him in January.

While rotation help now seems to be the front office’s priority, Ng and her group will also certainly remain on the lookout for ways to add to the lineup. They’ve been loosely linked to Jeimer Candelario and Tim Anderson within the past week. Rosenthal writes that Miami made a run at first baseman Carlos Santana before the Pirates dealt him to Milwaukee. The Marlins should have a few irons in the fire over the next few days as a somewhat surprising entrant into the rotation market.

Marlins To Place Johnny Cueto, Joey Wendle On IL

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The Marlins have made a batch of roster moves, per their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Left-hander Braxton Garrett and infielder Garrett Hampson were recalled from the minors, while left-hander Daniel Castano had his contract selected. In corresponding moves, right-hander Johnny Cueto was placed on the 15-day injured list with right biceps tightness, infielder Joey Wendle was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right intercostal strain and right-hander Jeff Lindgren was designated for assignment. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported some of these moves earlier today (Twitter links).

Cueto, 37, signed a one-year, $8.5MM deal with the Marlins this offseason, with that deal containing a club option for 2024. The veteran had a strong bounceback in 2022 after struggling with injuries and underperformance in the preceding seasons. With the White Sox last year, he tossed 158 1/3 innings with a 3.35 ERA. He struck out just 15.7% of batters he faced but limited walks to a tiny 5.1% rate. He made his debut with the Marlins last night but departed after throwing just 30 pitches, having already allowed four runs while recording only three outs.

It’s unclear how long the club expects Cueto to be out of action but this IL placement indicates it will be at least a couple of weeks. In his absence, they should still have a strong front four of Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and Edward Cabrera. Garrett opened in the season in a long relief role but was optioned just yesterday. He’d normally have to wait 15 days before rejoining the team but an exception is made when someone is placed on the injured list. He will likely jump into the back of the rotation after posting a 3.58 ERA in 17 starts last year.

Lindgren, 26, was only just added to the roster yesterday. When Cueto departed with his injury, Lindgren stepped in and tossed five innings of emergency long relief, allowing four earned runs, four walks and three hits without recording a strikeout. The Fish will have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He tossed 136 2/3 innings in the minors last year with a 4.21 ERA, 20% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.

Since Lindgren tossed 80 pitches last night, he likely wouldn’t have been available for a few days. In his stead, Castano will likely take over the long man gig. The left-hander has thrown 85 2/3 innings for the Marlins over the previous three seasons, posting a 3.89 ERA despite a 12% strikeout rate. He’s kept his walks down to a 7.5% clip and gotten grounders on 44.5% of balls in play. He was designated for assignment in January when Cueto’s signing became official but cleared waivers and stuck with the organization, now getting his roster spot back. He tossed six innings in a Triple-A start on Friday and should be able to eat some innings if needed.

Wendle, 33 later this month, was bumped up to the club’s top shortstop option with this offseason’s trade of Miguel Rojas to the Dodgers. Wendle sat out last night’s game due to oblique soreness, which has now been diagnosed as a strain. It’s not known how long he is expected to be out but even mild oblique/intercostal strains can lead to weeks-long absences.

With Wendle on the shelf, the Fish will likely turn to Jon Berti and Hampson to cover the shortstop position. The latter had spent his entire career with the Rockies until he was non-tendered at the end of last season. The Marlins signed him to a minor league deal and then selected him to the 40-man in mid-March to prevent him from triggering an opt-out. Hampson has never hit much, posting a career batting line of .235/.296/.370 despite playing half his games at Coors Field. But he does have 52 stolen bases in 419 career games and the ability to play all over the field. He’s played the three infield positions to the left of first base as well as some time in center and left.

Marlins Select Jeff Lindgren

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The Marlins announced a few roster moves to reporters today, including Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base. Right-hander Jeff Lindgren has been selected to the club’s roster. Left-hander Braxton Garrett was optioned to open a spot on the active roster while right-hander Nic Enright was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Lindgren on the 40-man.

Lindgren, 26, was selected by the Fish in the 24th round of the 2019 draft. He made some appearances in the lower levels of the farm system that year, but then the minor leagues were canceled in 2020. In 2021, he tossed 106 Double-A innings with a 3.82 ERA. He split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 136 2/3 innings over 27 starts. He had a 4.21 ERA in that time, striking out 20% of batters faced while walking 9.1%. This is his first selection to a roster and he’ll be making his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Garrett is likely considered the club’s #6 starter, behind a top five of Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera, Johnny Cueto and Trevor Rogers. He opened the season as the long man in the bullpen and tossed three innings on Saturday. It’s possible the club would rather him be making starts in Triple-A so that he’s ready to jump back into the rotation whenever a need arises, with Lindgren taking over the long relief job.

Enright, 26, was selected from the Guardians in the Rule 5 draft. In February, he revealed that he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in December and has been undergoing treatment. The club hasn’t provided any updates on that situation, but his transfer to the 60-day IL means he will be ineligible to return until late May.

Latest On Marlins’ Rotation

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Even after trading Pablo López for Luis Arraez as part of their effort to overhaul the lineup, the Marlins go into 2023 with a strong group of starting pitchers. Defending Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara is followed by Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and offseason pickup Johnny Cueto. The fifth spot has at least been a bit up in the air, with each of Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera having a case for the job out of camp.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that Cabrera appears to have moved ahead of Garrett on the depth chart. Cabrera has had the edge with regards to Spring Training performance. He’s tossed five innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts and a pair of walks; Garrett, on the other hand, has been tagged for ten runs in 9 1/3 frames with seven punchouts, three walks and a hit batter.

There are certainly more important factors in the club’s decision than small-sample performances in exhibition games. One could argue Cabrera entered camp with the upper hand given his prospect status and higher-octane stuff. The right-hander worked to a 3.01 ERA over 14 starts last year, a solid rookie showing in spite of elbow tendinitis that resulted in a six-week injured list stint. Cabrera averaged north of 96 MPH on his fastball and generated swinging strikes on an excellent 13.3% of his total pitches. That power stuff had previously gotten him onto Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list each season from 2020-22.

The only area of concern for the 24-year-old Cabrera was some inconsistency in his strike-throwing. He walked an elevated 11.3% of batters faced, relying on an unsustainable 86.1% strand rate and .207 batting average on balls in play to keep his ERA around 3.00. Cabrera’s season was overwhelmingly positive overall, though, and the organization no doubt anticipates him pitching alongside Alcantara and Luzardo towards the top of the staff for years to come.

Garrett, 25, is a former seventh overall pick and top prospect in his own right. His stock had dimmed a bit in recent years thanks to inconsistent minor league performances. Garrett had a quietly strong 2022 campaign, though, posting a 3.15 ERA in seven Triple-A starts. More impressively, he worked to a 3.58 ERA with better than average strikeout (24.1%), walk (6.4%) and ground-ball (47.8%) numbers in 17 big league outings. Garrett’s 11.8% swinging strike percentage was solid despite a pedestrian 91.4 MPH average fastball.

Both Cabrera and Garrett figure to get into the Miami rotation throughout the season, as virtually no team goes through a 162-game schedule without any injuries. It’d seem Cabrera is trending towards first crack, with Jackson suggesting that Miami is likelier to option Garrett to Triple-A Jacksonville than have him start the season in long relief at the MLB level. The Alabama native has one minor league option year remaining, as does Cabrera.

Marlins Designate Aneurys Zabala For Assignment

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Between games of today’s doubleheader against the Rangers, the Marlins designated reliever Aneurys Zabala for assignment, tweets Daniel Álvarez Montes of El Extrabase. The move clears space on the active roster for lefty Braxton Garrett, who has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list to take the ball in game two. Miami’s 40-man roster tally falls to 39.

It’s an incredibly quick turnaround for Zabala, whose contract was just selected this afternoon. He was in the bullpen for the first game of the twin bill but didn’t make an appearance in a 3-2 loss. He now loses the roster spot he occupied for a few hours, although he’ll at least collect a major league salary for today and any time he spends in DFA limbo.

Zabala has been selected and designated for assignment on three separate occasions this year. He’s made only two MLB appearances — the first of his career — tossing 2 2/3 scoreless frames while averaging over 99 MPH on his heater. The 25-year-old has had a tough season in Triple-A Jacksonville, walking more than a quarter of batters faced en route to a 9.47 ERA through 19 innings. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, he’d have the right to refuse an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency, but he’s already foregone that possibility once this year.

Marlins To Place Braxton Garrett On Injured List, Select Bryan Hoeing

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Braxton Garrett was scheduled to start the Marlins’ game against the Dodgers tonight, but instead, the left-hander has been scratched and will be placed on the 15-day injured list, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link).  According to Garrett’s MLB.com profile page, he is suffering from a right oblique strain, and his IL placement is backdated to August 17.

The Marlins have selected the contract of right-hander Bryan Hoeing from Triple-A Jacksonville, and Hoeing will make his big league debut filling in for Garrett in a spot start.  To create room on the 40-man roster, right-hander Anthony Bender — who will undergo Tommy John surgery — has been moved to the 60-day injured list.

Garrett already missed a month of the Triple-A season due to a shoulder injury, and he’ll now face a possible early end to his 2022 season unless his oblique issue is a mild strain.  The quick IL placement might not necessarily be a sign of how severe the injury could be, as even minor oblique problems usually require at least a minimal IL stint, and the Marlins had to create roster space on short notice to add Hoeing to the club.

This is Garrett’s third MLB season, as he was up for a two-game cup of coffee in 2020 and then pitched in eight games (34 innings) in 2021 while being frequently shuttled back and forth from the minors.  Since being called up in early June, this has been Garrett’s most extended stretch in the Show, and he has delivered a 3.67 ERA and an above-average walk (5.9%) and strikeout (24.5%) rate over 13 starts and 68 2/3 innings.

Selected seventh overall in the 2016 draft, Garrett’s early potential was hampered by a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the entire 2018 season.  The left-hander then became a little overlooked amidst the many other up-and-coming arms in Miami’s farm system, though Garrett has kept himself with some solid numbers at Triple-A and now a good performance this season.  While injuries have thinned the Marlins’ pitching depth to some extent, Garrett has at least put himself in the conversation for a rotation spot in 2023, and he could yet add to his case if he is able to return from his oblique injury this year.

Hoeing now gets an unexpected opportunity to make his Major League debut in his third season of pro ball.  A seventh-round pick for the Marlins in the 2019 draft, Hoeing has a 4.55 ERA over 253 1/3 innings in the minors, including a 5.44 ERA over 84 1/3 frames of work for Triple-A Jacksonville this season.  The groundball specialist could very well be headed back to the minors after tonight’s emergency outing, yet Hoeing will get a chance to test himself against the elite competition of the Dodgers lineup.

Marlins Option Elieser Hernandez

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The Marlins have optioned right-hander Elieser Hernandez to Triple-A, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter). Hernandez has mostly pitched out of the rotation this season, making nine starts, though he also has a pair of relief outings to his name.

It was not long ago that Hernandez looked like a bedrock arm for the Marlins’ rotation, but the 27-year-old has been unable to keep the ball in the ballpark this season. He has surrendered a whopping 18 home runs in just 48 innings of work, leading to a 6.75 ERA/7.25 FIP. Hernandez has continued to control the zone in line with his career marks, posting a 47-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Hernandez tends to keep this ball in the air, but he’s done so this year more than usual with just a 30.0 percent groundball rate.

Though no corresponding move has been made yet, Braxton Garrett is expected to get the call-up tomorrow to step into Hernandez’s rotation spot, per MLB Network contributor Craig Mish (via Twitter). The 24-year-old southpaw has yet to appear in the Majors this season, but he has made 10 appearances (nine starts) over the past two seasons for Miami, compiling a 5.18 career ERA over 41 2/3 innings. Time will tell whether Garrett is able to hold onto a rotation spot in the long-term.

Marlins Outright Austin Pruitt

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AUGUST 10: Pruitt has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-Jacksonville, according to the MLB.com transactions tracker. As a player with more than three years of MLB service, Pruitt had the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Doing so would’ve meant forfeiting the remainder of his $617.5K salary, though, and he has indeed accepted an assignment to Jacksonville, where he made his first appearance this evening. If he’s not selected back to the 40-man roster before the end of the season, Pruitt will qualify for minor league free agency this winter.

AUGUST 5: The Marlins are designating right-hander Austin Pruitt for assignment in order to open a roster spot for lefty Braxton Garrett to be recalled from Triple-A, tweets Christina De Nicola of MLB.com.

It’s a bit of a surprise, given that Miami just acquired Pruitt alongside outfield prospect Bryan De La Cruz in the trade that sent right-hander Yimi Garcia to Houston. Then again, Pruitt himself was in DFA limbo at the time of that swap, having recently been designated by the Astros. It was clear at the time that De La Cruz was Miami’s target in that swap, and today’s move only further underscores that reality.

Pruitt, 31, did appear in one game with the Marlins and toss a scoreless inning. He’s pitched just 3 2/3 innings so far in 2021, allowing a pair of runs on four hits with no walks and a strikeout in that short time. That marks Pruitt’s first action since the 2019 season; he missed all of the 2020 campaign with an elbow fracture that required surgical repair — a procedure that also sidelined him well into the 2021 season.

Prior to that injury, Pruitt had spent parts of three seasons with the Rays, working to a 4.87 ERA and 4.28 FIP in 199 2/3 frames. Pruitt didn’t miss tons bats in that time (17.2 percent strikeout rate, 9.9 percent swinging-strike rate), but he excelled at keeping the ball on the ground, inducing weak contact and limiting walks. Pruitt’s 5.8 percent walk rate in that three-year stretch was considerably better than the league average, and he also posted a healthy 48.9 percent grounder rate while getting opponents to chase out of the strike zone at a hearty 34.2 percent clip. Those traits, plus elite spin rates on his curveball, all surely appealed to Houston when trading for Pruitt in the 2019-20 offseason.

With the deadline to trade big league players behind us, Pruitt will be placed on either outright waivers or release waivers. Any of the other 29 teams will have the opportunity to claim.

Garrett, the No. 7 overall draft pick in 2016, returns to the Majors on his 24th birthday. He’s tossed 22 1/3 innings for Miami already this season, working to a 4.37 ERA with a below-average 20.2 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate.

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