Mariners Recall Robinson Ortiz, Select Brennen Davis
The Mariners announced several roster moves today. Infielder Patrick Wisdom has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and left-hander Robinson Ortiz has been recalled from Triple-A. The lefty will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. To open spots for those two, Seattle optioned right-hander Domingo González and infielder Leo Rivas. Additionally, the Mariners selected outfielder Brennen Davis to the 40-man roster and optioned him to Triple-A. The 40-man had a vacancy but is now full with Davis taking the open spot.
Ortiz, 26, was just acquired from the Dodgers in an offseason trade. As a minor leaguer, he has missed significant time due to injuries. When healthy, he has been able to get batters out but has also flashed control issues.
That has been the case in his first season with the M’s so far. He has thrown 16 Triple-A innings, allowing 1.69 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 26.1% of the batters he has faced and induced grounders on half the balls in play he has allowed but has also given out walks at a massive 17.4% clip. If it weren’t for a .211 batting average on balls in play and no fly balls clearing the fence, he surely would have suffered far worse results.
He has mostly been a fastball-slider guy this year, throwing those two pitches almost 90% of the time. His cutter has made up the rest of his offerings. The four-seamer is averaging 94.4 miles per hour this year with the slider at 83.9 mph.
It’s possible the the Mariners wanted to get a fresh arm onto the roster. They have been utilizing a six-man rotation lately, leaving them with only seven relievers. González has been heavily used recently, with four appearances in the past six days, including the two most recent contests. If González was going to be unavailable for a day or two, that would drop the Mariners to only six available relievers. Instead, they have swapped in Ortiz, who will make his major league debut as soon as soon as he gets the call.
As for Davis, it was reported that he had an assignment clause in his minor league deal last week. If triggered, he would have to be offered up to the other 29 clubs in the league. If any one of them were willing to give him a 40-man spot, the Mariners would have to either trade him or give him a 40-man spot themselves.
It didn’t seem like the M’s wanted to let him get away. “I don’t see a scenario where we don’t keep him in our organization,” general manager Justin Hollander said. “He’s a right-handed bat with power and there aren’t a ton of them available.” Based on this move, it appears that Davis triggered his clause and had at least one club out there willing to roster him. The Mariners then used their open roster spot to prevent him from getting away, though Davis is being kept in the minors for now.
A former top prospect with the Cubs, injuries wiped out a huge chunk of his 2022 to 2025 seasons. He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Mariners coming into 2026. He has been crushing it in Triple-A so far this year, putting up a massive .281/.394/.548 line. Between that performance and his former prospect pedigree, the M’s have deemed him worthy of a roster spot.
In the big leagues, Seattle is sticking with the existing outfield mix, which consists of Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, Rob Refsnyder and Connor Joe. Davis can perhaps get called up if an injury arises but will keep getting reps in the minors for now.
Davis has one option remaining. Once he spends 20 days on optional assignment, that will make this his final option season. If he still has a roster spot going into next year, it’s possible there’s a greater path to playing time as Arozarena and Refsnyder are impending free agents and Joe is a potential non-tender candidate. It’s also possible that Davis gets squeezed off the roster at some point and ends up finding a better path to a big league opportunity via a trade or the waiver wire.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Brennen Davis Has Assignment Clause In Deal With Mariners
Outfielder Brennen Davis is with the Mariners on a minor league deal. As part of that deal, he has an assignment clause today, per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. If he triggers the clause, he will be offered up to all the teams in the leagues. If any club is willing to give him a roster spot, the Mariners would have to either add him to their own roster or send him away to another club that would. Divish notes that Davis also has an August 1st opt-out.
It seems like Davis has a decent chance of getting a roster spot in the coming days. He is crushing the ball with Triple-A Tacoma, currently sporting a .293/.404/.569 line. Even in the context of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, that performance leads to a 145 wRC+, indicating Davis has been 45% better than league average. He has eight home runs in 151 plate appearances and is drawing walks at a strong 12.6% clip.
Those numbers will surely draw the attention of some clubs around the league but it doesn’t seem like the Mariners will let let him get away. “I don’t see a scenario where we don’t keep him in our organization,” general manager Justin Hollander said to Divish. “He’s a right-handed bat with power and there aren’t a ton of them available.”
The Mariners are surely not just making this call based on his 33-game sample this year. Many years ago, Davis was one of the top prospects in the sport. He was a second-round pick of the Cubs in 2018 and hit his way up to the top minor league level in 2021. Baseball America ranked him the #16 prospect in the league going into 2022.
Injuries derailed his progress from there. As Divish notes in his column, it was initially thought that Davis had a herniated disc in his back in 2022, but surgery found a cluster of blood vessels pushing against his sciatic nerve. Subsequent seasons saw him deal with a core muscle strain, a stress reaction in his back and a broken ankle. Around those injuries, he only played 229 minor league games in the four years from 2022 to 2025, producing a .215/.329/.404 line in that time.
The Cubs added Davis to their 40-man roster in November of 2022, to prevent him from being available in the Rule 5 draft. He never got called up to the majors, apart from a stint on the injured list in 2024. Davis got a few days of big league service from that but didn’t get to appear in a game. He was designated for assignment after that 2024 season and then non-tendered. He spent 2025 with the Yankees on a minor league deal while still recovering from ankle surgery in 2024. He returned but then missed more time due to a crash into an outfield wall, per Divish.
It’s been quite an odyssey but Davis now seems to finally be both healthy and performing up to his abilities. Based on his numbers and the comments from Hollander, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s added to the 40-man soon. There may not be playing time available in Seattle immediately, as they have Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, Rob Refsnyder and Connor Joe in their outfield mix.
Davis burned two options while on the Cubs’ roster in 2023 and 2024 but still has one remaining. That means the Mariners could give him a 40-man spot and keep him in Tacoma for the time being, unless they want to bump someone else off the active roster.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Mariners Sign Brennen Davis To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have signed outfielder Brennen Davis to a minor league deal, as reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The deal includes an invite to MLB Spring Training.
Once a consensus top-20 prospect in baseball, the 26-year-old Davis has yet to make his MLB debut. A second-round pick by the Cubs back in 2018, Davis broke out at the age of 19 in 2019 with a with a .305/.381/.525 slash line in 50 games at the Single-A level. Following the cancelled minor league season in 2020, Davis got the bump to High-A to start the 2021 season but lasted just eight games at the level before being promoted to Double-A. After hitting a solid .252/.367/.474 for the Cubs’ Tennessee affiliate in 76 games, Davis got his second promotion of the year with a late-season cup of coffee at Triple-A, where he impressed with a .268/.397/.536 slash line in 16 games.
All of that was enough to position Davis as one of the game’s most exciting prospects, and he seemed poised to make his MLB debut during the 2022 season as the Cubs began a rebuilding phase following their fire sale the prior year that shipped out core players like Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez. Unfortunately for Davis, however, those dreams of an early debut were scuttled when he struggled badly in the early weeks of the season before undergoing back surgery in early May of that year. While he returned before the end of the year from that surgery and posted solid on-base numbers, a lack of power kept him from earning a coveted September call-up.
By 2023, the Cubs were once again trying to make the playoffs and had a mostly full outfield thanks to the offseason addition of Cody Bellinger. That made Davis’s path to the big leagues a bit harder, and he was unable to force the issue due to continued injury woes. Core surgery and a fractured ankle limited him over the next two seasons, and even when he did play the field results at Triple-A were mixed. That led Chicago to non-tender Davis last November, cutting him from the 40-man roster and sending him into free agency.
He found a minor league pact with the Yankees this past year. He didn’t debut with his new organization until late May as he rehabbed the aforementioned fractured ankle, and suffered another injury over the summer that caused him to miss two months. In all, he made it into just 36 games with New York’s Triple-A affiliate, but when he did so he raked with an excellent .271/.324/.576 slash line including 12 home runs in just 142 trips to the plate.
While injuries have led him to stop stealing bases as he had when he was a top prospect vaunted for his speed, the 26-year-old still offers intriguing power and could be an impactful addition to the Mariners organization if he can finally remain healthy for a full season for the first time in half a decade. Seattle’s outfield mix currently features Julio Rodriguez in center, flanked by Randy Arozarena and Victor Robles in the corners. If Davis can prove himself healthy and remain as effective as he’s looking in short bursts the past two years, it wouldn’t be hard to see him pushing for a call-up to the majors at some point this year.
Yankees Sign Brennen Davis To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have signed outfielder Brennen Davis to a minor league deal, as reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. It’s not clear whether or not the deal includes an invite to big league Spring Training.
Davis, 25, has not yet made his big league debut but was a consensus top-100 prospect for many years. A second-round pick by the Cubs in 2018, Davis broke out at the age of 19 in 2019 with a with a .305/.381/.525 slash line in 50 games at the Single-A level. Following the cancelled minor league season in 2020, Davis got the bump to High-A to start the 2021 season but lasted just eight games at the level before being promoted to Double-A. After hitting a solid .252/.367/.474 for the Cubs’ Tennessee affiliate in 76 games, Davis got his second promotion of the year with a late-season cup of coffee at Triple-A, where he impressed with a .268/.397/.536 slash line in 16 games.
After dominating at every level of the minors during his age-21 season, Davis became a consensus top-20 prospect in the sport and appeared to be on the verge of a Wrigley Field debut. Unfortunately, 2022 was not kind to the youngster as he struggled badly in 22 games at the Triple-A level before undergoing back surgery in May. He made it back to the club’s Iowa affiliate in September for the stretch run and managed a .361 on-base percentage down the stretch but hit just .188 and struggled to hit for power. Even after that disastrous 2022 campaign, Davis was still a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport and appeared poised for a rebound in 2023.
Unfortunately, that rebound never came. Davis’s 2023 and 2024 seasons have been just as injury plagued as 2022 as he contended first with core surgery and then a fractured ankle. The outfielder’s brutal 2023 numbers (.187/.296/.279 in 62 games at Triple-A) were enough to knock him off every top-100 prospect list, but he did manage to post strong numbers at Triple-A when healthy this season. In 47 games at Triple-A this year, Davis slashed .214/.359/.469 with 11 home runs in just 145 trips to the plate and a 12.7% walk rate, though his batting average was held down by a paltry .213 BABIP.
After years of injury struggles and given the club’s incredibly crowded outfield mix, the Cubs decided last month that they could no longer afford to use a 40-man roster spot on Davis and non-tendered him. That led to him hitting minor league free agency, and he’s now caught on with the Yankees. For New York, the youngster represents a low-risk, high-reward flier who if healthy could potentially contribute to the club’s big league outfield as soon as this year. Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are currently locked into two of the club’s three outfield spots, but if Davis can stay healthy and prove his strong power and discipline numbers from 2024 were a return to form it’s not hard to imagine him vying for playing time alongside fellow youngsters Jasson Dominguez and Everson Pereira, the latter of whom is currently rehabbing from elbow surgery he underwent last summer.
National League Non-Tenders: 11/22/24
The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on National League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.
Onto the transactions…
- The Braves non-tendered outfielder Ramón Laureano, left-hander Ray Kerr, as well as right-handers Griffin Canning, Huascar Ynoa and Royber Salinas, which you can read more about here.
- The Brewers parted ways with lefty reliever Hoby Milner, who’d been projected at $2.7MM for his final arbitration season. The typically reliable southpaw was tagged for a 4.73 ERA in 64 2/3 innings this year.
- The Cardinals have non-tendered right-hander Adam Kloffenstein, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat (Bluesky link). The righty only just made his major league debut in 2024 and was not yet arb-eligible. He immediately becomes a free agent without being exposed to waivers.
- The Cubs have non-tendered infielder Nick Madrigal, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN (X link). Madrigal has hit .251/.304/.312 for a 76 wRC+ over the last three seasons with the Cubs and was projected for a $1.9MM salary next year. Chicago also announced they non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, which comes as a bit of a surprise after he reached base at a .357 clip this year. Patrick Wisdom, Adbert Alzolay, Brennen Davis and Trey Wingenter — all of whom were designated for assignment earlier this week — were also dropped.
- The Diamondbacks non-tendered lefty reliever Brandon Hughes, per a club announcement. The 28-year-old southpaw allowed 16 runs over 17 2/3 big league innings this year. He wasn’t eligible for arbitration but would’ve occupied a 40-man roster spot if offered a contract.
- The Dodgers are non-tendering right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. and left-hander Zach Logue, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (X link). Both pitchers are still in their pre-arbitration years, so this was more about the Dodgers sending them to free agency without exposing them to waivers, as opposed to cost cutting. Perhaps the club will look to re-sign them on minor league deals.
- The Giants only made two non-tenders, parting with lefty Ethan Small and righty Kai-Wei Teng. Teng had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Small, who was in his pre-arbitration years, spent the season in the minors or on the injured list.
- The Marlins had zero non-tenders. They offered contracts to everyone on the 40-man roster.
- The Mets dropped a trio of players from the 40-man roster: relievers Grant Hartwig and Alex Young and outfield prospect Alex Ramirez. Young was the only member of that group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The southpaw pitched well in a depth role, but the Mets didn’t want to keep him around at a $1.4MM projection. Hartwig made four appearances this year, while the 21-year-old Ramirez (a former top prospect) had a .210/.291/.299 showing in Double-A.
- The Nationals announced that they have non-tendered right-hander Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey, which you can read more about here.
- The Padres dropped four players from the roster: righties Luis Patino and Logan Gillaspie, outfielder Bryce Johnson and infielder Mason McCoy. Patino, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer, was the only member of the group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The other three cuts are simply about roster maintenance. The Padres could try to bring anyone from that group back on minor league deals.
- The Phillies will not be tendering a contract to outfielder Austin Hays, which MLBTR covered earlier today.
- The Pirates are expected to non-tender first baseman/outfielder Connor Joe and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, per Alex Stumpf of MLB.com (Bluesky link). They are also non-tendering right-hander Hunter Stratton, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). Joe was projected for a salary of $3.2MM next year and De La Cruz $4MM. Stratton had not yet qualified for arbitration. Joe has been around league average at the plate in his career but doing more damage against lefties. De La Cruz has hit .253/.297/.407 in his career for a wRC+ of 90. Startton had a 3.58 ERA this year but his season was ended by knee surgery, giving him an uncertain path forward.
- The Reds have non-tendered right-hander Ian Gibaut, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Bluesky link). The righty was projected for a salary of $800K. He spent the vast majority of 2024 on the injured list due to arm trouble and only made two appearances on the season.
- The Rockies moved on from starter Cal Quantrill and second baseman Brendan Rodgers, which MLBTR covered here.
Cubs Designate Brennen Davis, Adbert Alzolay For Assignment
The Cubs made a series of roster moves ahead of today’s deadline for protecting players from the Rule 5 draft. Per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X, the club has selected outfielder Owen Caissie and infielder Ben Cowles. To open roster spots for those two, outfielder Brennen Davis and right-hander Adbert Alzolay have been designated for assignment. It was reported earlier today that Alzolay was likely to be DFA’d. Kiley McDaniel reported on Caissie and Cowles (X links) prior to the full slate of moves being revealed.
Davis, 25, was once one of the top prospects in baseball. A second-round pick of the Cubs in 2018, he tore through the minors and Baseball America ranked him the #16 prospect in the league going into 2022. He had slashed .260/.375/.494 across High-A, Double-A and Triple-A in 2021 for a 140 wRC+ and seemed to be on the cusp of an exciting debut.
Unfortunately, his stock has fallen since then and he still hasn’t cracked the majors. He required back surgery in the middle of 2022, which was followed by core surgery in 2023 and then a fractured ankle in 2024. Through those ailments, he has only played 179 games over the past three years, slashing a paltry .200/.319/.345 while on the field.
The Cubs added him to their 40-man roster two years ago, to keep him out of the 2022 Rule 5 draft, but the ongoing injury woes have nudged him off the roster. They will now have a week to figure out what’s next, whether that’s a trade or putting him on waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so a trade would have to come together in the next five days. He does still have one option year remaining, so perhaps some club would be interested in taking a flier on him to see if he can stay healthy and get back on track.
Caissie, 22, is now in the position Davis was in a few years ago. A second-round pick from 2020, he is now ranked as one of the top 100 prospects in the league. He has slashed .278/.383/.470 over the past four years for a 129 wRC+. Given his prospect status and the fact that he has already played a full season at the Triple-A level, he is one of the most obvious roster additions of today.
His path to the big league club isn’t clear right now, as the Cubs have Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cody Bellinger, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Mike Tauchman all in the mix for playing time in the outfield and the designated hitter slot. Perhaps an offseason move will change that picture or an injury will open some playing time, though time will tell on that.
Cowles, 25 in February, was a Yankee prospect until coming over to the Cubs a few months ago in the deadline deal that sent Mark Leiter Jr. to the Bronx. He produced a .077/.294/.077 line after that trade but the Cubs will be banking on what he did beforehand. He slashed .294/.376/.472 in 88 Double-A games before switching clubs, also stealing 14 bases while playing the three infield spots to the left of first base. He’ll give the Cubs some depth around the dirt but has just three games of Triple-A experience, so might be ticketed for more time on the farm.
Cubs Claim Jimmy Herget Off Waivers From Braves
The Cubs have claimed right-handed pitcher Jimmy Herget off waivers from the Braves, (per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). He has been optioned to the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. To make room for Herget on the 40-man roster, Chicago recalled Brennen Davis from Iowa and placed him on the 60-day injured list. The young outfielder suffered a fractured ankle earlier this week.
The Braves designated Herget for assignment on Wednesday to make room for Cavan Biggio on the 40-man roster. The 31-year-old right-hander had appeared in eight games for Atlanta this season, tossing 12 1/3 low-leverage innings with a 4.38 ERA and 3.13 SIERA. He also pitched to a 3.06 ERA and 2.95 FIP over 17 2/3 innings with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett.
Herget has also pitched for the Reds, Rangers, and Angels throughout his six-year MLB tenure, with a career 3.54 ERA across 129 appearances. His best season came with the Angels in 2022; he threw 69 innings with nine saves, six holds, a 2.48 ERA, and a 3.26 SIERA. Unfortunately, he struggled the following year, putting up a 4.66 ERA and 4.33 SIERA over 29 innings, prompting the Angels to option him several times throughout the season. He did not make the Opening Day roster in 2024, and the Angels would DFA him before the end of April and trade him to the Braves in early May.
The journeyman reliever will now have a brief opportunity to prove himself to his new organization before the end of the season. The Iowa Cubs have eight games remaining after today, while the Cubs will have 15 games left on the calendar following their matchup with the Rockies tonight. Herget will be eligible for arbitration this winter and out options in 2025, making him a likely non-tender candidate if he fails to make a strong first impression on the Cubs.
Davis, 24, was selected to the 40-man roster during the 2022-23 offseason but has yet to make an appearance in an MLB game. The young outfielder had an .828 OPS and a 116 wRC+ in 47 games at Triple-A this season. Unfortunately, this is his third time landing on the injured list in 2024. Davis was a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball as recently as 2022, but injuries and poor performance in 2022 and ’23 have raised serious questions about his major league future.
Cubs Add Four Players To 40-Man Roster
The Cubs have added four players to their roster in advance of the Rule 5 protection deadline: outfielders Brennen Davis and Kevin Alcantara, as well as right-handers Ben Brown and Ryan Jensen.
Davis, 23, rated as the Cubs’ top prospect heading into the season and projected to make his MLB debut this year as the team’s regular center fielder. Prior to the season, Baseball America ranked him as the 16th best prospect in baseball. Instead, Davis hit the IL in May with what The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney later called “mysterious sciatic pain,” which required back surgery in June and knocked him out for more than three months. The Cubs had Davis participating in the Arizona Fall League, but had to pull him due to back tightness. Cubs vice president of player development Jared Banner recently told reporters including Mooney that Davis is expected to be ready for spring training. Regardless, the Cubs figure to be in the market for short-term help in center after primarily using Christopher Morel and Rafael Ortega at the position in 2022.
Alcantara, 20, was the main prize in the deal sending Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees last summer. Perhaps his successful season in Low-A can help soften the blow for Cubs fans on a day that Rizzo re-upped with the Yankees for at least two more years. MLB.com currently rates Alcantara as the Cubs’ third-best prospect, with 55 grades for most of his tools. Baseball America says he has “as much upside as anyone in the Cubs system.” Look for him to start 2023 in High-A.
Brown, 23, was drafted by the Phillies in the 33rd round out of high school back in 2017. The Cubs flipped veteran reliever David Robertson to the Phillies at the trade deadline this year to add Brown to their system. Brown had a 35.4 K% in High-A for the Phillies, and held strong at 32.1% in Double-A for the Cubs. At the time, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said, “Brown is probably the one that hurt the most. We like him a lot, but you can’t protect everybody.” The Cubs reportedly aim to have him add a new pitch this winter. If Brown succeeds at the upper levels of the minors next year, he could see big league time.
Jensen, 24, was the Cubs’ first round pick in 2019 under the Theo Epstein regime. He struggled mightily with his control in 17 Double-A starts this year. After walking over 18% of batters faced over his first five starts, the Cubs “recommended to him the best course of action was to make some changes to his arm action down in Arizona,” according to Banner. After that time away from the Smokies on the “development list,” Jensen came back and still walked over 13% of hitters. As Mooney and Sahadev Sharma put it, “the command improved enough for the Cubs to protect Jensen and his electric arsenal.”
Cubs Injury Notes: Canario, Davis, Amaya
Cubs outfield prospect Alexander Canario suffered a badly fractured ankle and a dislocated shoulder during a Dominican Winter League game on Thursday, according to multiple sources (including reporter Arturo Bisono). While trying to beat out a grounder, Canario awkwardly stepped on the bag and then fell to the ground in obvious pain.
It would seem like Canario will face a substantial amount of recovery time, though no timeline has yet been announced by the Cubs. This is the second notable shoulder injury of Canario’s short career, as he also had surgery to fix a torn labrum in November 2020. Between the canceled 2020 minor league season and then the recovery from his surgery, it isn’t surprising that Canario had modest numbers in 2021, playing with both the Giants’ A-ball affiliate and the Cubs’ high-A team.
Acquired from San Francisco as part of the Kris Bryant trade in 2021, the 22-year-old Canario hit .252/.343/.556 with 37 homers and 23 steals (from 26 chances) over 534 combined plate appearances at the high-A, Double-A, and Triple-A levels last season. This excellent performance sent Canario within the top 10 of Chicago prospects, as per both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. It also put Canario on the radar of several rival teams scouting the Cubs as possible trade partners, according to The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, but Canario’s status as a trade chip or as a possible difference-maker in Wrigleyville is now on hold until his recovers.
Brennen Davis has also been sidelined by injury, as lower back tightness limited him to just five games in the Arizona Fall League before the Cubs shut him down. Sharma writes that the club hadn’t determined the nature of this new injury, but it doesn’t seem similar to the problem (a vascular formation on his sciatic nerve) that required Davis to undergo back surgery in June.
A consensus pick as Chicago’s second-best prospect and a top-50 prospect in all of baseball, Davis has hit .255/.363/.444 over 906 professional PA since being selected in the second round of the 2018 draft. Multiple injuries have slowed Davis’ progress, as beyond his back surgery, Davis has also had to recover from a concussion and broken nose (after being hit by a pitch during Spring Training), as well as finger injuries in 2019.
Despite all these setbacks, Davis was still moving up the minor league ladder and playing well, before his back problems led to a down year in 2022 and a probable promotion to the majors. Sharma notes that the Cubs are still expected to place Davis on the 40-man roster this winter, since even with the back concerns, he would surely be taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
Miguel Amaya was placed on the 40-man back in November 2019, yet the catching prospect has barely played in the following three years. Beyond the canceled 2020 minors season, Amaya was limited to 23 games in 2021 and then 40 games in 2022 due largely to a forearm strain that resulted in Tommy John surgery. Once Amaya made it back this season, he was limited to DH duty, and then his path back to catching was halted when he suffered a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot in mid-September.
“My offseason focus is to be the best version of me for 2023, and whatever happens, happens,” Amaya told Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Sun-Times. “I just want to be healthy to show everyone who Miguel Amaya is and just have fun and play the baseball I know.”
Amaya has been limited to shoulder and elbow exercises while his foot heals, and while he hasn’t much recent contact with Willson Contreras, Amaya also cited the veteran catcher as an important mentor during his development. In theory, Amaya might’ve already established himself as Contreras’ replacement if healthy, as Contreras is headed into free agency this winter. A top-100 prospect prior to his Tommy John surgery, Amaya might be a factor for the big league roster later in 2023, though he has only 51 games at the Double-A level and nothing in Triple-A.
NL Central Notes: Helsley, Adames, Pirates, Davis
Ryan Helsley won’t pitch in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series today, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat). The decision is related to workload rather than a physical setback, as while Helsley left yesterday’s game with numbness in his right fingers. The issue contributed to a nightmarish breakdown, as Helsley was charged with four of the six runs the Cards surrendered in the ninth inning of the 6-3 loss to the Phillies.
An MRI didn’t reveal any damage, and Helsley told Jones and other media members that he’ll try to stimulate more blood flow in his fingers via laser therapy. The right-hander said he doesn’t have much feel (particularly on breaking pitches) as the ball is leaving his hand. With this is mind, it’s fair to consider Helsley as a question mark for Game 3, if St. Louis is able to extend the series tonight.
Here’s some more from around the NL Central…
- “I love it here, I feel good here, I feel comfortable here and I wish I could stay here the rest of my career,” Willy Adames told Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters about his time with the Brewers. Adames is arbitration-controlled through the 2024 season, and given the Brewers’ payroll limitations, it remain to be seen how many (if any) of such notables as Adames, Corbin Burnes, or Brandon Woodruff could be possible extension candidates. “At the end of the day, [the Brewers] have to put everything together and see if we can work something out. Hopefully we can, and we can make it happen. But I’m always willing to hear what they have to say,” Adames said. Possibly impacted by a high ankle sprain that sidelined him in May and early June, Adames hit .238/.298/.458 over 617 plate appearances, though that still translated to a 109 wRC+, and the shortstop also hit 31 homers.
- Pirates manager Derek Shelton cited first base and catcher as “areas of need” in the offseason, telling Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and other reporters that “I do think we’ll continue to look to solidify those positions….We’re just going to have to see what’s available, how we acquire guys to fill that.” Roberto Perez may be a candidate to be re-signed, though the veteran backstop played only 21 games before undergoing hamstring surgery, and Perez was one of a whopping eight catchers who saw time behind the plate for the Pirates in 2022. First base was also a revolving door with 10 players getting time at the cold corner, and Michael Chavis (who had the bulk of the playing time) was already outrighted off the active roster, with Chavis electing free agency. As always, it’s hard to imagine the Pirates spending big on upgrades at either position, as the team continues to rebuild.
- Brennen Davis was limited to 53 games in 2022 due to back surgery, and the star Cubs prospect reflected on his difficult year and somewhat unusual injury with The Chicago Sun-Times’ Maddie Lee. Initially diagnosed as a herniated disc, Davis’ issue was actually a vascular malformation that was causing pain due to pressure on his sciatic nerve. While it may take time for Davis to fully recover his power stroke, both the outfielder and Triple-A hitting coach Desi Wilson feel the situation might actually help Davis’ overall hitting approach. “Having to grind for my hits. I can’t just go out there and muscle one out,” Davis said. “I have to square baseballs up and hit them the right way, with true backspin and stuff like that, and pick pitches that I can do damage on.” Davis has returned to action in the Arizona Fall League, and he is hopeful of making his MLB debut in 2023 — since Davis had already hit well during a brief Triple-A stint in 2021, he likely would’ve already appeared in the majors this year had he stayed healthy.