Rockies Sign Chad Stevens To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have signed infielder Chad Stevens to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque for now but could receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Stevens, 27 in February, got to make a very brief major league debut this year. The Angels added him to their 40-man roster in the summer. He got into five games and stepped to the plate 14 times. He notched two singles, the first of which came against future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer, but also struck out seven times. He was outrighted off the 40-man in September and became a free agent at season’s end.
The Rockies are surely looking at his minor league track record, which is greater in both quality and quantity than that major league action. He made 981 plate appearances in the minors over the past two years with a .281/.354/.459 batting line. That translated to a 110 wRC+, indicating he was 10% better than league average. He also stole 28 bases in 37 attempts and bounced around the field. He spent just nine innings at first base but had loads of time at the other three infield positions, as well as a handful of games in both outfield corners.
Colorado has plenty of uncertainty on its roster, as one would expect for a team which just lost 119 games. There are a few guys who seem like lineup locks right now but even those guys might end up traded, depending on what the club plans to do this offseason. Since Stevens can play so many different positions, he’ll have various paths back to the big leagues. Statcast also ranked his sprint speed in the 81st percentile during his brief time in the big leagues, so he could also be attractive as a utility guy who can pinch run.
If he makes it back to the show, he still has options, meaning the Rockies can send him to Triple-A and back relatively freely. He also has just five days of big league service time, meaning he’s years away from qualifying for arbitration and is therefore very affordable.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Players Entering Minor League Free Agency
Major League free agents became eligible to sign with other teams on Thursday, but the minor league free agent market has technically been open since season’s end. MLBTR has published several posts detailing players who had already elected to become minor free agents, but Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (multiple links) has the full account of all the minor league free agents that officially joined their big league counterparts on the open market on Thursday.
This list details only players who have played in the Major Leagues, and whose minor league free agency hasn’t already been covered on MLBTR in the last month.
Athletics: Aaron Brooks, Carlos Duran, CD Pelham, Bryan Lavastida, Nick Martini, Alejo Lopez
Braves: Ian Anderson, Davis Daniel, Enoli Paredes, Amos Willingham, Brian Moran, Jonathan Ornelas, Chandler Seagle, Matthew Batten, Conner Capel
Orioles: Jakson Reetz, Livan Soto, Thaddeus Ward
Red Sox: John Brebbia, Isaiah Campbell, Mark Kolozsvary, Chadwick Tromp, Seby Zavala, Trayce Thompson
Cubs: Yency Almonte, Zach Pop, Caleb Kilian, Austin Gomber, Forrest Wall, Billy Hamilton, Joe Ross, Tommy Romero, Antonio Santos, Tom Cosgrove, Dixon Machado, Nicky Lopez, Carlos Perez
White Sox: Elvis Peguero, Kyle Tyler, Vinny Capra, Chris Rodriguez, Caleb Freeman, Joe Perez, Owen White, Andre Lipcius
Reds: Tejay Antone, Alan Busenitz, Buck Farmer, Josh Staumont, P.J. Higgins, Eric Yang, Levi Jordan, Edwin Rios, Davis Wendzel, Evan Kravetz, Adam Plutko, Charlie Barnes, Alex Young
Guardians: Riley Pint, Tyler Naquin, Parker Mushinski
Rockies: Xzavion Curry, Sean Bouchard, Owen Miller, Karl Kauffmann,
Tigers: Kevin Newman, Brian Serven, Jordan Balazovic, Nick Margevicius, Blair Calvo
Astros: Jon Singleton, Joe Hudson, Kenedy Corona, Greg Jones, Matt Bowman, Luis Contreras, Tyler Ivey, John Rooney
Royals: John Gant, Spencer Turnbull, Bobby Dalbec, Diego Castillo, Geoff Hartlieb, Jordan Groshans, Nick Pratto, Isan Diaz, Stephen Nogosek, Nick Robertson, Joey Krehbiel, Noah Murdock, Ryan Hendrix
Angels: Shaun Anderson, Brandon Drury, Yolmer Sanchez, Ben Gamel, Evan White, Cavan Biggio, Logan Davidson, Travis Blankenhorn, Oscar Colas, Kelvin Caceres, Dakota Hudson, Chad Stevens, Angel Felipe, Jordan Holloway, Victor Gonzalez
Dodgers: Michael Grove, Luken Baker, Giovanny Gallegos, Kyle Funkhouser, Chris Okey, CJ Alexander, Zach Penrod
Marlins: Jack Winkler, Lane Ramsey
Brewers: Luis Urias, Oliver Dunn, Julian Merryweather, Daz Cameron, Drew Avans, Josh Maciejewski, Jared Oliva
Twins: Jose Miranda, Anthony Misiewicz, Jonah Bride, Thomas Hatch, Daniel Duarte, Connor Gillispie
Mets: Joey Meneses, Jose Azocar, Joe La Sorsa, Gilberto Celestino, Ty Adcock, Bryce Montes de Oca, Yacksel Rios, Oliver Ortega, Luis De Los Santos
Yankees: Kenta Maeda, Jeimer Candelario, Rob Brantly, Andrew Velazquez, Jose Rojas, Joel Kuhnel, Wilking Rodriguez
Phillies: Matt Manning, Adonis Medina, Lucas Sims, Jacob Waguespack, Phil Bickford, Rodolfo Castro, Oscar Mercado, Brewer Hicklen, Christian Arroyo, Payton Henry
Pirates: Brett Sullivan, Nick Solak, Nelson Velazquez, Beau Burrows, Ryder Ryan
Cardinals: Zach Plesac, Anthony Veneziano, Tyler Matzek, Zack Weiss, Drew Rom, Aaron Wilkerson
Padres: Eguy Rosario, Tim Locastro, Reiss Knehr, Nate Mondou
Giants: Sean Hjelle, Miguel Diaz, Max Stassi, Sam Huff, Cole Waites, Drew Ellis, Ethan Small
Mariners: Michael Fulmer, Casey Lawrence, Collin Snider, Jesse Hahn, Nick Anderson, Josh Fleming, Austin Shenton, Jacob Nottingham, Beau Taylor, Cade Marlowe, Jack Lopez, Michael Mariot, Hagen Danner
Rays: Cooper Hummel, Jonathan Hernandez, Jamie Westbrook, Tres Barrera
Rangers: Omar Narvaez, Cal Quantrill, Ty Blach, Alan Trejo, Joe Barlow, Cory Abbott, Michael Plassmeyer, Alex De Goti
Blue Jays: Eloy Jimenez, Buddy Kennedy, Joe Mantiply, Elieser Hernandez, Rene Pinto, Adam Kloffenstein
Nationals: Francisco Mejia, Juan Yepez, Joan Adon, CJ Stubbs, Parker Dunshee, Erick Mejia, Adrian Sampson, Delino DeShields
Angels Outright Chad Stevens
The Angels have assigned infielder Chad Stevens outright to Triple-A Salt Lake, according to the transactions tracker on Stevens’s MLB.com profile page. Stevens was previously designated for assignment by the Angels over the weekend.
Stevens, 26, was an 11th-round pick by the Astros in the 2021 draft. He steadily climbed the minor league ladder in Houston until he reached the Double-A level in 2023. He hit a middling .220/.333/.397 in 122 games with Corpus Christi that year, and made a return to the level in 2024. Repeating a level for the first time in his career did not go especially well, as Stevens hit just .153/.242/.235 in 95 plate appearances before the Astros decided to release him in May of last year. Stevens didn’t linger on the market long after being cut by Houston, however, as he was signed to a minor league deal by the Angels later that same month.
Upon joining the Angels organization, Stevens went back to High-A in order to regain his footing after his struggles at Double-A. After putting up fantastic numbers in 44 games, Stevens was promoted and hit a much stronger .316/.359/.491 in just 17 games with Double-A Rocket City. That small sample was enough to convince Angels brass to promote Stevens to Triple-A Salt Lake, though he did end up scuffling to finish the year with a .238/.289/.345 slash line at the highest level of the minors.
Fortunately for both Stevens and the Angels, he returned to Salt Lake at the start of the 2025 and quickly proved he was up to the challenge Triple-A had to offer. In his first 72 games at the level this year, Stevens hit .302 with a .389 on-base percentage and slugged .542. That was enough, in the organization’s mind, to earn the 26-year-old his first big league call-up. He arrived in Anaheim on July 3 and made it into five games, though he went 2-13 with a 50% strikeout rate in his limited time in the majors before being sent back down the minors. After returning to Triple-A, Stevens’s hot start to the 2025 season had faded. He hit a more pedestrian .258/.348/.403 in 44 games down the stretch before he was designated for assignment last week in a move that made room for left-hander Sammy Peralta on the 40-man roster.
Because Stevens does not have the requisite service time or prior outright on his record to reject the assignment, he’ll return to Triple-A and serve as non-roster depth for the Angels through the end of the season. If not added back to the 40-man roster before the start of the offseason, however, he’ll have the opportunity to head back into minor league free agency and test the open market this winter. Stevens has experience all over the infield but has overwhelmingly played shortstop and third base during his time as a professional, and players like Zach Neto, Kyren Paris, Christian Moore, and even Oswald Peraza all figure to be prioritized on the Anaheim depth chart over someone like Stevens. That could mean he’d be better off looking for a role elsewhere, perhaps in an organization with less controllable infield depth on the roster.
Angels Select Sammy Peralta, Designate Chad Stevens
The Angels announced that left-hander Sammy Peralta‘s contract has been selected from Triple-A Salt Lake. In corresponding moves for the 28-man and 40-man rosters, righty Chase Silseth was optioned to Triple-A, and infielder Chad Stevens was designated for assignment.
After beginning his season in the Mexican League and posting a 2.53 ERA over 21 1/3 innings with El Aguila de Veracruz, Peralta inked a minors deal with the Angels in May. His 4.33 ERA over 70 2/3 innings with Salt Lake is pretty good for the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, plus Peralta has a solid 24.1% strikeout rate and an excellent 4.8% walk rate.
The southpaw’s control has generally been a plus over his minor league career, but he has only an 11.1% walk rate over his 35 career MLB innings, along with a 4.37 ERA and 17.9K% with the White Sox during the 2023-24 seasons. Those two years in Chicago saw Peralta shuffled up and down from Triple-A and on and off the roster in a flurry of transactions, which even included a couple of months in the Mariners organization before he was claimed back by the Sox.
Peralta will now get his first taste of big league action in 2025, adding a fresh arm to a Los Angeles pitching staff that has been pulverized by the Athletics over the last two days. The Angels have been outscored 27-8 in the first two games of their series with the A’s, and Silseth allowed a run in 1 2/3 of relief work in Saturday’s 17-4 rout.
Stevens made his Major League debut earlier this season, hitting .154 in 14 plate appearances during a five-game cup of coffee with Los Angeles in July. An 11th-round pick for the Astros in the 2021 draft, Stevens’ first full Triple-A season has been a triumph, with a .291/.372/.494 slash line over 478 PA with Salt Lake this year.
Given that production, it’s a little surprising that the Angels chose Stevens as the odd man out of the 40-man roster mix. As noted, the PCL environment is quite favorable for hitters, so Stevens’ big numbers translated to a solid but unspectacular 111 wRC+. Stevens has primarily played shortstop in the minors but has a lot of experience at second and third base, plus a smattering of time as a first baseman and corner outfielder. A team in need of versatility could potentially put a claim in for Stevens, who has multiple minor league option years remaining.
Angels Select Chad Stevens
The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of infielder Chad Stevens. He’ll take the active roster spot of infielder Christian Moore, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left thumb sprain. The 40-man roster already had a vacancy due to right-hander Héctor Neris being designated for assignment recently. The Halos also announced today that Neris has been released.
Moore just got his first big league call a few weeks ago. He has taken 64 plate appearances thus far. He has struck out in 31.3% of them but also drawn walks at a 12.5% pace and hit three home runs. He tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he hopes he’s only out of action for a couple of weeks. If that comes to pass, he might not actually miss too many games, with the All-Star break just over a week away.
For now, Stevens will draw into the club’s infield mix. Now 26, Stevens was an 11th-round pick of the Astros in 2021. He was released in May of last year and signed with the Angels. He’s never really been a top prospect but is having a good season. In 72 games for Triple-A Salt Lake this year, he has 14 home runs and a .307/.383/.542 batting line. Even in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, that translates to a 125 wRC+. In addition to that offense, Stevens has swiped nine bags and has lined up defensively at all four infield spots and left field.
In addition to Moore, the Angels also have Yoán Moncada, Anthony Rendon and Chris Taylor on the injured list. Zach Neto has been banged up a bit and Jorge Soler just came off the IL. Neto is playing shortstop with Luis Rengifo at third and Nolan Schanuel at first. The Halos have Stevens at second tonight and perhaps he’ll get some run there for a while, though Kevin Newman is another possibility.
As for Neris, once he was designated for assignment, it was basically assured that he would hit the open market. He has a 7.80 earned run average this year, meaning there wouldn’t be much trade interest. As a veteran with years of experience, he has the right to reject outright assignments. The Halos have skipped that formality and sent him more directly to free agency.