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Daniel Ponce De Leon

White Sox Release Daniel Ponce de Leon

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The White Sox have released right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.

Ponce de Leon, 31, had signed a minor league deal with the Sox in April and has been pitching for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights. He had been working largely out of the rotation for them, starting seven of his eight appearances this year. Unfortunately, the results weren’t good, as he posted an ERA of 9.99 in 24 1/3 innings. He struck out just 14.5% of batters faced while walking a huge 18.3%.

The righty has some major league experience, which came with the Cardinals from 2018 to 2021. He tossed 147 2/3 innings over those campaigns, registering a 4.33 ERA with a solid 23.9% strikeout rate but a 12.7% walk rate. Since that time, he’s bounced around to various farm systems but hasn’t been able to get into a good groove. He spent all of 2022 in Triple-A, pitching at that level for the Mariners, Nationals and Tigers. But he had a combined 6.52 ERA in 116 innings for those clubs on the year.

Ponce de Leon will now be free to explore and discover his next landing spot. Though he hasn’t been at his best for a few years, he at least has some decent major league outings on his résumé. With various clubs around the league dealing with significant pitching injuries, perhaps he will find a port of call with another organization in the near future.

White Sox Sign Daniel Ponce de Leon To Minor League Contract

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The White Sox have signed right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). He’ll head to Triple-A Charlotte as rotation depth.

Ponce de Leon has pitched in parts of four big league seasons. All of his MLB experience has come in St. Louis. A Cardinal draftee, the right-hander debuted in 2018. He remained with the Cardinals through 2021, working to a 4.33 ERA over 147 2/3 innings in a swing capacity. Ponce de Leon punched out a solid 23.2% of opposing hitters but had trouble throwing strikes consistently. He walked batters at a 12.7% clip overall and doled out free passes nearly 14% of the time in his final two seasons there.

Since being cut loose by St. Louis, the 31-year-old has bounced around the league. He signed minor league deals with four different teams last season. Ponce de Leon initially caught on with the Angels but was released in Spring Training. He bounced to the Mariners, Nationals and Tigers to close out the year. He had a tough season at the top minor league level, allowing a 6.52 ERA in 116 innings between those three affiliates. He struck out more than a quarter of opponents but walked 11.4% of batters faced and was quite homer-prone.

Rough 2022 season aside, Ponce de Leon brings a fair amount of upper level experience to the Chicago system. He misses a decent number of bats and can operate in a long relief or starting capacity if the Sox need to call upon him. They haven’t had to dip beyond their top five of Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger to this point in the offseason. The depth behind that group is questionable, though, with Davis Martin, A.J. Alexy and non-roster players like Ponce de Leon and the recently outrighted Jonathan Stiever among the potential considerations.

Tigers Sign Daniel Ponce de Leon To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers signed right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon to a minor league contract this week. He made his organizational debut with Triple-A Toledo on Tuesday, tossing six innings of one-run ball.

It’s the third organization of the season for Ponce de Leon, who is still searching for his first big league call of the year. He opened the season on a non-roster deal with the Mariners, spending three months with their top affiliate in Tacoma. Ponce de Leon struggled to a 7.95 ERA there and was released in mid-July. He caught on with the Nationals not too long after, making seven Triple-A starts before being released earlier this month.

Between the three clubs, the 30-year-old has a 6.96 ERA in 24 starts at the minors highest level. He’s punched out a solid 25.7% of batters faced over that stretch, but he’s also walked an alarming 11.5% of opponents and struggled to keep the ball in the yard. Before this season, the former 9th-round pick had a stronger track record in the upper minors. Over parts of five Triple-A seasons, he owns a decent 3.88 ERA.

Despite his series of minor league deals this year, Ponce de Leon has only appeared in the majors with one club, the Cardinals. He suited up as a swing option in St. Louis from 2018-21, starting 22 of 57 outings. Through 147 2/3 MLB frames, Ponce de Leon owns a 4.33 ERA with a 23.9% strikeout rate but a 12.7% walk percentage.

The Tigers rotation has thinned out significantly in the past few months. Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal have long since been lost for the season, and Rony García was also knocked out for the year. Meanwhile, Detroit released Michael Pineda last week. Of late, Detroit has turned to a starting five of Eduardo Rodríguez, Matt Manning, Joey Wentz, Tyler Alexander and Drew Hutchison. Rodríguez and Manning are the only members of that group who are likely to open next season in the rotation (although Wentz may get an opportunity to compete for a job in Spring Training), so there’s room for Detroit to take a look at Ponce de Leon during the season’s final few weeks if they’re intrigued by his form in Toledo.

Nationals Agree To Minor League Deals With David Dahl, Daniel Ponce De Leon

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The Nationals have agreed to minor league deals with outfielder David Dahl and right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). Dahl was recently released by the Brewers, while Ponce De Leon was released from the Mariners organization. Both had been playing on minor league deals in Triple-A at the time of their release.

Neither player has appeared on a major league roster this year, but they’d both had extensive big league work before 2022. Dahl, a former tenth overall pick and top Rockies prospect, reached the majors in 2016. He hit .315/.359/.500 down the stretch that season, but injuries helped keep him out of MLB action the following year. That became a familiar occurrence, as Dahl missed notable time in each of the next three seasons with foot, ankle, back and shoulder issues.

The left-handed hitter was generally effective when healthy, at least early in his career. He combined for a .291/.342/.528 line while playing just more than half of Colorado’s games between 2018-19, earning an All-Star nod in the latter season. After losing most of the shortened 2020 campaign to injury, however, he was surprisingly non-tendered by the Rockies. He caught on with the Rangers on a big league deal heading into last season, but his results were disastrous. Dahl hit only .210/.247/.322 over 220 plate appearances in Texas. He was released last August and caught on with the Brewers on a minor league deal.

Dahl had spent the past year with Milwaukee’s top affiliate in Nashville. He played well there, including a .294/.357/.468 showing through 67 games this season. Nevertheless, the Brewers elected against giving him another MLB look, and he was granted his release a few weeks ago. The 28-year-old will try to play his way back to the majors on a Washington club that is rebuilding and likely to deal a few hitters over the coming weeks. Juan Soto is obviously the biggest name on the market, but each of Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell are virtual locks to change hands before the August 2 deadline. Cruz has taken almost the at-bats at designated hitter, so there could be at-bats available for Dahl there for the season’s final couple months.

Ponce de Leon, 30, pitched for the Cardinals from 2018-21. He broke in with some promise as a swingman, posting a sub-4.00 ERA in each of his first two seasons while generating a solid number of strikeouts. He punched out an elite 31.5% of opponents during the shortened 2020 season, but that year also saw him walk a career-high 14% of batters faced. Those control woes persisted last season, and St. Louis designated him for assignment after he posted a 6.21 ERA through 33 1/3 innings.

Signed by Seattle to a minor league deal in April, he’d spent the year with their top affiliate in Tacoma. Ponce de Leon was hit hard over 16 starts, posting a 7.95 ERA with an elevated 12.7% walk rate and surrendering more than two homers per nine innings. His 24.1% strikeout rate there was fine but not at the heights he’d flashed in prior seasons, and the M’s let him go this week. Washington will add him as non-roster depth capable of working either out of the rotation or the bullpen.

Mariners Release Daniel Ponce de Leon

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The Mariners have released right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The 30-year-old will return to the open market and search for his next opportunity.

Ponce de Leon was drafted by the Cardinals in 2014 and stayed with the organization until being released in September of 2021. He had a nice MLB debut but saw his ERA climb as time went on. He put up a 2.73 ERA in 2018, followed by marks of 3.70, 4.96 and 6.21 in the three subsequent campaigns.

Although he generally got strikeouts at above-average rates, his walks kept mounting and made it harder for him to succeed. Last year, the strikeouts vanished, as his rate dropped from 31.5% in 2020 to 15.2% in 2021, helping his ERA spike. On the whole, he has 147 2/3 innings of MLB experience with a 4.33 ERA, 37% ground ball rate, 23.9% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate.

This year, he signed a minor league deal with the Angels in January but was released and joined the Mariners on another minors deal in April. Even during his down years with the Cardinals, he still generally pitched well in Triple-A, though even that has eluded him this season. Through 16 starts with the Tacoma Rainiers, he’s logged 71 1/3 innings with a 7.95 ERA. His 24.1% strikeout rate is a bit above average, but his 12.7% walk rate and 27% ground ball rate are both subpar. Based on those unfortunate results, the Mariners have cut him loose and sent him back into free agency.

Mariners Sign Daniel Ponce De Leon

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The Mariners have signed right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, according to Tacoma Rainiers announcer Mike Curto (Twitter link).  Ponce de Leon will take the hill immediately for Triple-A Tacoma, scheduled to start today in the second game of a doubleheader.

The Angels inked Ponce de Leon to a minors contract during the lockout but released him earlier this week.  The righty didn’t get a long look in official Cactus League action, as Ponce de Leon pitched just two innings in a single Spring Training game.  It marks the second time in less than seven months that Ponce de Leon has been released, after the Cardinals cut him shortly before the end of the 2021 season.

Today’s start for the Rainiers will mark Ponce de Leon’s first official pro game outside of the St. Louis organization.  The Cards selected de Leon in the ninth round of the 2014 draft, and he has appeared in the majors in each of the last four seasons working in a swingman capacity.  With 22 starts in 57 career MLB games, Ponce de Leon has a 4.33 ERA and 23.9% strikeout rate over 147 2/3 innings in The Show, but his biggest issue has been a lack of control.  Ponce de Leon has a 12.7% walk rate in the majors, and his walks have also been on the rise even in the minors over the last few seasons.

The 2021 season saw Ponce de Leon miss about two months due to two separate shoulder-related IL stints, and he posted a 6.21 ERA over 33 1/3 frames for the Cardinals.  With his walk total (22) almost matching his strikeouts (24), Ponce de Leon became an expendable piece for the Cards.  He’ll now look to catch on with the Mariners, providing some rotation or long relief depth at the Triple-A level.

Angels, Daniel Ponce De Leon Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, per the team’s official transactions log. Because the former Cardinals swingman was released in September and did not return to a big league roster before season’s end, he qualified as a minor league free agent who can sign during the lockout. Ponce de Leon is repped by Paragon Sports.

Now 30 years old, Ponce de Leon had a promising start to his big league career, turning in a 3.31 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate, 11.6% walk rate and 40.7% ground-ball rate through his first 81 2/3 frames with the Cards from 2018-19. The free passes were a bit too frequent, but Ponce de Leon combated that trend with a penchant for inducing weak contact (87.2 mph exit velocity and 27.6% hard-hit rate, via Statcast).

Things took a turn for the worse in 2020, however. Ponce de Leon saw a big uptick in strikeouts (31.5%) but also saw his walk rate balloon to 14%. He was also torched for eight home runs in 32 2/3 innings that season — the same combined number he’d yielded through his first 81 2/3 career innings. He was unable to right the ship in 2021, as the pronounced increase in hard-hit balls by his opponents continued — all while his strikeout rate plummeted to a career-worst 15.4%.

All told, Ponce de Leon has followed up that promising 2018-19 showing with 66 innings of 5.59 ERA ball. He’s fanned 22.9% of opponents against a 14% walk rate and allowed 1.77 homers per nine innings pitched across the past two seasons. The right-hander’s average fastball still clocks in at 93.4 mph — the same mark at which it’s landed in each of his four MLB seasons — and he has a sterling track record in Triple-A. Through 218 2/3 innings at that level, Ponce de Leon carries a 2.39 ERA with a 230-to-114 K/BB ratio. Free passes have always been something of an issue, but he’ll give the Angels some depth both in the rotation and in the bullpen.

With the Angels, Ponce de Leon won’t be considered a candidate to crack the rotation unless there are multiple injuries that decimate the team’s depth. He’s behind Shohei Ohtani, Noah Syndergaard, Patrick Sandoval, Michael Lorenzen, Jose Suarez, Jaime Barria, Reid Detmers, Griffin Canning and several other starting candidates on the depth chart. That said, it’s certainly possible that with a strong showing this spring, he could crack the roster as a long reliever/swingman — similar to the role he held for the past four seasons in St. Louis. He’s out of minor league options, so if Ponce de Leon is added to the 40-man roster at any point, he’d need to be exposed to waivers before he could potentially be sent back to Triple-A.

Cardinals Release Daniel Ponce De Leon

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SEPTEMBER 23: The Cardinals announced Thursday that Ponce de Leon has been granted his release. He’ll be free to explore opportunities elsewhere.

SEPTEMBER 22: Ponce de Leon cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis, the Cardinals announced Wednesday. He’ll remain in the organization but is no longer on the 40-man roster.

SEPTEMBER 20: The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to lefty Brandon Waddell, who has been recalled from Triple-A Memphis.

Ponce de Leon, 29, got out to a nice start in his big league career with the Cards. From 2018-19, the former ninth-round pick tallied 81 2/3 frames with a 3.31 ERA, a solid 24.8 percent strikeout rate and an 11.6 percent walk rate. The free passes were too frequent, of course, but Ponce de Leon generally functioned as a useful swingman in St. Louis over those two seasons. He appeared in 24 games and split his time evenly between the bullpen and the rotation: a dozen appearances each. He had a bit more success out of the ’pen, but Ponce de Leon was quite solid in both roles.

Things took a downward turn in 2020, when he limped to a 4.96 ERA in 32 2/3 frames, and the 2021 season has gone largely off the rails for the righty. So far, Ponce de Leon has pitched 33 1/3 innings and been tagged for a dismal 6.21 ERA. His 15.2 percent strikeout rate is far and away the lowest of his career, and his 13.9 percent strikeout rate is right in line with last season’s career-worst mark of 14.0 percent. Ponce de Leon is generating fewer swinging strikes than ever before, and the 89.1 mph average exit velocity he’s allowed is a career-high mark.

The Cardinals will place Ponce de Leon on outright waivers or release him within the next couple of days. It’s possible that given his 2018-19 success, another club in need of some depth would  take a speculative look via waiver claim. However, Ponce de Leon is also out of minor league options, so any club that picks him up won’t have the luxury of sending him to the minors unless they can successfully pass him through waivers themselves.

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