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Dereck Rodriguez

Braves Outright Dereck Rodríguez, Lucas Luetge

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The Braves have sent right-hander Dereck Rodríguez outright to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to his transactions tracker on MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. The same is true for left-hander Lucas Luetge, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Rodríguez, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster in May and made one appearance before heading to Atlanta on a waiver claim. He spent most of his time on optional assignment before being passed through waivers in July. He stuck with the organization and was added back to the roster this past weekend. He was sent in for some mop-up duty on Sunday and didn’t exactly get the floor clean, allowing eight earned runs in two innings before being designated for assignment again.

He now has an earned run average of 15.19 this year over four appearances, though that’s mostly due to that recent drubbing. He has a career 4.49 ERA in 234 1/3 innings dating back to 2018, mostly with the Giants. He has thrown 64 Triple-A innings this year with a 5.91 ERA.

Since he has a previous career outright, Rodríguez has the ability to reject this assignment and elect free agency. It’s not clear whether or not he has chosen to do so, but given that the season is almost over and he accepted an outright a few months ago, it’s possible he reports to Gwinnett for a few more outings before the winter arrives.

Luetge, 36, was acquired from the Yankees in the offseason and has bounced on and off the roster all year, with this being the third time Atlanta has passed him through waivers. In the first two instances, he was able to elect free agency since he has more than three years of service time. But since he’s shy of the five-year mark, doing so would have meant forfeiting what was left of his $1.55MM salary.

By sticking around, he kept that money and got selected back to the roster later. Around those transactions, he made 12 big league appearances with a 7.24 ERA. In 20 Triple-A outings this year, he has a 3.91 ERA. He now has the chance to elect free agency again but will likely accept as he has done earlier this season, giving the club some non-roster relief depth for the final weeks of the season.

Braves Select Lucas Luetge, Designate Dereck Rodríguez For Assignment

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The Braves announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Lucas Luetge, with right-hander Dereck Rodríguez designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Luetge, 36, was acquired from the Yankees in an offseason trade but hasn’t secured a firm place in Atlanta. He has struggled in brief looks at the major league level, with an earned run average of 8.49 in 11 outings. That has come in sporadic fashion, as he was twice been designated for assignment and passed through waivers, with today being the second time he’s been added back to the roster.

That’s a very small sample and his work outside of that has been much better. He has a 3.91 ERA in 23 innings at the Triple-A level this year and he also posted a 2.71 ERA for the Yanks at the major league level across 2021 and 2022, tossing 129 2/3 innings in that time. He’ll give the club a third left-handed option in the bullpen, alongside A.J. Minter and Brad Hand.

Rodríguez, 31, was selected to the club’s roster just yesterday and was immediately thrust into action. Charlie Morton started the game against the Marlins and didn’t have his best outing, allowing six earned runs over 4 2/3 innings. Rodriguez was put into the game and absorbed two innings, but allowed eight earned runs in that time while throwing 54 pitches. In order to save the bullpen, the club had infielder Nicky Lopez throw an inning and a third before the game ended with a 16-2 score.

Rodríguez will now be placed on waivers in the coming days, the third time for him this year. He was signed by the Twins to a minor league deal in the offseason, getting selected to the big league club in May. After just one appearances, he was claimed off waivers by Atlanta, who mostly kept him on optional assignment. He made one appearance for them in May and another in July, getting designated for assignment after the latter. After rejoining the club yesterday and getting shelled, he has an ERA of 15.19 in the majors this year, along with a 5.91 ERA in the minors.

Braves Select Dereck Rodriguez

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The Braves announced this morning that they have selected the contract of right-hander Dereck Rodriguez. Left-hander Jared Shuster was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Rodriguez on the active roster, while lefty Dylan Lee was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Rodriguez on the 40-man roster.

Rodriguez, 31, joined the Braves earlier this year when he was claimed off waivers from the Twins. He appeared in two games with the club earlier this season, posting 2 2/3 scoreless innings during that time, but was designated for assignment after the club acquired left-hander Taylor Hearn in late July. Shortly thereafter, Rodriguez accepted an outright assignment to remain in the Braves organization. In 44 2/3 innings of work with the club’s Triple-A affiliate this season, the right-hander has posted an ugly 6.45 ERA with a 21.1% strikeout rate against a 9.5% walk rate.

Rodriguez’s career in the big leagues began in 2018 as a member of the Giants. The then-26-year-old hurler pitched well in his rookie season, with a 2.81 ERA and 3.73 FIP in 21 games (19 starts) with San Francisco. Unfortunately, Rodriguez has struggled ever since that strong debut, with a 5.68 ERA and 6.04 FIP in 114 innings of work at the big league level since the start of the 2019 season. While it seems unlikely Rodriguez will return to the production he generated in his rookie season, he could nonetheless help a beleaguered Braves bullpen that has posted a 5.64 ERA since the start of September.

Shuster’s up-and-down role as a spot starter this season continues as he’s optioned back to Triple-A following his start against the Marlins yesterday. The 25-year-old has struggled to a 5.64 ERA in 52 2/3 innings of work (11 starts) this season, but figures to continue to act as starting depth for the Braves going forward. As for Lee, the lefty was placed on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation earlier this week. The injury was already expected to render him shut down until the 2024 campaign, so his move to the 60-day IL is entirely procedural.

Braves Outright Lucas Luetge, Dereck Rodriguez

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The Braves announced Wednesday that left-hander Lucas Luetge and righty Dereck Rodriguez were both assigned outright to Triple-A Gwinnett after clearing waivers. Both were designated for assignment earlier this week, and both will have the option of rejecting an outright assignment in favor of free agency (though Luetge would forfeit the remainder of his $1.55MM salary in order to do so and is thus likely to accept).

Luetge, 36, came over from the Yankees in an offseason trade following a somewhat surprise DFA in the Bronx. He’d pitched to a 2.71 ERA with excellent strikeout and walk rates over 129 2/3 innings for the Yanks from 2021-22, but the decision to move on in spite of that success looks rather prescient; in 11 2/3 innings with Atlanta, Luetge has been tagged for 11 runs on 17 hits and seven walks. He’s been better in Gwinnett, where he’s allowed four runs with an 8-to-1 K/BB ratio in 9 2/3 innings.

Rodriguez, the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, was claimed off waivers from the Twins earlier this season and has appeared in two games with the Braves, tossing 2 2/3 shutout innings. He’s spent the bulk of the season in Triple-A between the Twins and Braves, pitching to a combined 5.79 ERA in 42 innings.

The 31-year-old Rodriguez, a sixth-round pick of the Twins back in 2011, has a career 4.22 ERA in 232 1/3 big league innings and a 5.12 ERA in 302 1/3 frames in parts of five Triple-A seasons.

Braves Acquire Taylor Hearn

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The Braves announced that they have acquired left-hander Taylor Hearn from the Rangers in exchange for cash considerations, with right-hander Dereck Rodríguez designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Mark Bowman of MLB.com first reported that Atlanta was acquiring Hearn while David O’Brien of The Athletic first had the cash return. It’s the second pitching addition of the day for Atlanta, who also acquired Pierce Johnson from the Rockies.

Hearn, 28, has pitched for the Rangers since 2019, both as a starter and as a reliever but with much better results in the latter role. He’s allowed 6.36 earned runs per nine innings when starting but a far more palatable 3.94 ERA out of the bullpen. Despite that stark difference, Hearn generally got many starting opportunities as the club struggled to put a good rotation together.

They eventually did put a good starting corps together, signing pitchers like Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Martín Pérez, Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney, while trading for hurlers like Jake Odorizzi and Dane Dunning. Despite some injuries suffered by that group, it freed up Hearn to work more often as a reliever. But he spent much of 2023 on optional assignment, as he’s made just four big league appearances this year. He’s thrown 39 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.66 ERA, striking out 30.2% of opponents and getting grounders at a 45.2% clip, though also issuing walks to 13.4% of batters faced.

Despite some encouraging numbers in there, the Rangers wanted to get a look at Alex Speas, which nudged Hearn off the roster. Hearn will now get a fresh start with an Atlanta club that has a lead of 11.5 games in their division. Since no other club has a lead larger than four games, they are the biggest postseason shoo-in at the moment and seem to be making moves aimed at a postseason run. Their relievers have the second-best ERA in the league but they are still trying to improve the depth there, acquiring both Johnson and Hearn today. The latter is in his final option season and could potentially be sent to the minors when needed. If he hangs onto his roster spot through the rest of the season, he can be retained via arbitration for 2024, though he’ll be out of options next year.

In order to bring Hearn into the fold, Rodríguez is bumped off. The 31-year-old started the season with the Twins on a minor league deal, getting selected to the big league roster but designated for assignment after just one big league appearance. Atlanta put in a claim in mid-May and have used the righty as a frequently-optioned depth piece, making just two appearances at the major league level. He’s thrown 42 minor league innings this year between those two different organizations, with a combined ERA of 5.79. He’s struck out 24.1% of batters faced but walked 11.2%. Atlanta will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. In the latter scenario, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright.

Braves Place A.J. Minter On 15-Day Injured List

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The Braves announced that left-hander A.J. Minter has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left shoulder inflammation.  The placement is backdated to July 12, and right-hander Dereck Rodriguez was called up from Triple-A to take Minter’s spot on the active roster.

Minter left last Saturday’s game due to what was described by the team as left pectoral tightness, though the southpaw said he was feeling better just a day later.  It isn’t yet known if this shoulder problem was related to the pectoral tightness, or if this is a new injury altogether.  Regardless, the Braves will now be without one of their top bullpen arms for at least another 12 days.

The bottom-line numbers don’t really reflect Minter’s overall quality, as he has a 4.91 ERA over 40 1/3 innings this season.  Of his 22 earned runs allowed, 11 of them came over a disastrous stretch of 4 2/3 innings over five appearances in April.  Minter has a 3.04 ERA over 26 2/3 innings since that rough patch, and both his 2.88 SIERA and his largely above-average Statcast numbers indicate that he has been a lot more effective than his 4.91 ERA would suggest.

There isn’t yet any suggestion that Minter could miss a lot of time or that his shoulder problem is anything serious, though inflammation is something of a tricky injury to gauge.  Fellow Atlanta southpaw Dylan Lee has been out of action since mid-May with his own case of shoulder inflammation, and has been throwing some bullpen sessions as he works his way back from the 60-day injured list.

The league-leading Braves don’t have many overt weaknesses, but Minter’s absence could give the club something to address heading into the trade deadline.  With Lee sidelined, Minter and Lucas Luetge were the only left-handers in Atlanta’s bullpen, so southpaw depth was perhaps a need for the Braves even before Minter’s injury.  Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is typically aggressive at the deadline, and left-handed relief figures to be high on his list of targets as he looks to put the final touches on what looks like a World Series contender.

Michael Soroka To Start Monday For Braves

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9:34PM: Atlanta manager Brian Snitker confirmed to reporters that Soroka will indeed start Monday’s game.  The Braves are optioning Rodriguez to Triple-A to create space for Soroka on the active roster.

1:23PM: Michael Soroka hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since August, 2020, but an almost three year wait to return looks set to be over Monday with a series of transactions suggesting he’ll be called up to start tomorrow against the Athletics.

The Braves scratched Soroka from his start at Triple-A today, and as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman draws attention to, the Braves decision to option Dylan Dodd and replace him with Dereck Rodriguez adds further weight to the idea that Soroka will be the one called upon. And if any further evidence was needed, Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos was on SirusXM radio today and said Soroka is the “next guy up the next time we need a starter,” before adding that the next time is “tomorrow.”

Soroka, the 28th pick back in 2015, was a quality young starter for the Braves before injuries derailed things. Between 2018-20, he made 37 starts of 2.86 ERA ball, the bulk of which came during the 2019 season when he finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting.

Since the 2020 season, it’s been a wretched run for Soroka. A ruptured achilles tendon set him up for a year long recovery, and just as he was nearing a return to action that achilles blew out again and left Soroka facing another lengthy rehab process. After recovering from that he saw some time at Triple-A towards the back end of the 2022 season but never made it to the big leagues, as he was shut down with shoulder fatigue. He entered spring training competing for a spot in Atlanta’s rotation but a hamstring strain put him behind and he was optioned to the minor leagues to start the season.

He’s made eight starts at Triple-A this season, working to a 4.33 ERA and averaging about 4 1/3 innings per start. It’ll certainly be a much anticipated return to a big league mound for Soroka when he does pitch tomorrow.

Braves Claim Dereck Rodríguez, Transfer Kyle Wright To 60-Day IL

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The Braves announced that they have claimed right-hander Dereck Rodríguez off waivers from the Twins and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Fellow righty Kyle Wright was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Rotation depth has suddenly become a serious issue for the Atlanta club. Both Max Fried and Kyle Wright have landed on the injured list recently, with the former battling a forearm strain and the latter a lingering shoulder issue. The reported plan for Fried is for him to be shut down long enough that he will then have to effectively rebuild from scratch, suggesting a potential absence of a couple of months. Last week, Wright said he is expecting to be out of action even longer than Fried, so it’s not a shock to see him land on the 60-day injured list today. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was on May 4, ruling him out officially until early July.

Those injuries have cast a spotlight on the club’s starting mix, which is down to three primary members in Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder. The club has some depth starters on its 40-man roster that it could call upon, but it doesn’t seem like Michael Soroka will be up in the immediate future. He’s still looking to get into a consistent rhythm after hardly pitching since 2019 due to various injuries, including a pair of Achilles ruptures. Mark Bowman of MLB.com recently spoke to manager Brian Snitker about Soroka, though it doesn’t seem as though the club is going to let the recent injuries to Fried and Wright alter their approach to Soroka’s return to action. Other options on the roster include Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster, though neither fared especially well in their brief major league looks earlier this year. Ian Anderson won’t be an option for the rest of the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last month.

All of those question marks give the club a significant challenge in navigating the next couple of months, which is surely what led to the claim of Rodríguez. The right-hander who turns 31 next month had a solid debut season with the Giants in 2018 but has struggled since. That first season in the bigs saw him post an ERA of 2.81 in 118 1/3 innings, but his ERA jumped to 5.64 in the following season. He’s only been able to scratch out sporadic major league outings since then, appearing in five games since the start of 2020.

He’s spent the past couple of seasons bouncing on and off the Twins’ roster. He was twice selected to join the club in 2022, once in April and once in September, making one appearance before getting quickly designated for assignment in each case. He returned to the organization on another minor league deal this winter and was added to the 40-man a couple of weeks ago. He pitched two thirds of an inning on Friday before getting optioned back to Triple-A. It wasn’t publicly reported that he was designated for assignment but the Twins evidently tried to pass him through waivers in recent days, which led to today’s claim.

Prior to getting called up to the big leagues this year, he had made seven appearances for the St. Paul Saints, tossing 19 1/3 innings with a 4.66 ERA while striking out 23.5% of batters faced against an 11.8% walk rate. In 94 2/3 innings at Triple-A last year, he had a 4.75 ERA, 22.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate. He’ll head to Gwinnett and will presumably be competing with the likes of Dodd and Shuster for roles in the majors over the coming months. The big league club is still in first place in the National League East but have lost four in a row and seem less of a lock in that division than they did a week ago.

Twins Select Dereck Rodríguez, Recall Alex Kirilloff

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The Twins announced a series of roster moves today, selecting right-hander Dereck Rodríguez and recalling infielder/outfielder Alex Kirilloff from Triple-A St. Paul. In corresponding moves, outfielder Trevor Larnach was optioned to Triple-A while left-hander Caleb Thielbar has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right oblique strain. To open a 40-man spot for Rodríguez, righty Tyler Mahle was transferred to the 60-day IL.

Rodríguez, 31 next month, arrived in the big leagues as a starter in 2018, posting a 2.81 ERA in 118 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, his ERA jumped to 5.64 the next year and he’s largely been in a depth/swingman role since then. He made just two appearances in the big leagues in 2020 and none in 2021. Last year, he was with the Twins on a minor league deal and was twice selected to the big league club, once in April and once in September. In each case, he made one multi-inning relief stint and was promptly designated for assignment.

He and the organization seem to have have a good relationship, as he re-signed on another minor league deal this past winter even after all of that roster shuffling. He has a 4.66 ERA in 19 1/3 Triple-A innings this year and will give the club a fresh arm. They used five relievers yesterday, not including Thielbar, in their 12-inning game against the White Sox.

As for Kirilloff, he’s a former first round draft pick and was one of the top prospects in baseball not too long ago. Persistent wrist problems have frequently put him out of action and also diminished his production, but he seems to be on a tear right now. He began the year on the injured list and was optioned after returning to health, but is hitting .300/.426/.580 through 14 minor league games. He’ll get a chance to see if he can bring any of that up to the majors, hopefully staying healthy in the process.

As for Mahle, it was reported on the weekend that he would be shut down for four weeks due to a posterior impingement and a flexor pronator strain in his throwing arm. Even if he’s healthy after that shutdown period, he would then have to ramp back up to a full starter’s workload. It would have been difficult for him to return within 60 days but this move now makes that officially off the table.

Twins Re-Sign Dereck Rodriguez To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have re-signed righty Dereck Rodriguez to a minor league contract, as announced by agent Gavin Kahn of Enter Sports Management (Twitter link).

Rodriguez, 30, will head back for a third stint with the organization that originally selected him in the sixth round of the 2011 draft. After a three-year stretch with the Giants from 2018-20 and a one-year stop in the Rockies organization in 2021, Rodriguez signed back with the Twins for the 2022 campaign. He tossed 7 2/3 innings at the big league level and allowed three runs (3.52 ERA), also contributing another 94 2/3 frames of 4.75 ERA ball in Triple-A St. Paul.

The son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, Dereck has appeared in parts of four Major League campaigns, working to a collective 4.24 ERA with a 16.9% strikeout rate, an 8% walk rate and a 41% ground-ball rate. He averaged 92 mph on his heater during last year’s brief look, primarily pairing it with a slider and curveball.

In parts of four Triple-A seasons, Rodriguez has a 5.01 ERA, though that’s skewed by his one catastrophic year with the Rockies, where he was rocked for a 6.72 ERA. He sports a combined 4.17 ERA in his other three Triple-A seasons and has generally posted respectable strikeout and walk rates there: 22.9% and 7.3%, respectively.

The Twins’ big league rotation figures to consist of Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle, Kenta Maeda and Bailey Ober, although Maeda will be returning after a year-long absence owing to internal brace surgery to repair the UCL in his pitching elbow, so he shouldn’t be expected to necessarily work a full starter’s workload. The Twins are deep in alternative options on the 40-man roster, with Josh Winder, Simeon Woods Richardson and Louie Varland among the prospects who reached the Majors for the first time in 2022, and it’s feasible that recently extended righty Chris Paddack could return from Tommy John surgery in the season’s second half.

It’s a solid collection of arms but one that generally lacks a prototypical front-of-the-rotation presence. Rodriguez will join names like Jose De Leon, Randy Dobnak and Brock Stewart as non-roster depth options in the upper minors. Given the health troubles the Twins experienced in 2022, it’s only sensible to see them further stockpiling depth — particularly when it comes in the form of a pitcher they’ve known for quite some time.

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