Angels Select Wade Meckler, Donovan Walton
The Angels announced that they have selected the contracts of outfielder Wade Meckler and infielder Donovan Walton. They will take the places of outfielder Josh Lowe and infielder Yoán Moncada. Lowe has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake while Moncada has been placed on the 10-day injured list with right knee inflammation. The Halos came into the day with one open 40-man spot after outrighting Alek Manoah earlier this week. They opened another by transferring left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to the 60-day IL.
Meckler, 26, spent his entire career with the Giants until recently. The Angels claimed him off waivers in January but then outrighted him a few weeks later. He started this year with Triple-A Salt Lake but struggled in five games, so the Halos sent him down to Double-A Rocket City. He has been mashing for the Trash Pandas, with a .343/.449/.525 line. That is partly due to a .395 batting average on balls in play but his matching walk and strikeout rates of 16% are both very strong figures.
Prior to joining the Angels, Meckler got a very brief major league debut with the Giants in 2023. He hit just .232/.328/.250 in 64 plate appearances. As a prospect, his profile indicated he had a solid floor thanks to his speed and defense. His offense was and is more questionable. He has generally had a good contact approach without a ton of power. He has 1,393 minor league plate appearances in his career with a strong 14.2% walk rate and 16.6% strikeout rate but only 21 home runs in that time.
With Meckler putting up good numbers at the plate lately, the Angels will see if he can translate any of that to the big leagues. At worst, he should be able to run the ball down and steal a few bases, though whether he can produce from the batter’s box will be more of a question. If it doesn’t work out, he does still have an option and can be easily sent back down to the minors.
The Halos have had a primary outfield of Mike Trout, Jo Adell and Lowe this year, with guys like Jorge Soler, Adam Frazier and Jose Siri also chipping in. Trout and Adell should still be in there regularly but the other guys in that cluster could perhaps be competing to take some of the playing time that has opened up with Lowe no longer on the roster.
Walton, 32 next week, has been a part-time major leaguer for quite a while but in fits and starts. He debuted in 2019 and this will technically be his seventh big league season but he has appeared in only 72 games. In his 214 plate appearances, he has a .172/.223/.298 batting line. Though he hasn’t done much with the bat, he has at least provided defensive versatility, with experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base as well as left field.
His offense has been far better in the minors. In 1,647 Triple-A plate appearances in his career, he has a strong .281/.372 /.439 line. That includes a .282/.429/.481 line this year, after signing a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. Even in the hitter-friendly context of the Pacific Coast League, that line translates to a 128 wRC+.
Walton gives the Angels another lefty bat for their infield. Righties Vaughn Grissom and Oswald Peraza are currently getting a decent amount of time at second and third base, so Walton could perhaps complement those two, along with lefty Adam Frazier.
Moncada has been scuffling while battling a knee injury this year, putting up a .189/.308/.297 line. A trip to the IL could allow him to reset but it’s also possible he’s facing a longer absence. Surgery on that knee is a possibility, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Time will tell how much time he needs to miss. For now, his absence opens up third base time for the aforementioned cluster of infielders.
As for Lowe, this move isn’t surprising with his current numbers, but it’s quite notable in the larger context. Back in 2023, he hit 20 home runs for the Rays and stole 32 bases. He hit .292/.335/.500 for a wRC+ of 130. FanGraphs credited him with 3.4 wins above replacement that year.
Unfortunately, he’s been on a downward trajectory since then. In 2024, his line dropped to .241/.302/.391, leading to a 98 wRC+. Another drop came in 2025, as he put up a .220/.283/.366 line and 79 wRC+. The Angels took a shot on a bounceback, acquiring Lowe in a three-team trade that sent pitchers Brock Burke and Chris Clark out of town. That move hasn’t panned out for the Halos at all, with Lowe having hit .184/.226/.320 this year. A .220 BABIP isn’t helping but his 4.5% walk rate and 29.1% strikeout rate are both awful figures.
The Angels will try to get him back on track in Salt Lake. Once he spends 20 days in the minor, this will be his final option season and he will be out of options in 2027. Either way, he’s trending towards a non-tender. He has already qualified for arbitration and is making $2.6MM this year.
Kikuchi landed on the 15-day IL in early May with shoulder inflammation. Shortly thereafter, the Halos announced that he would be shut down for three to four weeks before ramping back up again. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he’ll technically be eligible for reinstatement in early July. Whether he can get healthy by then remains to be seen.
Prior to the official announcement, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register relayed that Meckler and Walton were in the lineup with Lowe and Moncada not on the lineup card. Moncada then told Jack Janes of The Sporting Tribune that he was going on the injured list.
Angels Sign Donovan Walton To Minors Deal
The Angels signed infielder Donovan Walton to a minor league contract last month, according to Walton’s MLB.com profile page. Walton has been outrighted off 40-man rosters multiple times in his career, so he was eligible to elect minor league free agency and depart the Phillies organization once the season was over.
Walton has appeared in six of the last seven MLB seasons, though 49 of his 72 games in the Show came in 2021-22 with the Mariners and Giants. After signing a minors deal with the Mets last offseason, Walton was traded to the Phillies in July, and continued to toil away on the farm until his contact was selected to Philadelphia’s active roster in September. Walton made a pair of starts at second base while the Phils were dealing with a spate of infield injuries, but those two outings represented the entirety of Walton’s 2025 playing time in the majors.
The 31-year-old has hit just .172/.223/.298 over 214 career plate appearances in the bigs, but Walton’s ability to play both middle infield positions and also chip in at third base and in left field has helped him earn some looks at a bench player. He has hit pretty well in Triple-A ball (.281/.365/.435 over 1479 PA), but expecting those numbers to translate into MLB success this late into Walton’s career might be a tall order.
Having a veteran utility player as a depth option on either the 26-man roster or at Triple-A makes sense for an Angels team that is thin in the infield. While Vaughn Grissom was acquired in a trade from the Red Sox, the second and third base positions are still question marks in Los Angeles. The Angels figure to bring in at least one player as an everyday option at either the keystone or the hot corner, leaving Walton and company to battle it out for part-time duty or a bench role.
Seven Players Elect Free Agency
Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents. Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.
To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2025 season without being added back. These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.
We’ll offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion. These free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.
Infielders
- Abraham Toro (Red Sox)
- Donovan Walton (Phillies)
Outfielders
- Bryan De La Cruz (Yankees)
- Leody Taveras (Mariners)
Pitchers
- Carlos Hernandez (Guardians)
- Erasmo Ramirez (Twins)
- Devin Sweet (Phillies)
Phillies Outright Donovan Walton
The Phillies announced that infielder Donovan Walton has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He had been designated for assignment a couple of days ago when fellow infielder Edmundo Sosa was reinstated from the injured list.
Walton, 31, was added to the Philly roster a few weeks ago when both Trea Turner and Alec Bohm hit the IL. He was hitting .339/.413/.424 for the IronPigs at the time. He lasted a little over two weeks on the big league roster but got into just two games. He went one for eight with a single and a sacrifice bunt in nine plate appearances.
Combined with his time as a Mariner and a Giant, he has now appeared in 72 big league games with a .172/.223/.298 slash line in 214 plate appearances. He has performed far better on the farm, with a .282/.369/.432 line and 111 wRC+ dating back to the start of 2021. He provides defensive versatility, with experience at all four infield spots and left field. But the lack of major league success and his out-of-options status make it hard for him to keep a roster spot for long.
Walton has previously been outrighted in his career. That means he has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency. It’s possible he accepts since he would remain postseason eligible with the Phillies. Lehigh Valley’s season is done, so he wouldn’t need to actually report to that club. If a few injuries pop up for the Phillies, he could return to the big league roster. If he stays in the system and doesn’t get added back to the roster, he would be eligible for free agency at season’s end anyway.
Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images
Phillies Designate Donovan Walton For Assignment
The Phillies announced today that infielder Edmundo Sosa has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. To open an active roster spot for him, fellow infielder Donovan Walton has been designated for assignment.
Walton, 31, appeared in only two games for the Phils at the MLB level this season. He went 1-for-8 with a single and a sacrifice bunt in that brief look. That was his sixth season with at least some major league time, though the journeyman utility player has never topped 78 plate appearances in a given MLB campaign. In 72 games and 214 plate appearances between the Mariners, Giants and Phillies, Walton is a career .172/.223/.298 hitter.
As one would expect, Walton is a far better hitter in the upper minors. He’s played in parts of five Triple-A seasons and touts a much more impressive .281/.365/.435 batting line in 1479 trips to the plate. On top of that solid track record at the top minor league level, Walton is a versatile defender who’s logged nearly 3200 innings at second base and more than 2900 innings at shortstop in addition to shorter stints at third base (208 innings) and in left field (244 innings).
Walton is out of minor league options, so the Phillies couldn’t send him to Triple-A without first designating him for assignment. Even if he clears waivers — the only possible action for the Phils now that the trade deadline has passed — he’ll have the ability to elect free agency over a minor league assignment. And, even if he were to accept an outright assignment and stick with Philadelphia as a depth option for the remainder of their 2025 run, Walton can become a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Phillies Place Trea Turner, Alec Bohm On Injured List
The Phillies placed shortstop Trea Turner and third baseman Alec Bohm on the 10-day injured list, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Otto Kemp and Donovan Walton are up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take their roster spots. Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic reports that the Phils are moving reliever Daniel Robert from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Walton, whose minor league contract was selected. Turner has a Grade 1 hamstring strain, manager Rob Thomson tells the Phillies beat (link via Lochlann March of the Philly Inquirer).
Bohm is battling left shoulder soreness. Gelb reports that the third baseman has been plagued by a bothersome cyst that’ll need to be drained and treated with an injection. There’s nothing structurally amiss, however, and Thomson expressed confidence it’ll be a minimal 10-day IL stint. The Phils have a comfortable enough seven-game lead in the NL East that they can afford that absence. Their margin over the Dodgers for the #2 placement in the National League and the associated first-round bye is smaller, but they’re still four games up in that race.
Turner suffered a hamstring strain during Sunday’s game. An injured list stint was inevitable. The far more significant question was whether it’d threaten his availability for the postseason. Thomson left open the possibility that he’ll be back before the end of the regular season. That’d allow him to take a few at-bats to get up to speed before the playoffs. The Division Series are scheduled to begin on October 4. The Phillies would automatically qualify as long as they hang on to the #2 seed. That’d give Turner a month to get back to action.
Edmundo Sosa will take over shortstop for as long as Turner is out of action. Kemp will jump from Lehigh Valley to regular playing time in Philly for at least a week and a half. He’s starting at third base tonight and batting ninth against Mets rookie right-hander Nolan McLean. Walton will replace Sosa as the team’s utility infielder.
It’ll be the first major league action of the season for the 31-year-old Walton. Philly acquired him from the Mets at the beginning of July. Walton was playing on a minor league deal with New York and was assigned to Lehigh Valley. He was batting .222/.315/.377 in 73 games with the Mets’ affiliate. His numbers have picked up since the trade. Walton has hit .339/.413/.424 with almost as many walks as strikeouts across 209 plate appearances for the IronPigs.
A former fifth-round pick of the Mariners, Walton has played parts of five seasons in the majors. The lefty batter has played in 70 games and carries a .174/.227/.305 line against big league pitching. Walton’s value lies primarily in his defensive flexibility. He’ll provide cover throughout the infield and has experience in left field (though the Phils have enough outfield depth that he probably won’t get much time there).
Walton was in the organization before September 1. That means he’s eligible for the postseason even though he was not on the 40-man roster until today. The Phils will hope to have Turner and Bohm back in plenty of time so that doesn’t need to be a consideration. Walton is out of options, so the Phillies would need to designate him for assignment to take him off the roster during the regular season.
Robert just went on the injured list last week with a forearm strain. His season is over. He made 15 appearances in an up-and-down role this season, allowing seven runs across 13 innings. The Phils acquired him in a DFA trade with Texas in May. They’ll need to reinstate him to the 40-man roster or put him on waivers at the start of the offseason.
Mets Trade Donovan Walton To Phillies
The Phillies acquired non-roster infielder Donovan Walton from the Mets for cash considerations. The deal was announced by Philly’s Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley, where Walton was assigned. He was not on New York’s 40-man roster and therefore will not occupy an immediate roster spot with Philadelphia.
Walton, a lefty-hitting utility player, signed a minor league contract with the Mets in November. The 31-year-old has been playing for their top affiliate in Syracuse. Walton has connected on 11 home runs but has a subpar .222/.315/.377 slash line through 295 plate appearances. That’s despite solid strikeout and walk rates and driven largely by a .220 batting average on balls in play. Walton has a career .271/.357/.436 mark in more than 300 Triple-A games.
A former fifth-round pick of the Mariners, Walton has seen scattered big league action over five years. He has split that time between Seattle and San Francisco, most recently spending the final few weeks of last season on the Giants’ big league roster. Walton hasn’t made an impact against MLB pitching, batting .174/.227/.305 over 70 games. He’s primarily a middle infielder but has experience at both third base and in left field.
The Phils were lacking infield depth in the upper minors. Weston Wilson, who is primarily a bat-first corner player, is the only infielder on the 40-man roster who isn’t in the big leagues. Christian Arroyo, their most experienced non-roster infielder, is on the injured list at Lehigh Valley. Walton joins Rodolfo Castro as IronPigs’ middle infielders who have some MLB time on their résumés.
Mets Sign Donovan Walton To Minors Contract
The Mets signed Donovan Walton to a minor league contract, according to the infielder’s MLB.com profile page. Walton elected to become a free agent at the start of November when the Giants outrighted him off their 40-man roster — since Walton had previously been outrighted in his career, he has the right to opt for free agency rather than accept another outright assignment.
The 30-year-old appeared in nine games after San Francisco selected Walton’s contract to the active roster in mid-September, which marked Walton’s first big league playing time since 2022. Walton broke into the majors with the Mariners in 2019 and played in 37 games over parts of four seasons before Seattle traded him to the Giants in May 2022. That season was cut short by a shoulder surgery that also kept him on the shelf for a good chunk of the 2023 campaign, as Walton spent the entirety of that season in the Giants’ minor league system.
If the 2023 season was just about getting back to good health for Walton, he looked sharper this season in hitting .306/.380/.441 over 387 plate appearances with Triple-A Sacramento. This more or less matches his .287/.370/.454 slash line across 975 career PA at the Triple-A level, but Walton hasn’t been able to carry that production into the Show, as he has hit only .174/.227/.305 in 205 PA with the Mariners and Giants.
Walton has mostly split his time between the two middle infield positions, though he has some experience as a third baseman and left fielder. Though his lack of offense limits his ceiling, Walton is a left-handed hitter who can play multiple positions, making him an interesting option for teams looking to fill out a roster. The Mets can give Walton a look during Spring Training and see what he can bring to the table as a depth piece for either the big league squad or at Triple-A.
Giants Outright Donovan Walton
The Giants outrighted infielder Donovan Walton off their 40-man roster, tweets Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. The utilityman has multiple career outrights and has the right to elect free agency.
San Francisco called Walton up as a stopgap utility player in September. He appeared in nine games, hitting .136 with one homer. The left-handed hitter has been a depth option in San Francisco for three seasons. The Giants initially acquired Walton in a small trade with Seattle in May 2022. They’ve shuttled him through waivers and continued to bring him back on minor league contracts over that stretch.
A former 5th-round pick by the Mariners, Walton has 70 MLB appearances over parts of five seasons. He’s a .174/.227/.305 hitter over 205 career plate appearances. Walton had a nice year in Triple-A Sacramento, running a .306/.380/.441 slash with nearly as many walks as strikeouts over 99 games. He has a solid offensive track record in parts of four Triple-A campaigns. Walton can play throughout the infield and should find another minor league contract if he elects free agency.
Giants Select Donovan Walton
The Giants have selected infielder Donovan Walton‘s contract from Triple-A Sacramento, the team announced. To make room for Walton on the active roster, the club optioned outfielder Luis Matos to the minor leagues. The Giants already had an open spot on the 40-man roster.
Walton, 30, will get the start in tonight’s contest with the Padres, playing second base and batting ninth. Brett Wisely, who has gotten most of his playing time since the All-Star break at second base, will slide over to short. Walton’s promotion is most likely related to shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald‘s back tightness, which forced him to exit yesterday’s game in the third inning. Thankfully, Fitzgerald’s MRI showed no signs of structural damage (per Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle), and there is no indication he will require a trip to the injured list. Walton will be around to cover until Fitzgerald is ready to return to action.
This will be Walton’s first trip back to the majors since 2022. Selected by the Mariners in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, the versatile infielder (and occasional outfielder) made his MLB debut with Seattle in 2019. He appeared in 37 games for the M’s from 2019-22, going 18-for-92 (.196) with a .575 OPS. The Mariners sent him to San Francisco in May 2022, and he appeared in 24 games for the Giants, going 12-for-76 (.158) with a .482 OPS. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco non-tendered him at the end of the season, but he re-signed with the club in December 2022. After an injury-shortened 2023 season, he signed another minor league pact to return to the Giants in 2024. Following an impressive showing at Triple-A – he’s hitting .306 with an .821 OPS – Walton has finally made his way back to the major leagues. He could get at least a few starts while Fitzgerald is on the mend. After that, he will presumably be DFA’d at some point in the coming weeks before electing free agency again this offseason.