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Gilberto Celestino

AL Roster Notes: Twins, White Sox, Rays

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The Twins have reinstated Gilberto Celestino from the COVID injured list, per the team. Chi Chi Gonzalez was returned to Triple-A to make room on the active roster. It’s worth nothing that Gonzalez has an opt out clause in his contract that he can trigger next week, per Darren Wolfson of KSTP Eyewitness News (via Twitter). The 30-year-old Gonzalez made just one appearance for the Twins, yielding three earned runs in three innings of work. Let’s check on other roster moves made today in the American League…

  • The White Sox optioned Tanner Banks to Triple-A today to make room for reliever Kyle Crick, per the Athletic’s James Fegan (via Twitter). Crick has 10 appearances on the year with a 3.60 ERA/3.95 FIP across 10 innings with a 11-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Banks, a 30-year-old rookie, made 14 appearances spanning 21 2/3 innings with a 4.57 ERA/4.44 FIP.
  • Southpaw Ben Bowden, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Durham, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Bowden, 27, was claimed off waivers earlier this season from the Rockies. He has not yet seen big league action for the Rays.

Twins Recall Ryan Jeffers, Gilberto Celestino

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The Twins announced they’ve recalled catcher Ryan Jeffers and outfielder Gilberto Celestino. Catcher Mitch Garver is going to the 10-day injured list with a severe groin contusion, while utilityman Rob Refsnyder has been placed on the 7-day concussion IL. Jeffers and Celestino are starting at catcher and in center field, respectively, tonight against the Orioles.

Garver underwent surgery after being struck with a foul tip last night. Manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) this evening that Garver will be out for “a bare minimum of a couple weeks.” So long as he’s on the IL, Minnesota is expected to roll with Jeffers as the primary catcher, Park adds.

Ben Rortvedt and Willians Astudillo are also on the active roster. Jeffers, though, is generally viewed as a more well-regarded prospect than Rortvedt, while the Twins have been more willing to bounce Astudillo around the diamond as a utility player than deploy him as a true regular catcher. Jeffers, 23, got off to a strong start to his MLB career last season but scuffled in 37 plate appearances earlier this year. With Garver picking up the lion’s share of playing time behind the dish, the Twins optioned Jeffers to Triple-A St. Paul so he could continue to receive regular playing time.

Celestino is also one of the organization’s more talented farmhands and will now pick up his first major league opportunity. Acquired from the Astros as part of the 2018 Ryan Pressly deal, Celestino entered the year as the Twins #10 prospect in the estimation of both FanGraphs and Baseball America. Those outlets suggest the 22-year-old could blossom into a plus defensive center fielder with a hit-over-power approach. Thanks to last year’s cancelled minor league season, Celestino hasn’t gotten much high minors experience. Over 96 plate appearances with Double-A Wichita, he’s off to a .250/.344/.381 start with a pair of home runs. During his last full minor league season (2019), Celestino slashed a productive .276/.350/.409 with ten homers in 503 Low-A plate appearances.

While Celestino has never played at Triple-A, a series of injuries in center field have forced the organization’s hand somewhat. Byron Buxton has been out since early May with a hip strain. Max Kepler slid over to center in his absence, but Kepler went down with a hamstring strain last weekend. That led the Twins to turn to Refsnyder, a journeyman who’s surprisingly gotten off to an incredible start this year, at the position. Unfortunately, he’s out now too after colliding with the outfield wall in pursuit of a Ryan Mountcastle home run ball on Monday.

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: American League

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We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from American League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

AL West:

  • The Athletics made just one addition to the 40-man roster, righty Daulton Jefferies, which resulted in the DFA of righty Jharel Cotton (more on that move here).
  • The Rangers will add at least four players to their 40-man, per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter). Infielder Sherten Apostel, outfielder Leody Taveras, and hurlers Demarcus Evans and Tyler Phillips are all reportedly set to get a slot. Taveras is the most exciting name of this bunch; by the reckoning of some observers, he’s one of the club’s best prospects. Apostel came over in the Keone Kela trade. The two pitchers are upper-minors arms who could contribute in 2020.
  • There’s 40-man movement elsewhere in Texas as well. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Astros have tacked on four players: Taylor Jones, Cristian Javier, Enoli Paredes, and Nivaldo Rodriguez. The last of those is the one that came from the farthest reaches of the prospect map (half a season of High-A ball); clearly, the ’Stros see him as an up-and-comer and were worried other teams would as well. Jones had a strong season at Triple-A and could fight for a bench spot. Javier and Paredes could be in the MLB bullpen mix after running up the farm ladder with high strikeout rates in 2019.
  • The Angels have selected second baseman/outfielder Jahmai Jones and lefty Hector Yan, according to the club. Both players (Jones – No. 6; Yan – No. 17) rank among the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com. The 22-year-old Jones is a 2015 second-rounder who spent the past two seasons at the Double-A level, where he hit .234/.308/.324 in 544 plate appearances in 2019. Yan, a 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, rose to Single-A ball this past season and notched a 3.39 ERA/3.17 FIP with a whopping 12.22 K/9 against 4.29 BB/9 over 109 innings.

AL Central:

AL East:

  • Infielder Santiago Espinal and righty Thomas Hatch were the Blue Jays’ pair of roster additions on Wednesday. Toronto jettisoned Tim Mayza and Justin Shafer from the 40-man roster in a pair of corresponding moves, as explored at greater length here.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contracts of left-hander Keegan Akin, right-hander Dean Kremer, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle and outfielder Ryan McKenna. Mountcastle, a former first-rounder, has long been considered among the organization’s most promising minor leaguers. Akin posted a down year in Triple-A in 2019 but has generally been successful and is viewed as a near-MLB ready arm.
  • The Red Sox have added infielders C.J. Chatham and Bobby Dalbec, outfielder Marcus Wilson, and lefties Kyle Hart and Yoan Aybar to their 40-man, the team announced.The most hyped farmhand there is Dalbec, whom MLB.com ranks as the Red Sox’s second-best prospect. The 24-year-old reached the Triple-A level for the first time in 2019 after obliterating Double-A pitching, and he posted a .257/.301/.478 line with seven home runs and 29 strikeouts against just five walks over 123 trips to the plate.
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