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Heath Hembree

Pirates Designate Anthony Banda For Assignment, Release Heath Hembree

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The Pirates announced a series of roster moves Monday, reinstating utilityman Josh VanMeter from the injured list, recalling righty Miguel Yajure from Triple-A Indianapolis, optioning outfielder Cal Mitchell to Triple-A and designating lefty Anthony Banda for assignment. Pittsburgh also released righty Heath Hembree after he cleared waivers, per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link) and assigned righty Jerad Eickhoff to Indianapolis after he cleared outright waivers.

Banda has been in Pittsburgh for a bit shy of a year, having been claimed off waivers from the Mets last August. He made 25 appearances down the stretch, tossing 26 1/3 frames of 3.42 ERA ball. That came with middle-of-the-road strikeout and walk numbers, but Banda was successful enough to hold his roster spot over the winter. He broke camp this season and went on to make 23 more appearances, but the 28-year-old didn’t have nearly as much success keeping runs off the board.

Through 19 2/3 innings, Banda owns a 6.41 ERA. He’s posted slightly below-average marks in both strikeout rate (22.4%) and swinging strike percentage (9.4%), although that’s come with career-best control. Banda has walked only around 5% of opponents, and he’s averaging a personal-high 95.3 MPH on his fastball. Opposing hitters have an unsustainably high .463 batting average on balls in play against him in spite of a general lack of hard contact.

Those better underlying traits could entice another club to roll the dice on Banda over the coming days. The Bucs will have a week to trade him or try to run him through waivers. He’s out of minor league option years, so any team that acquires him would have to keep him on the active roster or DFA him themselves.

Hembree heads to free agency after being designated for assignment himself last week (ironically to accommodate Eickhoff’s selection to the 40-man roster). That’s little surprise, as the veteran reliever is playing this season on a $2.125MM salary and is amidst a down year. He posted a 7.16 ERA with more walks than strikeouts in 20 appearances for the Bucs, but he’s only a season removed from punching out 34.2% of batters faced. That’ll at least generate some minor league interest now that Hembree’s back on the open market; a signing team would only owe him the prorated portion of the $700K minimum salary for any time he spends in the majors, with the Pirates on the hook for the rest of the money owed.

Eickhoff has the right to join Hembree in free agency, having been outrighted on multiple occasions in his career. He made just one MLB appearance, serving up ten runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Cubs. The veteran righty has otherwise spent the season in Indianapolis, tossing 48 1/3 frames of 4.84 ERA ball.

Pirates Designate Heath Hembree For Assignment

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The Pirates have designated right-hander Heath Hembree for assignment, per a team announcement. The move clears a spot on the 40-man and active rosters for veteran righty Jerad Eickhoff, whose contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Indianapolis (as was originally reported yesterday).

Signed to a one-year, $2.125MM contract as a free agent back in mid-March, Hembree came to the Bucs as a potential late-inning arm with ample experience as a big league setup man. From 2015-19, Hembree racked up 238 innings of 3.59 ERA ball and notched 44 holds (plus two saves) as a stalwart option in the Red Sox’ late-inning relief corps. He became increasingly homer-prone in 2020-21, however, leading to an unsightly 6.43 ERA over those two seasons combined.

That number didn’t deter the Pirates from taking a low-cost look at a pitcher whose strikeout rate soared to a career-high 34.4% during the 2021 season. The uptick in strikeouts was accompanied by a 95.5 mph average fastball — a significant jump from his 2019-20 levels and the highest mark he’d posted since a career-best 95.7 mph average back in 2017. Hembree also boasted high-end spin rate on his fastball and above-average spin on his breaking ball, all of which surely combined to pique Pittsburgh’s interest.

Things simply haven’t panned out with the Bucs, however, as the 33-year-old has logged an ugly 7.16 ERA with more walks (14) than strikeouts (12) over the life of 16 1/3 innings. Hembree’s average fastball velocity has dipped back down to 94.2 mph, and he’s allowed runs in eight of his 20 appearances with the team. Along the way, he missed two weeks with a calf strain, and since returning, he’s walked five batters in three innings.

The Pirates will have a week to trade Hembree, pass him through outright waivers or release him. It’s unlikely that a team claims him, however, given the $1.23MM that’s still remaining on his contract. Even if Hembree clears outright waivers, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment while still retaining the remainder of that salary owed to him. At that point, he could become a free agent and sign with any team. A new team would only be responsible for paying him the prorated portion of the league minimum, with the rest of his salary still coming out of the Pirates’ pockets.

Pirates Designate Cam Alldred For Assignment

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The Pirates announced they’ve designated reliever Cam Alldred for assignment. Pittsburgh also placed first baseman Daniel Vogelbach on the 10-day injured list and put reliever Heath Hembree on the 15-day IL. The moves clear roster space for the previously-reported promotions of right-hander Roansy Contreras and outfielder Calvin Mitchell.

Alldred just earned his first major league call a couple weeks ago. The 25-year-old made one appearance, tossing a scoreless inning against the Reds before being optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis. He’s spent the rest of the season there, working 20 1/3 innings across ten appearances. Alldred has a sterling 1.33 ERA, inducing grounders on three-fifths of the batted balls he’s allowed.

The University of Cincinnati product hasn’t missed many bats in the minors. He has a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate in Triple-A, unsurprising for a pitcher who averaged 86.7 MPH on his sinker during his lone big league outing. Alldred has performed throughout his time in the minors, however, and he’s seen marked improvements in both his walk and ground-ball numbers thus far in 2022.

Vogelbach hits the IL due to a left hamstring strain. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for a return for the 29-year-old, who has been the club’s primary designated hitter this season. The lefty-swinging Vogelbach signed a $1MM deal over the offseason and had been off to a nice start to his Pittsburgh tenure. He’s hitting .241/.321/.457 while popping six home runs through his first 131 plate appearances.

Hembree also signed a one-year deal with the Bucs as a free agent, though he’s gotten off to a more inauspicious start. The right-hander has an 8.10 ERA through 17 appearances, walking 14.5% of batters faced. Hembree profiled as an interesting buy-low flier after striking out 34.2% of opponents between the Reds and Mets last season. He hasn’t come close to replicating that thus far, owning just a 16.1% strikeout rate in the early going.

In other Bucs’ injury news, the club transferred shortstop Kevin Newman to the 60-day IL yesterday. (The move was necessary to accommodate the promotion of Yerry de los Santos). General manager Ben Cherington announced over the weekend that Newman had suffered a hamstring injury while on a minor league rehab assignment (link via Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). That’s a separate issue than the left groin strain that originally landed him on the IL last month.

Cherington indicated Newman’s new injury isn’t likely to be serious, though it has halted his rehab stint. He won’t be eligible to return to the majors for sixty days from the time of his initial IL placement on April 27. A late-June return is now the best possible outcome for the 28-year-old, who hit .250/.308/.375 in 14 games before suffering the groin injury.

Pirates Sign Daniel Vogelbach, Heath Hembree

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10:20am: Hembree’s contract guarantees him $2.125MM, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter links). He adds that Vogelbach’s $1MM guarantee comes in the form of an $800K salary and a $200K buyout on next year’s $1.5MM option.

9:15am: Vogelbach’s deal comes with a $1MM base salary and up to $400K worth of incentives, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The contract also contains a $1.5MM club option for the 2023 season. Vogelbach would remain under team control via arbitration even if the option is not picked up, although at that point, if the club opts against a $1.5MM salary, it seems likely that he’d be non-tendered.

7:07am: The Pirates kicked off their Tuesday by announcing a pair of signings: first baseman/designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach and right-handed reliever Heath Hembree have both agreed to one-year, Major League contracts, per the team. Vogelbach is repped by ISE Baseball, while Hembree is a client of the Ballengee Group. Right-handers Blake Cederlind and Nick Mears were transferred to the 60-day injured list in a pair of corresponding moves. Cederlind is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel tweets that Mears had surgery to clean up some scar tissue in his right elbow back on Feb. 9.

Vogelbach, 29, will join Yoshi Tsutsugo in the mix for playing time at first base and in the newly created National League designated hitter slot. The 2011 second-rounder (Cubs) has spent the past two seasons with the Brewers organization after logging parts of five seasons as a member of the Mariners. He batted .219/.349/.381 in 258 plate appearances with Milwaukee during a 2021 season that saw him hobbled by hamstring tear. Vogelbach sustained the injury when scoring from second base on an RBI single; it was a bizarre play that saw the big man pull up lame about a third of the way home but still limp home as a sleeping D-backs defense appeared unaware of its surroundings.

Oddity of that play aside, Vogelbach will bring to the Buccos plenty of pop against right-handed pitching and a lofty walk rate against both lefties and righties. He’ll quite likely be platooned, as he’s just a .135/.256/.255 hitter against southpaws, but Vogelbach has walked in nearly 17% of his career plate appearances versus right-handers while putting together a .228/.357/.442 batting line. He’s only appeared in more than 100 games once in his career, but when he did so, Vogelbach swatted 30 long balls through 558 plate appearances with the 2019 Mariners.

If things go well in Pittsburgh, the Bucs will be able to retain Vogelbach for another two seasons beyond the 2022 campaign via arbitration. He currently has three-plus years of big league service time and is out of minor league options.

As for Hembree, he’ll give the Pirates a big-time strikeout arm to install in their late-inning mix. The 33-year-old punched out a massive 38% of his opponents last year while pitching for the Reds and spent a portion of the season as the closer in Cincinnati. A nightmare stretch of games from late July through mid-August saw Hembree serve up 13 runs in seven innings, however, ballooning his ERA north of 6.00. Hembree was designated for assignment, caught on with the Mets and had a nice finish to the season, pitching to a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 innings with New York.

Hembree’s end-of-season ERA was still an unsightly 5.59, continuing some struggles he’d experienced beginning in the shortened 2020 season (9.00 ERA in 19 innings). However, even with the recent scuffles — which seemingly stem from an uptick in home runs allowed — the right-hander has maintained big strikeout, swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates. Hembree’s 30.9% strikeout rate and 21.3 K-BB% are actually better than the marks he posted from 2015-19, when he was a consistent presence in the Red Sox bullpen and notched a 3.59 ERA over the life of 238 innings.

As far as low-cost bullpen fliers go, Hembree is a particularly sensible one for the Bucs, who’ll hope he can sustain some of those strikeout gains while getting away from the home run troubles he had at more hitter-friendly settings in Philadelphia (2020) and in Cincinnati. Hembree figures to serve as a setup man for emerging closer David Bednar, joining righty Chris Stratton in that regard. If Hembree does manage to curtail the home run troubles that plagued him in 2020-21, he could well emerge as a nice trade chip for the Pirates this July.

Mets Claim Heath Hembree, Transfer Jacob deGrom To 60-Day Injured List

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The Mets have claimed right-handed reliever Heath Hembree off waivers from the Reds, per a club announcement. Ace Jacob deGrom was transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets have already been without deGrom for more than a month, and he wasn’t expected back until September anyhow. He’ll be eligible to return on Sept. 15.

Hembree, 32, was serving as the Reds’ closer earlier this summer before a rough few weeks caused his ERA to balloon up to a dismal 6.38 mark. Unsightly as that ERA is, Hembree was lights-out from late June through late July, pitching to a 1.42 ERA with a 19-to-5 K/BB ratio and racking up seven saves in a span of 12 2/3 innings. That hot streak obviously came in a very small sample, but it’s worth noting — and this is likely what drew the Mets to him — that Hembree has been among the game’s best in terms of missing bats all season.

Among the 321 pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings this year, Hembree’s 38 percent strikeout rate is the game’s seventh-highest mark. He’s tied for 15th in that same set of pitchers with a 27.4 K-BB% and sits 18th with a 2.84 SIERA. He’s largely been done in by the long ball this season, serving up 10 dingers in 44 2/3 innings of work (2.13 HR/9). Seven of those home runs have come at the extremely hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, however, where Hembree’s ERA is north of 8.00. He’s been much better on the road, and a change of scenery could do him some good.

As for deGrom, the Mets said last week that he’d go at least another two weeks without throwing, so it’s unlikely he’d have been able to return much sooner than Sept. 15 anyhow. Once he starts throwing, he’ll need to build up sufficient arm strength to get back to the mound and hopefully make a few starts for the Mets down the stretch as they look to pull out of the spiral that has seen them fall from a comfortable lead in the NL East to a sub-.500 record and a five-game gap between the now-division-leading Braves.

Reds Designate Heath Hembree For Assignment

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The Reds have designated right-hander Heath Hembree for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for fellow right-hander Tony Santillan, who has been recalled from Triple-A Louisville, per a team announcement. Cincinnati also reinstated right-hander R.J. Alaniz from the injured list and optioned him to Triple-A. Meanwhile, the Reds announced earlier in the day that infielder Mike Freeman cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Louisville.

Hembree’s DFA comes on the heels of a catastrophic outing in which he was tagged for five runs in just two-thirds of an inning. The Reds might’ve been able to look past that meltdown had he continued pitching as well as he did throughout the month of July, but the past several weeks have been a struggle for the veteran Hembree, to say the least. He’s yielded runs in seven of his past nine outings — a total of 13 in a span of just seven innings.

That dismal slump has ballooned Hembree’s ERA to a grisly 6.38 mark, but Hembree has previously been more solid out of the Cincinnati ’pen and spent several weeks pitching quite well as their primary closer while top relievers Tejay Antone, Michael Lorenzen and Lucas Sims were on the injured list. (Antone is still on the IL.) Hembree logged seven saves and posted a 1.42 ERA with a 19-to-5 K/BB ratio from June 28 through July 24. He’d had some early struggles as well, but that strong stretch dropped his ERA into the low-4.00s and gave the impression he’d righted the ship.

Clearly, that wasn’t the case, but there’s still plenty of reason that another club might be intrigued by Hembree. Among the 321 pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings this year, Hembree’s 38 percent strikeout rate is the game’s seventh-highest mark. He’s tied for 15th in that same set of pitchers with a 27.4 K-BB% and sits 18th with a 2.84 SIERA.

Hembree has been done in by a ghastly 51.3 percent strand rate that sits more than 20 percent worse than the league average. That’s in part due to a sky-high 2.13 HR/9 mark; he’s yielded 10 long balls in his 44 2/3 innings this season, although seven of them have come in his hitter-friendly home park. Another club with a more spacious home setting might take a look at Hembree’s K-BB profile and generally solid track record from 2015-19 and opt to place a claim on outright waivers. His contract comes with a very reasonable $800K base salary in the Majors, though he’s already unlocked another $225K of incentives on top of that base, I’m told. Hembree would be an affordable change-of-scenery candidate for a team in need of bullpen depth — be it on a waiver claim or on a new contract if goes unclaimed and reaches the market.

The Best Minor League Deals Of 2021 (So Far): Pitchers

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We took a look last week at some of the minor league pacts that have paid the most dividends, focusing in on position players in both leagues. Unsurprisingly, given the lack of offense throughout baseball as a whole at the moment, there are even more success stories on the pitching side of the coin. Some of these are products of small sample size, particularly for the many relievers on the list, but at least for our initial check-in on this subject, the early returns have been strong.

  1. Ian Kennedy, RHP, Rangers: We’re nearing Memorial Day weekend, and Kennedy is tied for the American League lead in saves — just as everyone expected! The 36-year-old righty isn’t just scraping by and narrowly escaping in a bunch of three-run leads, though. He’s tallied 19 1/3 innings and allowed just four runs, all while recording a terrific 31.1 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 5.4 percent walk rate. If Texas remains near the bottom of the AL West standings, he’ll be an appealing trade target for bullpen-needy clubs.
  2. Drew Steckenrider, RHP, Mariners: A quality setup man with the 2017-18 Marlins, Steckenrider’s time in Miami was derailed by injuries — most notably a 2019 flexor strain. He looks to be back on track in his new surroundings, however, having tossed 18 1/3 innings of 2.45 ERA ball with a 29.2 percent strikeout rate and an 11.1 percent walk rate. The walks are a bit elevated, but he’s helped to combat that with a career-best 54 percent ground-ball mark. The Mariners (or another club) could control Steckenrider through 2023 via arbitration as well, which only adds to the value.
  3. Jimmy Nelson, RHP, Dodgers:  The Dodgers just placed Nelson on the injured list due to a forearm issue, so there are (once again) some obvious health question marks with Nelson. There’s no ignoring how effective he’s been thus far, however. Nelson’s 39.1 percent strikeout rate is the ninth-best among all MLB relievers, and he’s paired that with a pristine 2.41 ERA. Like Shaw, he’s walked too many batters (13 percent), but the former Brewers ace has shown high-leverage, late-inning potential with L.A.
  4. Bryan Shaw, RHP, Indians: Shaw was an iron man in the Cleveland ’pen but flopped in Colorado after signing a three-year, $27MM contract going into 2018. Back in his old stomping grounds, he’s tallied 19 innings with a pristine 1.42 ERA. The 33-year-old has issued 13 walks, so he’ll need to cut back on the free passes if he hopes to continue this success, but Shaw’s strikeout and ground-ball percentages are among the best of his career (29.3 percent, 57.5 percent, respectively).
  5. Lucas Luetge, LHP, Yankees: Luetge’s last MLB appearance prior to his Yankees debut came with the 2015 Mariners. The now-34-year-old southpaw signed minor league deals with five organizations before making it back to the show, which is remarkable in and of itself. That he’s been one of the Yankees’ best relievers, however, makes his story all the more incredible. Luetge, who entered 2021 with all of 89 MLB frames under his belt, has a 2.95 ERA and a 19-to-3 K/BB ratio in 21 1/3 innings for the Yankees thus far. Considering the injuries to Zack Britton and Darren O’Day, Luetge’s unexpected contributions have been a godsend. If he can keep this up, he’ll be arbitration-eligible this winter and controllable through the 2024 season.
  6. Hyeon-jong Yang, LHP, Rangers: Yang, a former KBO MVP, could’ve returned to that league on a guaranteed deal but refused to give up on his aspirations of playing in the Majors, even if it meant taking a non-guaranteed pact. He’s 21 1/3 innings into the realization of that lifelong goal, and the Rangers are no doubt pleased with their decision. Yang, 33, opened the season with the Rangers’ alternate site group but had his contract selected in late April. He now owns a 3.38 ERA, and while his pedestrian strikeout and walk rates might point to some possible regression, he’s induced plenty of weak contact (average 87.4 mph exit velocity, just a 13.1 percent line-drive rate). An 11.2 percent swinging-strike rate suggests there could be more K’s to come, as well.
  7. Chi Chi Gonzalez, RHP, Rockies: Gonzalez’s numbers don’t stand out that much, but he’s eating innings and delivering roughly league-average run-prevention numbers when adjusting for his home park (102 ERA+, 99 ERA-). Through nine appearances, seven of them starts, Gonzalez is carrying a 4.54 ERA. He’s totaled 41 2/3 innings for a Rockies club that has gone the whole season without lefty Kyle Freeland. Gonzalez has rattled off consecutive quality starts and helped the Rox get through the first two months of the season. The secondary marks aren’t great, but average innings have value — especially in 2021 when teams are so conscientious about their pitchers’ workloads.
  8. Nabil Crismatt, RHP, Padres: Crismatt had just 8 1/3 innings of MLB experience (all with the 2020 Cardinals) when he arrived in Padres camp this spring. He’s more than doubled that total in 2021 already, pitching 17 2/3 innings of 2.55 ERA ball with a hefty 52.2 percent grounder rate. Crismatt is an oddity in today’s game, sitting under 89 mph with a fastball that is only seldom used due to the fact that he throws his changeup at a whopping 46.5 percent clip. It’s weird, but so far — it’s worked.
  9. Anthony Bender, RHP, Marlins: A 26-year-old rookie who never pitched above Double-A with the Royals or Brewers before joining the Marlins on a minor league deal this winter, Bender is sitting 97.4 mph with his heater and has tossed 8 2/3 shutout innings to open his career. He’s whiffed 36.7 percent of his opponents against a 3.3 percent walk rate. Small sample? Sure, but Bender also rattled off 8 1/3 shutout frames during Spring Training, too. Not bad for a guy who posted a 5.48 ERA with the independent American Association’s Milwaukee Milkmen in 2020.
  10. Heath Hembree, RHP, Reds:  After a rough 2020 season, Hembree has bounced back early in 2021. His 4.15 ERA through 13 frames is nothing special, but his strikeout rate is sitting at a career-high 33.3 percent after plummeting in 2020. His 6.3 percent walk rate is a career-best, and his 13.1 percent swinging-strike rate isn’t far off from his peak years in Boston. Hembree’s velocity is also up to 95.2 mph after dipping to 93.9 mph in 2019-20. It’s early, but those are some encouraging indicators.
  11. Zack Littell, RHP, Giants: Littell hasn’t spent much time with the Giants yet, but he’s chucked 10 2/3 innings and held opponents to just one run on eight hits and three walks with nine punchouts. His 94.8 mph average fastball velocity is a career-high, as is his 48.3 percent grounder rate. The former Twins righty only has a year of big league service and could be controllable for several years if he figures it out in San Francisco.
  12. Deolis Guerra, RHP, Athletics: It’s hard to believe Guerra just turned 32, given that he was one of the pieces traded from the Mets to the Twins way back in 2008’s Johan Santana trade. He’s bounced around the league in journeyman style but is enjoying a nice run with the A’s to kick off the ’21 season. In 20 2/3 frames, Guerra has a 3.92 ERA with a pedestrian K-BB% but intriguing levels of weak contact induced.
  13. JT Chargois, RHP, Mariners: Like Littell, Chargois hasn’t seen much time in the bigs yet, but he’s sporting a 9-to-1 K/BB ratio in 8 2/3 innings for Seattle. He’s had multiple chances with the Twins and Dodgers in recent years but never found much consistency. Chargois also mustered only a 5.81 ERA pitching for Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2020. Still, it’s a nice start to his 2021 season.
  14. Brad Boxberger, RHP, Brewers: The right-hander, who’ll turn 33 this week, has hurled 17 1/3 innings so far in Milwaukee and pitched to a 4.15 ERA but with a more impressive 17-to-3 K/BB mark. As with many relievers early in a given season, the bulk of the damage against Boxberger came in one appearance (against the Cardinals). He’s been unscored upon in 16 of his 19 outings so far in 2021.
  15. Ervin Santana, RHP, Royals: The Royals love their reunions more than any team in baseball, and Santana is somewhat improbably back to “smelling baseball,” as he likes to say, for a second stint in Kansas City. He’s only allowed four runs in 15 1/3 innings (2.35 ERA), but he’s also only picked up eight strikeouts against four walks. His fastball is sitting 93 mph again after living at 89-90 in 2018-19, but the red flags are plentiful: 13.1 percent strikeout rate, 91 percent strand rate, .213 BABIP, 45 percent opponents’ hard-hit rate.
  16. Paolo Espino, RHP, Nationals: The Nats quietly re-signed the now 34-year-old Espino before the calendar even flipped to November last year. So far, it’s been a worthwhile reunion, as he’s held opponents to four runs on nine hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in 14 innings (2.57 ERA). Espino won’t keep this up if he can’t miss some more bats and/or induce far more grounders, however. He’s currently benefiting from a .175 BABIP and an 83.3 percent strand rate, while his 26.6 percent grounder rate will make it to limit home runs. Still, the Nats have 14 innings of decent results to show for the deal.

As with the position players, some of these strong starts will fade. There are a few at the back of the list that look particularly difficult to sustain, but there also look to be some genuine bargains unearthed among this group. Some will likely result in trades (Kennedy), but it’d make for a fun story to follow should any of the controllable arms (e.g. Bender, Crismatt) ultimately emerge as long-term pieces for the clubs who gave them their best career opportunities to date.

Reds Select Heath Hembree

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The Reds announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran right-hander Heath Hembree from their alternate training site and recalled righty Ryan Hendrix for his big league debut. Infielder Max Schrock and southpaw Cionel Perez were optioned in a pair of corresponding moves (Schrock to the alternate site and Perez to the taxi squad).

Hembree, 32, has spent the vast majority of his career with the Red Sox, for whom he pitched from 2014-20. In parts of seven seasons with Boston, the righty pitched to a 3.70 ERA with a 24.2 percent strikeout rate and an 8.6 percent walk rate. The Red Sox traded him and former teammate Brandon Workman to the Phillies prior to the 2020 trade deadline as part of the deal that sent Nick Pivetta to Boston. Hembree’s time in Philadelphia didn’t go well, however, as was the case for just about every Phillies reliever in 2020. In 9 1/3 innings, he was clobbered for 13 runs on the strength of an alarming seven homers.

That ugly showing notwithstanding, Hembree has a solid track record in the big leagues and enjoyed better results in Spring Training, when he allowed just one run in 7 2/3 frames. The six walks he issued in that time were still an eyesore, but while his control has never been elite, Hembree’s career walk rate has hovered around the league average.

As for the 26-year-old Hendrix, he was Cincinnati’s fifth-round pick back in 2016 and ranked among the organization’s top 30 prospects from 2018-20, per Baseball America. He’s yet to pitch in Triple-A thanks to last year’s lack of a minor league season, but Hendrix has had success at each minor league stop he’s made. Through 172 2/3 frames in the minors, he’s logged a combined 2.55 ERA with an excellent 32.2 percent strikeout rate against a fairly bloated 10.5 percent walk rate. Scouting reports at BA and FanGraphs credit him with a mid-90s heater and a plus slider.

Reds Select Tyler Naquin, Cam Bedrosian

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The Reds announced Monday that they’ve selected the contracts of outfielder Tyler Naquin and right-handed reliever Cam Bedrosian. Both were in camp on non-roster deals and have now formally made the Opening Day club.

The Reds already had one open 40-man roster spot, and right-hander Brandon Bailey, who had Tommy John surgery earlier this spring, was placed on the 60-day IL to create a second one. Meanwhile, infielder Mike Freeman and right-handers Heath Hembree and Braden Shipley were all reassigned to minor league camp and will not make the Opening Day squad.

It’s not hard to see why either Naquin or Bedrosian made the club. The 29-year-old Naquin, a former Indians first-rounder who spent the past five seasons in Cleveland, posted a terrific .310/.375/.667 batting line with three homers, four doubles and a triple in 48 plate appearances. He struck out a bit too much (14 times) but also drew five walks.

Naquin probably won’t draw starting duties in Cincinnati, where the Reds have Jesse Winker, Nick Senzel and Nick Castellanos ahead of him on the depth chart. However, with Shogo Akiyama still on the mend from a hamstring strain, Naquin gives the Reds a left-handed-hitting outfielder capable of playing all three spots.

Bedrosian, meanwhile, allowed three homers and yielded four total runs in 8 2/3 innings this spring (4.15 ERA). However, he also punched out half of the 32 batters he faced and issued just three walks. His K/BB numbers went the wrong direction in last year’s shortened season, but Bedrosian has a generally strong track record with the Angels, having compiled a 3.20 ERA with a 25.1 percent strikeout rate and 9.0 percent walk rate dating back to 2016.

Reds, Heath Hembree Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Heath Hembree, the team announced. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Hembree, who has appeared in the bigs with the Giants, Red Sox and Phillies since he debuted in 2013, signed a minors deal with Cleveland during the offseason. He became available again when the Indians released him over the weekend.

The 32-year-old Hembree could now compete for a spot in Cincinnati’s bullpen, which has lost Raisel Iglesias and Archie Bradley since last season. Hembree carries a 3.90 ERA/3.80 SIERA over 272 2/3 innings in the majors, though he struggled last season between Boston and Philadelphia. He gave up 19 earned runs on 26 hits and eight walks (against 20 strikeouts) in 19 innings, leading the Phillies to outright him in October.

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