Giants Sign Drew Pomeranz To Major League Deal
The Giants announced that they have signed left-hander Drew Pomeranz to a one-year deal. It was reported earlier that he had been released from his minor league deal with the Dodgers. In corresponding moves, right-hander Mason Black was optioned and catcher Jakson Reetz was designated for assignment.
Pomeranz, 35, returns to the major leagues for the first time since 2021. With the Padres at that time, he required flexor tendon surgery and repeatedly hit setbacks in his attempts to return to the mound in the following two years.
This year, he signed a minor league deal with the Angels and threw eight innings for them in Spring Training. He didn’t crack the Opening Day roster with that club, getting released and signing a new minor league deal with the Dodgers.
Since signing with the Dodgers, Pomeranz has been pitching for Triple-A Oklahoma City, with a couple of interruptions. He once opted out but then re-signed shortly thereafter. He also landed on the minor league injured list April 21 but returned from the IL a couple of weeks back.
He’s made two appearances since coming off the IL, striking out seven batters in three scoreless innings. Overall, he’s has thrown nine innings for OKC with six earned runs allowed this year, but four of those came in his first appearance of the season. In eight frames since then, he has a 2.25 earned run average, 48.3% strikeout rate and 3.4% walk rate.
That good form perhaps gives the Giants some optimism that Pomeranz can get back to the pitcher he once was. Prior to his injury woes, he spent a decent chunk of time as a lockdown reliever, a period of his career that began with the Giants. That club signed him to a one-year deal in 2019 but he had a 6.10 ERA through 17 starts. They moved him to the bullpen and he looked good enough in four relief outings that the Giants were able to trade him to the Brewers alongside Ray Black for Mauricio Dubón.
Pomeranz dominated for the Brewers and parlayed that showing into a four-year deal with the Padres going into 2020. He continued pitching well for the Friars and had a 1.91 ERA from the time of the trade to Milwaukee to the end of 2021. He struck out 37.8% of batters faced, gave out walks at a 10.2% clip and got grounders at a 46.2% rate.
As mentioned, the last two years of his deal with the Padres were lost in the injury wilderness. But he seems to have mostly been in good health this year, pitching for the Angels in the spring and for Oklahoma City since then. That sets him up for a nice comeback story and perhaps gives the Giants a chance to catch lightning in a bottle.
The Giants have won seven of their last 10 and are now just one game out of a Wild Card spot. That’s been despite a poor performance from the bullpen, as San Francisco’s relievers have a collective 4.59 ERA on the year, which puts them 25th in the league. If Pomeranz is in good form, he can help bolster that group for a playoff chase this summer. Or if the Giants should fall out of contention, perhaps Pomeranz will find himself traded away from San Francisco at the deadline for a second time.
Reetz, 28, was added to the club’s roster a few weeks back as their catching depth was suddenly thinned out. Tom Murphy suffered a significant knee sprain and Patrick Bailey was battling concussion symptoms. But the Giants later signed Curt Casali to share the catching duties with Blake Sabol, nudging Reetz back down to the minors. Bailey has since been reinstated from the concussion IL, knocking Reetz even farther down the catching chart.
The Giants will now have a week to trade Reetz or pass him through waivers. He hit .083/.083/.333 with the Giants in 12 plate appearances and only had two previous major league trips to the plate. Since the start of 2022, he’s hit .254/.356/.537 in the minor leagues. He still has a couple of options and could perhaps appeal to clubs looking for some extra catching depth.
Black being sent down will mean the Giants need another starter at some point. Blake Snell is currently on the paternity list but should be back with the club shortly. He’ll join a rotation that also consists of Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison. They have guys like Kai-Wei Teng and Landen Roupp on the 40-man roster while Spencer Howard is a non-roster option with some major league experience, but they could also consider deploying a bullpen game at some point.
Giants Notes: Ahmed, Schmitt, Luciano, Bailey, Slater
1:54PM: The Giants officially activated Bailey and placed Slater on the concussion-related IL. In other moves, San Francisco called up second baseman/outfielder Brett Wisely, and optioned catcher Jakson Reetz to Triple-A.
8:29AM: The Giants placed shortstop Nick Ahmed on the 10-day injured list yesterday, as Ahmed is dealing with a sprain in his left wrist. The injury has been bothering the infielder “for a while now,” as Ahmed told MLB.com and other media on Thursday, when he had to make an early exit from San Francisco’s game with Colorado.
“I got a bunch of treatment and stuff before the game and it was OK going into the game,” Ahmed said. “And then on the first swing of the game, I just kind of aggravated it. It was hampering my ability to play defense, too. It was probably going to do our team more harm than good if I stayed out there.”
The issue seems relatively minor enough that Ahmed isn’t expected to miss too much time beyond the 10-day minimum, with the caveat that wrist-related injuries can sometimes linger (as was the case for Ahmed even prior to Thursday’s game). Of course, even 10 days is a significant amount of time for a club to be without its starting shortstop. After signing a minor league contract with San Francisco during the offseason, Ahmed has started 35 of the Giants’ 40 games, delivering his usual combination of strong defense and uninspiring offense. Ahmed has hit only .236/.274/.291 over his first 119 plate appearances, translating to a 66 wRC+.
This lack of pop has led some Giants fans to wonder why top prospect Marco Luciano hasn’t yet been given a longer look at the MLB level, though Luciano didn’t help his case with a lackluster Spring Training. Luciano made his big league debut with 14 games and 45 PA last season, and thus far has hit .273/.403/.355 over 149 Triple-A plate appearances in 2024. The OBP and a big increase his Luciano’s walk rate are nice signs of progress, though he has only slightly reduced his high strikeout rate, and has shown very little power even in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League.
Luciano might not be too far away from another call-up, however, even though fellow infielder Casey Schmitt got the call Friday to replace Ahmed on the active roster. Manager Bob Melvin implied to reporters (including the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser) that Schmitt may have gotten the nod because the Giants were facing left-handed starters on Friday and Saturday. Though Luciano and Schmitt are both right-handed batters, Schmitt has better numbers against lefties at Triple-A this season.
In general, the team is open to all options with Ahmed out, as Melvin admitted “I’m not sure what [the shortstop position is] going to look like here every day.” Utilityman Tyler Fitzgerald is the only other player besides Ahmed and Schmitt to see any time at shortstop this season, and Fitzgerald has hit a solid .273/.319/.455 in 47 PA while bouncing all over the diamond. The Giants may prefer to to keep Fitzgerald available to chip in at multiple positions rather than make him a regular shortstop with Ahmed out, which could open the door for Schmitt to get more work, or for Luciano to perhaps enter the picture.
Elsewhere on the injury front, today marks Patrick Bailey‘s seventh day on the seven-day concussion-related IL, and the Giants are hoping he can be cleared prior to today’s game with the Reds. Bailey took a foul ball off the mask on May 3, but has resumed baseball activities, including catching Blake Snell‘s bullpen session on Friday. Slusser writes that Bailey will be taking the precaution of wearing a new style of mask, with some extra padding involved and a design similar to a hockey goalie’s mask.
Getting their regular catcher back is a nice win for the Giants, yet another position player might be taking Bailey’s spot on the concussion IL. Austin Slater collided with the wall while trying to make a catch in the first inning of yesterday’s game, and was replaced by a pinch-hitter before his first at-bat.
Melvin told reporters postgame that Slater was quite possibly headed to the IL, which is the latest setback in what has been a rough start to the season for the outfielder. Slater has hit only .128/.306/.128 in 49 PA while serving in his usual capacity as a platooner against left-handed pitching, a far cry from his career .278/.370/.447 slash line against southpaws. It could be just a small sample size issue to date, though Slater’s primary concern now is just getting healthy.
Giants Select Jakson Reetz, Designate Mitch White For Assignment
The Giants announced a set of roster moves this afternoon including selecting the contract of catcher Jakson Reetz ahead of tonight’s game against the Phillies to take the place of veteran catcher Tom Murphy, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left knee sprain. Right-hander Mitch White was designated for assignment to make room for Reetz on the 40-man roster, while righty Daulton Jefferies was recalled to replace White on the active roster. Robert Murray of FanSided first reported Reetz’s selection to the majors, while Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area first suggested that Reetz would be the next man up in the event of an additional roster move.
Reetz, 28, was a third-round pick by the Nationals in the 2014 draft but didn’t make his MLB debut until 2021, when he appeared in two games with the club while filling in for injured veteran Yan Gomes alongside Tres Barrera. He received just two plate appearances at the big league level, going one-for-two with a double before being sent back to the minor leagues. Reetz has not appeared in the majors since then, instead bouncing between the Nationals, Royals, Brewers, and Giants minor league systems.
Despite his lack of MLB opportunities in recent years, Reetz has generally hit quite well at the Triple-A level, particularly for a catcher. He owns a career slash line of .234/.328/.478 in 577 trips to the plate at the level and enjoyed a particularly strong season with the Giants last year, for whom he slashed .243/.342/.500 in 82 games behind the dish.
While Reetz’s strong defensive reputation behind the plate and solid offensive numbers likely would have earned him a look by now in another organization, San Francisco is deep enough behind the plate to have parted ways with former top prospect Joey Bart earlier this season due to a roster crunch. However, with Patrick Bailey on the injured list due to a concussion and Murphy now out with an injury of his own, the Giants are now left to rely on 2023 Rule 5 Draft pick Blake Sabol and Reetz behind the plate for the time being.
As for Murphy, the veteran backstop told reporters (including The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly) following yesterday’s game that he had “felt a pop” while blocking the ball and was slated to undergo an MRI today. No timetable has been made available for the 33-year-old’s return to action, though even a short absence is a blow the San Francisco given the club’s quickly evaporating depth behind the plate. Murphy signed with the club this past offseason on a two-year, $8.25MM deal to serve as Bailey’s backup but has struggled in the early going this season, slashing just .118/.211/.235 in 13 games. Hopefully, the time on the shelf will offer Murphy a chance to reset ahead of returning to the Giants later on in the season.
As for White, his brief tenure with his hometown team may be coming to an end as the club will have seven days to either trade the right-hander or attempt to pass him through waivers. Should White successfully clear waivers, the Giants would have the opportunity to outright the righty to the minor leagues. The 29-year-old righty once received top-100 prospect buzz as a member of the Dodgers and posted a strong 3.58 ERA in 105 2/3 innings with the club across parts of three seasons but has struggled badly since being traded to the Blue Jays prior to the 2022 trade deadline.
White posted a 7.65 ERA in 24 appearances with the Blue Jays before the club ultimately designated him for assignment earlier this year, at which point he was swapped to the Giants in a cash deal. White’s return to the NL West hasn’t gone well as he’s been lit up for seven runs on eight hits and five walks while striking out just one in 5 1/3 innings of work. Taking his place on the roster will be Jefferies, who allowed 13 runs (nine earned) in 4 2/3 innings with the Giants earlier this season but has settled in at the Triple-A level with a solid 3.44 ERA in 18 1/3 frames since then.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/16/23
Catching up on some minor league moves from around baseball…
- The Padres signed infielder Nate Mondou to a minor league deal last week, according to Mondou’s MLB.com profile page. The 28-year-old’s big league resume consists of a single game and three plate appearances with the Athletics in 2022, and the rest of his seven-year pro career has been spent in the minors. Mondou has hit .278/.375/.433 over 1275 PA at the Triple-A level with the top affiliates of the A’s and White Sox, while playing mostly second base, a good deal of time at both corner infield spots, and a handful of games as a shortstop and left fielder.
- The Giants re-signed catcher Jakson Reetz to a minor league contract last week, as per Reetz’s MLB.com profile page. A third-round pick for the Nationals in the 2014 draft, Reetz made his Major League debut by appearing in two games for Washington in 2021, and he has since been playing in the minors with the Brewers, Royals, and Giants. Reetz hit .243/.342/.500 with 17 home runs over 322 combined PA with the Giants’ and Royals’ Triple-A clubs in 2023, and while it wasn’t enough to get him another look in the majors, the Giants saw enough to bring him back into the fold as a depth option.
Giants, Jakson Reetz Agree To Minor League Deal
The Giants have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent catcher Jakson Reetz, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The Warner Sports Management client recently opted out of a minor league deal with the Royals after playing well for their Triple-A affiliate but not getting a call to the big leagues.
In 106 plate appearances with Triple-A Omaha this season, Reetz hit .274/.349/.526 with four homers and a dozen doubles. His 8.5% walk rate was solid, but Reetz’s 32.1% strikeout rate is obviously a number he’d prefer to curtail moving forward with his new organization.
Reetz, 27, has had the briefest of big league experience, tallying two plate appearances with the 2021 Nationals and going 1-for-2 with a double. The 2014 third-round pick is a career .242/.316/.480 hitter with 14 homers, 20 doubles and a triple in 304 Triple-A plate appearances, and he was long considered one of the 30 best prospects in Washington’s system over at Baseball America.
Defensively, Reetz has a solid reputation. BA’s scouting reports on him praised his receiving and blocking skills alike. Baseball Prospectus has credited him with average or better framing marks dating back to his 2018 season in High-A. He also touts a 30% caught-stealing mark in his minor league career, which would be well above league-average. (He’s a more pedestrian 5-of-29 so far in 2023 — a 17% success rate.)
The Giants are giving 2020 first-round pick Patrick Bailey a chance to cement himself behind the dish in San Francisco, and so far he’s run with the opportunity. In his first 111 plate appearances, Bailey is hitting .320/.349/.534 with four homers, eight doubles and a triple. A BABIP just over .400 points to some eventual regression, but the early results are encouraging.
Behind Bailey, the Giants have been using Rule 5 catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol as the primary backup. San Francisco also has former No. 2 overall pick Joey Bart on the 40-man roster down in Triple-A, and journeyman Jacob Nottingham is also with the team’s Triple-A club in Sacramento (though not on the organization’s 40-man roster). Reetz will give them some additional depth behind the plate, and he also saw 160 innings in left field while in the Brewers’ system a year ago.
Royals Sign Adeiny Hechavarria To Minor League Deal
The Royals have added a pair of former MLB infielders out of independent ball on minor league deals, per a team announcement. Adeiny Hechavarría is headed to Triple-A Omaha, while Jack Reinheimer will report to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Hechavarría is the more notable of the duo. He was an everyday player for the Marlins early in his career and has tallied nearly 1000 games over nine MLB seasons. A career .253/.291/.351 hitter, Hechavarría was a bottom-of-the-lineup defensive specialist. He hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2020, as he played in Japan from 2021-22.
The 34-year-old spent Spring Training with the Braves this season. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster and was released. Hechavarría signed with the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks in April. He hit .297/.382/.538 with seven homers in 38 games to earn his way back to affiliated ball.
Reinheimer, 30, has 23 games of MLB experience between the Diamondbacks and Mets in 2017-18. He’s been in the Atlantic League with the Gastonia Honey Hunters, where he’s impressed with a .313/.421/.513 line with as many walks as strikeouts. The East Carolina product is a .266/.334/.358 hitter over parts of five Triple-A campaigns.
While the Royals have added some infield experience, they’re losing a bit of catching depth. Jakson Reetz is opting out of his minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams (Twitter link). The righty-hitting backstop played in two big league contests with the Nationals back in 2021. He’s been in Omaha this year, putting together a quality .274/.349/.526 slash through 106 trips to the dish.
Royals To Sign Jakson Reetz To Minor League Deal
The Royals are signing catcher Jakson Reetz to a minor league deal, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. He will get an invite to Spring Training.
Reetz, 27 in January, got a brief major league debut in 2021, making two plate appearances over two games with the Nationals. That’s the extent of his big league experience thus far. He was designated for assignment in September and eventually signed a minor league deal with the Brewers.
His 2022 got off to a great start, as he hit 22 home runs in 64 Double-A games, getting bumped up to Triple-A and adding three more long balls. In August, the Brewers added him to their 40-man roster to prevent him from triggering an opt-out, but they kept him down on the farm on optional assignment. Though the club liked him enough to try to retain him, he got squeezed off the roster two weeks later. Reetz signed a minor league deal with the Royals in August and hit well as the season was winding down. In 21 games, he added another five home runs to bring his season total to 30. Between the different teams, he hit .264/.359/.575 for a wRC+ of 141.
Reetz was generally considered a glove-first catcher as a prospect, so to see him suddenly have a power outburst is certainly an encouraging development. The Royals already got a look at him as the 2022 season was winding down and liked him enough to bring him back for catching depth. The club has Salvador Perez entrenched as their everyday backstop, which has moved prospect MJ Melendez into an unknown role where he occasionally catches but also plays the outfield to keep his bat in the lineup. The only other catcher on the 40-man roster is Freddy Fermín, who has just three games of MLB experience. Reetz and Fermín could potentially battle for a spot as a third/backup catcher on the active roster, alongside any other depth options the club adds between now and Opening Day.
Royals Sign Jakson Reetz To Minor League Deal
The Royals signed catcher Jakson Reetz to a minor league deal last week, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had recently elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Brewers.
Reetz, 26, got a sip of a cup of coffee in the majors last year, making two plate appearances over two games with the Nationals. That’s the extent of his big league experience thus far. He was designated for assignment in September and eventually signed a minor league deal with the Brewers.
His season got off to a great start, as he hit 22 home runs in 64 Double-A games, getting bumped up to Triple-A. In August, the Brewers added him to their 40-man roster to prevent him from triggering an opt-out, but they kept him down on the farm. Though the club liked him enough to try to retain him, he got squeezed off the roster two weeks later.
The Royals subtracted from their catching depth on deadline day, sending Cam Gallagher to the Padres for outfielder Brent Rooker. They still have Salvador Perez taking the majority of playing time behind the dish, with MJ Melendez also on hand, though he’s been playing more outfield to get his bat in the lineup alongside Salvy. Sebastian Rivero is also on the roster to act as bench catcher when both of Perez and Melendez are in the lineup. Reetz will be on hand in the minors should they need him to step up and help out the big league team.
Jakson Reetz Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Reetz cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent, as McCalvy reports that Reetz declined an outright assignment to the Brewers’ Triple-A team. Because Reetz has been outrighted before in his career, he had the right to decline any further outright assignments in favor of a return to the open market.
AUGUST 18: The Brewers have reinstated right-hander J.C. Mejia from the restricted list and opened a spot on the roster by designating catcher Jakson Reetz for assignment, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
Reetz, 26, was signed by the Brewers to a minor league deal in the offseason. Despite having cracked the majors with the Nationals last year, he was sent to the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers to begin this season. He tore the cover off the ball there, hitting 22 homers in just 64 games, getting bumped up to Triple-A in July.
He was added to the club’s 40-man roster in early August but optioned to Triple-A. McCalvy relays that this was because Reetz had an opt-out date in his contract. Reetz has long been considered a glove-first catcher but had that tremendous outburst in Double-A this season, which was tempting enough for the Brewers to give him a roster spot for a time. However, he wasn’t able to sustain that after a bump to Triple-A, as he’s hit just .212/.254/.424 since joining Nashville, which amounts to a 73 wRC+.
Based on that diminished offensive output, Reetz has lost his roster spot to Mejia, who was acquired from the Guardians in March. He was hit with an 80-game suspension in May due to a positive PED test but now returns to the roster after serving his sentence. Prior to the suspension, he was shelled to the tune of six earned runs in 2 1/3 MLB innings, though fared much better in the minors. In 14 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A, he’s registered an ERA of just 0.63. He’s been optioned to Nashville and will serve as depth for the time being.
With Reetz off the roster, the club is in a precarious position behind the plate, at least for now. They now only have two healthy catchers on the 40-man roster in Victor Caratini and Mario Feliciano. They also have Omar Narvaez, who is on the injured list, and Alex Jackson, who is on the minor league injured list. Narvaez began a rehab assignment on Tuesday and should be back in the mix shortly.
Brewers Planning To Select Jakson Reetz
The Brewers are planning on adding catcher Jakson Reetz to their 40-man roster, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Reetz isn’t currently on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be required.
Reetz, 26, was a third-round draft pick of the Nationals in 2014, working his way up to make his MLB debut last year. He only got two plate appearances before getting designated for assignment in September. Since he got one hit, he currently has a career batting average of .500 in an obviously tiny sample.
Baseball America considered Reetz to be one of the top farmhands in the Nationals’ system from 2015 to 2018 and again in 2020 and 2021. He’s long earned praise for his defensive acumen but never managed to hit much in the upper levels of the minors. He’s taken steps forward in that department this year, however, after signing a minor league deal with the Brewers in the offseason. He’s spent most of this year at Double-A, getting into 64 games and hitting an incredible 22 home runs in that time. His batting line at that level this year is .281/.392/.636 for a wRC+ of 166. It’s been less eye-popping in 13 Triple-A games, though he did add three more dingers there for a line of .229/.283/.479, wRC+ of 94.
The Brewers have quickly gone from a catching surplus to a deficit in recent days. Not so long ago, they had a trio of Omar Narvaez, Victor Caratini and Pedro Severino all on the active roster, enough bodies that they were getting trade interest on Narvaez. The deadline passed without a deal and the club decided to move on from Severino, designating him for assignment yesterday. However, Narvaez suffered a quad strain last night and landed on the IL today. With the triumvirate whittled down to just Caratini, the club recalled Mario Feliciano today with Reetz seemingly getting into the mix soon. Given that he’s a glove-first catcher who might have suddenly found his stroke, it’s understandable that the Brewers are willing to give him a shot.