AL Central Notes: Kepler, Latos, Dyson, Soria, McCann
ESPN.com’s Jim Caple provides some interesting background on Twins prospect Max Kepler, ranging from his professional ballet-dancing parents to his unlikely introduction to the game of baseball in Germany. Needless to say, the old ballgame still doesn’t have a very high profile in the European nation, but it may surprise some to learn that there’s a fairly notable niche of enthusiasts. As Kepler puts it, “I think since I started playing as a small kid, when it was mainly Americans who were playing baseball, now it’s actually Germans who are starting to play.” No doubt, Kepler’s own career could have a significant impact in driving future growth. (By the way, if you’re interested in the topic, check out this MLBTR podcast episode from last fall, when I chatted with Euroball expert Josh Chetwynd.)
Here’s more from the American League Central:
- Mat Latos has paid huge dividends to the White Sox cin his first three starts for the organization, as Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune writes. Since signing for just $3MM in an effort to rebuild his career, Latos has spun 18 1/3 innings in which he’s allowed just six hits and one earned run. While there are plenty of indicators suggesting that Latos hasn’t been quite as dominant as those results would suggest, and his velocity is back down, he’s been in the zone more than ever before and has still managed to induce a lot of easy outs (35.3% soft contact rate; 11.8% line-drive rate).
- The Royals activated Jarrod Dyson from the DL yesterday after he missed the first several weeks of the season with a strained oblique. Manager Ned Yost says he’ll be deployed in a “loose platoon” with Paulo Orlando, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweet. Of course, the left-handed-hitting speedster figures to get a solid majority of the action in that arrangement.
- Meanwhile, the Royals‘ vaunted bullpen hasn’t been quite the well-oiled machine thus far in 2016 that it was in the recent past, as Dodd explores. Really, it’s mostly a matter of some early struggles from Joakim Soria, who has allowed six earned runs on ten hits and five walks over his first seven frames. Notably, he’s only managed to get hitters to chase pitches out of the zone 14.7% of the time, which is less than half his career rate. For now, at least, the club isn’t ready to move him out of the primary set-up job, though Kelvin Herrera and Luke Hochevar have both looked strong. “Our roles are set until we need to change our roles,” Yost says.
- The Tigers received fairly promising news on the injury front yesterday, as manager Brad Ausmus noted in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link). Catcher James McCann‘s absence is expected to land “on the shorter side of the two to four week timetable” that he’d been given for a sprained ankle. (Though it’s fair to note that Jarrod Saltalamacchia has filled in admirably in his stead.) Also, outfielder Cameron Maybin is nearly ready to make his season debut, opening up some options with Anthony Gose off to a slow start.
Tigers Purchase Contract Of Bobby Wilson; James McCann To DL
The Tigers have purchased the contract of backstop Bobby Wilson, per a club announcement. Detroit has placed starting catcher James McCann on the 15-day DL, which necessitated the move.
Wilson was just acquired in the trade that sent fellow receiver Bryan Holaday to the Rangers. It wasn’t long ago that both players seemed likely to end up in the minors to open the year, but injuries have opened up significant opportunities for both. In Wilson’s case, he’ll back up Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but ought to have reasonably plentiful chances given the new starter’s defensive questions and struggles against left-handed pitching.
McCann’s DL stint comes after he suffered an ankle sprain last night. It’s been classified as a grade 2 sprain, says manager Brad Ausmus, who expects that McCann could miss somewhere in the range of two to four weeks. (Via MLB.com’s Jason Beck, on Twitter.) It doesn’t appear that there’s much cause for longer-term concern with the injury, but Detroit obviously needed to make a quick decision to ensure it had another catcher on hand.
Even assuming that McCann isn’t out for any significant time, though, the move has consequences — particularly given that there are several lean catching situations around the game. The Tigers will need to add Wilson to the 40-man roster, for one thing. And that will likely also mean that he’ll need to be exposed to waivers when McCann is ready to return, which could open an opportunity for a new round of musical chairs.
Injury Notes: McCann, Rumbelow, Cardinals
Here’s the latest on some notable injury situations around baseball…
- Tigers catcher James McCann left today’s game with a right ankle sprain, suffered while trying to beat out an infield single in the fifth inning. Detroit skipper Brad Ausmus told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck) that “there’s concern” McCann could require a DL stint. X-rays were negative on the injury but McCann is still to undergo an MRI. Jarrod Saltalamacchia would become the regular starter if McCann has to miss time. It was just two weeks ago that Detroit traded backup Bryan Holaday to the Rangers in a trade that brought veteran backstop Bobby Wilson into the fold, though Wilson would need to be added to the 40-man roster if the Tigers used him as a backup; Saltalamacchia and McCann are currently the only catchers on Detroit’s 40-man.
- Yankees righty Nick Rumbelow is in need of Tommy John surgery, Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees blog reports. Rumbelow was sent to Triple-A to to begin this season. The 24-year-old Rumbelow made his MLB debut in 2015, posting a 4.02 ERA, 8.6 K/9 and 3.00 K/BB rate over 15 2/3 innings out of the New York bullpen. Rumbelow averaged 93.4mph on his fastball last year but hit the 98mph plateau when pitching in college at LSU, as per Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel in a breakdown of the Yankees’ farm system from January 2015. Rumbelow has posted strong relief numbers in his three minor league seasons, though the Yankees experimenting using him as a starter this spring. As per the usual recovery timeline for Tommy John patients, Rumbelow should be out of action until at least midway through the 2017 season.
- Injuries have done a number on the Cardinals‘ minor league pitching depth, Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, as Marco Gonzales is considering elbow surgery and Tim Cooney has been battling with a sore shoulder. “When you look at what we have going on at [Triple-A] Memphis, it’s not as strong as we thought we were. But, that’s not to say we are in a panic mode by any means,” Cards GM John Mozeliak said, noting that top prospect Alex Reyes could be an option in a couple of months. Reyes is currently serving a 50-game suspension after testing positive for marijuana in November. Mozeliak also provides updates on a few other injured Cardinals within Frederickson’s piece.