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Joe Dunand

Braves Claim Mike Ford, Designate Joe Dunand

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June 12: Dunand cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett, per David O’Brien of The Athletic.

June 10: The Braves announced they’ve claimed first baseman Mike Ford off waivers from the Mariners and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Infielder Joe Dunand has been designated for assignment to clear 40-man roster space.

It has been a roller-coaster of a season for Ford, who’s now on his third different organization of the year. He signed a minor league deal with Seattle, then was selected onto the big league roster in April. Seattle designated him for assignment and traded him to the Giants fairly quickly, then acquired him back from San Francisco two weeks later once the Giants DFA him themselves. Ford held his second 40-man roster spot in Seattle for a few weeks, but the M’s again took him off the roster this past weekend.

Through it all, Ford has appeared in 17 MLB games. He’s compiled a rather bizarre .182/.357/.212 slash line, the product of eight walks but 12 strikeouts in only 42 plate appearances. It’s the fourth consecutive year in which he’s logged some big league time, with all of his pre-2022 MLB work coming in a Yankees uniform. The left-handed hitter broke in with an excellent .259/.350/.559 showing with 12 home runs in 50 games as a rookie, but he owns a .144/.273/.263 line in just shy of 200 plate appearances since the start of the 2020 camapign.

The 29-year-old adds a left-handed hitting depth option to the organization. Matt Olson obviously has first base accounted for, but the Braves have gotten subpar work (.252/.328/.360) out of their designated hitters. Ford is in his final minor league option year, meaning the Braves can keep him in Gwinnett for the rest of the season if they’re willing to carry him on the 40-man roster. He’s hit .271/.417/.417 in 14 Triple-A games this year.

Dunand was a recent waiver claim himself, coming over from the division-rival Marlins last week. His time in the organization may now be coming to close without a big league game, as the 26-year-old has just appeared in five games with Gwinnett. He did make a brief cameo in Miami earlier in the year, logging three appearances.

A former second-round pick, the right-handed hitting Dunand has a .209/.295/.376 line in 328 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s struggled with strikeouts throughout his minor league tenure, but the 6’2″ infielder has drawn praise in the past for his raw power potential. Dunand has played mostly on the left side of the infield in the minors, with a bit more work at shortstop than at third base. The Braves will have a week to trade him or look to run through waivers themselves.

Braves Claim Joe Dunand From Marlins

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The Braves have claimed infielder Joe Dunand off waivers from the Marlins, per announcements from both teams. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett. Catcher Manny Pina was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to open a spot on the roster for Dunand.

The nephew of three-time MVP and 14-time All-Star Alex Rodriguez, Dunand was the Marlins’ second-round pick back in 2017. He’s appeared in just three big league games, all this season, going 3-for-10 with a homer and a double. It’s been another story at the Triple-A level, however, as the 26-year-old has struggled to the tune of a .211/.296/.385 batting line through 84 games and 309 plate appearances.

Dunand ranked among the Marlins’ top 25 prospects over at Baseball America in 2018-19 but has seen his stock diminish since his days as a standout at North Carolina State. He’s spent the bulk of his minor league time at shortstop but has increasingly played third base in recent years. Scouting reports on Dunand have tabbed him as a potentially above-average defender at the hot corner with above-average power, but he’s been far too strikeout prone in the upper minors to tap into that potential.

Pina’s move to the 60-day injured list is a formality. The veteran backstop, who inked a two-year, $8MM contract with Atlanta over the winter, underwent season-ending wrist surgery on May 11 after an MRI revealed ligament and cartilage damage.

Marlins Make Three Roster Moves

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The Marlins announced a trio of roster moves this morning, including the reinstatement of Avisail Garcia from the COVID-related injured list.  Miami also designated infielder Joe Dunand for assignment to create a 40-man roster space, while right-hander Cody Poteet was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a muscle injury in his right elbow.

Garcia returns after just a two-day absence, indicating that his placement on the COVID-IL was precautionary or due to virus symptoms, but not an actual positive test.  The outfielder will return from his brief break and look to get his season turned around, as Garcia has slashed a meager .207/.237/.290 over his first 152 plate appearances in a Marlins uniform.

Pitching in his second MLB season, Poteet has a 2.42 ERA and 55.7% grounder rate over 26 innings in 2022.  Most of that work has come out of the bullpen as a long reliever, but two of Poteet’s last three outings were starts, as Miami has needed a replacement for the injured Jesus Luzardo.  Poteet’s last appearance on May 25 didn’t go well, as the Rays tagged him for five runs over three innings of work in a 5-4 Marlins loss.

With Poteet now sidelined for at least the next 15 days, there will be more speculation about which of the Marlins’ promising young arms could be called up to the big league rotation.  Since top prospect Max Meyer is recovering from ulnar nerve irritation, Edward Cabrera could be the logical candidate, as Cabrera last pitched on May 26.  Between a visa issue in Spring Training and then a biceps injury, Cabrera didn’t pitch until April 27, but he has since banked six minor league starts and a combined 3.90 ERA over 27 2/3 innings.

As for Luzardo himself, it isn’t yet clear when the southpaw could return from his forearm strain.  Miami manager Don Mattingly told reporters (including MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola) today that Luzardo’s recovery is “not as good as we would’ve liked,” as the left-hander has yet to begin throwing.  Luzuardo’s IL stint is backdated to May 12, so he is already beyond the 15-day minimum period.

Dunand made his MLB debut this season, appearing in three games with the Marlins and delivering a 1.064 OPS over his 11 plate appearances.  The Miami native doesn’t have a standout minor league track record, so the Marlins could be betting that another team won’t put in a waiver claim on the 26-year-old Dunand.  That said, Dunand also has a lot of experience as a third baseman and shortstop plus a few games at the other two infield positions, so a club in need of infield depth might check him out on the DFA wire.

Marlins Announce Series Of Roster Moves

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The Marlins have the night off but announced a series of roster moves nonetheless, with Christina De Nicola of MLB.com being among those to relay the batch. (Twitter links)

Infielder Joey Wendle and left-hander Richard Bleier have each been reinstated from the injured list. To make room on the active roster, catcher Payton Henry and infielder Joe Dunand were optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville. Bleier was one of many Marlins to recently land on the COVID-related IL, with infielder Erik Gonzalez being his replacement. Gonzalez has been designated a COVID “substitute” and thus allowed to be subtracted from the roster without being exposed to waivers. Infielder Luke Williams, acquired in a trade earlier today, has been added to the 40-man roster but optioned to Triple-A. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, right-hander Paul Campbell has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. That series of moves involves three players being subtracted from the active roster and two being added, meaning another move should also be involved. Parsing the words of SportsGrid’s Craig Mish in this tweet, it seems like catcher Nick Fortes will also be recalled to even everything out.

Wendle was acquired from the Rays in an offseason trade and began the year on a heater before a hamstring strain put him on the shelf. Through 25 games, he was hitting .304/.368/.456 for a wRC+ of 139. He had been primarily slotting into third base before the injury, with Brian Anderson spending more time in the outfield corners. While Wendle was out, Anderson moved to the hot corner but will likely be spending more time on the grass again.

While the news on Wendle is encouraging for the Marlins, the news about Campbell is potentially ominous. He was placed on the IL April 18 with an elbow strain. He is now ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial placement, meaning the club doesn’t expect him to return in the coming weeks. He had been recalled from the minors just days before landing on IL without getting into a game. Although he’s yet to make his season debut at the MLB level, he was nonetheless in the big leagues at the time of his injury. That means he’ll earn service time and MLB pay for as long as he’s out of action. The 26-year-old came into this year with 93 days of service under his belt. No timeline has been provided for his expected recovery.

Marlins Activate Dylan Floro

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The Marlins announced that they have activated right-handed pitcher Dylan Floro from the injured list. Infielder Joe Dunand was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville in a corresponding move.

Floro has missed the entirety of the season so far, having been shelved during Spring Training with some arm soreness. This was later diagnosed as right rotator cuff tendinitis, which landed Floro on the injured list as the season began in April. Acquired from the Dodgers prior to the 2021 season, Floro somewhat quietly had an excellent campaign in Miami last year. In 64 innings out of the bullpen, his ERA was 2.81, along with a 23% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 49.2% ground ball rate. He notched 15 saves and 11 holds as a key piece of the team’s bullpen.

Without Floro in the mix, the club has turned to Anthony Bender as its primary closer this year. Although he’s notched six saves, he’s also blown a pair, putting up an ERA of 4.91 so far in the young season. His 28.7% strikeout rate from last year has dipped to 21.7% so far this year, though this is a small sample of just 11 innings. Regardless of how the roles shake out, if Floro is able to replicate his success from last year, he should be a boon to the team’s relief corps. As a whole, the Miami bullpen has a 3.05 ERA, placing them 7th in the league.

Marlins Place Jon Berti On Injured List, Select Joe Dunand

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The Marlins have placed utilityman Jon Berti on their injured list, and selected the contract of infielder Joe Dunand from Triple-A.  No specifics were given about Berti’s IL placement, and as with Brian Anderson’s placement to Miami’s IL yesterday, it would seem like Berti’s absence is related to COVID-19.

Berti is off to a fantastic start, hitting .300/.440/.550 over his first 50 plate appearances.  While Berti was roughly a league-average hitter in 2019-20, he is better known for his versatility — already this season, Berti has seen time  at shortstop, left field, second base, and third base, iin addition to pinch-hitting and pinch-running work.  This multi-positional skillset has made Berti a very useful bench piece over his four seasons in Miami, and allowed the Marlins at times to keep a shortened bench and add an extra arm to the bullpen.

Dunand can bring at least some of that versatility, with lots of experience as a third baseman and shortstop (and a handful of games at first base) over his five minor league seasons.  For tonight’s game against the Padres, Dunand is in the starting lineup at third base, set for his MLB debut.

A second-round pick for the Marlins in the 2017 draft, Dunand hasn’t hit much in the minors, and isn’t listed as one of Miami’s top 30 prospects by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline.  A lack of offense has limited Dunand’s potential, but the 26-year-old Miami native (who is the nephew of Alex Rodriguez) has hit better at Triple-A this year, batting .255/.368/.426 over 57 PA.

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