Baltimore’s Shortstop Is Making Strides
Jorge Mateo was once one of the top prospects in baseball. An international signing of the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic in 2012, he showed obvious natural talent with blazing speed that allowed him to be valuable on the basepaths and on defense. In 2015, between Single-A and High-A, he stole 82 bases in 111 games. He only hit two home runs in that time but ran up a .278 batting average. His bat was generally considered the least polished part of his game, but he seemed to have a chance at being an all-around contributor in the future. Baseball America ranked him the #1 prospect in the Yankees’ system going into 2016 and #26 in the entire league.
In the years to come, however, his stock would fade as the approach at the plate didn’t seem to develop as hoped. He returned to High-A in 2016 and hit eight home runs but his batting average slipped to .254. Since he only walked in 6.5% of his plate appearances, his on-base percentage was a meager .306. In 2017, at High-A yet again, his walk rate dipped to 5.4% and his strikeout rate climbed from a decent 21.3% to a concerning 26.6%. That helped his batting average drop to .240 and his OBP to .288. He finally got bumped to Double-A and showed some positive strides, walking at a 10.7% clip in 30 games there, leading to a .300 batting average and .381 OBP. The Yanks then included him as one one of the three youngsters they sent to the Athletics in the deadline deal that brought Sonny Gray to the Bronx, alongside Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian.
Though Mateo finished 2017 strong with his new organization, the concerns about his offense would be renewed the following year. Moved to Triple-A in 2018, he drew free passes in just 5.7% of his plate appearances while getting punched out in 27.3% of them. His .230/.280/.353 batting line led to a wRC+ of just 62. Back to Triple-A in 2019, he had a power breakout when he launched 19 home runs in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but he still walked at just a 5.1% clip and struck out 25.6% of the time.
Going into 2020, Mateo was out of options and still hadn’t made his major league debut. The A’s seemingly had little interest in giving him an active roster spot at that time. Transactions were frozen in March of 2020 when the pandemic put everything on pause, but once the freeze was lifted in June, the very first transaction in the league was Mateo getting flipped to the Padres for a player to be named later. That player was later reported to be outfield prospect Junior Perez.
The Padres kept Mateo on the roster in 2020 but didn’t hand him a regular role, giving him just 28 plate appearances over 22 games. The results weren’t encouraging in that brief time, as he walked in 3.6% of those trips to the plate and struck out in 39.3% of them. He managed to stick on the roster into the next season with the club still valuing his speed and defense, but he walked in just 2.2% of his plate appearances with the Friars in 2021 and struck out at a 29% clip, ultimately getting designated for assignment in August. The rebuilding Orioles put in a claim and put Mateo into 32 games but he finished the year on the injured list due to right lumbar inflammation.
Mateo was exactly the right kind of player for the O’s, who had been terrible for five years at that point and were still waiting for their top prospects to arrive. They could install him as a placeholder until the kids showed up and see if he did anything with the opportunity, with essentially nothing to lose if he failed. They made Mateo their everyday shortstop in 2022 and he showed that he could be a valuable player even with a poor performance at the plate. He did hit 13 home runs last year but the discipline issues were still there. He walked at just a 5.1% clip and was punched out in 27.6% of his appearances. He finished the year with a .221/.267/.379 batting line and 82 wRC+, indicating he was 18% below league average. However, he was on base enough to steal 35 bases. He also earned stellar grades for his glovework at short, including 14 Defensive Runs Saved, 11 Outs Above Average and a 7.4 grade from Ultimate Zone Rating, finishing in the top five among shortstops in each of those categories. The Fielding Bible Awards ranked him as the top shortstop in the league. FanGraphs valued Mateo’s season as being worth 2.7 wins above replacement, even with the subpar offense, while Baseball Reference gave him 3.4.
The O’s received some trade interest in Mateo over the winter, with clubs seemingly intrigued by how he could benefit from this year’s rule changes. The limits on pickoffs and defensive shifts were designed to encourage the exact kind of player that Mateo is, with plenty of speed and athleticism to showcase if given the chance. That appears to have proven true as he’s already swiped 12 bags this year, but Mateo has also seemingly made incredible progress with his long-standing issues at the plate. His 6.7% walk rate is still below league average but an improvement compared to his own track record. Meanwhile, he has struck out in just 20% of his plate appearances so far this year, a few ticks better than league average and far better than anything he had done in recent years.
Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner recently spoke to Mateo and co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte about how they were going for a simplified approach at the plate this year, allowing Mateo to avoid chasing breaking balls so much, which seems to be working. Mateo’s swing rate on pitches outside the zone is 33.9% this year, which is still a bit above the 2023 league average of 31.4% but a big drop from the 39.4% he had last year. He’s also already hit six home runs, almost halfway to last year’s tally of 13. His .304/.353/.565 batting line amounts to an incredible 149 wRC+.
His .328 batting average on balls in play is above this year’s .298 league average, which could perhaps point to some luck-based regression. But it stands to reason that he would have an above-average BABIP since his elite speed allows him to beat out more grounders than other hitters. His new approach also seems to helping him in terms of batted ball metrics so far. His 44.7% hard hit rate is almost 12 points above last year’s 32.9% rate. His 86.9 mph average exit velocity from last year is now 90.1 mph in 2023.
This is all still a sample size of 105 plate appearances in 29 games and it’s probably best not to suddenly decree that Mateo is one of the best hitters in the league. Baseball is a game of adjustments and opposing teams will take notice of his new approach at the plate and alter their plan of attack, which will leave Mateo responsible for reacting to that. Nonetheless, it’s still an incredibly encouraging development since Mateo showed last year that he could be a solid everyday contributor with poor offense. Even if he regresses and ultimately settles somewhere in between this year’s roaring start and last year’s showing, that still makes him a very valuable player.
It’s a great development for the O’s as well, though it may lead to some challenging decisions down the road. Many of the club’s notable prospects are potential future shortstops, including Joey Ortiz, Jordan Westburg and Jackson Holliday. Gunnar Henderson was once seen as the club’s shortstop of the future but has largely been bumped to third base by Mateo’s breakout. It seems likely that, at some point, there will be some kind of infield logjam that needs clearing out.
But that’s the kind of problem that teams dream about, especially coming out of a rebuild. Some of these players could be included in trades that fortify a weaker part of the club’s roster, such as their starting rotation. Mateo already received some trade interest and has likely only increased his value in that market with his hot start this year. Since he’s been in the big leagues since the start of 2020, he came into this season with exactly three years of service time, putting him on track for free agency after 2025. He qualified for arbitration for the first time this past winter, agreeing with the club on a $2MM salary, and will be able to get further raises in the next two winters.
Despite all of those twists and turns with the Yankees, A’s, Padres and now Orioles, Mateo is still just 27 years old, turning 28 next month, meaning he’s set to hit the open market just a few months after his 30th birthday. There would surely be plenty of interest if the O’s market the next two and a half years of a shortstop with a high floor who is seemingly pushing his ceiling up. But the club is right in the mix of the playoff race, currently 22-12 in the early going, seeming more like a legitimate contender as the days go by. If they can keep that up through July, it would make more sense to keep Mateo while he’s thriving and perhaps consider including one of their prospects in a trade instead. It remains to be seen how it will play out, but for now, it seems possible that both Mateo and the O’s are benefitting from a breakout that was a dream a decade ago and seemed dead until very recently.
Orioles Have Received Trade Interest In Jorge Mateo
The Orioles are drawing interest from other clubs in shortstop Jorge Mateo, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The specific teams in contact with Baltimore aren’t clear, although he’s a natural fallback target for clubs that haven’t addressed the position via free agency.
A former top prospect in the Yankees and Oakland farm systems, Mateo at times can be undone by an overaggressive approach at the plate. He’s walked in fewer than 5% of his MLB plate appearances while striking out nearly 28% of the time, leading to a dismal .271 career on-base percentage. Things were even more extreme this past season, as his .267 OBP topped only that of Jonathan Schoop and Cody Bellinger among hitters with 500+ plate appearances.
While Mateo doesn’t have an especially well-rounded skillset, he tapped into the physical gifts that made him a high-end prospect this year. After bouncing from the A’s to the Padres, the 27-year-old landed in Baltimore late in 2021 via waiver claim. He got his first everyday run at the major league level this past season. Mateo’s plate discipline profile was ghastly, but he demonstrated his top-tier athleticism. He stole an AL-best 35 bases in 44 attempts, showcasing the speed that garnered top-of-the-scale grades when he was a prospect.
As Rosenthal points out, that kind of athleticism could be particularly appealing in light of the rules changes going into effect for the 2023 season. MLB is instituting a limit on the number of times a pitcher can step off the mound in a plate appearance and enlarging the bases, both of which should at least moderately incentivize base-stealing.
The league is also instituting limitations on defensive shifting, requiring clubs to keep two infielders on either side of the second base bag and four players on the infield dirt. Teams could place more of a premium on athletic defenders as a result, since it’ll be more difficult to compensate for players who have below-average range via strategic positioning.
Mateo thrived defensively this year, posting top-tier marks in over 1250 innings at shortstop. Defensive Runs Saved pegged him as 14 runs above average at the position, the third-highest mark in MLB. Statcast estimated Mateo at eight runs above par, tying him for fourth among shortstops. He showcased both high-end range and above-average arm strength and looks to have emerged as a plus defender.
Maintaining that kind of defensive production will be critical for Mateo unless he takes a significant step forward in his offensive development. This year’s .211/.267/.379 line was 18 percentage points worse than average, by measure of wRC+. His baserunning means he’s not completely a glove-only player, but he’ll need to sustain high-end defensive marks to remain valuable with such tepid output at the plate. That Mateo is attracting interest from other teams in spite of his offense is a testament both to his secondary skills and the scarcity of alternatives.
The star-studded free agent shortstop class was one of the stories of the offseason. All four of the top players — Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson — ended up changing teams. That somewhat surprising amount of shuffling leads to the Twins, Dodgers, Red Sox and Braves having to identify new solutions to replace their outgoing stars.
All four clubs have some internal possibilities, but none are ideal situations. Minnesota acquired Kyle Farmer from the Reds as a stopgap option, while Royce Lewis is expected back midseason after his tearing the ACL in his right knee for a second straight year. The Dodgers can move Gavin Lux from second base to shortstop while relying on some combination of Max Muncy, Chris Taylor and prospects like Jacob Amaya or Miguel Vargas at the keystone. Lux is a former top prospect coming off a productive .276/.346/.399 showing, but his below-average arm strength could be a concern on the left side of the infield.
Boston has a somewhat similar situation, with Trevor Story currently likely to move back to shortstop from second base. The longtime Rockie was a plus defender at shortstop for a while, but he also has a below-average arm at this stage of his career. The Sox don’t have as strong a collection of internal second base options as L.A. does, with Christian Arroyo looking to be the favorite for playing time if Enrique Hernández stays in center field. The Braves have utilityman Orlando Arcia and rookie Vaughn Grissom — who has played 63 career games above High-A and comes with defensive question marks from prospect evaluators — as their internal candidates.
It’s sensible all four teams could explore the market for shortstop help, and clubs like the Angels and Diamondbacks could check in as well. Free agency is largely picked through at this point, with Elvis Andrus standing out as the top option remaining. José Iglesias offers a high-contact depth option and Andrelton Simmons is still an excellent defender, but neither profiles as a regular for a hopeful contender.
Trade possibilities also seems sparse. The Guardians could perhaps listen to offers on Amed Rosario for his final season of arbitration control. There’s been no indication this offseason they’re planning to do so, however. The Brewers are reportedly informing teams they’re not dealing Willy Adames; the same is true of the White Sox with Tim Anderson. Players like Nick Ahmed or Nicky Lopez could be dealt, but they’re defense-only types who’d be below-average everyday players for a win-now team.
Mateo is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $1.8MM salary during his first season of arbitration eligibility. He’ll go through the process twice more before hitting the open market after the 2025 campaign. That extended window of control means the Orioles don’t have to deal him, and there’s no indication they’re actively shopping him. Baltimore’s rebuild is in the rearview mirror, and Mateo’s modest arbitration salary isn’t placing any financial pressure on the organization.
There’s logic for general manager Mike Elias and his staff to entertain trade offers, though, particularly if they’re wary of Mateo’s ability to maintain his 2022 pace with the glove. The lack of other options for teams desperate for shortstop help could increase their sense of urgency to pursue him, while Baltimore has a number of prospects they hope will eventually unseat him as the franchise shortstop.
Gunnar Henderson debuted at the end of the season, primarily working at third base in deference to Mateo. The O’s could roll with a left side infield of Mateo and Henderson while having Ramón Urías and the recently-signed Adam Frazier share reps at second base. Baltimore has highly-regarded prospects Jordan Westburg and Joey Ortiz just behind that group, with both players coming off quality seasons for Triple-A Norfolk. Westburg and Ortiz — the latter of whom is already on the 40-man roster — could each find themselves in the majors fairly early in the 2023 campaign, and both are regarded by various prospect evaluators as potential everyday shortstops.
Orioles Select Pat Valaika
The Orioles announced they’ve selected infielder Pat Valaika back to the big league roster. Baltimore also recalled righty Marcos Diplán from Triple-A Norfolk. Left-hander Tanner Scott has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left knee sprain, while utilityman Jorge Mateo was placed on the 60-day IL due to right lumbar inflammation.
Valaika has logged substantial big league action with the O’s in each of the last two seasons. He flashed some intriguing power potential last year, popping eight home runs in 150 plate appearances en route to a solid .277/.315/.475 showing. But he struggled badly over a slightly longer look this year, posting a .192/.251/.280 line over 212 trips to the dish. He was designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers last month. Valaika will be eligible for arbitration this offseason, but given his disappointing season, he looks like a non-tender candidate.
Baltimore grabbed Mateo off waivers from the Padres last month, with the rebuilding O’s in a far better position than the win-now Padres to give regular playing time to the former top prospect. (Mateo is out of minor league option years, so he’d spent much of his San Diego tenure in a bench role). The 26-year-old showed fairly well in his look with the Orioles, hitting .280/.328/.421 with a pair of homers and five stolen bases over 116 plate appearances. His season comes to a premature end because of the injury, but he’s seemingly done enough to warrant a spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster over the upcoming offseason.
Unlike Mateo, Scott isn’t officially ruled out for the rest of the year by his IL placement. Nevertheless, manager Brandon Hyde suggested to reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com) the hard-throwing reliever is unlikely to make it back this season. Scott appeared in 62 games and tossed 54 innings of 5.17 ERA ball, striking out a solid 27.9% of opponents but issuing walks at an elevated 14.7% clip. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason.
Orioles Notes: Rutschman, Severino, Mateo
The Orioles have promoted catcher Adley Rutschman from Double-A to Triple-A Norfolk, the team announced last night. (MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubtako first reported he’d be moving up a level.) Rutschman, who now ranks as the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball at Baseball America and MLB.com following Wander Franco‘s graduation from the list, opened the year at the Double-A level and posted a .271/.392/.508 batting line with 18 home runs, 16 doubles and nearly as many walks (15.4 percent) as strikeouts (15.9 percent). That slash was good for a whopping 144 wRC+ in the a very pitcher-friendly Double-A setting — the tenth-best mark of any qualified hitter in Double-A this season.
While he’s now technically just one step from the big leagues, it’s hard to imagine Rutschman would be summoned to the Majors before season’s end. The Orioles have just a 38-72 record on the season, and they’d gain another year of control over Rutschman by waiting until the third week of the 2022 season to promote him to the big leagues, barring any changes to service time structure in collective bargaining talks between MLB and the MLB Players Association. The current CBA expires on Dec. 1, and service time issues such as this are widely expected to be a talking point.
Some more notes out of Baltimore…
- While Rutschman is the hopeful future at catcher for the Orioles, it’s been Pedro Severino there more often than anyone else over the past couple of seasons. The 28-year-old has batted .245/.316/.400 over the past three seasons in Baltimore (94 wRC+), but his bat has dipped slightly in 2021. Kubatko suggests that Severino, who’ll be a due a raise on this year’s $1.825MM salary in arbitration over the winter, is likely to instead be non-tendered by the O’s. Severino has been a solid bat relative to other catchers around the league, but defensively, he’s had his share of struggles. He’s been roughly average in terms of caught-stealing rate over the past few years, but Severino draws poor pitch-blocking ratings at Baseball Prospectus, sub-par framing marks and checked in at -19 Defensive Runs Saved since coming to the O’s in 2019.
- The Orioles are open to eventually playing Jorge Mateo in the outfield, writes Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun, but manager Brandon Hyde also added that the team’s hope is to get the recently claimed speedster comfortable playing in the middle infield. Baltimore claimed the 26-year-old Mateo off waivers from the Padres just four days ago — a move that could finally give the former top prospect a path to regular playing time in the big leagues. Mateo originally signed with the Yankees but was traded to Oakland in the Sonny Gray swap and then to the Padres for a player to be named later. Mateo is 3-for-11 with a double, a triple and a pair of steals to begin his Orioles tenure. The Padres acquired Mateo on June 30, 2020, but on a win-now club with a crowded roster, he never had much of an avenue to playing time. He appeared in 79 games with San Diego from 2020-21 but only recorded a combined 121 plate appearances in that time.
Orioles Claim Jorge Mateo Off Waivers From Padres
The Orioles announced they’ve claimed utilityman Jorge Mateo off waivers from the Padres. To create active and 40-man roster space, infielder Pat Valaika was designated for assignment.
Mateo has spent the past season-plus in San Diego, tallying his first 121 MLB plate appearances in the process. He’s only managed a .195/.235/.310 line with two home runs in that time, but Mateo’s also never had the benefit of regular playing time on a win-now Padres club. However, because Mateo is out of minor league options, San Diego had to keep him on the active roster or else risk losing his long-term rights. That left the 26-year-old as a sort of designated bench piece, with most of his time coming as a pinch hitter, pinch runner or late-game defensive replacement (primarily in the outfield).
As with the Padres, the O’s have to keep Mateo on the big league roster or risk losing him on waivers themselves. Mateo ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects at Baseball America for three consecutive seasons (2016-18) thanks to his blistering speed and decent raw power. There’s plenty more opportunity for the rebuilding Orioles to give him a regular look against big league pitching if they’re so inclined. If Mateo earns a permanent spot on the roster, he can be controlled through 2025.
Valaika has spent the past two seasons in Baltimore. He broke into the majors with the Rockies, briefly landed with the Diamondbacks, but wound up with the Orioles on waivers. Valaika performed well in a brief look in 2020 (.277/.315/.475 over 150 plate appearances) but he hasn’t followed up on that this season. The 28-year-old has tallied 212 trips to the dish this year and managed just a .192/.251/.280 line with four homers.
Baltimore will place Valaika on waivers in the coming days. Should he pass through unclaimed, he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment by virtue of the fact that he’s previously been outrighted in his career.
Padres Designate Jorge Mateo For Assignment
The Padres announced this afternoon they’ve designated outfielder Jorge Mateo for assignment. The move clears active roster space for left-hander Matt Strahm, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.
San Diego acquired Mateo from the A’s last June. The former top prospect was out of minor league options, so the Padres had to keep him on the big league club (or injured list) in order to retain his long-term rights. The Friars have kept Mateo on the active roster over the past two seasons, although they’ve never seemed especially eager to give him regular playing time. The 26-year-old has tallied just 121 plate appearances over 79 games, serving mostly as a late-game pinch hitter, pinch runner or defensive replacement.
Mateo’s lack of roster flexibility made him something of an odd fit on a win-now Padres club. He hasn’t shown enough in his limited playing time to force his way into a more regular role, hitting .195/.235/.310 with terrible strikeout and walk rates (31.4% and 2.5%, respectively). That said, the Padres’ front office clearly remained intrigued by his physical gifts and one-time prospect status.
It’s certainly not inconceivable another club will give Mateo a look. He’ll be placed on waivers, and it’s possible a less immediate contender could place a claim and give him more consistent reps than San Diego could offer. Of course, any claiming team would also have to keep Mateo on the big league club or again expose him to waivers.
Strahm hasn’t pitched all season. The 29-year-old has missed the entire campaign recovering from right knee surgery. Last year, he worked 20 2/3 innings of 2.61 ERA/4.24 SIERA ball over nineteen appearances. Strahm will join Drew Pomeranz and Tim Hill as left-handed bullpen options for manager Jayce Tingler.
Fernando Tatis Jr., Wil Myers Test Positive For Covid-19
May 12: Wil Myers, who actually started last night’s game, exited after three innings when the team learned of a positive Covid-19 test, manager Jayce Tingler revealed after the game (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Eric Hosmer, meanwhile, departed for contact-tracing purposes and has been placed on the injured list as a result. The league’s health-and-safety protocols stipulate that a player who tests positive will be away from the team for at least 10 days.
The Padres selected outfielder Patrick Kivlehan to take Myers’ roster spot. Kivlehan, whom the Padres signed to a minor league deal over the winter, has hit .208/.302/.401 with 10 home runs in 242 PA in the bigs.
May 11, 4:34pm: Tatis tested positive for COVID-19 and is asymptomatic, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. Profar and Mateo are in contact tracing. To fill their open roster spots, the Padres selected the contract of outfielder John Andreoli and recalled a pair of players – infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano and righty Nabil Crismatt – per a club announcement.
3:34pm: The Padres announced that they have placed shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and utilitymen Jurickson Profar and Jorge Mateo on the injured list because of Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols. They’ll decide on corresponding moves before their game against the Rockies on Tuesday.
As is typically the case in COVID-related situations, there isn’t any word on how much time any of these players will miss. Regardless, it’s a blow to the Padres’ offensive depth. Tatis has gotten off to an effective start, albeit with much less on-base ability than he flashed in his first two seasons, having batted .240/.315/.552 with nine home runs and seven stolen bases in 108 plate appearances. Profar owns a far less imposing .234/.333/.308 line with a home run and five steals over 128 PA, though he has shown off defensive versatility by lining up at first base, second base and both corner outfield spots. And Mateo has hit a useful .250/.325/.417 through his first 40 trips to the plate this year.
This is the second time this year the Padres will have to go some time without Tatis, who was on the 10-day IL for part of April on account of a shoulder injury. They used Jake Cronenworth and Ha-Seong Kim at short in Tatis’ absence then. Profar, meanwhile, has been the Padres’ primary starter in left field, but Tommy Pham hasn’t been far behind. He figures to get the lion’s share of action there with Profar out.
Padres Notes: Lamet, Johnson, Roster Decisions
Padres righty Dinelson Lamet pitched multiple innings for the first time this spring Thursday, tweets A.J. Cassavell of MLB.com, albeit in a simulated-game setting. Lamet, whose 2020 season was truncated by a biceps injury that required a platelet-rich plasma injection in October, has yet to pitch in an actual Cactus League game since Spring Training began. Lamet tossed 17 innings in the first half of that simulated setup, and he returned from his downtime to toss another dozen pitches in the second “inning,” Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.
A concrete timeline for Lamet hasn’t been provided to this point, but he’s obviously a bit behind the rest of the Padres’ starters. Assuming he needs some additional time to ramp up early in the season, the Friars can still lean on Chris Paddack and Adrian Morejon to round out the rotation behind Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. The 28-year-old Lamet broke out with a huge showing in a dozen starts last year, logging a 2.09 ERA/3.16 SIERA with an elite 34.8 percent strikeout rate and a very strong 7.5 percent walk rate.
More on the Padres…
- Right-hander Pierce Johnson, who exited Tuesday’s Cactus League game early, has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 groin strain, tweets Acee. He’ll rest for a yet-to-be-determined period of time, though the club hopes that he can get in a couple more games by the end of camp, so it doesn’t sound like the current expectation is for him to miss any time during the regular season. Johnson, 29, returned to the Majors last season after a strong showing in Japan in 2019 and thrived in the San Diego bullpen. Through 20 innings of relief, the righty posted a 2.70 ERA with a gaudy 33.8 percent strikeout rate, though his 11.3 percent walk rate was also noticeably higher than the league average. He’s signed for $2MM in 2021, and at season’s end the Padres will decide on a $3MM club option or $1MM buyout.
- Austin Nola‘s fractured finger looks to have opened the door for Luis Campusano to make the Opening Day club, writes Dennis Lin of The Athletic in his latest roster projection for the Friars. San Diego is also “reluctant” to give up on Jorge Mateo‘s defensive versatility and speed, Lin notes, and the fact that the out-of-options Mateo is also hitting well thus far (.355/.462/.516 in 39 PAs) likely tickets him for a bench spot as well. The bullpen could have some tougher decisions as well, given the lack of minor league options for Dan Altavilla and Taylor Williams — both of whom have struggled to this point.
West Notes: Mariners, Giants, Padres, Angels
The Mariners aren’t favorites to push for a playoff spot in 2021, but if they’re in contention during the season, making a deal for a controllable starting pitcher is “definitely” something they would consider, general manager Jerry Dipoto told MLB Network Radio on Monday. Dipoto, who’s never shy about making trades, said Seattle would “jump at” the chance to better its rotation if the opportunity presents itself. The Mariners are slated to begin the season with Marco Gonzales, James Paxton, Yusei Kikuchi and Justus Sheffield as locks in a southpaw-heavy group of six, while righty Chris Flexen will take up a spot and Nick Margevicius and Justin Dunn are competing for the last position.
- Giants left-hander Alex Wood is dealing with a stiff back and will visit a spine specialist, Kerry Crowley of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. It’s troubling news for Wood, whom injuries have slowed in the past, including during the previous two seasons. Wood threw just 35 2/3 innings as a Red in 2019 while battling back problems and then totaled only 12 2/3 frames last year as a Dodger on account of shoulder issues. The Giants nonetheless signed Wood to a $3MM guarantee, and if he’s healthy, he’s expected to occupy a spot in their rotation. For now, though, it looks as if the Giants’ season-opening starting staff will consist of Kevin Gausman, Johnny Cueto, Anthony DeSclafani, Aaron Sanchez and Logan Webb.
- More unwelcome news for the Giants’ pitching staff, per Crowley, who reports that right-hander Dedniel Nunez sprained the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow and will go for a second opinion. San Francisco took the 24-year-old from the Mets in last December’s Rule 5 Draft, but the Giants could elect to cut ties with Nunez in the event of a serious injury.
- Outfielder/infielder Jorge Mateo is in good position to earn a roster spot with the Padres, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com writes. Mateo, who’s competing against Brian O’Grady and Jorge Ona for a bench role, joined the Padres in a trade with the Athletics last June and went on to make his major league debut. The former top 100 prospect hit a weak .154/.185/.269 without a home run during that stretch, however, and with no minor league options remaining, it could be a make-or-break spring training if he’s going to stick with the Padres.
- The Angels announced that righty Felix Pena departed their game Monday with right hamstring irritation. There haven’t been further updates on Pena’s status. Since his first year with the Angels in 2018, Pena has eaten up plenty of innings (215 2/3) and pitched to a 4.34 ERA. He finished third among Angels relievers with 26 2/3 frames last year.
A’s, Padres Complete Jorge Mateo Trade
The Athletics and Padres have completed their late-June trade that sent infielder Jorge Mateo to San Diego, Oakland announced. The A’s will receive outfielder Julio Perez in return.
The 19-year-old Perez debuted in the minors in 2018 and then blossomed in rookie ball the next season, when he batted .268/.349/.512 with 11 home runs and 11 stolen bases across 238 plate appearances. FanGraphs then ranked Perez as the No. 22 prospect in a deep Padres system.
Mateo, 25, was a high-end prospect in his younger days, but he hasn’t been that productive in the minors or the majors over the past couple of seasons. He made his MLB debut in 2020 and batted .154/.185/,269 without a home run in 28 PA.