Nationals To Sign Kevin McGowan
The Nationals have agreed to a minor-league deal with right-hander Kevin McGowan, according to Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Fresno.
McGowan, 27, made eight MLB appearances with the Mets in 2017 but hasn’t been back since. He stumbled to a 4.68 ERA in 82 2/3 innings in the upper minors last year in the New York organization before qualifying for minor-league free agency last fall.
Opening the 2019 campaign in the rotation for the Sugar Land Skeeters, McGowan has pitched to a 2.29 ERA with an 18:8 K/BB ratio over 19 2/3 innings. He has mostly worked in a relief capacity in the upper minors but did work as a starter earlier in his career.
For the Nats, this move helps fill in some Triple-A innings after several promotions and departures. Most recently, the club parted with Austin Adams, who had loads of strikeouts at Fresno but didn’t get a shot with the relief-needy team in the majors. He has recorded seven Ks in three frames already at the MLB level for the Mariners.
Mets Designate Kevin McGowan For Assignment
The Mets have designated right-hander Kevin McGowan for assignment as one of the two necessary 40-man roster moves to create space for the signings of Jay Bruce and Adrian Gonzalez, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The move has yet to be formally announced by the team, though it’s listed on the Transactions page at MLB.com.
McGowan, 26, made his big league debut with the Mets in 2017 and tallied 8 2/3 innings out of the team’s bullpen. In that time, he yielded five runs on the strength of eight hits (two homers) and five walks to go along with eight strikeouts. McGowan showed rather strong fly-ball tendencies both in his brief MLB tenure and in Triple-A Las Vegas last season, and he averaged 92.6 mph on his fastball in the Majors.
[Related: Updated New York Mets depth chart]
The former 13th-round pick (Mets, 2013) out of Division-II Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire has a career 4.19 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 66 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Because his contract was only just selected to the big league roster in 2017, he has multiple minor league options remaining in the event that another club wants to take a shot on him via the waiver wire. If not, he’ll be assigned outright back to Triple-A and vie for a spot with the big league club once again at some point in 2018.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/13/17
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Mets have selected the contract of right-hander Kevin McGowan, who will fill the open roster spot left behind after Neil Walker‘s trade to the Brewers. McGowan, 25, was a 13th-round pick for the Mets in the 2013 draft and he owns a 3.90 ERA, 8.0 K/9 and 2.29 K/BB rate over 62 innings (one start in 44 appearances) at the Triple-A level this season.
- The Astros released left-hander Ashur Tolliver, as per Paul Braverman of the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies media relations department (Twitter link). Tolliver spent much of the season at Triple-A, where he struggled to a 7.13 ERA and 33 walks (against just 28 strikeouts) in 35 1/3 innings. He also appeared in three games at the big league level for the Astros, posting a 3.60 ERA in five innings but also walking four batters as the control problems continued. Houston outrighted Tolliver off its 40-man roster last month.
- The Mariners selected the contract of righty Christian Bergman prior to yesterday’s game (Bergman got some immediate use, tossing a scoreless inning in Seattle’s 6-3 loss to the Angels.) Right-hander Andrew Moore was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move. Bergman has a 5.32 ERA, 5.7 K/9 and 2.14 K/BB rate in 47 1/3 innings for the M’s this season, with eight of his 10 appearances coming as a starting pitcher. He was outrighted by the Mariners just last week, though made a relatively quick return to not just 40-man status, but the big league roster.