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Keynan Middleton

Diamondbacks Place Mark Melancon On Injured List, Select Keynan Middleton

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The D-Backs announced they’ve placed closer Mark Melancon on the injured list. His placement was without a designation, indicating it’s related to COVID-19. Keynan Middleton was selected to take his place on the roster. Additionally, Arizona recalled Caleb Smith from Triple-A Reno and optioned southpaw Tyler Holton.

Melancon is the second Arizona reliever lost to the COVID list in as many days. The Snakes also placed J.B. Wendelken on the IL yesterday. Placement on the list can indicate a positive test, viral symptoms or exposure to a person who has tested positive. It isn’t clear whether Melancon has tested positive.

Middleton signed a minor league deal over the offseason. The righty has appeared in each of the past five MLB seasons, spending his career with the Angels and Mariners. Middleton had some strong numbers early on with Los Angeles, but he’s struggled since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018. Last season, he tossed 31 innings of 4.94 ERA ball, only striking out 17.1% of batters faced while walking 13.6% of opponents.

Assigned to Reno to open the year, the 28-year-old has made seven appearances. He’s worked 7 1/3 frames of one-run ball, punching out nine while allowing five hits and three walks. That promising start will earn him another chance in the big leagues.

Diamondbacks Sign Braden Bishop, Keynan Middleton To Minors Deals

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The Diamondbacks recently signed outfielder Braden Bishop and reliever Keynan Middleton to minor league contracts, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Both players had qualified for minor league free agency at the end of last season after clearing outright waivers during the year.

Bishop has spent the entirety of his big league tenure with the Mariners. A 3rd-round pick in the 2015 draft, the speedy center fielder reached the majors in 2019. He’s tallied 99 cumulative plate appearances over the past three seasons, hitting .133/.188/.156. Seattle designated Bishop for assignment in May, and he landed with the Giants on waivers. Within days of claiming him, San Francisco DFA’d the right-handed hitter themselves, and on that occasion he passed through unclaimed.

Despite putting up an impressive .326/.388/.549 line across 320 trips to the plate with the Giants’ top affiliate from that point forth, Bishop didn’t make it back to the majors. The 28-year-old will try to play his way back into the big leagues with their division rivals in Arizona. The D-Backs have a glut of young outfielders on the 40-man roster, but none of Daulton Varsho, Stuart Fairchild, Pavin Smith, Cooper Hummel or Jake McCarthy has yet gotten settled at the major league level.

Middleton has pitched in the majors in each of the past five seasons. He’d spent his entire career in the AL West, beginning as a third-round pick of the Angels in 2013. He pitched for four years in Anaheim, including a 3.43 ERA in 80 appearances over his first two seasons. Middleton underwent Tommy John surgery midway through the 2018 campaign, however, and he wasn’t as effective upon his return from that procedure.

Cut loose by the Angels last offseason, the right-hander latched on with the Mariners (where he and Bishop briefly overlapped). Middleton worked 31 innings across 32 appearances with Seattle but didn’t find a ton of success, posting a 4.94 ERA with worse than average strikeout and walk numbers (17.1% and 13.6%, respectively).

Recent struggles aside, it’s easy to see why the D-Backs would take a no-risk shot on Middleton in hopes he can rediscover some of his early form. The 28-year-old still averaged 95.6 MPH on his fastball last year. Perhaps of more interest, Middleton generated swinging strikes on a very strong 14.2% of his offerings — a surprisingly high number given his low strikeout rate. Arizona relievers had a 5.08 ERA and ranked dead last in strikeout/walk rate differential (9.7 percentage points), so Middleton should have a good chance at cracking the roster with a strong showing in Spring Training.

Players Recently Electing Free Agency

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We’ve seen dozens of players elect minor league free agency over the past couple weeks, and that has continued to be the case in recent days. We’ll round up a few more players who are hitting the open market here, courtesy of the Triple-A transactions trackers.

Players can qualify for minor league free agency in a few ways. The most notable of these include: players with 3+ years of MLB service time who have been outrighted off their teams’ 40-man rosters this season, players who have been outrighted off a 40-man roster multiple times in their careers, and unsigned players not on a 40-man roster who have spent parts of at least seven seasons on a minor league roster or injured list.

Each of this group of players has hit the market within the past week and not yet been covered at MLBTR:

Mariners Place Jake Fraley, Anthony Misiewicz On 10-Day Injured List

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The Mariners made a handful of roster moves today. They placed Jake Fraley on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Anthony Misiewicz was also placed on the injured list because of a left forearm strain.

Fraley has made headway this season in making himself a big league outfielder, slashing .213/.359/.388 in 220 plate appearances, making his season thus far worth 1.5 rWAR. Misiewicz, meanwhile, has made 54 appearances covering 46 1/3 innings. He has a 4.08 ERA/3.32 FIP, 24.1 percent strikeout rate, 5.6 percent walk rate, and 44.9 percent groundball rate.

To fill their roster spots, Wyatt Mills was recalled from Triple-A, and Jimmy Yacabonis had his contract selected. To make room on the 40-man roster, Shed Long was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Long went on the injured list on July 30, so he’s very likely done for the year. Keynan Middleton was also outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.

Yacabonis will make his first appearance in the bigs since last year when he made two appearances with the Mariners. For his career, he owns a 5.71 ERA/6.05 FIP across 104 innings, mostly with the Orioles from 2017 to 2019. The 29-year-old right-hander has been sharp in Triple-A this season, tossing 31 1/3 innings with a 1.74 ERA. He will provide the Mariners with some length out of the bullpen should they need it.

Mariners Claim Sean Doolittle Off Waivers From Reds

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The Mariners have claimed veteran reliever Sean Doolittle off waivers from the Reds, per a team announcement. Fellow reliever Keynan Middleton has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Doolittle had been designated for assignment earlier this week.

For the bulk of his career, Doolittle has been an elite reliever. After breaking into the big leagues in 2012, he posted an ERA of 3.23 or lower every year through 2018 (excluding a 2015 campaign in which he logged just 13 2/3 innings due to injury). That run of consistency earned him the closer’s role in Oakland, a job he held after being traded to the Nationals in 2017.

Doolittle has fallen on harder times over the past few seasons. While he posted strong strikeout and walk rates in 2019, an increase in home runs allowed pushed his ERA up to 4.05. The southpaw then missed most of last year’s shortened campaign due to knee and oblique issues. Upon reaching free agency, he signed a $1.5MM guarantee with the Reds over the winter.

While he has stayed healthy all year, Doolittle didn’t find enough success to stick in the Cincinnati bullpen over the entire season. His strikeout and walk rates (23.7% and 10.4%, respectively) have dipped to about league average for the first time in his career. And while Doolittle hasn’t been quite as home run prone this season as he was two years back, his 18.2% ground-ball rate is the lowest mark among the 207 relievers with 30+ innings pitched. That made for a tough fit in the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.

Doolittle’s fly-ball heavy ways are easier to manage in Seattle’s more spacious T-Mobile Park. And while Doolittle’s strikeout and walk rates suggest he’s no longer the elite late-innings option he was at his peak, the 34-year-old still looks to be at least an average middle reliever.

Acquiring Doolittle comes with very little risk, as the M’s will simply have to assume the remainder of that modest $1.5MM deal (approximately $295K). For a Seattle club a mere two and a half games back of the final Wild Card spot in the American League, it’s a worthwhile cost to bolster the bullpen depth for the season’s final five weeks. If the Mariners do make the playoffs, Doolittle will be eligible for the postseason roster because he was acquired before August 31.

To make room for Doolittle, the Mariners do run the risk of losing Middleton. A well-regarded relief prospect during his days in the Angels’ system, Middleton broke into the majors with a very promising rookie season in 2017. By early the following year, he had assumed the closing duties in Anaheim.

Unfortunately, Middleton blew out his elbow in May 2018 and required Tommy John surgery. His stuff didn’t look the same upon his return and the Angels non-tendered last winter after he spent most of the 2020 campaign at the alternate training site. Seattle jumped in to add the righty on a one-year, $800K guarantee in free agency.

Middleton has logged significant action for Seattle this season but hasn’t recaptured his peak form. Across 31 frames, he’s managed just a 4.94 ERA with a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate and a lofty 13.6% walk percentage. Middleton has actually induced plenty of swinging strikes (14.2%) but they’ve yet to translate into consistent results.

Seattle will now place Middleton on waivers over the coming days. Another team could take a speculative flier in the hope that Middleton’s swing-and-miss stuff and still strong velocity could lead to stronger production moving forward. Any claiming team could keep him under club control through 2023 via arbitration if he figures things out down the stretch.

Rays Trade Wyatt Mathisen To Mariners

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The Mariners announced Thursday that they have acquired infielder/outfielder Wyatt Mathisen from the Rays in exchange for cash. Left-hander Daniel Zamora was designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Tampa Bay had designated Mathisen for assignment earlier in the week as a corresponding roster move when promoting top prospect Wander Franco.

Seattle also announced that righty reliever Keynan Middleton has been recalled from Triple-A Tacoma. Fellow right-hander Vinny Nittoli was optioned back to Tacoma in his place.

Mathisen, 27, will give the Mariners additional depth at second base and both corner infield and corner outfield positions. He never appeared in a big league game with the Rays, who acquired him in a cash deal with the the Diamondbacks earlier this season.

While he’s posted just a .159/.298/.290 hitter in a small sample of 84 MLB plate appearances — all coming with Arizona — Mathisen has a productive career track record in Triple-A. He’s hitting .288/.344/.525 there in 2021 and, in parts of three seasons of Triple-A ball (183 games), Mathisen owns a .269/.368/.515 batting line with 35 homers, 37 doubles and a triple. He also not only has an option for the 2021 season remaining but can be optioned in 2022, making him a nice bit of depth for the Mariners as they began to transition out of a rebuilding phase. For now, he’ll start his Mariners tenure in Triple-A.

The Mariners claimed Zamora, 28, off waivers from the Mets organization a month ago. He yielded four runs (three earned) in 4 1/3 innings out of the big league ’pen and pitched to nearly identical results in a brief look with Tacoma.

That Zamora made it to the big leagues at all is somewhat remarkable, given his status as a former 40th-round pick of the Pirates. He looked dominant in his 2018 MLB debut with New York, holding opponents to three runs on six hits and three walks with 16 strikeouts through his first nine MLB frames. But Zamora was hit much harder the following season in the Majors while also logging pedestrian numbers in Triple-A.

Zamora is in his final option season and has yet to have sustained success above the Double-A level, although his numbers up through Double-A are quite good. The Mariners will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If he goes unclaimed, they’d be able to send him outright to Triple-A, keeping him in the organization without dedicating a 40-man roster spot.

Latest On Mariners COVID Situation

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MAY 22: Dugger and Misiewicz were each reinstated from the IL before this evening’s game against the Padres, per a team announcement. Fletcher and Mills were optioned back to Tacoma.

MAY 21, 6:17pm: The Mariners announced a series of roster moves related to the positive test. Right-handers Robert Dugger, Drew Steckenrider and Will Vest were all placed on the IL, as was lefty Anthony Misiewicz. The Mariners did not indicate that a player tested positive but rather that the moves were made “out of an abundance of caution” due to a “potential” positive. Further testing and contact tracing is being conducted.

In a slate of corresponding moves, the Mariners reinstated right-hander Keynan Middleton from the injured list, selected the contract of journeyman infielder Eric Campbell and recalled three relievers from Triple-A Tacoma: lefty Aaron Fletcher and righties Wyatt Mills and Yohan Ramirez.

MAY 21, 2:08pm: The Mariners are dealing with a COVID-19 situation, as reported by both The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan.  At least one player has tested positive for the virus, Passan reports, “and there is concern within the organization that the relatively low level of vaccination within the clubhouse could be problematic.”  Not only are the Mariners under the league-mandated 85% vaccination threshold for the lessening of COVID protocols, but the M’s “are among the least-vaccinated teams in” the entire league.

The Mariners are in San Diego tonight to begin a three-game series with the Padres.  Any of those games or perhaps even the three-game set with the Athletics from May 24-26 could perhaps face postponement in the event of a widespread outbreak amongst the team, though there isn’t yet any word that the M’s have anything beyond just the one positive test.

Health Notes: Sale, Middleton, Odor, Ona, Graterol

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Red Sox ace Chris Sale worked off a mound today for the first time in his recovery from March 2020 Tommy John surgery, Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic was among those to relay (Twitter link). There’s still no timetable for Sale’s potential return to game action, although getting on the mound obviously represents a notable step forward. At 18-13, the Red Sox are off to a strong start and could be a legitimate contender in a tough AL East. Boston’s rotation looks to be the weak point on the roster, but it’s held up fairly well so far. Sox starters have a middle-of-the-pack 4.02 ERA/4.00 SIERA over the season’s first month-plus.

Other health situations around the league:

  • This morning, the Mariners announced they’ve placed reliever Keynan Middleton on the 10-day injured list with a right biceps strain. Fellow righty Wyatt Mills was recalled in his place. Middleton, 27, has tossed 11 2/3 innings of five-run ball in the early going, striking out nine against six walks. Middleton, who underwent a Tommy John surgery in May 2018, spent the 2017-20 seasons with the division-rival Angels.
  • The Yankees placed infielder Rougned Odor on the 10-day injured list this afternoon. He’s dealing with a left knee sprain. Right-hander Albert Abreu was recalled to take his place on the active roster. Odor, acquired from the Rangers at the beginning of the regular season, hasn’t offered a whole lot offensively in the early going. He’s hitting just .164/.271/.361 over his first 70 plate appearances with New York. To his credit, Odor has massively improved upon his strikeout and walk rates from recent seasons though.
  • Padres outfielder Jorge Oña underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow yesterday, Dennis Lin of the Athletic was among those to pass along (Twitter link). He’s expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks. Oña, 24, made a very brief MLB debut last season, tallying 15 plate appearances over five games. Other than that limited major league time, Oña only has 103 trips to the plate above the low minors (in Double-A in 2019), so he likely would’ve started the year at Triple-A El Paso even if he’d been healthy.
  • Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol, placed on the injured list last week because of forearm tightness, was known to be headed for an MRI. Fortunately, testing showed no structural damage, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). That’s especially welcome news since the flamethrowing Graterol underwent a Tommy John procedure back in 2016. There’s still no indication when he might return to game action.

Mariners Sign Keynan Middleton, Designate Phillip Ervin

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2:55PM: Middleton’s deal will pay him $800K in guaranteed money, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets, with some incentive bonuses also available.

12:06PM: The Mariners announced that right-hander Keynan Middleton has been signed to a Major League contract.  To create roster room, outfielder Phillip Ervin has been designated for assignment.

The hard-throwing Middleton had a very promising rookie season in the Angels bullpen in 2017, though he was limited to only 25 1/3 total innings in 2018-19 due to Tommy John surgery.  This past season, Middleton threw 12 innings over 13 appearances for Los Angeles, posting a 5.25 ERA, 1.83 K/BB rate, and 8.3 K/9.

According to Statcast, Middleton has consistently delivered very good fastball spin rates over his career, and his advanced metrics indicated that he was somewhat unlucky to post such a high ERA in 2020.  Nonetheless, the Angels non-tendered Middleton on December 2 rather than pay a projected arbitration salary of roughly $1MM.

Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto was the Angels’ general manager when Middleton was drafted by the Halos back in 2013, and the two will now reunite on what Middleton described as his “home team” (he hails from Portland, Oregon) in the Mariners’ press release.  Even with the guaranteed salary of a MLB deal, the Mariners are taking what is likely a low-cost flier to see if Middleton can regain his rookie form now that he is healthy, and under somewhat more normal circumstances than the unusual 2020 season.

Ervin was picked up on a waiver claim from the Reds in September, and he managed only a .622 OPS over 47 plate appearances in a Seattle uniform.  That was still markedly better than his performance over his first 42 PA of the season with Cincinnati, as Ervin had only a .324 OPS.  Prior to 2020, Ervin has delivered just about league-average offensive production as a part-timer with the Reds, hitting .262/.326/.438 over 571 PA from 2017-19.

Picked 27th overall in the 2013 draft, Ervin has some decent minor league numbers and can play all three outfield positions, so he would seem like a decent candidate to land elsewhere on a waiver claim.  Ervin is out of minor league options, however.

Angels Non-Tender Hansel Robles, 4 Others

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The Angels have elected not to tender contracts to five players, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported on Twitter and the club has since announced. Former closer Hansel Robles is the biggest name of the bunch.

Beyond Robles, the Halos dropped a bevy of other hurlers. Southpaw Hoby Milner joins righties Justin Anderson, Matt Andriese, and Keynan Middleton on their way out the door. (Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times had the first word on Middleton.)

The 30-year-old Robles had provided the Angels with a lot of good innings since arriving in the middle of the 2019 season, but things fell apart in 2020. In his 18 appearances, Robles surrendered 19 earned runs while carrying a 20:10 K/BB ratio and coughing up four long balls.

Middleton, 27, also closed out some games for the Angels earlier in his career. He once seemed like a potential bullpen stalwart, but injuries limited him quite a bit in recent seasons. In the just-completed campaign, he showed that he still has the physical capability of throwing a high-velo, high-spin heater but gave up seven earned runs in a dozen innings of work.

Both Milner and Andriese had their share of opportunities this past season, but didn’t deliver the desired results. The former has still not reached arbitration eligibility, while the latter had projected to earn a reasonably substantial salary. Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery in the middle of the 2020 campaign, so this move came as little surprise.

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